Loading BB,BBB,T shot.

[Bernie P.]

In the interest of not having my gun blow apart in my face I contacted Lyman as regards using their load data with BB,BBB and T lead shot.Here's their reply-
Yes it would, however it may be difficult to get the shell to crimp properly as the larger shot size would take up more room than the smaller shot we used to develop the load.Depending on the exact load, we used either #6, #4 or #2 shot.You may need more wad pressure to get the crimp to fold properly.

 

[MGYSGT]

I used to load steel BB's (as in BB gun BB's) in my 12 ga. It was an old SXS with full chokes. Wasn't one of my best ideas. Those steel BB's grooved the chokes right out of the barrel. This was way before we had steel shot and barrels to match. Who knew? On the up side, they were awesome at impact. Targets that lead would only dent, they would go straight through.

Tom

 

[derbyacresbob]

With some wads and some hulls you may not be able to get the full shot charge in the wad & hull and get a good crimp when using the larger lead pellets. DO NOT put a bunch of body weight pressure on your reloader to get it to crimp.

Just go with 1/8 oz less shot or use less spacer wads or thinner spacer wads. If the load calls for a 1/8" spacer wad don't use any spacer wad.

Using 1/8 oz less shot to get the room needed in the hull is much safer than trying to make it all fit because a reloading manual says it will fit. You will not have that many less pellets by going with 1/8 oz less with lead BB and bigger pellets. As long as you use the data from the book and use a little less on the weight of shot you will be fine.

On some big shot cup wads I trim 1/8" of the petals off to shorten the length of the wads to give more room inside the hull. All of the shot is still inside the shot cup.

I have a bunch of 1/8" and 1/4" spacer wads, over shot card wads and plastic filler beads on hand for reloading heavy shotgun shells. Some loads crimp a little deep so a little thicker spacer wad or a small amount of filler with a thin over shot card wad added will make a better crimp.