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Mini Shells for HD

I use minishells exclusively in my Shockwave. My setup is similar to yours. I keep mine “cruiser ready” with an empty chamber, 9 in the tube (I have a +1 mag extension), and 12 more in the 6-slot side saddle.
 
I'm curious what your loaded Shockies weigh since you're carrying an extra pound or two of ammo... ;)

Many MO members have an Opsol and minis in their SWs. I'm sure someone will be around eventually to comment.

BTW, Welcome Aboard Cas and Bo... :)
 
I've played with the minis in my Shockwave at the range and had good feeding and function with the Opsol clip. (I don't know if mine is the 2.0.) Still, something keeps me from feeling comfortable using minis for SD. Maybe, as modded as my gun is, the fact that the Opsol clip is just a friction fit and is responsible for one of the most functions of the gun, feeding, just worries me. This may make no sense whatsoever. Ultimately, I don't want to feel unsure of my SD gun, so I'm sticking with full length shells for now. My mind may change with time.
 
BoBo522 said:
I use minishells exclusively in my Shockwave. My setup is similar to yours. I keep mine “cruiser ready” with an empty chamber, 9 in the tube (I have a +1 mag extension), and 12 more in the 6-slot side saddle.
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I haven't tried it, but I see a potential problem with double-loading the side saddle. Normally, I extract a round by pushing it out of the loop. Having a round in the top and bottom of each loop means you can only pull them out by the brass. Couldn't that be difficult with cold and/or wet hands? Just a thought...
 
I really need to go do a shotgun course and practice that kind of thing. I'm a damn good shot, but I have ZERO actual combat training and it's something I'd really like to remedy.

I wonder how hard it would be to palm a minishell into the ejection port without it flipping around backwards.

Gotta go to work, I'll read your post-dog walk info later.
 
Let me throw another wrinkle into this.... Have you had any experience with the 2 1/4" "short shells" that fall into the middle ground between standard shells and minis?
  • Standard 2 3/4" 00 buck 9 pellets 1325 fps
  • Low Recoil 2 3/4" 00 buck 9 pellets 1150 fps
  • Short 2 1/4" 00 buck 6 pellets 1150 fps
  • Mini 1 3/4 #4 buck 15 pellets 1145 fps
I like that the shorts are still pushing the big 00 pellets. The reduced velocity will help with recoil. The shorter length will probably only get 1 more round in the tube.
 
Caswell Ranch said:
The only thing I see with the 2 1/4" shells is in some guns they are more reliable than the 1 3/4" (mostly guns that will not run 1 3/4"), remember when estimating capacity the length given for a shotshell is the spent length. 1 3/4" are 1 1/2" before, 2 3/4" are 2 1/2" etc , barrels have a forcing cone that starts past the full length(spent length)to allow hull and shot to occupy the same space or pressure would spike as the shot tried to push past the unfolded/rolled hull (chamber length). Some people have forcing cone lengthened but in most cases is not necessary and in part why the mini shells even at full size velocity feel mild, the Mossberg is chambered for 3" shells ( forcing cone starts after 3") giving a lengthened forcing cone by default . Anyway back to the question, they don't buy you any advantage.

P.S. Lengthened forcing cone can also include making the transition to bore diameter less of an angle.

As for experience with ammo types, shot most everything for 12 gauge 240,000 rds down range.
Handgun 1.5 million rounds down range.
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Just to be clear, I wasn't trying to question your experience. I meant to ask what your experience/opinion of the 1 1/2' shells has been. (Sometimes it sounds better in my mind than it does on the written page, lol). So is your opinion that there's not really much benefit in the 00 buck 1 1/2"shells over the shorter #4 buck shells?
 
Caswell, you're starting to bring me around to these little guys. I need to buy a case of them and run enough through my gun to settle my mind that they will function well.

BTW, here's a cool pic I stumbled across elsewhere on the interwebs. It shows that a LOT of the length difference between a standard and mini shell is just a taller wad.
149651765388.jpg


Another video with some laughably inaccurate assumptions made:

 
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Yeah, I had to shake my head a laugh at SO much of what was presented as "fact" in that video.

While I'm pumping (pun intended) you for information, I wonder about your thoughts on the difference between the Federal mini buck and the Aguila mini buck.

The Aguila has a mix of seven 4B and four 1B pellets. 11 pellets totaling .625 oz of lead. That load is traveling at 1250 fps.
The Feds have a heavier overall load of fifteen 4B pellets making .937 oz. These have a published velocity of 1200 fps.

Aguila packs 4 fewer pellets, but with 4 larger, heavier pellets. (I've often read that 1B is the smallest that should be relied upon for SD.) About 1/3 oz (0.3125) less lead than the Feds. Larger individual pellets are arguably better for penetration and immediate damage/shock, but more lead overall is pretty hard to argue against. I'm not sure whether that 50 fps difference makes much difference at all.

Another thought I had (and this may have already been said) is that comparing the 12ga minis to full sized 12ga might be the wrong comparison. It's pretty common to see advice to go with 20ga for SD/HD due to lower recoil and all the benefits that come from that. So maybe that's really to comparison we should be making: 12ga minis vs. regular 20ga SD ammo.
 
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