Two notable new loads are B&P’s 2½" 12-gauge lead load, said to be suitable for “vintage shotguns,” and HEVI-Shot’s HEVI-XII 3" 28-gauge tungsten-composite load.
It’s time again for answers to select questions from Shooting Sportsman readers.
Is Tungsten Matrix safe to shoot in a Model 21 Winchester with Modified & Full chokes?
The answer is, yes. According to Kent Cartridge, the company’s Tungsten Matrix shot is “safe to shoot in any choke or barrel.”
I was given a case of Herter’s wads from a good friend who bought them at a yard sale. The box states 1¼-oz wad capacity. I was hoping to use these for some steel shot or bismuth loads.
I have no data for loading old Herter’s wads. I am very familiar with them, however. If they are Vandalee wads, they have thicker shotcup walls and thus more weight per wad than today’s lead wads. This means they will raise pressure if substituted in a lead or bismuth recipe calling for a modern lead wad.
They are not suitable for loading steel or any other hard shot type, because the plastic used is not dense enough to prevent pellet rub-through.
I read that the new 3" 28-gauge has been approved by SAAMI for up to 11/8-oz lead loads at 14,000 psi. This seems very hot.
You read the 3" 28-gauge specs correctly. The industry lobbyists want a 3" 28-gauge to hold a 20-gauge lead-shot charge with a good velocity to create a new market and appeal to those who take pride in bagging birds farther away with their “little” 28s. SAAMI’s recent approval of specs for the 3" 28-gauge is the same thing that occurred several years back with the 3½" 12-gauge allowing 14,000 psi also.
Personally, I wouldn’t want to deal with the recoil from shooting 1⅛-oz lead loads in the approximately six-pound 28-gauge side-by-side and over/under guns that are commonly out there. But an approximately 7½-pound double likely would be comfortable as would shooting autoloaders. Several gun companies have introduced autoloaders chambered for the 3" 28-gauge touting their recoil-absorbing properties. That’s exactly what happened with the 3½" 12.
I recently pattern-tested copper-washed versus nickel-plated No. 5 lead shot from Precision Reloading. The copper-washed loads did not pattern well. I’m wondering if copper-washed shot is a waste of time and I should just stick to nickel-plated lead shot.
Yes, nickel-plated lead shot is definitely superior to copper-washed lead provided it was nickel-plated by Precision Reloading. Reason? Precision Reloading plates magnum-grade lead shot only. The Aquila brand of nickel-plated lead shot sold for reloading has always tested out as having a soft lead core and thus never has patterned any better than un-plated lead shot in my tests.
Is there any harm in storing today’s shells in the garage in either summer or winter?
It is always best to store ammo inside one’s home or in an attached garage where there is some heat during the winter. Conversely, it is important to protect shells from heat in the summer, as high temperatures deteriorate powder.
NEW LOADS OF NOTE
As of late 2023, two ammo companies had introduced shotshell loads of note.
B&P
The first interesting development is a 2½" 12-gauge lead load that is being advertised as suitable for shooting in “vintage shotguns.” The incentive for introducing this load was likely that for the past couple of years RST has not been loading most of the specialty shells it is famous for because it has not been able to obtain many of the components it has relied on. RST has always been basically a shotshell assembler and has not manufactured any components. So RST’s absence left a vacuum in the US specialty-shotshell market.
Stepping into that vacuum, Baschieri & Pellagri has added to its Upland Game Classic line a 2½" 12-gauge 1-oz lead load at 1,160 fps in shot sizes No. 6, 7½ and 8. In its news release B&P touts the loads’ suitability for so-called vintage guns but does not discuss the “safety” of shooting the loads in them, nor does it (or anyone in the shotshell and shotgun industry) define what constitutes a “vintage gun.”
For more information, visit baschieri-pellagriusa.com.
HEVI-SHOT
As the 3" 28-gauge advances (see question above), there will inevitably be new 3" 28-gauge offerings. And these will be introduced in both lead- and nontoxic-shot variants. For example, this past December HEVI-Shot announced the introduction of its new HEVI-XII 3" 28-gauge load, initially in shot size No. 6 only. HEVI-XII is HEVI-Shot’s new name for its longstanding 12-density, tungsten-composite shot, which originally was called HEVI-Shot. The new 3" 28-gauge load has a 1-ounce payload at 1,350 fps. I happen to know that this will be an excellent load for 35- to 45-yard shooting of both upland birds and medium-size waterfowl. I have been handloading a similar load of original 12-density HEVI-Shot in the 3" 28-gauge shell for my Beretta Silver Pigeon over/under 28-gauge-barrel set, in which I had the chambers lengthened to 3".
For those concerned about barrel damage from hard shot types such as steel and the various tungsten-composite pellets now available, you need not worry that HEVI-Shot’s new 28-gauge load will cause any kind of barrel scratching or scoring. That’s because the pellets are fully contained in a heavy-duty, steel-shot-type wad column and thus can never make contact anywhere inside the barrel. The only thing they can do is cause ring bulging in fixed or screw-in chokes that are not hard-shot-proof. However, when smaller shot sizes, like No. 6, are coupled with open chokes, such as Improved Cylinder and Modified, the probability goes almost to zero.
As always, shotgunners should check directly with the manufacturers of their guns and/or choke tube(s) as to their compatibility with hard shot.
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