[Bomber61]

After pattering my gun a couple weeks ago I found that the current wads I'm using were not giving me a very good pattern from 13 and 30 yards vs. factory shells at the same yardage. I have a full chock on my Ljutic and the pattern was all over the place with the wad I'm using for my reloads.

What are your thoughts.

Gary

 

[timb99]

What makes you think the wads are at fault?

 

[phirel]

What components were you using for your reload?

Pat Ireland

 

[Jawhawker]

But we are told that there are no difference in load designs relative to pattern distribution! It must be the gun/barrel...

 

[Bomber61]

Using Remington STS Hulls, 18.8 Clays 7 1/2, Blue Duster Wads and Win 209 primers. The only thin I have changed was the wads. I put a new stock on the gun, but that should not change the pattern.

I did notice that when i made this changes my 16 yard average went from a 97.3 to 94.5? Maybe it's just the shooter.

But thought I finally had something constructive to talk about on the site and wanted to see what you folks were thinking.

Gary

 

[below 0]

All of the components you listed are quality ones and I find it hard to believe that they are causing a problem, however if you are questioning the wads, by all means, change them back to what you were shooting the better scores with. Luck Dale

 

[wolfram]

You don't happen to have a nasty buildup of plastic in your choke tube do you?

 

[Neil Winston]

What shot are you using?

Neil

 

[below 0]

Neil is right on target...if you are useing deformed shot, your pattern will suffer greatly...Dale

 

[Bomber61]

I use Northwest and Lawrence shot. 8's for 16 and 7 1/2's for Handicaps.
Funny thing is I used some shot that was from a guy that dropped it himself and broke a 100 with it.

I'm going back to factory Win WT-12's and going to check it out this weekend.

I have a fixed full choke.

Thank you all for your comments.

Gary

 

[Quack Shot]

First I would strongly recommend that you double check that load against established data. I believe it might be near, or over, the upper limits of pressure. Drop the powder charge a bit and it might improve the life of your firearm. Clays is a poor choice for 3 dram or higher 1 1/8 oz loads. Load them down to 1145 fps and you'd probably be safer. You might even see an improvement in the pattern.

Second, dump the Duster wads. I have had some inconsistencies with them and will NOT buy them after the problems I had a few years ago. They were fracturing in colder weather and I had many off sounding loads. They claim to have corrected the problem, but there may still be a lot of the affected wads out there. I personally own almost two cases of them in the Blue and Green pursuasions. I can only use them on the summer. The WT-12 is also not a great choice, since it is a budget wad and does not perform quite as well as the real deal. Most OEM wads and those from a quality manufacturer like Downrange would be a good start.

 

[chipking]

I had very consistent performance from the 16 the last 2 years using first the Claybuster CB1100-12 and then, after seeing how bad the claybuster garbaged up my choke, the DRRT12. Then about the middle of last year our clubs supplier was out of stock on DRRT12 and I had to take whatever I could find which happened to be the Greendusters. NEVER AGAIN! My scores took a nosedive whenever I used them. I kept my loads at around 1180 and used west coast magnum 8 shot. With either of the other wads I knew when I missed a target what I had done, with the Greendusters there were a lot of unexplained misses. I ordered some DRRT12s from Matt Woodson and gave away or sold my last 7 bags of the Greendusters. I'm sure it must be all in my head but my average dropped by almost 3 birds while using the Greenduster.

--- Chip King ---

 

[Bocephas]

It sure is nice to ask a question on here and get the feedback that Gary has received.

That's what makes this a great site.

bocephas

 

[Neil Winston]

Assuming the Lawrence shot is magnum, it should work. The Northwest I tested was labeled hard but was soft.

Neil

 

[Shooting Coach]

According to the Hodgdon site, with similar components (using everything you are, but with a WAA12 wad), 18.4 gr of Clays gives 1200 fps at 11,300 psi. Likely your load is over revved. I prefer to keep pressures over 9,000 psi, but barely over 10,000 psi. My HCP load with Unique generates around 9000 psi at 1250 fps.

17.3 gr of Clays should give you about 1145 fps at 9,700 psi. Why not back off the powder a little, and see what happens? This load cannot be performing at its best, and is likely above maximum recommended pressures. You could easily be pushing 12,000 psi.

Also, when you changed the stock, did you verify POI using the Winston method? A little difference in the stock can make a big difference at the target.

Neil's method is the Gold Standard in verifying where your gun shoots. :^)

 

[hmb]

Why is everybody ignoring the fact that he changed the stock on his gun. Why did he change the stock? Did he tighten the stock bolt properly?

Both changes must be explored. How about putting the old stock back on the gun and see if the problem goes away. HMB

 

[Quack Shot]

HMB

I didn't ignore the fact that he changed his stock, I just did not address it, or his change in scores. Checking his poi would give an idea if something is off and checking his patterns should have little to do with the stock. The main reason I responded to the post was that I thought his load needed some adjustment to make it safe. If he is loading what he claimed he is, then he could be in for some serious trouble later on. At that time I also addressed the wad issue and made a few recommendations. I just do not think his stock change is relevent to the issue of a hot load and wad choice. Please feel free to address the stock change if there is something there that will cause a poor pattern with one shell and not another. POI, yes, Pattern, probably not. The stock could certainly affect his scores if he is missing birds because of the change. He claimed to have compared his loads to some factory loads. He said his reloads did not pattern as well as the factory loads. If the factory loads performed/patterned OK, I think the stock change could probably be ruled out as a major factor in the poor paterrn issue with his reloads.

 

[hmb]

Quack,

When he said his pattern was all over the place I pictured a tight pattern that was changing POI. A loose stock could cause that.

Also when there is a problem and two changes have been made it is difficult to isolate the cause of the drop in his average. If he puts the original stock back on the gun the cause of the problem might be easier to isolate. HMB

 

[Beretta687EELL]

When I was shooting my .740 Kolar, it didn't like #8.5 or #7.5 shot, only #8s. Everything was the same other than the shot size, including the manufacturer of the shot. Point being, that any change can have an effect on pattern. The .750 bore Kolar, so far, likes everything that I have shot through it. Bill Malcolm

 

[WNCRob]

Bomber, you are using too much Clays! For a very similar list of components, I was advised by Hodgdon not to exceed 18.2 grains of Clays for 1 1/8th loads with the Winchester Primer...Contact Hodgdon directly and confirm what should be the maximum Clays charge with the components you list.

WNCRob