10 Guage loads, places to buy ammo, shot size

Bucksquirrely

Bucksquirrely

New member
Just wondering if anybody on here carried a BIG whacker afield. I have an old 36" barreled H&R 10 guage I use for hunting at night(yes its heavy, about 13 lbs). Until recently I used #4 shot turkey loads exclusivly for fox, but now that more and more coyotes are around and starting to respond to my calls I feel I need to up the ante a bit and go with a little more knockdown power. I've used the #4's to minimize pelt damage on fox. Federal Turkey loads have patterned the best for me out of the gun. I went today with some #2 shot to pattern it and compare to the #4. The #2 shot performed dismally at best, I shot 2 shots of each at 25 yards and 2 shots of each at 50. At 50 yards there were only about 2 or 3 pellets in the kill zone with the #2 shot, and about 6 with the #4's (by kill zone I mean a cirlce about the size of a fox's head). At 25 the results were not to spectacular for the #2's either, with about 5 to 6 pellets in the kill zone, the #4 shot preformed much better with about a dozen pellets or more.

I am looking for shot larger than #2, maybe #4 buckshot, but I'd rather have something a little smaller. Can anyone recommend some good loads to start patterning? I'd like to not be in the hole 100$ to test out a couple different loads either, so price is somewhat of a concern.

My next question is about shot size. Does anyone have a link or know of a site that would tell me approximately how many pellets of various shot sizes are in each load? and maybe a comparison or list of shot sizes from smallest to largest? For example, is bb larger than #4 buck?, what about b?, and so forth.

And one final question, anyone know where I can buy some 10 guage ammo online? I'm running pretty scimpy on my #4's and I really dont want to have to carry #2's afield with me.

Thanks in advance.
 
I don't know what available for 10 gauge loads but I know its pretty limited I'd probably find some heavier than lead goose loads or just stick with turkey loads they'll work if you don't shoot to far.
Shot sizes from biggest to smallest 00 buck
0 buck
1 buck
2 buck
3 buck
4 buck
ff
f
tt
t
bbb
bb
b
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
There are some sites that list pellet counts per ounce but I don't know what sites they are.
 
I shoot a Remington SP-10 . For predators I use either lead BB's or lead #4 buck . The BB load that I use is a factory load from Federal , the #4 buck is handloaded .

Natchez usually has a pretty good selection of 10 ga ammo .

Here's a link :

web page
 
Buck-
I too have one of them big boys. It is a fun gun to hunt with but heres the rub-

Unless you go to reloading we really dont gain much over the 12 3 1/2, sad but true.
A quick check of the remington site list the 10 & 12 3.5 with the same load and same velocity. Shame on them. The 10 is capable of a lot more than the 12 gauge, but it seems they are getting retired to mantles and closets more and more.


If reloading is an option for you- get on with it. The folks a Ballistic Products have everything you'd ever need including data to turn your oversized 12 gauge back into the beast it used to be. Id wholeheartedly recomend it.
One pet load of mine for the ten is 1 3/4 ounce shot at over 1400 fps. It worked well with 4b as well as bb, and put them down with much authority. (but honestly less impressive when compared to factory 3.5 hevishot single b loads)

Theres even rumor of a gentleman using rifle powders to get over 1600 fps with 1 3/4 ounce at standard shotgun pressures. Now that might just kill on both ends, but its certain an eyebrow raiser, and worth looking into as well. If only we could get a good a pattern with that one, eh?

ANyways, best of luck to you-Mike.
 
I have reloaded for the 10ga. since about 1992. Ballistic products is a good source of components for lead shot reloading and I would recommend you starting with their "Master loads" if they still have them.

A lot of the patterning problems you can have with lead shot is related to the use of soft shot, and, also, chokes. I would try the Federal premium buffered line of shells first for factory loads. As for chokes, I use a .705" Terror choke for shot sizes up through 4 buck, as it delivers very good lead shot patterns with a variety of shot sizes. There may be others which will pattern lead well, but I haven't tried them ..... other than an original Pattern Master, which left me unimpressed when shooting normal sized lead shot.

There's a thread running toward the top of the pages on shotgun pattern testing, started by GC, with a lot of good information in it, including information on shells, chokes and the 10ga. if you want to reduce your learning time.
 
Thanks for the info guys, I think I'll stick with #4's for now and maybe try some of the Federal BB loads if I can find some for a reasonable price or in a box of 10 instead of 25. After the season closes I think I will get a few supplies and load some of my own.

Another question, is it possible or even feasible to have my barrel cut and threaded for a removable choke? I don't want to take to much off the length because I know the shorter barreled Nef 10 gauges really wallop you, and recoil is manageable with the extra length and weight of my current barrel.
 
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