| 9.3x57 |
| (.450 member) |
| 06/03/24 01:09 AM |
|
Re: Unusual French shotguns, Boucher, St Etienne
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Uh, oh...we may never hear from John again once he goes down the Buckshot loading hole. I disappeared from society for about 5 years...
Quote:
If shooting medium game, eg pigs, goats, roos, fallow sized deer, and similar sized beasts, what shot size would you use?
SGs I think are .33". SSGs are I think .27".
SGs might have 9 pellets .33s.
SSGs have about 17 pellets (?) .27s,
32 gm 1 1/8 oz loads.
I've worked up many, many loads and shot boxes of shot and cast hundreds of pellets and lots and lots of time on the pattern board but Marrakai is the guy to get the flesh and bones performance from.
For my overview, see below...
Quote:
Will see how it shoots with shot through both barrels when I get hold of it.
I've got a small quantity of various slugs I was going to try through my Simson shotgun. I'll try in the Boucher. Later home loads of conicals, ball, slugs etc. I'll have to see if I've got any SGs and SSGs to try. I've 250 BB shotshells now.
I've just realised 2 1/2" 65mm chambers .... All of this ammo will be longer shotguns.
I can probably get 65 mm no 4vand no 6s, maybe 8s etc in 65 mm but don't SG sized shot or slugs ... Bugger, will slow it all down. I'll have to pull out the shotshells reloader for the first time in decades. And how to handle 65 mm shells.
The short chamber is not really all that big of a handicap tho you will have to handload most likely as I don't think you have many options in factory over there?
Anyway, the Hodgdon reloading site has 2 1/2" load data using powders I think you have over there (just called something different). If you have a drill press get a roll crimper bit or if you have an antique roll crimper that clamps to the table, you are set. Your challenge w/ buckshot will be fitting it in. It uses up more VOLUME than small shot for the same weight. Plastic cases can be trimmed just below the crimp and roll crimped for the short 2 1/2" loads. Works great.
As for pellet size see Marrakai but I think .30 to .33 cal is likely your best bet. A .30 cal pellet should allow a 3 pellet layer of 3 (9 total) I THINK in your short shells using an appropriate wad. A .27" (US #2 or Brit SSG) adds some more pellets but of the sizes I've used (.20, .24, .27, .31, .33, .34, .366) it seems to pattern from my guns the widest regardless of choke. Don't ask me why. That's the Rabbit Hole.
Remember: A 2 pellet stack will normally pattern the tightest due to the fewer dents caused by other pellets upon discharge. So if you can get 8 say .33's stacked 2x2 in a plastic wad, you will likely get a denser pattern (more pellets on target) than a standard non-wadded load using 9 or even 12 pellets. It may seem counter-intuitive but if 4 or 5 of your 9 pellet load "fly wide in the ditch" as Kipling said and only one does from your 8 pellet load, well, you see the point here. Sometimes the differences are not that dramatic but sometimes they are!