12 ga loading question

[General Ledger 1]

I have quite a bit of Universal Clays and Clays powder and would like to replicate the old Winchester Featherlite loads with either or both of these powders.   Does anyone load 12 gauge with either or both of these powders for loads like the Featherlite loads? If so, could you share your load/recipe?

 

Thanks!

[Still hand Bill 69]

Clays should work fine for light 12ga loads.  International is too slow.  Claybuster makes a 7/8 oz wad and a 3/4oz wad, either of those should give a nice low recoil load.   What hull are you using?  AAHS? Or Remington one pc?  

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 2,430]

CLAYS will indeed be a great choice.  Unless you like REALLY light loads, stick with 7/8 ounce in the CB 1178 wad, with about 15 grains of powder in the Winchester AA hulls (also works in Rem STS hulls).   Neither will require more than just "touching the powder" wad seating pressure.  And at the low chamber pressure this load makes, any primer will be fine.

 

Good luck, GJ

Edited July 19 by Garrison Joe, SASS #60708

[dannyd 48]

With the cost of shot you may want to used 3/4 oz load.  Clay works great for that.  We have been using this load for shooting clays.  Check out the Hodgdon site.

 

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/shotgun

[Tyrel Cody 4,538]

 

[General Ledger 1]

Thanks folks. I'll check these out!

[Hollifer A. Dollar 120]

We have been loading Clays with a MEC #26 bushing (~14.5 gns) & 3/4 oz shot using the pink Claybusters 3/4 oz wad - very nice to shoot.  You can use the silver 7/8 wad but you will need to put a baby lima bean on top so the crimp will stay tight.  This load is more gentle than the AA featherweight.  YMMV.

 

Holler

[bgavin 1,013]

OP, the lowest published load I've seen for Clays

• 14.1 grains of Clays
• 1150 fps
• 7100 psi
• CB0175-12 wads
• Fed 209A primers
• 3/4 oz shot
• 10.8 ft-lbs recoil in 5.75 pound SxS

Edited July 19 by bgavin
added data

[Jefro, SASS#69420 391]

On 7/18/2020 at 3:28 PM, Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 said:

CLAYS will indeed be a great choice.  Unless you like REALLY light loads, stick with 7/8 ounce in the CB 1178 wad, with about 15 grains of powder in the Winchester AA hulls (also works in Rem STS hulls).   Neither will require more than just "touching the powder" wad seating pressure.  And at the low chamber pressure this load makes, any primer will be fine.

 

Good luck, GJ

This, 7/8oz shot , Gray wad, 14-15gr Clays. Good Luck

[General Ledger 1]

All very helpful suggestions. Thanks again!

[Nota John, SASS #51089L 3]

Due to multiple retinal detachments, I found a load with 11.4 gr. Clays, 7/8 wad, Win AA hulls, Win 209 primers. Has worked for a num,ber of years. Yours. Nota

[Patagonia Pete 583]

On 7/19/2020 at 9:37 AM, bgavin said:

OP, the lowest published load I've seen for Clays

• 14.1 grains of Clays
• 1150 fps
• 7100 psi
• CB0175-12 wads
• Fed 209A primers
• 3/4 oz shot
• 10.8 ft-lbs recoil in 5.75 pound SxS

Ha!! That is practically identical to my load ... 

I use Gun Club hulls w/ 13.9 gr of Clay Dot (Mec 25 bushing for me) and 3/4 oz of shot/Fed primers. When I measured mine they went 1100fps. 

With the CB0175-12 wads (3/4oz) they crimp great .. Before the 3/4 oz wads were available I used TGT12 1oz wads and had to add two pinto beans as filler to maintain the crimp. 

The ring in the photo is a cheap Amazon mens ring ... size 10 1/2 ... used for size checking etc ... (pardon the high mileage hulls) ...

[bgavin 1,013]

I started collecting Gun Club hulls from my weekly trap shoot.
But, I found out the MEC isn't as happy sizing their steel base, so I switched over to STS with a real brass base.
Bass Pro had a huge sale on STS, plus $2/box rebate up to 50 boxes, so I stocked up on STS.

I'm not adventurous enough to go outside of published loads.
Yours is 98.5% of my published load, and the numbers are right in line.
Kudos for finding your optimum load.
I need something really soft like this to keep my wife from getting spooked over the recoil.
 

[Patagonia Pete 583]

I agree on the Gun Club / STS base point .. (steel vs brass).

The Gun Club hulls need to have the steel base resized ... I have my SizeMaster set up to get them back under .806 ...

In fact ... I have recently started using bulk "once fired" Gun Clubs from Ballistic Products that go for $30-$35 per 1000. Load 'em once ... shoot 'em ... forget 'em.    

[Cypress Sam, SASS #10915 364]

Not a published load but I’ve been using 12.5 gr. Clays with 7/8 oz shot with Claybuster wads and Winchester AA hulls.

[Smoken D 1,308]

2 minutes ago, Cypress Sam, SASS #10915 said:

Not a published load but I’ve been using 12.5 gr. Clays with 7/8 oz shot with Claybuster wads and Winchester AA hulls.

 

Me too

[General Ledger 1]

OK;  thanks for this information. It's very helpful. Now to change things up a bit. Does anyone have a recipe for HS6 that replicates the Winchester Featherlite loads?

Thanks again!

[Patagonia Pete 583]

9 minutes ago, General Ledger said:

OK;  thanks for this information. It's very helpful. Now to change things up a bit. Does anyone have a recipe for HS6 that replicates the Winchester Featherlite loads?

Thanks again!

IMHO ... you are not going to find any worthwhile loads for a light payload ... using H6 powder. H6 is just too too slow burning.