doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Husqvarna joys

Having loaded up a batch of Magtech brass with BP, I took the old Husqvarna Model 15 Damascus hammer to the range yesterday, and enjoyed success on clays commensurate with my lousy abilities. The Husky performed with the grace I expected from this svelte double. I have not patterned the load, but believe I will need to work on it to get an even spread. I used 4cc of Goex FFg, a .125 nitro card, two 1/2-inch fiber wads, another 4 cc of No. 8 shot, and an overshot card glued in with Duco. This came to within about a quarter inch from the mouth of the Magtech hull. Primer was a CCI 300 standard large pistol. Recoil was exceptionally mild, as expected with just less than 7/8 ounce of shot. One thing I noticed was significant fouling buildup. I did not use any lube on any of the wads, and did not blow down the bores. I shot until the barrel got pretty warm, then let it cool while I worked over the pigeons with a Chinese copy of the Winchester 1887, and it was a low-humidity day here in Southern Oregon. So my two goals are to pattern the load to see if all those wads are blowing the pattern, and to find a way to introduce lube to the load recipe, possibly by soaking the fiber wads and then putting an overshot wad on top to keep shot from adhering to the lube cushion.
Any thoughts from other BP shooters on lubrication to keep fouling soft?
I think this Husky needs to go to the dove fields and the grouse woods very soon.

Assuming this is a 12ga with that light a load I think the first thing I would do is switch to 3FG powder. 4cc of powder is not much over 2 drams & with less than 7/8oz of shot I think the 2FG is likely simply too slow burning to build enough pressure to burn any cleaner. I realize of course BP is not affected by pressure as much as is smokeless, but still suspect with so light a load you would benefit by a finer granulation.

Take a look at this website: http://www.tbullock.com/bpsg.html Click on some of the links. He has a lot of original load data.
You can purchase pre-lubed wads from: http://www.circlefly.com/html/products.html

Pete

Bill,
There is or was an excellent supply store in Springfield. I have a friend who loads in Roseburg but since I lost my address book last week I'm at a loss. I have also been traveling and am out of touch.
On Brass shell we use a # 11 wad in a 12 shell. It keeps it all tight. On my pinfire shells I use 72 grains of 2fe, it does work on Alaska Sea ducks.
jas

Bill,

I would suggest two things that helped with patterns in my 1938 Husqvarna M15. First, use only one 1/2 inch filler wad, second, use 1,0 oz of shot. I would also second the suggestion to use FFFg burn rate powder. I always used the lubed 1/2 inch filler wads sold by Ox-Yoke.

I found that if I used too little shot (7/8 oz) or too much wad, that I got patterns with weak centers, as if the wad was bumping into the shot just after it left the barrel.

In all the old doubles I have shot, ones that still had the original chambers, forcing cones, bores, etc., a load of 1,0 oz of shot and the same volume of FFFg burn rate powder (Pyrodex-P, Goex FFFg), separated by a nitro card wad and a 1/2 inch filler wad, patterned quite nicely, usually to the marked chokes. In my M15 these loads patterned good enough to do 25/25 at 16-18 yard trap. This is basically a 2,5 dram load.

Niklas

Guys, thanks.
Jas: You're talking about The Gun Works in Springfield. Just ordered Circle Fly wads from Joe and Suzy to fit 16-gauge Magtech shells for the Tisdall 16-gauge Damascus hammer gun.
Niklas: I'll take your cue on the 1-ounce loads, and your and 2-Piper's advice on FFFg.