12 Pellet 2 3/4" 00 Buck Load

[Snowdog]

I've recently added 12 and 20 gauge to what I reload and after purchasing some once-fired Rio shells, 6 different wads, Fiocchi primers as well as Green Dot, Blue Dot, Clays and Longshot, I began loading some of the 7/8 ounce Lee slugs and 00 buck I've casted.

The slugs loaded (with GreenDot) perfectly, but I ran into something slightly concerning that might be a bunch of nothing when transitioning to buckshot. The only load I could find in the Lyman shotshell manual that used both the wad (WAA12R) and powder (Alliant BlueDot) I already had on hand is a 12-pellet 00 buck load. That's great as I really wanted to load 12 pellet 00b loads.

However... that last layer of 3 sits above the wad and contacts the interior of the shotshell, which means it will also contact the bore upon firing.

Since it's just one layer and not all four, is the a big deal? I followed recipe in the Lyman manual except for the hull and primer manufacture. The powder, wad and buckshot are to the letter. Certainly they must already know the 4th stack of 3 sits above the wad.

The buckshot and drive key slugs were both made out of clip-on wheel weights.

I've been reloading cartridges for around 20 years, casting for 5 but I'm brand new to shotshell reloading. This might be a "newbie" question....

 

[748]

There are lots of factory shot shells like that.
What's you WAA12R, 12 pellet load with bluedot?
I have those wads and bluedot. But I dont know what to do with the bluedot. Got it to try it and just haven't had good results in center fire pistol.

 

[Snowdog]

748, this is directly from the 5th edition Lyman manual:

Blue dot 34.0 gr
Fed 209A primer
WAA12R wad
12 00buck
1350 fps
10,000 psi pressure

 

[Barbaroja]

Hey snowdog the only hull I see that load for in the Lyman shotshell book is in the federal gold medal hulls. It’s not a good idea to substitute hulls as the construction and internal capacity is different from one type to another and will drastically effect the pressures.
On top of that the additional substitution of a different primer is not recommended, again because of the pressure changes. Shotshells are very low pressure compared to metallic cartridges and a few Thousand psi difference is huge in shotshell reloading.
I don’t mean to come off as rude but this is serious stuff. One mistake can have major impacts.



All that said I’m glad to see more people seeing value in reloading for their shotguns. I’ve been doing it for a while now. Started when I wanted to shoot more slugs. I have a lot of components sitting around if you need some different hulls or wads to try out I would be happy to send you some.
As to over stacking the wad, it will open your pattern up some, but the pellets in the cup will stay on target. I’ve had trouble with buckshot blowing out the Seal in the bottom of the wad. If you have that issue try a 20ga overshot card in the bottom of the wad before you put your pellets in.

There is a YouTube channel called bubbaroundtreeoutdoors that has a lot of interesting videos on buckshot and slug reloading.
Have fun be safe.

 

[Snowdog]

Barbaroja, that's some excellent information! Being new to reloading for my shotguns, this information is concerning. I seems I'm going to go back on the hunt for some once-fired hulls and primers (just when I thought that hunt was over).
Something tells me finding info for Rio hulls might be challenging.

Thanks again for that info and no, I don't find a friendly "heads-up" rude at all!

 

[Barbaroja]

There are lots of factory shot shells like that.
What's you WAA12R, 12 pellet load with bluedot?
I have those wads and bluedot. But I dont know what to do with the bluedot. Got it to try it and just haven't had good results in center fire pistol.

I like to use 36gn of bluedot and the waa12r wad in a Winchester AA Hull for a 1 1/4oz field load that i find quite effective.
My slug load is 38gn of bluedot with a 1oz Lee slug,Winchester western wt12 wad in a Remington hull, I usually use gun clubs but one piece Remington hulls are all the same with different color plastic.
Blue dot is great. I need more.
I really like the waa12r wads, I got about 3700 of them at an estate sale once for $1 per bag. Old stock from a serious duck hunter from before the switch to steel. So I kinda have to like them at this point.

 

[Barbaroja]

Barbaroja, that's some excellent information! Being new to reloading for my shotguns, this information is concerning. I seems I'm going to go back on the hunt for some once-fired hulls and primers (just when I thought that hunt was over).
Something tells me finding info for Rio hulls might be challenging.

Thanks again for that info and no, I don't find a friendly "heads-up" rude at all!

Lucky for you shotgun primers seem to be available still, at least near me. I use Winchester primers but that’s mostly due to it being the first brick I purchased and I developed loads I like based on them, so I continue with then. I haven’t found a buckshot load I like yet but as I mentioned bubbaroundtreeoutdoors on youtube has Some loads on there I’d be interested in trying. He’s getting some really tight patterns out a 50-60meters , interesting stuff.

 

[DRM7997]

Something else you may want to watch for is some European hulls use slightly larger primers and primer pockets than the US made hulls. They still say 209 but they are not quite the same. Had winchester primers fall out of Rio hulls. I had federal shells that I tried to reload (sold at walmart in 100 packs) that did the same thing. Us hulls will take euro primers but they eventually enlarge the primer pocket.

Enjoy shotshell reloading. I miss it

 

[Patocazador]

If any of you remember the old paper shells, there was no cup to hold the shot. The wad was a fiber wad at the base and the pellets were contained in the paper shell itself. If you want more room, you can buy the plastic base wads (no cup) and the shell will hold more shot.

 

[748]

36 to 38 grains per shot would eat up a lot of bluedot fast. I have 1oz the Lee slug mold too.

I remember those. When I was a kid I would take them apart to get the black powder out of them. Yes I found shells that were actually loaded with BP.

 

[Barbaroja]

My 1oz slug load is really accurate for me out of my mossberg 500 with the factory modified choke.

Lee 1oz key drive slug
Remington 2 3/4” gun club hull
Winchester western wt12 wad
38gn bluedot
Win 209 primer

The claybuster waa12 doesn’t work as it’s not an EXACT clone