interesting 12 gauge load

[ScatterGunner]

hi -

this morning while shooting sporting clays a fellow shooter told me about his new 3/4 oz #9 12 gauge loads and let me try a few of them on clay targets. they were very effective to say the least and had sensible recoil on par with my 410.

he mentioned he found the load in a sporting clays magazine and it was developed by a mechanical engineer trying reduce the cost of reloading, yet maintain effectiveness. the loads chrono at 1440 fps with a very small spread in velocity making the #9 shot very effective out to about 40 yards.

the load uses 3/4 oz of #9, a 7/8 oz shot wad and an .080" card to fill the shot pocket, and i believe 18 grains of clays.

at 35 bucks a bag for shot this looks like a very economical load.

we also tried it in a gas operated gun and the action cycled with no problem at all.

i will try get the link to article or magazine for this laod and post it.

has anyone else heard of this?

"SG"

[db22]

I've heard of several sub-1-ounce loads for the 12, but this is the lightest one yet. What wad was used in this recipe? I keep the standard 12-gauge 1-ounce wads on hand, but have standardized on American Select as a propellant for all light 12 loads. American Select falls between Clays and International in burn speed. I'd be interested in trying a 3/4-ounce load for squirrels with 7.5 or 6 shot.

BTW, shot goes for upwards of $50 per bag around here (western Wisconsin). You'd think with all the trapshooters in these parts, competition would have held it to $35, but no such luck. The least I've paid for shot this year has been $40. My club is having the trap outfield mined next spring to reclaim 50 years' worth of lead. Some of that shot is so old that it has oxidized more than 50%, but if the price holds, they'll make a big chunk of change out of it.