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#61743 10/19/07 09:36 AM
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Sidelock
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What loads were available for the 12 gauge shotgun in the U.S. circa 1900? Were they predominantly black powder? Shell length I assume was 2.5" or 2 5/8". What shot weights and velocities were available back then?

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Several good links are provided here, and check some of the other FAQs. http://www.lcsmith.org/faq/shotshells.html

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Smokeless powder was around for over twenty years by 1900. There were literally hundreds of smokeless powder loads available to the North American Nimrod by 1900. The 12-gauge shells were available in brass from 2 1/2 to 3 1/4 inches in length and paper 12-gauge shells were available from 2 5/8 inch to 3 1/4 inches in length. You could get your shells loaded with black powder, bulk smokeless (Hazard, New Schultze, DuPont, E.C. No. 1, Alarm, Dead Shot, Oriental, New Troisdorf and Empire) or dense smokeless powder (Laflin & Rand Infallible, Shot Gun Rifleite, Walsrode, and Ballistite). The heaviest loads offered in smokeless powder were 3 1/2 drams equiv and 1 1/4 ounces of shot, though it was generally considered that the 3 1/4 drams equiv and 1 1/4 ounces of shot was the better balanced load. In the longer shells you got more and better wadding, not a heavier load. The above information taken from my 1903 UMC salesman's handbook.

The rise of the repeaters called for more standardized shell lengths.

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Researcher paints a good picture. If you pick up a Sears catalog from around 1906 or so, you will find pages of shot shell offerings.
Included are offers to custom make any load your heart desires.

The 1948 Shooters Bible has an article about "Post War Simplification of Loaded Paper Shot Shell".
They state that by 1925 4,067 paper shot shell loads were being offered by various companies. This was reduced by agreement to a mere 1,750.
Eventually this was reduced to 156. I believe further simplifications followed.



Pete

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For years I have used the data in the reproduction Sears catalogs to construct my black powder loads for 10,12,16 ga. What is interesting is that most of these loads did not use overly heavy shot charges, for instance a heavy 10 ga. load was 5 drams of black and 1 1/8 oz of shot. Some of the loads did go up to 1 1/4 oz, but only rarely. I'm not saying that this was the typical load of that era, but it does seem probable that was quite popular if that is what Sears offered. I can say from experience that 4 drams of 2 fg and 1 1/8 oz of #4's in one of my vintage 10's kills Mallards and snows with equal ease here in North Dakota.

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Pete, some of the "simplifications" are still causing us problems today. For example, when the Super-X came out in the 1920's, it increased service pressure. Looking at 12ga guns only, the old 2 5/8" shell--which was the more or less "standard" length, before the industry settled on 2 3/4" for most of the gauges--was still readily available as late as 1940. There were literally dozens of 2 5/8" 12's still available then. In fact, other than in the "premium" lines (like Remington Nitro Express, Peters High Velocity, and Western Super-X), most of the 12's were still 2 5/8". And they conformed to the pressure standards for the old, 2 5/8" chambered guns.

Eventually, as those loads disappeared, although there were still plenty of short-chambered 12's around, there were only 2 3/4" shells to shoot in them. Many gunsmiths "solved the problem" by lengthening the chamber--which of course did nothing to render the gun more suitable for higher pressure 2 3/4" loads.
So although the variety of shotshells available was greatly reduced and perhaps some confusion eliminated as the industry standardized at 2 3/4" chambers for shotguns (other than magnums and the .410), a whole bunch of shotguns were either made into ballistic orphans or had chamber surgery performed on them.

Today, we've emerged from the Dark Ages, at least to a certain degree, with a good bit more knowledge about what kind of pressures are appropriate for vintage shotguns that have (or began life with) shorter than standard chambers. And especially in 12ga, there are quite a few low pressure factory loads available for these guns.

Last edited by L. Brown; 10/19/07 07:11 PM.

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