I've turned my wads sideways to start them in then level them with the ramrod and seat them. The cushipon wads with lube saturated in them can get messy stuffun them in. There are 13ga. wads and I got those to get in easier.Then make sure the over shot wad is 12ga. size to hold the shot in.
I tried the plastic shot cups like I use fer re-loading once fired shot shells.
I never got any improvements in patterns with those. I thunk they tumble in the air before all the shot is out if them.
Whenever I read the V.M. Starr stuff all I get from it that helps is the thought that he shot old originals and they always had longer barrels than what we get our hands on today with the new doubles. The barrels should be at least 36 inches I'd say to get better patterns.
The single barreled shotgun I helped my brother get together(I did the work and he watched........sometimes ha ha ha ) had the Melot 36 inch barrel with the mod.choke at the muzzle. I could get good turkey loads(have to be dense patterns to hit the turkeys little head) out of that barrel by simply upping the amount of shot some. Last turkey I got with it was at 32 long paces and it wacked that tom right down with just the regular over the powder card and then the fiber cushion wad saturated with lube some and then the shot and then the over the shot wad thin "cork"card. All 12 ga. size since the wads went in easy enough. I used a 3 dram load of powder and about 1 1/2 oz. of shot. Didn't hurt anything.
Frankly speaking and referring to the short barrels doubles we have to put up with.......I figure the best way to get good patterns that rival a shot shell breech loader would be to .......take the over powder card and cushion wad behind the shot load and the over shot card out of the equation. The wads behind push thru the load chain and the card in front help spread the shot load into donut patterns .......once the shot is entering free air space with no barrel walls to support it.
Ya like....waaaaaa daaaaa heck is he sayin????? No wads to push from behind and no over the shot card?????? Impossible to load that way unless the barrels are kept vertical and the game is right straight over head to be able to shoot straight up. ha ha ha ha
I thunk it can be done. How?
I think using something like a SABOT to hold the shot in the gun that is split in two halves with each end closed and open in between the ends to make space for the shot. Make the front two halves that close up the front with a hollow bowl type front to the sabot so the wind will get in the front end bowl and open the sabot and let the shot fly free like a breech loader shot column does once the sabot opens and slows the wads behind the shot and opens the front that holds the shot in the gun. Trick would be gettin the two halves filled with the shot load and together to stick in the gun. I figure doing the shot load in the two helves would be done "in"a bowl of shot to fill each half and get them together and held that way with rubber bands or ties till it's stuffed in the bore when loadin the gun.
I've make the sabot out of wood like balsa wood and hollow the two halves leavin some at the ends to hold the shot in the hollow sabot. Maybe the balsa wood would just break up when the charge was fired and that would be better yet maybe.
Maybe it would take hard wood to make a sabot if balsa wood is too soft. Might be the best way yet to improve muzzleloader patterns.
I plan on trying that and if it works I'll patent the idea and manufacture the things and get rich. ha ha ha ha Who knows....might be a good idea.
One other idea I want to try is to make a roll or tube of wool felt so the shot is inside the roll of felt.....just one piece that lines the diameter of the barrels bore. Have a felt or cork wad clued to the front and rear but......only clued half way around the wads so when the roll with the ends closed with the wads glued only half way around to the felt roll liner in the barrel......the whole thing blows out the barrel and unrolls and the ends that are wads get out of the way of the shot when glued half way around them and.....the rear end of the roll with a wad glued hampers the over powder wads from blowing thru the shot and making the donut pattern. It would be like a wool felt barrel liner just long enough to hold the right amount of shot and open up once it's out the barrel and let the shot load free fly without the wads behind and the wads in front messing up the pattern of shot load. Like a rolled sabot that opens in the air and lets the shot free fly like a modern shot shell does....lets the shot free fly once it's out the barrel.
Whatta ya Hombres thunk???? Think something like these ideas would make a totally different way toload muzzleloader shotguns and get great patterns????
Thunk I could get rich if I don't tell anyone bout the ideas and patent them????
Don't tell anyone you guys..... alright? I'd like to get rich offa one of my ideas afore I go pushin up daiseys.
If someone like Ballistics products made a plastic shot cup that was split like the petals of a modern shot cup but.......had the ends folded at 90 degrees and over lapped to hold the shot in the gun and this shot cup was sorta flat and greased so the rear was round like a regular shot cup once stuffed in the bore and the petals of the shot cup closed when pushed in the bore and the whole thing was springy enough to open and get sorta flat once out of the bore the thing would open and let the shot free fly without the wads behind or in front to hamper the shot pattern. The opened shot cup would get sorta flat once it springs open and slows the over powder wad and cushion wad so as not to blow a donut pattern from behind in the shot charge.
That would work I'd say. The operator loadin the gun would stuff the thing almost all the way in the bore with a smaller than bore size tube stuck in the folded plastic shot cup that pushed it in the gun and.....lets the operator pour shot in the folded/in the bore shot cup as the tube is withdrawn and the shot cups folded at 90 degrees ends close the front and then the whole thing is pushed down the bore with the shotgun type ramrod. The tube to push it in the bore and pour shot in it to fill it could have a funnel type end fer pouring in the shot and pushin the folded shot cup
in the gun.
It's just a thought I guess I'll test and when it works I'll patent that too and get even richer.
Don't tell anyone bout this Hombres. Alright?
It's just a matter of problem solving. The problem.....wads behind and in front of the shot load disrupts the shot load once in the air and blows the patterns to hell. Solution.......get rid of the wads behind and in front to let the shot charge free fly once out the end of the gun and in the air.