doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Turkey loads for my Charles Daly help needed

I read that nickel plated shot holds a tighter pattern then lead. I also read that it penetrates deeper then copper plated lead. I once in a while will have a few flyers that penetrate a turkeys body. Just nice to have shot that penetrates deeper for better knock down power. Nickel plated lead might be a gimmick but for the extra $15 over copper plated I figured I’d try it.

I worked up a load of 100 grains of FG along with 692 grains of #6 nickel plated shot. I used a RST 2 7/8” spent shell among with a Winchester 209 primer, a 1/4” nitro card, and an overshot card.

I put 40 pellets in the kill zone at 25 yards from the left barrel. I should be good to go.

some years ago, when steel shot was mandatory for waterfowl, a local dealer had a flat of Federal Premium 12 ga. coppered 1&1/4 ounce no 4 in 2&3/4'- I snapped it up in a heartbeat, use it in mt A-5 with the tight tube for neck shots on Toms in Spring and Fall seasons.. I've had a few Tom's with detatched beards and necks, but none got very far-3-4 steps maybe--RWTF

I bought a quad pin roller and tried it today for the first time. Once I warned it up on my first shell. I pushed down to hard before I heated it up and dented the hull. The second turned out great!



I even rolled a couple thst I hot glued the cards in place. I needed a little more hull length but I got them to roll. It as a little messy as the hot glue melted onto my roller. The hull on the left was my first try. After I did a few of my uneven RST shells (that shockingly turned out pretty good) I re rolled it a little tighter. It chambers just fine...it’s just not a pretty.




I actually traded some lead ignots in clip on wheel weights to a member from another forum recently for #5 shot. The shot he sent me was lead BB. So I will be using the only shot I have which is the BPI nickel plated #6’s. They normally knock a turkey flat under 50 yards in my browning gold. Hopefully they do just as good with lower velocity black powder loads.

I went out today and tried 40 yards and 50 yards with my same RST hulls using 692 grains of BPI #6’s and 100 grains of Fg. The only difference was I roll crimped them this time VS just gluing in an over shot card.

I had 12 hits in my turkey head target at 40 yards and only 5 hits at 50 yards. I then tried the same load but in a federal hull. I had 13 hits at 40 yards. I put a pop can behind my 50 yard target. Thd #6 BPI nickel plated pellets passed through the cardboard box my target was stapled to and then completely through the pop can I placed in the box to test for penetration. I don’t plan on taking a 50 a yard shot but if for some reason my bird hands up at 40 yards I won’t hesitate to shoot it. I can tell you if that was a real bird at 50 yards today it would have been dead as a door nail IMO. One pellet to the brain and one in the neck vertebrae. Same with the RST hull 40 yard shot. I guess I just get lucky a lot with a pellet to the brain.


My first target i shot with a roll crimp RST hull at 40 yards...




My second shot with the same load at 50 yards...





And here was my last test at 40 yards with the same load but with a federal hull...



I must have had a “hot” pellet or piece of powder melt part of one of my RST cases. Here is picture of the fired hulls after I slid them onto my dowel and heated the crimps with a heat gun to straighten them out...





When I inspected it the hole did not burn all the way through but I took the shell out of service just to be safe. The other two cases look great yet. I might order some brass case in the near future.

So in the future if I didn’t burn a hole completely through a case I would assume I can still load it again?

My load worked great. Here’s the first bird taken with the gun and the load. A double bearded Tom. Knocked it flat at approximately 25 yards.

Here's another source of hulls:
https://www.rockymountaincartridge.com/index_htm_files/RMC%20Shot%20Shells%20&%20Load%20Kits.pdf
A couple of bucks more per hull than the site mentioned in your other thread above. Shotgun size primer holes. Gil