I've been doing a little research and found the adaptors that can be inserted into a single shot smoothbore to use 209 primers, and then front-load the shotgun with loose black powder and shot. Has anyone here used one of these things? How did it work? I have a 16 gauge NEF single that I was thinking about doing this with for short range deer hunting here in Fl using buckshot. Also, where do you get the buckshot pellets, and how many do you know to put in the thing? The most popular pellet size around here for deer is #1, which is what most people use for a modern 12 gauge hunting deer with dogs. Any info appreciated.
You asked a lot of questions.
1. I haven't used one.
2. From videos and descriptions they work okay.
One issue with the 16 ga. is that they're only rated for 75 to 80 grains of powder.
But I don't know how strict that needs to be followed.
Personally I would want to hunt with more powder than that which may be possible if you exceeded the recommendation but then you would be taking a risk.
Otherwise its use would be more limited than if loading a regular muzzle loading shotgun.
Another issue is how deep the loaded shot or buckshot would be seated in the shotshell chamber and whether that could affect performance much.
That could be a reason for the powder limitation but I'm not sure.
A shotgun chamber has a lip against which a regular shotshell abuts when it's loaded.
The plastic shotshell wad helps the load of shot to smoothly by-pass that ridge.
But with the adaptor the powder and bare shot will be loaded below that ridge and the shot won't pass by it as smoothly as a normal shotshell load would.
And it could effect performance a little bit by causing the balls of shot to not exit that chamber area smoothly.
I don't know if it really matters or not other than it could affect how many balls of buckshot that you want to load.
3. You can buy bulk buckshot two ways.
One place is Ballistic Products which sells it in 8 lb. jugs in almost any size that you want. --->>>
https://www.ballisticproducts.com/Lead-Buckshot/products/65/
Another source of buckshot is Hornady which sells some sizes in 5 lb. boxes.
But good luck finding any because it's not available very often, everyone sells out and then it takes forever to get it back in stock. --->>>
https://www.hornady.com/bullets/buckshot#!/
4. How many buckshot to use is a good question.
Normal shot loads are called square loads which are a 50/50 ratio of powder and shot.
That means if you set your powder measure for 80 grains of powder, you should also load 80 grains of shot.
But buckshot is not as easy to load by volume because they're larger and create more air space in the powder measure between the balls of shot.
Shot loads can also be over loaded with shot to improve patterning.
That means that a person may need to count the balls of shot and experiment with loads.
And the amount of buckshot could also depend on how much powder you end up loading.
100 grains of powder is usually more of a normal amount, and a full load of shot can normally be from 100 to 200 grains volume if the balls of shot were small.
But I'm not sure with the buckshot since it could depend on the size of the buckshot that you buy to hunt with.
For instance, a 12 ga. #00 buckshot shotshell contains 9 balls of .330 diameter buckshot which is one single ball over a 1 oz load.
More balls can be loaded if using a smaller size of buckshot, and weighing the balls would verify how many grains [or ounces] of lead that you're loading.
There's also a buckshot chart on this Wiki page that indicates how many balls of each size it takes to make a 1 ounce load.
A 1 ounce load of buckshot would be on the smaller side, but may be appropriate for use with the adaptor.
Use this as a guide. --->>>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_shell#Buckshot
POWDER MEASURE SETTINGS TO THROW OUNCES OF SHOT:
50 grain setting = 3/4 ounce of shot
60 grain setting = 7/8 ounce of shot
70 grain setting = 1 ounce of shot
80 grain setting = 1 1/8 ounce of shot
90 grain setting = 1 1/4 ounce of shot
100 grain setting = 1 3/8 ounce of shot
110 grain setting = 1 1/2 ounce of shot
120 grain setting = 1 5/8 ounce of shot
Here's some equal volume loads:
oz. shot-----Dr. powder-------Grains
3/4-------------2--------------55
7/8-------------2 1/4----------62
1---------------2 1/2----------68
1 1/8-----------2 3/4----------75
1 1/4-----------3--------------82
1 3/8-----------3 1/4----------89
1 1/2-----------3 1/2----------96
1 5/8-----------3 3/4----------102
1 3/4-----------4--------------109
1 7/8-----------4 1/4----------116
2---------------4 1/2----------123
2 1/8-----------4 3/4----------130
2 1/4-----------5--------------137
1 oz. of lead shot weighs 437.5 grains.
1 1/8 oz. of lead shot weighs 492.1 grains.
1.25 oz. of lead shot weighs 546.8 grains.
1 Dram - 27.3 grains of powder by volume