FWIW, the 12 gauge is a Benelli SS, 30" barrel that I shoot Sporting and FITASC with. The 16 gauge is a Browning Citori, 28" barrels that I shoot some Sporting with but mostly use it to hunt with.

 

interesting post, good data, thx!
I shoot all my skeet with 3/4oz (12, 20, 28) or 1/2oz 410. 16ga I do 1oz Herters. That's a lot easier at 22yds and easy tracks, than your shots. It takes someone like you with experience and skill to do a test like this, for me to believe longer range 3/4oz info. Thanks much for doing it and posting!

 

Dave,

Thanks for the kind words. I was pretty surprised with those 3/4 oz. loads. I started out on the toughest Parcours, which are all fairly long targets that are set to dip, curl, fade out and in etc. The targets are reset often and I hadn't ever seen these targets before. Probably not the best comparison but I figured if I can break these targets with 3/4 oz. load in a shotgun that really isn't a clays shotgun, that would give me a good idea on what to expect. Typically I break about 5 - 7 targets more per 100 using the Benelli over the Citori on a real sporting clays course.

At some point I will probably buy some 3/4 oz. wads and try it with the 12 gauge.....just not too sure the Benelli will cycle the 3/4 oz. loads......although it does fine with 7/8 oz. loads.

 

Good stuff, Mark. I once had a little 16 ga. Belgian OU that I wanted to baby a little with light loads. The one time I shot half a sporting clays course with it using 3/4 oz loads I recorded a 46/50. Maybe a lucky day, but it impressed me nonetheless.

 

I agree about the chokes. When I first started loading 3/4oz 12 gauge, I found the patterns with the IC to not be as good as I wanted them to be. Switching to either a LM or M seemed to make a big difference. I run my 12 ga loads at 1275 (over a chrono) and they work great for practice.

 

I've shot 3/4oz loads for years in the 12ga, but the CB-0175-12 is used, one designed for 3/4oz loads. I use to load em at 1200fps but found they pattern too tight shooting skeet. Now I load over 1300fps and I get pretty nice breaks out to 40 yds with just I/C or LM. About all my shooting is with old SxSs, so light loads are my friend seeing how they don't recoil hardly at all. Just had a nice round of SCs using them.

 

Dave,

Thanks for the kind words. I was pretty surprised with those 3/4 oz. loads. I started out on the toughest Parcours, which are all fairly long targets that are set to dip, curl, fade out and in etc. The targets are reset often and I hadn't ever seen these targets before. Probably not the best comparison but I figured if I can break these targets with 3/4 oz. load in a shotgun that really isn't a clays shotgun, that would give me a good idea on what to expect. Typically I break about 5 - 7 targets more per 100 using the Benelli over the Citori on a real sporting clays course.

At some point I will probably buy some 3/4 oz. wads and try it with the 12 gauge.....just not too sure the Benelli will cycle the 3/4 oz. loads......although it does fine with 7/8 oz. loads.

I have never seen a Benelli that would cycle a 3/4 oz loading.

 

Me either, I don't have high hopes that it will cycle 3/4 oz. loads.
.....and I don't think it is something I would invest much time in.

 

my Benelli cant do 3/4 oz. i thought about ramping some up too get the minimum cycling.
its a monty, and it is well cared for and lubricated. it can cycle 7/8oz loads at 1450. i had one stoppage or 2 in a hundred. anything afterthat its a dream gun.

 

My Model 1100 Tournament Skeet will cycle them most of the time and both my VersaMax and my Skeet Super X One Skeet model will cycle them all of the time.

 

cookoff013,

My SS will cycle 7/8 oz. @ 1250 FPS. Haven't tried 7/8 oz. at a lower velocity, not really all that interested in it to be honest.

I just wanted to try 3/4 oz. at something other than skeet to satisfy my curiosity.

Just like every other time I have tried a different load, the actual results are really not different than any other load I have ever tried.

It comes down to this for me.

Using a 3/4 oz. load is giving up something in the neighborhood of 88 pellets over a 1 oz. load. That is a 26% reduction in pellet count. If the person standing next to me, with similar skills is shooting a 1 oz. load and I am using 3/4 oz., I am putting myself at a disadvantage, and that doesn't strike me as an intelligent decision.

As far as recoil goes. I shoot an autoloader with 1 oz. loads at 1250 FPS......recoil is not an issue.

Casonet,

Yeah I know that gas guns will cycle 3/4 oz. loads. I only tried 3/4 oz. loads for ha-ha's, and I don't see spending another $1500 to $2000 just to be able to shoot a load I won't ever use.

 

I load 3/4 oz in everything larger than the .410, because I no longer shoot competitive skeet and it's just fine for casual shooting with the boys.

 

casonet,

For having fun, that seems like a perfect plan for 3/4 oz. loads. No recoil and the targets break.

