duplex loads

[rickyp]

anyone ever work with them?

maybe something like #4 and #6 shot in a  2-3/4 shells

[rangerwillie]

I do it all the time. I add equal amounts of shot and mix, add to my shot dispenser and load shells.

[rickyp]

how do they work?

I am thinking about trying some for turkey hunting

[plumberroy]

I have a plastic peanut butter jar that I fill with salvaged  shot out of corroded(sp?) shells I pick up or an given to me  it has #4's to #8's in the jar I use it mainly for my muzzleloading 12ga  I have used it when I need shot for a trail loads It does real good in my m.l.
Roy

[jbmi]

I shoot reclaimed lead in my practice trap loads.  It's a  mix of 7 1/2, 8, 8 1/2 & 9's. Can't get more of a duplex load than that.
No problem, just reload and shoot as you would normally do.
I use to buy duplex Remington Turkey loads, 4 & 6's if I remember right.

[Questor]

I always thought it was purely a marketing phenomenon from years ago, appealing to people who can't make up their minds as to what shot size to use.

[Graybeard]

You REALLY need to decide what shot size you wanna use and just load it. I think it's a real poor idea myself. Different shot sizes are gonna slow down at different rates and will only tend to make your pattern have holes in it. Oh sure on a pattern board it might look OK but in the real world of hunting it won't. Pick a size and live with it.

[dave375hh]

I've tried several mixes of duplex loads at different times and concluded that 1 3/8 oz of buffered, Mag 5's works the best for Turkeys in a 2 3/4" shell. Out to 45yds I have no complaints.

[Questor]

Time for a little levity with this one. How about a duplex load of #4 buck shot and #12 dust shot. It would be a good setup for hunting rats and feral dogs in the same junk yard.

[plumberroy]

I've tried several mixes of duplex loads at different times and concluded that 1 3/8 oz of buffered, Mag 5's works the best for Turkeys in a 2 3/4" shell. Out to 45yds I have no complaints.

! 3/8 oz of chilled 5's in awaa12f114 wad  and 100 grains of ffg in my muzzleloading 12 ga is turkey medicine
I can hold my own with modern guns with that load
Roy

[coyotejoe]

This idea keeps cropping up among people who don't really understand why the different sizes are made. They seem to think "well, if I need this shot for this game and that shot for that game, why not just mix the two and be set for anything". The obvious problem with that thinking is that you only have half a load of the proper size. Mixed sizes will work OK so long as the range is short enough for the smaller pellets to be effective, but in that case you don't need the larger pellets. At longer range, where you do need the larger pellets, you only have half a load of them and the smaller pellets don't count at all. Either one or the other alone will be better than the mix. People have been shooting lead pellets at game for several hundred years and about everything imaginable has been tried, if mixed shot sizes were a good idea we would all have been using it. For "mixed bag hunting" I do mix sizes, I load my double with #8s in the improved cylinder barrel and magnum 5s in the full choke barrel.

[JonnyC]

I've done it and it works. Make sure to put the larger pellets on top. Because of their size[weight] they have more inertia and carry farther which will disrupt the pattern if loaded first. I use them for pheasants, turkey and ducks when lead was legal.

[mcwoodduck]

If you look in the Remington catalog there is a cut away of thier duplex load of 4 and 6's.  They are an ounce and a half loads in the 2 3/4 shells.  It looks like they have a load one oz of 6's in the bottom and 1/2 oz of 4's on top and the 4's look to be buffered, but the whole load may be buffered.  It looks interesting.  I may try to make a few with 7/8 of an oz of 7's and top it off with 4's in my super load.  I'm a big fan of the english shot size 7.  and a 1 1/4 oz load at 1300 fps with blue dot powder and a rem SP12 wad over a 209 win primer in the Remington gold hull.  This is my secret load for pot and hunting larger birds.
I also load some 6's in the green STS hull.  I load each color hull with a different load so I know what I have in the field or at the range.
My standard 7/8 load in the 20 with 7's is a killing machine.
You can order 7's easy anywhere you get your 8's or 4's.

[coyotejoe]

But again, what is the point? If the sixes or sevens work, then you don't need the fours and if you do need the fours you need a full load of them.

[mcwoodduck]

Good point.
I was trying to think up a good answer and I can not.  I was going to use what Greybeard said about the patterning board and say something about using them on Turkey and have some heavy shot for knockdown and the smaller shot for density but I use 3" heavy shot #4 turkey loads that work like a death ray.
So your right building the loads would just be a "I can"  Besides if I'm going to take that much time to load a shell it will be either a confettii, glitter, or streamer round that I sneak into freinds shell boxes or bags when they are not looking.  The glitter looks real good at night under the lights.  I load 1 oz of shot in the shells so they will break things and feel right.  Lot of fun to see the look on their and other faces when a huge cloud of glitter, confettii or the most labor intensive is the streamers.  You have to cut the round streamers down to 12 with out them opening up get and them press them into the shell.
The good thing about it is noone borrows shells from me anymore.

[JonnyC]

How about a duplex of glitter and streamers.

[mcwoodduck]

Thought of that but there is not enough room.  you get a small cloud of glitter that really can't bee seen and two streamers.  4 streamers or a big cloud of glitter is best.  Hey maybe like the shot.

[jbmi]

If you ever buy shot by the bag, even good shot, you'll find it's really a mix of sizes. A bag of #8 shot with have mostly 8's but you'll also find a good percentage of 8 1/2's and 7 1/2's . When you're talking shot you're talking a lot of inconsistency, they just can't make shot 100% round and 100% the same size. If you break open even the best brand new shot shells like Remington STS or Winchester AA and take the time to mic the shot, you'll also find different sizes. So for the most part new shells and reloads with new shot is all duplex or even triplex loads.
A few thousandths of an inch is going to make absolutely no difference in the shot performance or pattern.