Sir: the size of the ball you use in your barrel determines patch size. i use hornady "0" buckshot in both my guns. because it is hardened and does not deform much in loading i use a .005 patch as the buckshot is not perfectly round and a few 1000th larger than i would really like. when i used pure lead commercial buckshot one gun took a .010 patch. to hunt you don't want to fight the loading process. both guns do very well at 30 yards or so with both 15 and 30 grains of goex 3f. by the way, at that distance the 15 grain load and roundball will penetrate one side of a new standard 55 gal. drum, 30 grain drives the ball through both sides. if you want to try this, maybe you can get a 12 ga. #0 buckshotshell from a friend to get the shot. note the kind of shot if possible. a 5 pack of buckshot shells is usually cheaper than a name brand box of rb. i have not tried the copperplated buckshot. the 15 grain load will penetrate a 8 lb. groundhog shoulder to hip and exit. a .380 case holds 15 grains 3f. i also shoot hornady 32 cal. swaged hollow base wad cutters with the thin patch and same charges. they weigh 90 grains and do very well and i thought i might get an advantage in case a deer came by while squirrel hunting. after much squirrel hunting and field shooting i think the round ball will do in case the wily whitetail jumps in front of my sights again. make life easy. a fired 38 special case with 15 or so grains and a patched rb lightly tucked in the case mouth is a great speedloader when you get tired of pouch and horn. olduvai george.
