doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Low pressure 1.125oz. [32 gram] 12ga. loads

OBTW ......


57 days, 14 hours, 37 minutes and 49 seconds until .......

DOVE SEASON !!!!!!!!!

SRH

DuPont used to have a load in their manual (30 years ago?) for a 1 oz load and 800X. Don't remember what it was but it was terrible in freezing temps. Blooper and poppers. Called them to ask, and they said "Oops, we shouldn't have put that load in the manual"
When I was shooting Springer field trials we all shot 1 1/4 oz loads. 800X was my preferred load. As easy on the shoulder as a 1 1/4 oz load can be. I also use it in my turkey loads. Because it is so slow burning, there is little pellet deformation on setback, so it patterns very well. It is dirty, but I don't care, since I clean my gun at the end of the day anyway

You're right about 1 1/8 oz being a pheasant load, Stan! Here's one I've used on ringnecks for years; no issues in cold weather:

Fed Gold Medal hull
Fed 209A primer
22.5 gr Unique
Fed 12S3 wad
1200 fps; 7300 psi

I've never tried it with a Windjammer rather than the 12S3, but the Alliant guide says if you keep everything else the same, that will drop the pressure to 6900 psi.

That load throws really nice patterns for me, and I seldom use anything heavier for pheasants. Frequently lighter, like Gamebore Pure Golds with 1 1/16 oz Brit 6's.

I've been following this thread with interest. I have acquired a Fox A Grade 12 GA that I plan to use for wild pheasants. In the past (in more modern guns) I have always used a 1200 fps load of 1 1/4 oz 5s, but I am concerned that that load may be a little "hot" for my old Fox. RST makes a 1 1/4 oz 1200 fps Pheasant load that generates 7800 psi and a 1 oz 1175 fps Lite load that generates 6200 psi. Both are available in 5 shot.

Any thoughts on the suitablity of these loads in my old gun?

I use to load 800X in Federal 20 many years ago. To get around drop issues I put a small vibrator motor on the charge bar housing. It vibrated for one second when the bar returned to pickup the powder. A lot like Spolar vibrated the primer track to stop jams runs for a second. Drops we all the same but I had to use a bushing two sizes smaller. You could check ten drops in a row and thy wold all be within .1 grains max spread. Loads were low pressure and killed quail great.

If your Fox is in good condition, i.e. not loose, and on face, those two loads are entirely suitable for it. I shoot loads with considerably higher pressures than that in mine, and have for many years, with no ill effects. Be very sure, however, that the head of your buttstock is sound and not oil soaked. The pressures the shells generate have absolutely nothing to do with recoil developed, in and of themselves, but the velocities and the shot charges do. 1200 fps and 1 1/4 oz. is not magnum by any means, but it does generate enough recoil to work some havoc on an ill fitted, or oil soaked, stock head. Any crack that may be present will only get worse, same with any looseness of the wood to the receiver. If you have any doubts as to the soundness of the wood at the head, remove it from the receiver, get all the oil out, and glass bed it to the metal. Not an expensive job if you have it done, and even less if you do it yourself.

Hope you enjoy that Fox.

SRH

If you put those RST loads at the head end of a Pheasant they will resemble the hammer of Thor! I like the B& P high pheasant loads with 6's until after Christmas at least, and if they aren't flushing wild I'll use them all the time. MKII

Thanks for the comments Stan and Mark. I'll be sure to examine the head of the stock.

Larry, that looks like a good load and I'm jotting it down.

Shelldrke, Mark II is right about the RST Pheasant load. Below is a 35 yard pattern I shot a couple years ago from a RST Pheasant load of 5's in a .025 IM choke in my 7 pound Beretta. The core looks like it will hold together a good bit farther. That said, I tried a similar load in a light (6 lbs. 5 oz) continental OU and the recoil was fairly violent, and decided the gun will see no more than 1 1/8 @ 1200 fps and most likely less.

Thanks for the info Dave. The Fox is right at 7 lbs, but I'm sure it would be more comfortable with the RST Lite 1 oz load.

By-the-way, that Pheasant load must have raised hell with your garage door!