doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Low pressure 20 gauge 2 1/2" loads

Greetings,
I'm new to reloading (helped my father as a lad and now have his reloader/supplies) and I'm interested in diving in. Rarely do I make things the easy on myself, so in that vain I'd like to start with 2 1/2 inch low pressure 20 gauge shells. I've poked around and I'm having issues finding recipes. Could someone please point me in the right direction to a source(s) for this? I've looked online at power manufacture's reload data but they are all 2 3/4" loads. I'm not married to any brands but have quite a few RST hulls (Cheddite I believe). Ideally it would be a fold crimp with a wad. The 20 gun is a 1914 Lefever DS and I'd like the ability to use spreader inserts too as my gun is choked mod/full. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Brian

Brian, I have loaded for my 20ga Flues with success. Finding loading data for a folded crimp 2 1/2” 20 gauge is difficult. I believe Ballistic products has data that you could purchase, but I haven’t went that route, so I don’t know what that data is like.

My approach has been to use 2 3/4” data in a hull trimmed down 2 1/2”. I use the Hartin crimp method. You use a 28ga overshot card and then crimp as normal. It creates something that is a cross between a folded crimp and roll crimp. No adjustment needed to the press if you are already loading 2 3/4” shells.

I used to load IMR 800x powder, but that has been discontinued. Now, I have switched to Winchester 572. If you look at the 572 data for Federal hulls you will find plenty of loads below 8500 psi and some in the 7000 psi range.

After you make some shells, send them to Tom Armbrust for testing, to confirm the pressure.

Hope that helps. Best of luck!

Tom Armbrust
Ballistic Research
1108 W. May Ave
McHenry, IL 60050-8918.
815.385.0037
E-mail - barbmiller49@yahoo.com