Back to the loading bench

skeets

Well-known member

Equipment
BX 2360 /B2601
Oct 2, 2009
14,558
3,309
113
SW Pa
Well another question?? I suddenly have a grand nephew, that wants to hunt deer with his Dad, and the area is they hunt is slug only. So I was going through my loading books looking for some thing that wouldn't bust the kid up and some place way back in my foggy memory I thought about loading a .562 RB in a 20 ga. As I recall it was in an early I think Speer manual using a WW20 shot cup,, However I cant find that book or any others using that combo, they also had a listing for a .575 mini hollow base ball. Im thinking they used IMR 4756 or Unique but I cant remember. Anybody have any thing on loading anything like this as I remember it was a heavy light load,, if you can under stand, not a lot of recoil as compared to the factory loaded slugs,, We loaded a bunch way back in the day and for a 50 yard smooth bore they shot ok , but Im thinking more of recoil for this young lad, all of 50 pounds soaking wet
 

helomech

New member
Apr 15, 2011
527
0
0
East Texas
Sorry I don't have any info, but I would let him practice with a 22lr or something then let him use the 20 gauge for the hunt. When a deer is in front of him he will not notice the recoil at all. I loaded up some .243 light for my niece to practice with, but for the hunt I gave her the full power loads. She never noticed a difference. I think she was 7 at the time.
 

armylifer

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
BX1860, FEL, RCK54P MMM, BB1548 Box Scraper, Quick Hitch, Piranha Bar, BX6315
Mar 26, 2013
2,051
784
113
Thurston County, WA
If a 410 shotgun is legal to hunt with, maybe you could have him use that instead of the 20ga.

I started my daughters on a 410 when they were about 7 or so and they handled it just fine. They moved up to a 20ga when they were about 15 or so and they have stayed with that one since, except one daughter that moved to a 12ga. My son manned up and started with a 12ga and never used anything else.
 

skeets

Well-known member

Equipment
BX 2360 /B2601
Oct 2, 2009
14,558
3,309
113
SW Pa
That's good advice, and he does well with the .22 and he did shoot his first duck on the opening day with his 20ga. I had some factory slugs laying around and let him shoot a couple,, The really rattled his teeth like I said he aint that big, strong and tuff but after 3 round over about 20 min or so, he went and sat in his dads truck. Like I said where they hunt is slug only so that's why I was looking for something lighter for him. He shoots an 870 youth and it fits him pretty good so we shall see what else we can come up with, and there is nothing I can find any place for 20 ga slugs oh well
 

armylifer

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
BX1860, FEL, RCK54P MMM, BB1548 Box Scraper, Quick Hitch, Piranha Bar, BX6315
Mar 26, 2013
2,051
784
113
Thurston County, WA
That's good advice, and he does well with the .22 and he did shoot his first duck on the opening day with his 20ga. I had some factory slugs laying around and let him shoot a couple,, The really rattled his teeth like I said he aint that big, strong and tuff but after 3 round over about 20 min or so, he went and sat in his dads truck. Like I said where they hunt is slug only so that's why I was looking for something lighter for him. He shoots an 870 youth and it fits him pretty good so we shall see what else we can come up with, and there is nothing I can find any place for 20 ga slugs oh well
Well, there is a couple of things that you could do if you have some factory 20 ga slugs. You could disassemble a round and weigh the powder. Then reload the shell with a measured reduced charge of the powder that you just removed.

I would start by firing one factory round through a chronograph to get factory load velocity through your gun. Next I would try a 10% reduction of the powder and then shoot again using the chronograph to get the reduced load velocity. I would not try reducing the load more than 12% in any case. You may not have a safe load if you reduce it any further than that.

Once you get the velocity figures you can calculate the energy from there. There is an excellent energy calculator on the web. Here is a link. http://www.handloads.com/calc/quick.asp

You can make the necessary adjustments to the powder charge once you have established a safe load.

Good luck to you, and have a safe hunt.
 

50shootr

New member

Equipment
B6100D, Honda 70 fourtrax STIHL MS 250
Nov 4, 2012
28
0
0
So. Dartmouth,Ma.
Hi.. I started off with a 20 ga when I was a skinny little kid,shot slugs which pushed me back a little but never bothered me gun was a Savage single shot which I still have, take the kid out and instruct him how to shoot safely and see how he does. Ed
 

helomech

New member
Apr 15, 2011
527
0
0
East Texas
Hi.. I started off with a 20 ga when I was a skinny little kid,shot slugs which pushed me back a little but never bothered me gun was a Savage single shot which I still have, take the kid out and instruct him how to shoot safely and see how he does. Ed
Each kid is very different though. My smaller son can shoot guns my older son won't shoot. Heck he probably weighs about 80lbs and his favorite gun to shoot is his old Mosin Nagant, that thing kicks worse than any of my other guns, but it does not seem to bother him one bit. My oldest son is 125 lbs and does not like the recoil from it.
 

Holleyman

New member

Equipment
Kubota B6001, Caterpillar 252B, AM General M813A1, Ford 8N, Komatsu PC30
Sep 25, 2013
70
0
0
80 acres in Athabasca AB
Too bad it was shotgun only. I have a bunch of reduced boolit loads for the 30-30 using Unique that is great for smaller adults and kids. I got nothing here in my reloading collection on data for 20 gauge slugs. Sorry