doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Loading 28 GA low pressure for Damascus barrels

I currently load 2 1/2” 12 ga for my Damascus barreled hammergun. I keep pressure under 6300PSI. I am considering buying a 28 ga Damascus barreled gun but I cannot find info on any loads under 9700psi. I have checked Alliant and Hodgdon websites as well as searched this website’s and other forums. Am I stuck buying RST which is a total crapshoot as far as availability is concerned?

Thoughts?

Thank in advance

Look at 572 powder in a straight walled hull like Fiocchi which will be 7,700 psi from Hodgdon Data. I find the hulls on GunBroker for about five cents each or less. Do recall that smallbore pressures are higher than large bores. They are proofed at 100 bars higher pressure so their service pressures are higher than the 12's you are use to shooting. Also make sure your new gun is proofed for nitro and check the barrel wall thickness.

I use 572 for my standard 20 ga loads but could not find a 28 ga load with 572 on the Hodgdon website that was tested at7700 psi. This was the lowest psi recipe I could find.

Hodgdon 800-X OUT OF STOCK Rem. 209P WAA28 14 9,700 PSI 1,200

3/4 ounce. 572 Fiocchi hull. 13.0 grains. Fio 616 primer. Federal wad. Trim hull to 67mm. Everything fits. I shoot 67mm for all my 2 1/2” guns.

I just finished loading 5,000 Fiocchi 12s with one ounce 7 1/2 and half 8 1/2 I had on hand. Cutdown to 67mm. Will load about the same in 7/8 ounce loads once my test result get back for them. Looking for sub 5,000 psi in the 1225-1250 range.

I have about 2,000 Fiocchi 28 I have loaded with the 572 load. Ran 50 straight two weekends in a row with them. Hoping to get 3-5 reloads out of the hulls. But where I shoot sporting clays Fiocchi 28 are found on the ground most weekends. The trap boy is picking them up and saving them for me and I pay him five cents each.

28 HS AA hull
Red duster
Cheddite primer
Pro reach 14.9
0.72 oz shot
1246 fps
8005 psi
Tested PR

Thanks KY Jon and Ithaca 1 for your recipes. Do either of you know what pressure is “appropriate “ for Damascus barrels?

110 is good for 28 ga 8000. 1200fps tom roster had an article about it with 7/8 oz load .

A better question is "what were the period loads, ballistics & pressures for which damascus barrels were designed?"
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F2sQuPm05IE4VWYYnCkvuXmYEzQoWd_SQgaAfUOZEFU/edit

Unfortunately, we don't have much in the way of 28g information.
This is from 1897; converted from Tons using Burrard's formula
3/4 oz.
28 gr. Bulk (2 Dram) – 2.81 tons = 8,322 psi
18 gr. Dense – 3.01 tons = 8,994 psi

1922
The pressures were derived by crushers (LUP) so modern transducer pressures would be 10-14% greater
5/8 oz. 2 Dr. Eq. DuPont Bulk = 8,714 psi
3/4 oz. 2 Dr. Eq. = 10,259 psi
3/4 oz. 2 1/8 Dr. Eq. = 10,998 psi
7/8 oz. 2 Dr. Eq. = 12,387 psi

DuPont Brandywine Experimental Station data cited by Charles Askins in 1933
DuPont Bulk Smokeless Powder. Plus 10 - 14%
28g 2 Dr. Eq. 5/8 oz. = 10,438 psi

I have never shot a 28ga damascus but can tell you, the 20ga load for my damascus Flues was at 7200 psi.
The barrel walls were checked before hand and I was comfortable with the findings.

Rev Drew's posts and Burrard's books have always been my first stops before making decisions concerning pressure.

Hope this helps!!

First consider most 28 loads for that gun would have been 5/8 ounce not our 3/4 ounce load so keep pressures down. It could be reproofed for nitro and 3/4 ounce. You must examine what it is proofed for. It is reasonable to say the 28 was proofed to the same level pressure wise as a 20 if nitro proofed. But to be sure you must look at what proof marks are on the gun.

Payload is not as critical for barrel safety as for keeping stress down on old stocks. Pressure would stress the barrels. In 12 we go from 3/4 ounce up to 1 1/2 ounce with little issues as long as we keep the pressures in line. So I doubt a shift from 5/8 to 11/16 or 3/4 ounce would be an issue as long as velocity and pressures are watched.

You can come up with a safe load and have them tested. If you keep your pressures down to the 7,000-8,000 psi and keep the payload at 5/8, 11/16 or 3/4 ounce you should be fine. Testing loads at $25.00 per string is very much the thing to do. In a 28 2 1/2” Damascus I would be looking for 7,000 psi with any payload from 5/8 to 3/4.