GLS, you are correct, low pressure, modest payloads, modest velocity do all play a part in protecting stocks and not stressing thinner or weaker barrels at the same time. Many old barrels are well able to withstand anything reasonable you put in them. 100 year old stocks might not. I just find a ounce, 1100-1200fps, at 5,000-7,000 will do everything I need it to do. I am not pass shooting geese at 70 yards with a short chambered 12 bore. I have a short chambered 10 for that.;).
I shoot a lot of Sporting Clays, Skeet, Trap and late season Dove with guns suited for modest, low pressure, low velocity shells. To easy cartridge identification all my Federal “short” shells are 1 ounce, number 7 1/2, 1125fps @5,600psi. My Remington load is 1 ounce 8’s at 6,500psi and 1150 fps. The Winchester hulls are 1 ounce, 9’s @ 1125fps. B&P are 7/8 ounce, number 8 1/2’s, 6,500psi @1250 fps. Every load was found on Hodgdon website. It takes time to gather different powders and wads but once done you can make enough ammo for months to years of use. I am not stressed by component shortages or ammo choices not being what they once were.
I load on a Spolar,in large batches of several hundreds to a couple thousand at a sitting. In a single sitting I can load enough to last for a long time and just keep stuff in buckets until I get around to boxing things up to stack on my ammo shelves. So whenever I pick up a loaded “short” shell I know automatically what is in it and that it is safe for every gun I own. If it is 2 1/2” it is safe for everything and I can just select different loaded shells to get the correct shot size for what I want to shoot. The B&P work great on Skeet with real crushing ink dots in tight chokes. It took a bit of planning but now I am never in doubt what I have on hand and have several thousand shells loaded for quick selection and fun use.
