Homemade Shotcups for BP ML Guns

[Gobblerizer]

What is Best Material for this?

Now,I've read Post it Notes,Ticking and Cardstock, which is easiest,Fastest reliable?

I've also heard about Plastic wads ,i.e. Power Pistons, & BPI CD20 With Cushioning & Obturating base cut off & People Not wanting Plastic residue
left in barrel.

If anyone here has any suggestions,I am Open to consider them.

Mario

 

[BCRider]

For smoothbore muzzle loaders you can simply not bother with a cup of any sort.

I was at a recent black powder shoot where we shot trap. The folks with the old patched round ball smoothbores simply poured in the powder, inserted a tight fitting felt wad about 3/8 thick then poured in the measure of shot then an overshot card wad to hold the shot in place. These guys did quite well on the trap range with this setup. In fact it was one of these smooth bore FLINTERS that won the men's trap event.

 

[Gobblerizer]

Hi BC!

Thanks for the tip,which would be great or Trap or Skeet. I guess I shoulda mentioned that I was using the gun for Turkey Hunting,next spring! I needed a "Focused" Pattern!

My Barrel is a Grn.Mtn. .62 Smoothbore,Bought on ebay! BTW what load do you guys use for trap?
Mario

 

[Busyhands94]

I've done some experimenting with shot loads from a rifled barrel, the best soloution I found was to grind the rim off some empty .410's, cut to the desired length, then cut them down part of the way. I seated a few card wads made from milk cartons over the powder. It's not a tight fit in the barrel so it doesn't grab the rifling, and it patterns pretty darn well at closer ranges. Of course if you have a musket you could find a shotgun shell that fits the bore close enough and do the same thing. Brass having a bearing effect slips over the rifling like butter, in a smoothbore you should be fine.

~Levi

 

[ThorinNNY]

You probably don`t need a shot cup with a BP muzzle loader.I`ve seen guys consistently break clay pigeons using toilet paper for wadding. They would moisten the TP just a bit so it wouldnt set the surronding grass on fire. Actually, if you come across abandoned wasp or hornets nest, it makes great over the powder wadding, dosen`t have to be moistened so it wont burn. Then you can use paper for over the shot wadding.

 

[St8LineGunsmith]

dude is looking for turkey shoot pattern not a skeet shoot pattern.

here is what you need: a piece of wood dowel that will fit into your barrel just right a little loose is ok but not too loose cut pieces of card stock the heighth of the cups you want to make that will wrap around the dowel at least three times, cut circles out the diameter of the dowel.
wrap the card stock around the dowel and tape with scotch tape.
then put a card stock bottom on the dowel and tape it good enough to make a seal then carefully remove the card cup from the dowel.

here is the trick:
melt paraffin in a small pot. once the paraffin has melted pour the shot directly into the paraffin, spoon out the shot and fill the cups to the top with the paraffin saturated shot let the shot and pariffin harden then remove the card stock.

you will still need to use over powder and over shot wad but you will not get anything that will hold a tighter pattern than this.

sounds like a lot of work but if you try it once this is the only way you will do it from now on.

 

[Oldnamvet]

Could you accomplish the same thing if you poured the/some melted paraffin into the shotcup containing the shot? Then push it down onto the opw and top off with an osw.

 

[St8LineGunsmith]

I guess you could do it that way just easier for me to put the shot right in the melted wax and spoon out the amount I need to fill the cup I suppose you could take the process a step farther by placing a OSW on top of the unmelted paraffin then stick the OPW on the bottom for a one piece load

or you might even make a cup to contain a OPW the shot then a OSW then remove the card stock when you are ready to stuff a load.

might be something to experiment with.

 

[Gobblerizer]

Hey there St8line!

I Like the Idea of the Cardstock cups..and the wax saturated shot. but will it break up once gun is fired...and not act as a "Slug?" I got a partial bag of "circle fly 20 Ga 1/2" fiber wads w/ my Barrel ...Should I Use them or Just a couple card type opw's? I will most likely use Milk Carton(Waxed Cardboard)as an OSW. I was also tunking of using Whole grain cornmeal as a buffering agent! So shooting the wax coated shot,won't hurt barrel? Gonna give both of you udeas a whirl,let ya know!

An old BP Purveyor told me he uses a Ballistic Products CD20 Unslit "steel shot" type wad,leaving it unslit,pouing in the shot then lighting one of those 7" long "Emergency" candles and dripping the wax over shot then adding the osw ,But I guess he was trying to make a slug for Turkeys at a distance! I just want a dense Pattern!


Mario

 

[St8LineGunsmith]

gobbleizer
ya the powder charge will bust up the shot when ignited as it is hurled through the barrel and you will get a good 6" to 8" pattern at 35 yards at at 15 to 20 yards it will have a much tighter pattern in the neighborhood of 4" pattern at 10 yards it is probably more like a cut shot shell.
the trick is to make sure there is more shot than wax, you just want enough wax to hold the shot together you can also substitute bees wax for parafin and add a spoon full of crisco to the wax to soften it up or you can just skip the wax all together and just fill the card cup with shot and glue a wad on both ends of the cup with paraffin.
the paraffin works as a lubricant to protect the barrel.
you can experiment with it to find what works best for you.

try it you may not like the results but I am almost sure you will.

I know some guys who make what is called butter balls where they use bore butter to hold their shot together it is basically a measured out amount of shot with bore butter mixed in to hold the shot together and put in the corner of a thin sandwich bag capped with a wad under and over the shot

 

[Gobblerizer]

Thanx St8line!

I'll try these new methods out! Can't Have enough density where Spring Turkeys are concerned, especially One that "hang up" at 55+ Yards! I am Guessing 80Grs. FFg + 1-1/4 Oz. of Copper Plated(and Waxed) #4's or #6 or Duplex Load with in the Card cup is Good for 40+ Yards? BTW I also support PETA, they're delicious!

Mario

 

[St8LineGunsmith]

oh I forgot to mention that when you seat the load on the charge with the ram rod it will loosen up the shot from the paraffin a bit when it spreads out against the barrel wall but the paraffin will still hold the shot together enough for a good tight group.

the turkey balls makes a good seal too and probably is a lot faster to make up several loads than the paraffin but dont hold as tight of a group as the paraffin filler. it does however lube the barrel a little better than the paraffin load.

like I said mess around with both to see which you like better.

you may find you like both for different. applications