Short Round

<P>I have been loading the 3.5" 12ga. for slightly more than the last four years.&nbsp; It has been a royal pain&nbsp;in the rear at times to get high velocities and good patterns in the same loading.&nbsp; I noticed, however, that loads I made with the shorter Rem. #6 lead turkey load hulls, almost always patterned better than did the ones made using the longer steel shot hulls.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">In loading the shorter case, I had to reduce the powder charge and shorten the wad from that used in the case with the normal length. I also had to make certain adjustments in the press to load the shorter case.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">In conversing with steel shot loader on another site, he confirmed what I had observed about my own loads, that light, fast shot charges in long wads with a large amount of filler often patterned worse than a similar load in a shorter wad with little or no filler.&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">So, if you are not getting good patterns in your high velocity 3.5" steel loads, you might consider switching to a load using a shorter case, such as the Kent, or even to a 3" hulled load.&nbsp; Kent's often pattern well with the right choke.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">The pics. below show two patterns I fired tonight with the shortened case and wad.&nbsp; It was a 1 3/16 oz. load of BBB's at just over 1550 fps. at 40 yards out of the Baikal MP 153 and .675" Terror choke.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P>

 

<p>It's hard to tell just by looking at the pictures,&nbsp;without actually&nbsp;seeing&nbsp;the pattern papers, but the lion's share of the shot&nbsp; in both patterns fell into an area that is only 18&quot; wide.&nbsp; Both are actually quite tight, and would be effective to about 50 yards, the 90% pattern perhaps a little further.&nbsp; The more center dense the pattern, the longer the shot will hold together and be effective at longer ranges.</p><p style="MARGIN: 0px">Any time you see a steel shot pattern that has the holes relatively well distributed across the entire 30&quot; circle, you are looking at a load that has just about &nbsp;reached it's maximum effective range.&nbsp;&nbsp;It's percentage will drop significantly in the next 10 yards, perhaps by 20% or more.&nbsp; A center dense pattern may only degrade by 10 or 12% in the next 10 yards.</p><p style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</p><p style="MARGIN: 0px">Steel shot patterns don't spread evenly with increasing range, like a funnel.&nbsp; They more closely resemble the bell on a trumpet, staying close together, then suddenly flairing outward at a particular range.&nbsp; A good choke can delay that &quot;flair&quot;&nbsp;so that it&nbsp;occurs at a longer range.</p><p style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</p>

 

<p>Thanks!</p><p style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</p><p style="MARGIN: 0px">I've never had a waterfowling handload that failed to fire, but have had more than my share that missed the intended target.<img src="http://www.websitetoolbox.com/images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" alt=""/></p>