 

It also saves a little money on the shot

 

A Fabarm XLR5 will cycle 3/4 oz. I had some left over from shooting skeet, using N100 and Extralite powders. N100 is faster than TiteWad and for me burns cleaner. I put in a U3 and was surprised how effective they were at sporting clays. I shot them after shooting the 100 bird corse to work on certain targets. My subconscious could tell the difference on recoil even with a auto. I am thinking of loading more for practice purposes. What I fount out the 35+ targets I could see a more definitive non centered target break. This for me would be helpful in knowing were my shot was at, and the recoil reduction is a plus.

 

I use the 3/4 oz for shooting clays. They work good so far over 6,000 no problems. Use pump shotguns.

 

I am a " newbee " regards shotshell reloading and am looking for information how to SAFELY convert 20 gauge 7/8 oz shot load date to load 1/2 oz, 5/8 oz and 3/4 oz shot and/or slug loads for a 20 gauge Mossberg SA20.

I have the Lyman 5th Edition, BPI's Advantages Manual in addition to other load data info, with ONLY BPI providing data but for THEIR stocked Euro hulls -

I have Rem Prem STS hulls mostly with WIN 209, CCI 209 and CCI 209M primers.

There has to be " SOME FORMULA / CONVERSION TABLE " to be able to reduce the powder charge in relation to the shot / slug charge to accomplish producing a safe reduced recoil load.

I have commercial made slugs by Remington ( Slugger ) which have 1/2 oz and 5/8 oz slugs,
Also Winchester has the Super X 3/4 oz slug @ 1600 FPS

Therefore, it is obviously DOABLE !

Clue me in as to WHERE and/or HOW I can access the necessary info to emulate what the Big Boys are doing !

Thanks in advance, Ed

 

From 7/8 to 3/4 drop less shot in the proper 3/4oz wad; works great

 

From 7/8 to 3/4 drop less shot in the proper 3/4oz wad; works great

Could you possibly expound on that ?

I assumed that my QUESTION was EXPLICIT -

Whereas your REPLY is VAGUE

 

I am a " newbee " regards shotshell reloading and am looking for information how to SAFELY convert 20 gauge 7/8 oz shot load date to load 1/2 oz, 5/8 oz and 3/4 oz shot and/or slug loads for a 20 gauge Mossberg SA20.

I have the Lyman 5th Edition, BPI's Advantages Manual in addition to other load data info, with ONLY BPI providing data but for THEIR stocked Euro hulls -

I have Rem Prem STS hulls mostly with WIN 209, CCI 209 and CCI 209M primers.

There has to be " SOME FORMULA / CONVERSION TABLE " to be able to reduce the powder charge in relation to the shot / slug charge to accomplish producing a safe reduced recoil load.

I have commercial made slugs by Remington ( Slugger ) which have 1/2 oz and 5/8 oz slugs,
Also Winchester has the Super X 3/4 oz slug @ 1600 FPS

Therefore, it is obviously DOABLE !

Clue me in as to WHERE and/or HOW I can access the necessary info to emulate what the Big Boys are doing !

Thanks in advance, Ed

Ed: you jumping the shark here by not only going from 12/16 ga to 20 ga., but from shot to slugs. I suggest you start a new thread with your questions. And doesn't Lyman's 5th have slug data? And maybe BPI.

 

ETN,

Slug data is different from shot data, which is different than buckshot data, which is different from .........

There are no conversion charts. You either have data for a particular load or you don't.

Also what the factories do, isn't always what you can do as a reloader. Not all components are available to the reloader. Many wads, slugs, primers and powders are only available to the OEM's.

With shotshells you have to do your homework first, which means finding reloading data first, then you can buy the components. DO NOT BUY first components and then look for data.

 

ETN,

There is another way to tackle this. There are at least 2 entities that will test loads that you develop. $5.00 a shot usually a minimum of 5 shots to get a reasonable test.

The one fly in the ointment is you have to have a good idea on what components you need and how much and what kind of primer/powder combination will work to produce a good, safe load. If not you can spend a lot of ching going back and forth until you hit on the combination that works.

 

From 7/8 to 3/4 drop less shot in the proper 3/4oz wad; works great

Could you possibly expound on that ?

I assumed that my QUESTION was EXPLICIT -

Whereas your REPLY is VAGUE

Take any 7/8 OZ recipe, replace the wad with a 3/4 oz wad and drop 3/4 oz of shot in it and you are good to go.
If you are using a WWAAHS-20 hull, you really can use your 7/8 oz wad with 3/4 oz of shot.
How much more explicit would you like to have?

 

From 7/8 to 3/4 drop less shot in the proper 3/4oz wad; works great

Could you possibly expound on that ?

I assumed that my QUESTION was EXPLICIT -

Whereas your REPLY is VAGUE

Read this. https://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewto ... 3&t=421067

 

From 7/8 to 3/4 drop less shot in the proper 3/4oz wad; works great

Could you possibly expound on that ?

I assumed that my QUESTION was EXPLICIT -

Whereas your REPLY is VAGUE

Read this. https://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewto ... 3&t=421067

Thank You - I read that entire post prior to posing my question on this one.