One in a row....

In case it wasn't made clear in my previous posts, I reload all of the shotgun ammo that the kids and I use in competition. Like any other competition shooter, once I found "the load" that my guns liked I chiseled it in stone and never changed it: Winchester AA hull, Winchester 209 primer, 16.9 grains of IMR 700x powder, Pattern Control purple 1 ounce wad, 1 ounce of #7 1/2 extra hard shot. I didn't have a chronograph when I discovered this load so I have no idea how fast it was moving. The manual said that it should less than the 1200 fps maximum allowed by the ATA at the time, so I didn't really worry about it. This load would put almost 80% of the pellets into a 30" circle at 35 yards and would turn clay targets into smoke if I did my part. Notice that I said 35 yards instead of the standard 40 yards. At the time I developed this load (21 years ago), I shot very quickly and had a very short handicap so the targets didn't get very far away. Hence the shorter patterning distance.

Pattern Control has changed the design of their purple wad. It doesn't freakin' work anymore. I can't even crimp the cases closed without having shot dribble out like a damn salt shaker.

For the last few months I've been using Claybuster CB-1100-12 wads because they are cheap and easy to find where I live. I hadn't gotten around to patterning them yet, assuming that the wad wouldn't make that much of a difference.

It does.

I happened to need wads at a time when the Sportsman's Warehouse was out of Claybusters and bought a couple of bags of Winchester WAA12SL wads instead. My scores and the quality of my target breaks went up immediately, then went back down when I switched to the Claybusters. As Mr. Spock would say......."Fascinating." It was time to do some patterning.

Like any good reloader, when I switched components I dropped my powder charge so that I could work back up to the previous level, changing the 16.9 grain load down to 15.6 grains. If I didn't like what the chrono told me I would bump it up until I got the speed I wanted. I assembled 4 loads to try out:

Load 1: Winchester AA case, Winchester 209 primer, 15.6 grains 700x, Claybuster CB-1100-12 wad, 1 ounce # 7 1/2 shot

Load 2: Winchester AA case, Winchester 209 primer, 15.6 grains 700x, Winchester WAA12SL wad, 1 ounce # 7 1/2 shot

Load 3: Federal Gold Medal case, Winchester 209 primer, 15.6 grains 700x, Claybuster CB-2100-12 wad, 1 ounce # 7 1/2 shot

Load 4: Winchester case, Winchester 209 primer, 17.5 grains 700x, Winchester WAA12 wad, 1 1/8 ounce # 8 shot

Yes, load #4 is very different from the rest. This is one of the "standard" trap loads that has been around since the beginning of time. I figured I'd give it a try and see if there really was a reason it's been around so long.

I had to work as an RSO at the range last Sunday, so after the range was closed I set up all my equipment and did the chronograph and pattern testing. Stay tuned for the results..............

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