In how to make shotgun loads for a bolt action Justice format?

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/2010 01:41AM by barnespneumatic.

Would these be the nickel base or a new design?

I am. Will you be making a video?

me too, i wanna learn. Oh yeah, i don't have a Justice. But i still wanna know.

Let's start with these photos, in a "how to" order. I think it will be clear.



Here's the tools, and a completed shell of 1,091 grains of 30 pcs. of #2 buckshot. The delrin mandrel, has a bottom lip on it. It's diameter is determined to allow using index card stock for the shell casing. I've allowed for a slight overlapping joint, and scotchtape to bind that.



Card stock is used sideways, and the overhanging materials is to establish a bottom crimp. The bottom crimp will leave a hole in the middle where the card stock does not meet. If you make the bottom close tightly, then the whole shell will shoot as a single slug. Whooomph!!! We'll get to that.



Put the card stock around the mandrel ... tape it ... and then crimp the end over the end of the mandrel form.



Now - you see the components of your shell. You note the void area where you can see the black mandrel thru the folds of the card stock casing.

Take the formed card stock casing (still on the mandrel) and place it inside the steel sleeve. This is a section of barrel stock, of the correct length to be loaded in the loading port of the bolt action. If you want to muzzle load shells, you can make the tooling longer.



Now, remove the mandrel from the card stock, and leave the casing inside the metal sleeve.



The nickel is your bottom drive wadding. Yes - I'm serious. If you'd like to find a supplier of the perfect size discs, that are strong enough, thin enough, available, and can be delivered to your home at the price of 20 per one dollar ... then you can use those.



Install your buckshot, bird shot, etc. Up to the top of the metal sleeve. For me, the #2 buckshot nests at 7 per layer - perfectly, on this caliber. You can work out what you need.



Crimp over the top of the shell. These paper facets can close tightly.



This is what you see from the bottom of the proper shell. The blast of air will see the nickel showing thru, and get between that and the paper casing. The blast will not be able to bypass the nickel ... so it will drive the nickel and buckshot down the bore. The paper casing will guide and protect the bore. BOOM!!!!!!

The paper casing will lay in shreds, about 10 yards in front of the muzzle. There will be little black dots in a symetrical pattern all over the outside, where the buckshot balls pressed against the paper - and that against the bore.

Works great. Pretty simple to do.



A finished shell of one thousand and ninety one grains ... much the same weight as the primary slug for this 87 caliber smooth bore gun. (That primary slug weighs 925 grains).



Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/2010 01:47AM by barnespneumatic.

That's perfect Gary.
It looks quite easy if you have the right tools. I'm definitely trying those in the Dragon. BTW, are those my tools?

Hi Donny,

Sure are ... those are yours.

I'm on the ledger for a Justice ... but "I" don't have one.



Gary

Hey - where did everybody else go?

Gary,

I always laugh to myself when I hear people lament the lack of a good air shotgun offering by a huge manufacturer on the forums. It's always tempting to link to these discussions.

Those loads look devastating!

Lon

Ah, you'll never hit anything with that! (Link bait! )

I've got a deal for anyone wishing to have proper wadding for their Justice. You send me the nickle and I'll send you a base wad or top card, your choice. I'll even pay shipping on any order of a thousand for top cards and 500 for base wads. If you want to skip the middle man you could visit this site.

[www.trackofthewolf.com]

But that would really hurt my child's college fund.

Seriously, I use the 7ga base and top card when muzzle loading my Justice. I also have the 8 ga wads and cards to make cartridges, but find that the occasional "slug" I make by gluing the edges is not in the best interest of the target or bystanders.

Do be aware that the nickle will penetrate 3/8th, IIRC, plywood at 40 yards. Not that you'd want to be in front of the lead shot either. Just FYI.

Kent

PPP.... PROPER!!!!! wading you say??

By Golly! A US nickel is a FINE wadding, if'n ya asks mah 'pinion. Thomas Jefferson must be spinning in his grave .....

Now ... if anybody has a 1913 Liberty Nickel, I'll gladly trade that for a lifetime supply of Kent's old fiber wads. Seems a generous offer to me ...

Now Kent ... are you saying that the Nickel is gonna come out the barrel too? hahah. That gives me an idea ... how about a half a roll of nickels? Seems that might make a good deer slug. A dollar a shot ... cheaper than some of those fancy plastic tailed fang dangle thingies! And they come already in their shell casing!

Gary

I just imagined someone chewing thier venison and finding a nickel in the last bite...

Sound's like a wicked combo.db

Interesting tutorial thanks Gary. I have never looked seriously at shot shells, but recently the fellow who made my .50 cal sent me down two of these

They are loaded with tungsten ball I think, and I don't know what else, but I think the idea is that they hold together until hitting the target. They are called "Possum bombs". I'll let you know how they go when I get a chance to test them on some unfortunate possum...
Regards
Neil

That looks neat. Are you out stalking yet?

Hi Neil,

That should make a mess.

What's it have, a little film of epoxy sealing it?

Gary

Tungsten? Didn't know they had armor-plated critters in NZ . . .

-- Jim

Hi guys, sorry I haven't responded sooner, work has gone crazy on me. We have a long weekend over here in NZ though, so I hope to visit more regularly, and do some shooting. Monday coming is Queen's Birthday observance. Tuesday is mine! (I'll be the same age as Gary...a particularly distinguished age, I might say!) .
Gary, I'm not certain how the possum bombs are sealed, I'll try to find out.
Jerry, no chance to use them yet, we've had almost a fortnight of rain!
Jim, hehe, sometimes you'd think our possums were bullet-proof...but these will surely put them to the test
Cheers
Neil

I love seeing stuff like this. I'd also love to see how a shotshell like that patterns at different ranges and shot sizes. Here at the local range the sportsmans association has a regular Thursday night BBQ / shotgun shoot. Some day I'm planning on surprising them all with a Woodsman, and I'm wondering how they do at claybirds.

BTW, as strange as it seems, one way to improve your shotgun skills is playing the target shooting game on a Nintendo Wii game console. Even though the controller interface is nothing like a real shotgun, it still seems to help improve your brains ability to track and hit a moving target. I noticed a huge difference in my ability to hit targets with a real shotgun after playing the game for a while with my son.

I'll have to break out the Wii. haha. Probably does help.

Kent shoots clays very well with the heavy Justice. Never really made to be a trap gun ... but works for him.

Some of the Justice pages on the website have shot shell patterns.

Woodsman will be lighter and faster to point. Not as much shot, but probably be enough.

Gary

Hey, it it can be done with a .410, it ought to be possible with a 20 gauge...right?

At least, that's what I'll keep telling myself until I can try it out personally.