doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com WA12l wads vs WA12SL

ijust loaded some 12 gauge 1 Ounce target loads with 17 gr of Titewad powder In WAA12L wads. Hodgdon recipes call for SL wads with one ounce loads. Has anyone used these loads? Are the wads fairly interchangeable? 17 grains of Titewad is the lowest charge called for with either 7/8 or 1 ounce loads...

The difference in crush section length will change pressures slightly.

The crimp quality depends on the hull volume.

I’ve loaded them with either wad, but prefer a tad more powder just so the stuff burns. Since I’m paying for it, I’d rather it burn. Titewad is very clean when used at pressures above 8500 psi.

I’ve burned a lot of Titewad. It does not play well with the Fiocchi 616, it likes a hotter primer.

Jones thanks for the advice on Fiocchis. I tend to reserve the use of the few I have. Been using Federal and Remington primers of late. I shoot mostly 7/8 ounce loads at targets...

Fiocchi 616 is a great primer with flake powders. Not so much with ball powders. I’ve had exactly one bad Fiocchi 616 in about 40K used.

The NSI 688 primer I’ve found to work as well as a WW209 with Titewad.

I’m buying as many standard target loads these days as I’m loading.

I found the 616 to be very comparable to the Win209, but finding much of either seems to be a challenge. For the last several years, like most people, I have been building loads around the Cheddite 209s which are readily and reasonably (by today's standards) available.

I have been using 14.8 TiteWad in 12 ga.Gun Clubs with 3/4 oz. payload with Claybuster CB0175-12 wads, Cheddite 209 primer, 7200 psi and 1150 fps. These loads burn very nice and no residue in barrels. Same load in a Winchester AA HS. TiteWad is the one of the hottest burning powder.

You can make some fine, low (or at least lowish) 1 oz and 7/8 oz loads with Win AA hulls and wads and American Select powder, if you run short of Titewad. I think AS is one of the more overlooked powders for some reason.

I formed my opinion about Titewad thusly:

When Alliant started this business about manufacturers induced shortages pre-Obama, I was forced to buy from The Powder Trust, they being the only game in town like they intended to be all along. Much as I hated to, I bought a couple cans of Titewad to get me through the season and hope that maybe Alliant would make some powder eventually. Of course they never really did and I ended up using 700X for a while, and now that's gone so I've turned to Perfect Pattern but I digress....

We would shoot five stand all day long back then and I was loading a 5 gallon pail of STS hulls a week with a load that with Promo or Red Dot would function all my guns including the Berettas. 1oz, CB1100, Fio 616, and enough powder to run them about 1225 fps. With Titewad that was about 17.5 grains.

I instantly noticed the occasional low recoil shell. There would be unburned powder. Of course, I figured it was me loading crummy shells again. I checked the loader for full stroke, etc. but the about 3% incidence of incomplete combustion continued.

An internet search revealed that I was not alone in experiencing this. I carefully hand weighed 30 charges and shot them over the chrono. I had 2 shells of the 30 that ran under 1000 fps and left crud in the barrel. Problem verified.

A change to WW209 primers solved this completely. Since I'm not paying $100 a brick for WW209 until I have no other alternative, I was concerned that Titewad and the new Perfect Pattern would be flameproof with my NSI 688 primers. Fortunately, they both work fine. The NSI 688 seems a closer match to the WW209 than does the Fio 616. I'm not even going to try PP with the Fio 616s I have left, those will go in the 410 with the can of 2400 I have left that's in a bank vault and insured heavily. $355/can for 2400 today folks.

Miller commented on this when I mentioned it here, pointing out that ball powders in general are regressive burning and known to be hard to light. While Hodgdon insists their modern technology has solved all the problems of spherical propellants, I think they speak with forked tongue. All smokeless powders burn more completely at higher pressures, Titewad included. It remains my favorite for gas automatics.