You need to think outside the box a little. A set of calipers helps. I would go to the Hodgdon powder reloading site and look at Clay powder. Find a one ounce shot load for a 2 3/4" Paper shell. You will notice they use a common wad like WAA12SL for one ounce loads. If you just substitute a Winchester wad with a shorter crush section like WAA12F114 it fits into a 2 1/2" cut down shell. Load six of them and send them out for testing. Depending on your loader you might be happier with one of several wad choices. I have just about every AA wad or clone of them on hand. I just measure them until I find one which looks 1/4" shorter than the one called for in the load. Sometimes that's a 12F114 or a WAA12 or the Red AA12wad. Depends on the load and wad to start with.
Federal Paper hull.
Hodgdon
Clays
Win. 209
WAA12SL
17.5
6,400 PSI
1,180
But use the WAA12F114 wad as a starting point. If you don't have some on hand go to your supplier, with a set of caliper and measure what he has on hand. Once you find a close one load up six of them and sent them out to Precision Reloading.Test results will include velocity, pressure average, extreme variation, and standard deviation of your 5-shot string. Total know peace of mind. Pick a common wad, primer and common powder.
By the way if you like Federal Paper hulls now is the time to stock up on them. The new ones are not nearly as nice as the classic ones. The paper tube is thinner and the head is not brass I am told.
