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New guy with a new Shockwave!

After christening the Sub 2K, I got double-secret permission from the cool RSO to shoot my Shockwave. They don't normally allow any gun without a shoulder stock (or at least a "brace") at this outdoor rifle range. He told me I had to shoot from the bench and use my bag rest. The RSOs just don't want anyone pulverizing their target frames.

The only way I could get comfortable with the gun on the bag rest and my hand on the forend, was if I stood up. So I did. I also determined that the green laser was visible on the target at 25 yards in the daylight. It was actually VERY visible. Good to go!

The POI for the first four shots were lower than the POI (right on the bullseye). But I had zeroed the laser at 15 yards previously (at an indoor range), as I recall. In any case, I simply put my POA a few inches above the bull and got better results.
Target-4.jpg

Ten full-load slugs was enough! This particular range allows only slugs. And they create some sharp recoil in the Shockwave! Then I went home and had some lunch. :) Mission accomplished!

PS... I sure hope Federal's Shorty slugs actually come on the market some day.
 
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Looks like I'm gonna have to get off my rump and start experimenting with hulls again.

So far, undecided whether it would be better to use plastic gas checks. or hard waxed nitro cards between the powder and slugs. Easy enough to cut the shells to 2" and then roll crimp afterwards.

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John A. said:
Looks like I'm gonna have to get off my rump and start experimenting with hulls again.

So far, undecided whether it would be better to use plastic gas checks. or hard waxed nitro cards between the powder and slugs. Easy enough to cut the shells to 2" and then roll crimp afterwards.

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John, the following dumb questions again only apply to slugs. So the primary 2 purposes of the wad is to separate the powder from the slug and to adjust the height of the slug inside the shell to allow for a proper roll crimp, right? So you could theoretically make these custom reload slugs any length that would feed correctly , and for our purposes that would be approximately 1.75”, just to make sure the DefenderTactical or Opsol continue to function properly? If that big old bag of cards you got were too thin for the proper height, can they be stacked? Does a shell loaded with a specific amount of powder care if the shell is loaded with a slug or some other shot, as long as the weight is appropriate for the amount and type of powder? I understand that wads are of a straight or tapered design, but would that be an issue with a shorty shelled slug that I would presume is primarily going to be used in home defense scenarios as opposed to long range shots or competition? Sorry for the windiness.
 
There are no dumb questions. And I'm glad that you asked.

Yes, you are correct about the purposes of the wad. Whether plastic or otherwise. They were even using cotton wads in black powder weapons in the 1700 and 1800's to help increase the efficiency of the powder burn.

Yes, you can make the shells whatever length you would like. The trick is to be able to get everything you need to in the length you want it. For making short shells, I'm not entirely sure that I would use a wad with a shotcup at all. Just load the slug inside of the hull itself.

Most shotgun wads are actually very much longer than they are needed to be. And yes, they're that way so in order to fill up the 2-3/4" or 3 inch 3-1/2" length or whatever length hull you're using and get a good crimp.

Which is another thing that I would probably do is a roll crimp with an overshot card to hold the payload in place to make the process easier. I'm a huge fan of the clear overshot plastic cards that you can see through so you don't have to guess what's inside of there.

yes, nitro cards can be stacked so that you can reach a better crimping height. And why the thinner cards are more popular. Gives you more ability to stack as needed. It's easier to add more nitro cards in a hull than it is to split fat ones in whatever lengths you need to use. Or buying packs of multiple sizes.

The powder does not care what you are launching out of it. Birdshot. Pellets. Slugs. Rock salt. Broken glass and nails. Creek rocks and gravels. It only cares about the weight of it and the pressures that it builds in doing so. The powder doesn't know you're shooting different things. It only knows how much pressure it reaches when it does so. That's why it's generally better to err with using a lighter payload than what you're loading for. The heavier it is, the higher pressures you build. You get too heavy, something is going to break.

*I will add that not all powders use the same charge weights. That's powder specific. Some burns faster. Some burns slower. They're not equal. I have some recipes that use 17 gr of powder. And some that uses 25+ gr of powder. It all depends on what you're doing is what determines which is "best" for what you're loading. Magnum or handicap velocities and pressures. This is mainly where nitro cards come into play.

When it comes to loading your own hulls, the height of the powder inside of the hull, is largely what determines how many nitro cards or wax buffers that you need to stack to raise or lower the shot cup wad to the correct height to get a good crimp.

Ideally, you would need none. But, things don't often work out that way when you're mix-n-matching different powders and wads and whatever.

When you asked about tapered hulls, that tells me that you've been doing some research already. Which is great.

In regards to plastic wads with the shot cups built in, it's better to stay with which wad the hull was designed with. Straight wall hulls have far more forgiving recipes. Tapered hulls is usually better to stay with tapered wads to be used in them.

A general rule of thumb is to use remington wads in remington hulls. Winchester wads in winchester hulls. Federal wads in federal hulls and so on. Then you don't have to guess and it's generally easier to grab a set of components and just go with them. In this case of making custom short shells, that kind of goes out the window though. And is why I would prefer to use the winchester hulls or cheddite.

I have a lot of winchester hulls (which are straight hulls) that I would be doing these with. At least to start with. I love remington hulls, but they're tapered internally. And it's easier for me to start off with straight wall plus there are other reasons for choosing the winchester is the hull will be pretty much done after shooting.
 
Racer88 said:
After christening the Sub 2K, I got double-secret permission from the cool RSO to shoot my Shockwave. They don't normally allow any gun without a shoulder stock (or at least a "brace") at this outdoor rifle range. He told me I had to shoot from the bench and use my bag rest. The RSOs just don't want anyone pulverizing their target frames.

The only way I could get comfortable with the gun on the bag rest and my hand on the forend, was if I stood up. So I did. I also determined that the green laser was visible on the target at 25 yards in the daylight. It was actually VERY visible. Good to go!

The POI for the first four shots were lower than the POI (right on the bullseye). But I had zeroed the laser at 15 yards previously (at an indoor range), as I recall. In any case, I simply put my POA a few inches above the bull and got better results.
View attachment 28626

Ten full-load slugs was enough! This particular range allows only slugs. And they create some sharp recoil in the Shockwave! Then I went home and had some lunch. :) Mission accomplished!

PS... I sure hope Federal's Shorty slugs actually come on the market some day.
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Here's my Shockwave 12ga with slugs and laser at 15 yards....
 

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Will be testing the Shorty slugs tomorrow!
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Meeting 3 friends for a range day. Bringing a "variety pack" of toys.
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I haven't fired the Rhino or Colt Pony in at least a few years.
 
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After a fair bit of time at the pistol range, the four of us decided to go to lunch and skip the rifle range. So, testing of the mini-slugs has been delayed! :-(
 
Racer88 said:
Yeah... you can stop making really cool, high-quality, hard-to-resist, competitively-priced accessories for the Shockwave! Then maybe I won't keep spending money pimping this thing out!
;)
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I am in the same boat. Wes is fantastic to work with .
 
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