2-3/4" 20g 7/8oz with Herco.

[Fred M]

A friend of mine gave me 3lbs of Herco shot gun powder.

I have Fed plastic target hulls, WWA hulls, WWA20 Wads, 209 Win Primer, 209A Fed primers.

Would like to use these components for a 7/8 Skeet loads @ 1200ft or a Pheasant load with #5 lead shot.

I never used Herco powder for any loads.

 

[Sir Charles deMoutonBlack]

Look up the Alliant powder website.  The load will be in there.  My 2000 edition of the Alliant Reloaders Guide says that the load you want should be in the 17 grain area, but the online version shows about 16 grains .

Here is the link to the online guide, and you can work through it yourself.

http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/Index.htm

[Fred M]

Thanks Sir Charles.
Not a bad load alas I have only Win 209 and Fed 209A primer in great quantities. With this slow powder the Fed 209A should be ok. For Skeet I
usually make 3/4oz loads with 700x powder.

Yes I also found my Alliant  2004 Reloaders Guide it has the same load
as the web page.

Thanks for the reply.

[Sir Charles deMoutonBlack]

Effective pattern size can be affected by Powder or shot size, ATBE (All things being equal!)

Slower powder = tighter pattern

Smaller shot = open pattern

Cant recall where I read this.  Probably an article by Sell in an old Gun Digest.  I recall a title "Put and take choke"

[Fred M]

Sir Charles
Did not use the Herco but used Longshot instead with a 1oz load #5.
I thought the 7/8oz was a bit skimpy for some orf the birds the dogs flushed
out too far.

I had a bag of WWW20F1 that was quite old and the pedals were brittle and broke off when the shot was dumped into the hull.
Four of them broke and fouled up the crimp and hung up my P/W 900 Elite
loader. A hang up always creates a bit of anxiety, but was able to clear the jam
by cutting of the spread crimp above the shell holder and eject the case.

Made 4 boxes and throw the rest of the wads in the garbage bag.