12 gauge Rem Fig.8 wad with 1 oz?

[sbwaters]

Hi. I have settled on 1 oz. loads for my casual skeet shooting.

I have about 500 Remington Figure 8 wads. (1-1/4 oz) left over. None of the recipes I have seen speak of underloading a wad by 1/4 oz.

For instance, 1-14 oz of #9, Rem STS hull, Rem 209P, Fig 8 wad, and 20.9 of Hodgdon International would give a nice 1200fps load.

It seems to me that dropping the load to 1 oz. would not violate the intent of the recipe and would only boost the speed a couple of dozen fps and not increase the pressure.

Your thoughts?

 

[FROGO207]

It is not just changing the speed of the load, it is the ability to crimp the load with the required firmness to get a good initial burn and therefore the correct velocity in the first place. You really need to follow a recipe and use the stated wad for a 1 oz. load. If you are asking how to do this you are not experienced enough to substitute components safely yet IMHO. FWIW I am not comfortable substituting things yet either. You do not treat shot shell reloading like metallic reloading there are some things that are safety related that are quite different. Matching the payload and the wad column height is really critical to a good crimp/successful load. Just as there are differences when loading black powder VS regular propellants you have to adhere to.

 

[rsrocket1]

The wad will affect stack height and putting only 1 oz of shot in a 1.25 oz wad will cause dished crimps. You can make up the space by adding a fiber wad to raise the shot stack to the top of the wad but that would add cost negating the cost savings of using up these wads. You could add a Cheerio or two to make up the extra space, but that gets messy as most shot drop stations first seat the wad then drop the shot on top of it and crimping onto a Cheerio tends to crumble it.

My suggestion would be to bite the bullet <g> and use the right wad for the load. A bag of 500 Claybusters usually only cost $10 and there are dozens of wads they clone. Dropping a 1.25 oz load to 1 ounce with the same powder and primer will also drop pressures and velocity which may lead to smokey sooty and inconsistent loads. Best to find one ounce loads with pressures at least 9000 psi.

 

[kudu]

Even going from 1 1/8oz wads to 1oz loads will leave a leaking hole in the middle of the crimp. Might want to save them for some future hunting loads. Get some pink 1 oz Claybuster wads and follow a recipe. About the only safe way to do what you want is to add some type of filler in the bottom of the wad to take up some room.

 

[George P]

You will need a bulky powder and most likely a few Cheerios to make up the stack height difference. Before ClayBuster came out with their 12 and 20 gauge 3/4oz wads, I was using 7/8 and a Cheerio to make up the difference. Another possibility is simply using some pre-cut overshot cards. If that powder charge was for 1-1/4oz, you MAY have to bump it up a little. I had to do that to get a more complete and better burn until I switched powders, so my 3/4 load runs right at 1275 (over a chrono) and is soft and work my gas guns as well.

 

[kudu]

Get some pink 1 oz Claybuster wads

Sorry, pink claybusters are 3/4oz 12 gauge wads, I know I have some green Dusters, in 1oz, but I can't recall exactly what the color is on 1oz claybuster. Silver for 7/8oz which is about all I load for anymore.

 

[sbwaters]

1 oz wads would be Rem TGT 12, WAA12SL, or Claybuster CB1100-12 (Pink). Use the CB1100-12 all the time for my Win AA HS.

On a test loading, the shot seems to fill the cup and the hull seals but is a little concave. No leaking.

Thanks all for the advice. No Cheerios for me.

 

[rsrocket1]

Sorry, pink claybusters are 3/4oz 12 gauge wads, I know I have some green Dusters, in 1oz, but I can't recall exactly what the color is on 1oz claybuster. Silver for 7/8oz which is about all I load for anymore.

CB-1100's (1 oz) are also pink although a milder pink than the CB-0175's (3/4 oz)



I actually use the CB-0178-12's with my 3/4 oz loads when I use a bulky powder like Red Dot. The dimensions of the 0178 are the same for the 0175's except the 0175's have a bump in the middle of the cup to make up for the lost volume of the 3/4 oz shot.

 

[rsrocket1]

1 oz wads would be Rem TGT 12, WAA12SL, or Claybuster CB1100-12 (Pink). Use the CB1100-12 all the time for my Win AA HS.

On a test loading, the shot seems to fill the cup and the hull seals but is a little concave. No leaking.

Thanks all for the advice. No Cheerios for me.

Great. Try them out. If they shoot well, you're good to go. If the shots are smokey and there is a lot of residue in your gun, you can up the charge by maybe a half a grain. International used to be a clean burning powder even when smokey and at low pressures but that was with the Australian ADI version of the powder. If you are shooting anything but a gas gun, then it probably won't matter.

If you are a stickler for a good looking shell, you can lower the precrimp down a little and lower the final crimp a little. That may put a small swirl in the crimp but it will also close up the shell nice and tight.

 

[sbwaters]

Emailed Hodgdon and described my “Oops!” I had misread the label on the International label as 1 oz rather than 1-1/4 and loaded 50 shells.
I asked them if I should buy a hull cutter and strip them or if I should just go to the Skeet range and blow away the evidence of my mistake.

For their insurance reasons they may say cut ’em up. We’ll see. Thanks, all for sharing your expertise.