Anybody do it? I put 34 grains of longshot in a federal top gun hull. A CB6118-12 wad. 9 330 swaged balls. I tried putting it in the wad direct. It worked but made little bulges in the hull. Pattern at 35 yards was ok. Mossberg 500 I used a modified choke. So I loaded 5 more today. Cut the petals off the wad. Shot was a little loose. So I added some buffer I got from Midway USA. put an overshot card ontop. Going to shoot over a chroney Sunday. Son has some factory 00. No idea what brand. Going to compare them. What I been reading some say a full choke will tighten up the pattern and some say make it worse. I will try a couple with full choke also. Anybody play with this stuff? Any tips?

I made up some pretty similar to yours, only i used some molded # 4 buck i made up with crushed cheerio buffer ,been shooting them in full choke Mossberg 500 and a choke i made 690 thousands . they do pretty good with the longshot ,its fast , my hulls are federal gold medal. I might go to a modified or open aint never really tryed it opening it up.

Bubba rountree outdoors has a lot of good information specifically on reloading buckshot for 12 and 20 gauge. I watched several when I was trying to get loads for coyote hunting.

I have watched a bunch of his videos. He uses an an after market choke called a buck kicker. Don't think I want to buy a 70 dollar choke. Just want some decent 00 shells for the zombie apocalypse.

0330 buckshot will only stack in 2's inside a normal 12 gauge wad. Each pellet weighs 1/8 oz, so 8 of them stacked 2 x 4 is a 1 oz payload, and will require a wad intended for an honest 1 1/4 oz payload to fit 8 of them in. Some of the old Rem Power Pistons allow you to do it. Modern era, there was a new Downrange yellow wad for tapered hulls that may allow you to do it. Or go to 10 pellets and use the CB clone of the old Win AA red wad. Shot will be stacked proud of the shot cup.

Otherwise, two options..........load only 6 pellets for a 3/4 oz payload. Or......get some #0 buckshot ........the 0.315 version.......from BPI........and that allows you to stack them 3 x 3 = 9, which is also just under a 1 oz payload. d

Two versions using the old Rem PP wads. One is 8 pellets......the other is 10. Rem STS, Nitro or Gun Club hulls. About 20 Grains Green Dot. You don't want to be standing in front of it when it goes off.

I wasn't going to respond figuring you were looking for something sophisticated. Zombies don't much care. The photo is a couple different loads, and a launcher. It's been a while, so I don't have specific load info on hand. In general, though I can say that I load very light. ~2 or 2 1/2" shells with ~20some grains of whatever. Wads? Nah, gas seal, even cork works fine. Overshot card and roll crimp. You can use #1 or #00 buck and STACK as many as six 00 balls in a 2" (1 3/4" overall final) hull. The roll crimp eliminates any bulging of the hull.

I not going to specify a charge. What I have done is to weigh the payload and match some published shotshell recipe for that load @ around 1200 fpm.

I have done pretty much the same with the 7/8 oz Lee cast slugs. You do need to fit these in a wad, though.

Short shells and an extended tube mag make for a lot of firepower; Fewer balls and lower velocity saves your shoulder for a few more rounds
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. INTENDED AS GENERAL BACKGROUND FOR CONSIDERATION OF EXPERIENCED RELOADERS

Here is how they look with the petals cut off the wad. No idea how they shoot yet.

P.S. These hulls I picked up are straight wall hulls not tapered like the WinAA red wads.

At the level of #00 buckshot, there are a couple realities. One is the diameter of the 0.330 version does not stack in 3's inside a plastic wad. It will stack in 3's over gas seals and card or felt wads. Then unless you use a teflon wrapper or some such thing, the shot rides nekked down the barrel. The old way and may still be the way some of it is made.

But if you use a wad, have to stack the 0.330 version in 2's, so 6, 8, 10 pellets.......3/4 oz, 1 oz or 1 1/4 oz payloads. Very hard to find modern era straight wall wads deep enough to stack anymore than 6. Those wads may show up on some sites, but none are available. Federal 12S4? Not going to find any.

So Option B is drop down to the 0.315 version of #0 buck, which will stack in 3's inside most modern era wads. Problem being that is hard to find. Best source being BPI. BTW, if memory serves, Bubba once did cut down some factory #00 buckshot, and it wasn't 0.330 either. It was #0 buck.

Option C is to find or buy Gun Clubs and shoot those at clay birds, then load the empties with wads you can find.

is that bad? does the pattern open up too fast?

OK, need to correct myself. It turns out there actually may be a wad you can use for 8 pellets of #00 buck in a straight walled hull. The CB6114-12. Shown with an expanded roster of wads for both tapered and straight walled hulls. It is the black wad in the middle. I have em.........have not tried loading with them.

Intended use by CB may have been for 1 1/4 oz payloads of shot in 7 1/2 size +/- in Gold Medal hulls. But may be able to use it for buckshot in a Top Gun, if an 8 pellet stack stands proud. May need an overshot card too.

Objections I've heard is lead fouling of the barrel. So the teflon wrap was supposed to cut down on that. I doubt that is the case. But either way, I've stuck to using wads. Have enough of the old power piston wads to stave off an awful lot of zombies.

Yet one more option some do for a small number of shells is to take any of these plastic wads and cut the petals off......using the base and crush section in place of the gas seal and fiber and felt wads. Without the petals, the larger 0.330 will stack in 3's.

Thanks HayDay. I don't plan on shooting hundreds of them. If these five shoot decent I think I will load a few to have on hand. You ever tried JB bore paste for lead removal? Works good on rifling.

Pattern? What pattern?

Mine pattern like a ragged tennis ball.

If you want to see an interesting pattern, try this one on for size. That was at 15 paces or around 45 feet. Was an 8 pellet #00 buckshot load stacked 2 x 4 in Rem PP wads stuffed into a Win AA hull. 20.5 grains Green Dot had a velocity of just over 1,300 fps. It appears the vertically stacked pellets formed two distinct triangle shaped impact zones......(pellets on top of each other all went to the same place). A 7th pellet went random and as is often noted, the last pellet was a flier that went to who knows where. What some refer to as the 9th pellet flier. That was a one-of load that I ought to load a bunch more of to see if this pattern repeats.

Buckshot is funny, some guns pattern it great with a full choke, others with an improved, and some can't keep them in a bushel basket at 10 yards no matter the choke... patterning is important with that stuff...

I loaded five with no petals on the wad and some ballistics products buffer. Going to shoot them over a chroney and see how they pattern with different chokes.

Most guns I seen tested do better with full choke. I like 000 buck but hard to find now.