doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Favorite 7/8s 12g load

I've been shooting 1oz loads for most of my clays shooting but for skeet I'm planning to load 7/8s of 8.5s (I have them just sitting).

So what are your favorite loads. I use STS and Gun Club hulls.

Tim

Right out of the older Accurate Arms book: 15 grains Nitro 100, Winchester primer, Winchester gray wad, 7/8 oz. shot(I use 8's for skeet and clays) OLD STYLE, compression formed AA cases, 4900 psi, 1145 fps. Caution, the newer AA shells produce higher pressure!
And always verify with the booklets.

Tim;

My standard target load for many tens of thousands of rounds has been 1 oz of #7.5 at 1235 fps. I recently set out to load an "economy" practice load using Gun Club hulls which I can pick up free by the hundreds.

I settled on 7/8 oz of #8.5 with the Claybuster clone of the Win 12L gray wad and 16.8 grains of Red Dot. It runs 1225 fps out of my gun with a std dev of about 10......pretty good consistency.
The Alliant data says 16.5 grains with a R209 would deliver 1200 fps @ 8,000 psi.........my bushing happens to drop 16.8 and I'm happy.

As a practice load, it's a winning result........slightly higher pellet count at the same velocity, with lower recoil and cheaper than my 1 oz load. In practice, I shoot about 3 boxes of the 24gm 8.5 for every box of 28gm 7.5.

There are many combos to chose from if you use the W12L wad and a fast powder.

I use win AA hulls win 209 primer, grey clay 7/8 clayduster wads 16.9 gr Clays 8 1/2 shot 1250 fps, 7100 lup. I"ve been using this for a couple of years skeet and sporting clays shooting and am well satisfied. This is in the Hodgden manual. Hope this helps.

I've just started using 13.1 gr AA Lite with the AA grey wad and WW primers with 7/8 oz. #9's. Works great for skeet, and I even went 25 straight with it on on 16 yd trap. Have used it in both old & new style AA hulls. Hodgdon loading sight shows it at about 5500 PSI.

For several yeas now I've been using the STS hull with a Remington 209P primer, 16.4 grains of Clays, a Remington TGT12S wad and 7/8 ounce of shot. Book says 1200 fps at 6300 psi.

I am using the same load Jim Legg described except, 14.5 gr Nitro 100- Fiocchi primer- pink Down Range wad.

I have loaded 7/8 ounce loads for many years, but only recently desired to have pressures down to Damascus levels. I looked at my loads, determined that my 1200 fps loads were not off the scale for pressure, so modified them just a bit to reduce pressure to a safe sounding level, intending to test them for sound and effect when cold weather comes. The lowest velocity and pressure that Alliant publishes for my preferred components (Red Dot and Federal SO or WW Grey wads in AA compression formed hulls and WW 209 primers) is about 16 grains of Red Dot at 8000 PSI with SO wad to make 1200 fps. The WW grey wad with 16.5 grains nets 7900 PSI at 1200 fps. I have used tens of thousands of those loads in the last 15 years without complaint. In my infinite wisdom, I have reduced my Red Dot charge to about 15.2 grains to get what I estimate to be 1160 fps and less than 7000 PSI, a load friendly to shoot in any gun and safe to shoot in Damascus guns, maybe even in cold weather. I have started inserting a thin 20 gauge card wad (or a kidney bean or two if you prefer) in the shot cup to properly fill the shell. I only offer this load because it uses proven book pressure information as well as cheap and common components. No boutique wads, powder, or hulls needed. I have probably shot about 1000 or 1500 of these reduced loads in the last few weeks with great results.

My favorite recipe for 7/8 oz. loads is:

Remington Premier STS hull
Remington STS 209 primer
19.5 grains IMR PB powder
Claybuster CB1100-12 wad
4300 psi at 1145 fps

The same load in a Winchester AA hull reduces the pressure to 4200 psi at the same 1145 fps.

These are published recipes from the IMR booklet. No fillers are necessary or needed. They are very mild and clean. I shoot these loads in my damascus gun as I like a good margin of safety and have never had a blooper when shooting them in near zero degree temps. (I do keep the shells indoors until I go out to shoot in these kind of temps as I have heard reports from others that very load pressure loads in very cold temperatures can lead to bloopers).

I'm surprised they publish such low pressure loads, Bamboozler, but if they sound good, they should be as good as mine. Alliant will not publish a load as low in pressure as 4500 PSI, but going from Red Dot to Green Dot and dreaming up a load will get you to the same place, but I would rather use a published load as you have. Thanks.