doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com pressure safe for LC Smith

I have been going through the process of developing non-toxic safe loads for my LC Smith and Baker shotguns. I have patterned lots of loads and a certain formula really worked well. I shot geese and ducks with the same formula. I sent the loads for pressure testing The 7/8's oz loads of ITX 10 that patterned the best are at 1309fps and 8950 psi.
The 1oz loads were all at 1312 fps 11650 psi. I have looked at lots of info about safe pressures and it is confusing. I have read the Double
Gun 2006 regarding the actual toughness of these guns. I am not interested in a torture test. Only good shooting loads at safe levels.
Can anyone help me with this?

Swampman

that 1oz. load seems awfully hot for those guns

Agreed. JMO but I wouldn't beat up my old guns with 11.6K loads.
Sub 8K in all of my guns except the SKB and Dickinson.

Are there any commercially available shells in the sub 8K range other than RST? RST aren't available in my area and I don't reload for shotgun.
Jim

James,
You might look into these but I'd be surprised if you find them local.

RST
Polywad
Gamebore
B&P competition 1

Confirm pressures with the manufacturer.

RST will ship just about anywhere. However.....Smiths are fairly stout American guns so I wouldn't get too-sweaty about it. Featherlite loads like Winchester's should be OK.

Lloyd this Smith is 123 years old.(I'll put up some pictures when I can) I had it gently restored and the wall thickness etc. are all just fine. I'm more concerned about putting additional strain of the wood which required the most repair.
Jim

James,
Lloyd is right. I was going to suggest the featherlight but always felt a bit uneasy about Winchester not giving pressure other than Saami compliant. A friend, years ago used them in his Purdey hammergun and at that time, someone had a batch tested and they were low pressure. I think they were the 980FPS load. Probably a good off the shelf choice.

Bill

Bill:
Featherlight's were another load I looked for here and according to Winchester Wally World carries them However that's NOT apparently true here. I don't intended to turn this gun into a regular shooter so use will only be on an occasional basis.
Jim

James,
Courtesy of Revdoc Drew!

3 Dr. Eq. 1 1/8 oz.
Winchester Trap Load
1,202 fps 9,600 psi

AA Xtra-Lite 1 oz WAAL12
1189 fps 8000 psi

AA 'Low noise Low recoil' 15/16 oz
980 fps 6,200 psi

Hope this helps and as always a big thanks to the Rev.