20 gauge flintlock shotgun loads what the min and maximum it can be loaded with?

Muzzle loader? Shotshells? Black powder? Min and Max loads are published. By the way, there are no smoothbore rifles. Rifles have rifling. Musket perhaps?

There's BP shotgun load data in the Lyman BP Handbook and Reloading Guide.

For a smoothbore muzzle loader a pretty good rule of thumb is your shot load, by volume, is the same as the powder load, by volume. At least for starters.
Both my 62 and 54 flint fowlers seem to like 60gr of 3f for the powder load. I load 1 1/4oz shot in the 62 and 1oz shot in the 54 and have gotten turkeys with each of them.
Max loads, I would think, are set by the manufacturer.

^^^
They are both cylinder bore and I have patterned them at 20 yards as my max for a turkey. Both the birds that I shot were within 15 yards though.
Both guns will shoot roundballs and are "minute of white tail" at 50 yards. I got a doe two seasons ago with the 62 but she was within 15 or 20 yards when I shot. Neither gun has a rear sight but with practice that is not a problem.

noelf2 said:

Muzzle loader? Shotshells? Black powder? Min and Max loads are published. By the way, there are no smoothbore rifles. Rifles have rifling. Musket perhaps?

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Actually the OP may be confused because there is a style of smoothbore known as a "smooth rifle". They look just like a rifle, yet the bore, which is often in a rifle caliber, is smooth.

When it comes to muzzleloaders, the really basic "starting load" rule for a single projectile is grains of powder = caliber, and you round that number depending on your adjustable powder measure. So in your case .62 = 60 grains or 65 grains, and you'd probably start with a .610, patched, round ball.

Most of your 62 rifle shooters, however, probably use quite a bit more powder than that. Another method to determine what is a good load, give or take some test shooting, is to take the weight of the ball in grains, and divide that by 3, and the result is then rounded to the nearest 5. So a .610, pure lead ball weighs 342 grains, and that divided by 3 = 114, and that rounded to the nearest 5 is 115 grains. That's pretty much 2x the first "rule" above, but I know several .62 roundball shooters who shoot between 90 and 110 grains of 2Fg in their .62 rifles.

When it comes to shot...,
One basic method is you choose a powder load, and then use the measure set for that powder load to measure your shot. This is often called the square load, but it seems most effective with choked guns, from what I've been able to determine.

Yet,with an unchoked barrel as you get in some muzzle loading shotguns, otherwise known as a cylinder bore, shooters often trade the number of pellets for shooting to a farther distance. The farther the distance the fewer the pellets that reach the target because of the wide spreading of the cloud of pellets in flight (since there is no choke), so the pellets must be larger and thus heavier to do more damage, but when you increase the size to get more mass per pellet, you lower the actual number of pellets in loads of equal volume.

With For example an ounce of #5 shot has half the pellets that an ounce of #7½ shot carries, with #5 considered good for squirrel, rabbit, and turkey, while #7½ is considered pheasant and grouse size for a lot of people. For those shooters, to counteract the lack of pellets, some increase the shot load beyond the "square load". (Some folks make the point that the head of the turkey is the target, and the head is quite vulnerable to #7½ shot, and would rather opt for the larger number of pellets.)

I like to look at modern shotshells. Until the 21st century, even though black powder shells were gone from the average hunting store, shotshell boxes listed "dram equivalent" on the label, which was leftover from the days of black powder shells. Choked or cylinder bore, the powder to lead had to work well..., the choke simply gave the shooter longer range. I noticed that a lot of 20 gauge shells had either "2½ dram equivalent" or "3 dram equivalent" listed on the box, and shot loads went from 3/4 ounce for target loads, to 7/8-1 ounce for hunting loads, and 1¼ ounces or more for turkey..., to be used in choked barrels. So I checked and 2½ dram = 68.25 grains of powder (which I would round to 70 grains), and 3 dram = 81.9 grains (which I would round to 80 grains). So I have used 70 grains of 2Fg in my flintlock 20 gauge, with a 1/2" fiber wad between the powder and the shot, and an ounce of #6 for squirrels and birds with good effect. The max range is 20 yards, and I try to get it well under 20. IF I get a chance at a turkey, I will probably up that load to 1¼ ounces. I know some fellows who shoot 2 ounces, but I don't want to stress my barrel on my flinter, nor my shoulder that much.

Bottom line is, though You need to test the pellet pattern with different load combinations. I have a choked, caplock, SxS in 20 gauge that loves #6 shot, but for some reason smaller or larger pellets..., I don't get consistent patterns.

LD

Are such heavy shot loads common in muzzle loaders? 3 DE 1 1/4 oz is a 20 ga magnum with nitro. I would expect low velocity with black. In Greener's day 1 1/4 oz was a pretty heavy 12 gauge load.

Shot usually does better when the volume of shot is greater than the volume of black powder. I own a flintlock early American smoothbore (fowler) and use heavier charges when shooting ball than when shooting shot. The barrel, itself, is the cartridge case and some flintlock shooters use upwards of 90 + grains of 2F or a little less of 3F. Pattern the shot to find your best load; shoot three shot groups at 50 yards to find the most accurate ball load. I like ball in smoothbores and use mine on deer.

Only if you plan to use it as a shotgun.
The 20 bore (also 24 and 28) seem more period correct for light fowlers, fusils, trade guns, and "smooth rifles."

midland man said:

so guys if I may ask how come the 20 gauge is more popular than the 12 gauge? everywhere I look the guys who build custom make more 20 gauge guns than 12 gauge, so wouldn't a 12 gauge be better?

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Of course a 16 or a 12 would be better, but as Jim Watson wrote, the 20 bore was very very common in the flintlock era. That was probably due more to the cost and weight of the projectiles and the amount of powder used, when resupply was iffy at times. You get 8 more round ball in the 20 than the 12, so that's probably 8 more deer or elk or moose, per pound of lead in a 20 gauge than in a 12. I don't think the smoothbore users saw much advantage, short of waterfowl, with the larger smooth bore. 20's were light, and got the job done. They knew perfectly well about the larger bores..., heck military muskets went from 20 gauge for artillery carbines and officer fusils, to 14 gauge for French muskets to 11 gauge for British muskets... so I conclude it was gun weight, and ammo weight and availability.


LD

Also a lot of the common smoothbores were the trade guns. By picking a standard gauge/caliber it probably made it much easier for re-supply as well as cheaper for manufacturing.