Buck & ball loads

sniper58

sniper58

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Quesnel, BC
Well, I finally broke down and bought a 5 lb box of #4 buckshot. I was down to 10 rounds left, so it was time. $30.00 for 5 lbs..................nasty!

My usual load for years has been 24 pellets over 32.5 gr. of WW 540 powder.(shows how long it's been since I loaded any, can't get 540 anymore). I was using WW hulls, red WW 1 1/4 oz wad, and 1/4 tsp of buffer (14 gr.). Performance has always been good. Shot best out of modified choke.

This time around, I decided to use SR4756 powder (got 5 lbs at a swap meet for $30.00).
I used all the usual hulls, wads, and buffer. When I was almost done, I remembered that I have a bunch of .457 round balls. I figured I'd try a buck & ball load. I weighed the usual pellet count (24) came up with about 510 gr. total weight. I put a round ball on the scale and started adding buckshot til I got to that weight. Ended up with 1 round ball and 16 pellets (480 gr).
5 buckshot in the bottom of the wad makes a nice base for the .457 ball (centered in the wad, not touching the sides). Then it was just a matter of adding the other 11 pellets, adding the buffer, and crimping.

I put together a couple of these rounds. Going to the range tomorrow to try them out.
I'll be shooting them out of my Norinco HP9 12" pump. It's got Scattergun Technologies ghost-ring sights, so hopefully I can hit something.
 
I got out and shot the loads today.

Amazingly enough, the ball hits 1" above point-of-aim (at 20 yds) with the buckshot spread fairly evenly around. Spread of the buckshot was as expected..................16" - 18" at 20 yds. I might have to put a couple of these through a shotgun with some choke in the barrel to see how they do.

Here's a photo of the shotgun that I used today. Front sight blew off about 3 shots after I took the picture. Got the JB weld curing as I type this.



I trimmed the forend down a bit and installed my Mesa Tactical (6-shot) sidesaddle today too
 
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I'm going to put some more together. Some of the round balls are pure lead (soft) some are wheelweight alloy (harder). I'm thinking of trying 2 round balls per load (pure lead on the bottom, harder on top) and see how it goes. The round balls weight just over 140 gr. each. 2 of them should let me use 10 or 11 buckshot. (about 21 gr. each). Should give a load of around 400 grains. If I can get both balls centered in the wad, it might work.
I'll put some through the o/u shotgun, too.
 
So, your ring of five on the bottom, with the round ball in the centre.
Another ring of five to hold the next round ball centred.
I think you would want the two round balls touching, letting the lower one have a running start before hitting the one on top would probably be a bad thing :eek:
 
sniper58 said:
my loads were actually pretty mild (recoil-wise). I had an Imperial 3" BB round in the box as well. Threw it in the chamber............wake-up call!
Click to expand...

Hah yeah. These loads I'll make once in a while for fun if I have the buck. Otherwise, a local caster makes these .690 1.1/8oz round balls I'll load up with just some red dot for plinking and jug hunting. I pay $10 for 25 balls so it's way cheaper then anything else. Load them up with Blue Dot and with a rifled barrel, they'd hit hard.
 
Rory McCanuck said:
So, your ring of five on the bottom, with the round ball in the centre.
Another ring of five to hold the next round ball centred.
I think you would want the two round balls touching, letting the lower one have a running start before hitting the one on top would probably be a bad thing :eek:
Click to expand...


yeah, that's the idea. I'll have to get a hull primed, powdered, and wad in so I can mess around with one. I'm using buffer (powdered plastic) so that should protect the bottom ball a bit. My thought is to maybe put the hard ball on the bottom, pure lead ball on top. The buckshot that I got is from Hornady, so it's pretty hard stuff. The buffer should soak up a good bit of the initial shock. I can try 2 wheelweight balls in 1 shell, too. Little harder, shouldn't deform as much as pure lead balls.

OK, you got me thinking. I just took a wad and set 5 buckshot in, RB on top, 5 more buck, the RB again. Looks like the buckshot holds the second RB about 1/32" from touching the bottom ball. Maybe it will squish down a bit when I crimp?
 
sniper58 said:
yeah, that's the idea. I'll have to get a hull primed, powdered, and wad in so I can mess around with one. I'm using buffer (powdered plastic) so that should protect the bottom ball a bit. My thought is to maybe put the hard ball on the bottom, pure lead ball on top. The buckshot that I got is from Hornady, so it's pretty hard stuff. The buffer should soak up a good bit of the initial shock. I can try 2 wheelweight balls in 1 shell, too. Little harder, shouldn't deform as much as pure lead balls.

OK, you got me thinking. I just took a wad and set 5 buckshot in, RB on top, 5 more buck, the RB again. Looks like the buckshot holds the second RB about 1/32" from touching the bottom ball. Maybe it will squish down a bit when I crimp?
Click to expand...


The loads are built. Just waiting for a day off to test.
 
^^^I'd think with only a 1/32" gap, the shot would dimple into the ball and the balls would meet pretty quickly.
So long as the ball doesn't get a 1/2" run at the ball in front of it, I'd think you should be alright.
Fun stuff!
 
I got to the range to test the loads.
Conclusion: stick with a single RB and buckshot. Testing at 25 yds showed that one of the round balls still came close to point-of aim. However, the second ball was always at least 8" away and was in a different location on the target every time. One shot, it would be above the first ball, next shot would be at 4:00 from the first ball, etc. The buckshot was sacrificial, it was all over the paper, spread around. My guess is that the RB, going past the buckshot is causing it to just spray out in a circular pattern.

Oh well, 15 rounds of double RB to blast away for fun (or dismantle the rounds and save to components).

Hope my experiment helps someone that's been thinking about trying loads like this.
 
it would pattern better if you put the round ball on top I have a card wad load for a hull that are no longer made that uses 1 1/2 of shot. turns out you can take 3 00 buck then put a donut card wad on top of it then a .65 round ball on that makes a nice buck and ball load i'll have to try it with #1 buck that way I get 4 pellets instead of 3 and its still deer legal ive also done the same with lee 1 oz slugs the card between the ball/slug helps stop it from deforming and with the buckshot on the bottom of the ball/slug will not make it spread as much
 
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