Light 12GA loads?

[A strange person]

I live in NH, and value my Mossberg 500 as an all-around survival/woodsloafing gun, in part because it can easily take any type of game at forest distances, and forest is all there is here.

The biggest disadvantage about a shotgun in this role is the weight of it's ammo, as everyone knows. It occurred to me that most of the hunting I do with it is on upland game (squirrels, rabbits, grouse, etc.). Now, 1oz. of shot is a hella lot of lead to be slinging at small creatures sitting still at close range. So I had an idea: why not use 1/2 an oz. of shot, and a full choke? And maybe make it steel shot to tighten up that group, mmmk? We're talking close range here. Wouldn't that give me something similar to .410 performance? It'd be nice to take that weight off my back. The problem is, I have no experience reloading shotshells (just brass). The fact that I cannot find such 12GA loads commercially available makes me hesitant to try it.

Has anyone ever tried something like this? Would it work? Is it safe? Is there some reason that it is a stupid idea that I have completely overlooked? Is anyone willing to tell me that it is a good idea, and will work? The answer cannot involve buying a new gun. I work part time at a grocery store.

 

[Steve C]

This Aguila mini shell with 1/2oz of 7-1/8 shot may fill your need. No components set up exist to do this with hand loads as far as I know. As to if the mini shell will feed in your Mossberg, the only way to know is to try them. I've tried the mini slug load in my 870 and it worked fine though the shell rattled around a bit in the feed gate and would likely fall out if the gun was to be turned the wrong way.

Here is a link to these shells at Ammunition to Go - mini Aguila but you can find them at other vendors.

 

[rbernie]

A 7/8oz or even 3/4oz handload is a really easy thing to accomplish, if you have a mind to do such a thing. Light loads aren't really dangerous, so long as you use appropriately fast powders. The issue with any scattergun is that the shot pattern gets kinda goofy (wide and flat) if you make the load too light relative to bore diameter. Having some amount of depth to the shot cloud seems really useful to me, especially on passing shots. Remington makes 7/8oz STS shells in regular and reduced velocity variants, if you want to try some light loads and find that the mini-shells like the Aquila don't feed well in your shotgun.

FWIW - the issue with shotgun ammo in a survival situation isn't so much the weight as the fact that shotgun hulls are relatively fragile, especially when compared to metallic cased ammo.

 

[451 Detonics]

Ballistic Products sells wads for 3/4 and 7/8 ounce loads, any lighter and you tend to have blown patterns even with a full choke.

 

[A strange person]

I'll definitely try the Aguila mini-shell; it seems to be exactly what I am looking for. A box of those in my pack sounds just dandy. #7-1/2 is good enough for most of my needs.

 

[A strange person]

Yeah, the ammo weight is only an issue in theory. A single box of shells could feed a man for two weeks or more (and 5 slugs for a year). If you are lost in NH for longer than that, you should give up hiking. Still, lighter is better. It's just the awesome feeling you get when you stop and think "I have 70+ rounds of ammo in my pack!" ya know?

And what kind of situation could damage the hulls? I've never had trouble with such a thing. I usually keep 25 rounds on a bandolier (15 rnds #6, 8 rnds 00, 2 slugs), another box of #6 in my pack (25 rnds), and anther 5 slugs somewhere.

 

[rbernie]

Hulls crush easily, deform under weight or heat stress, and are not normally waterproof. Spend any significant time backpacking about and you'll see what an issue those drawbacks can be.

 

[oneounceload]

I reload 12 gauge target loads with 3/4 and 7/8 shot - if interested, PM me for recipes

 

[A strange person]

I have, and I've never had that problem.

 

[JNewell]

Well, if you decrease the amount of shot and go to steel, you are certainly going to reduce the range...

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Aguilas will work with any gun, if you can load a single round in the firing chamber. I tried them with Mossberg 500s and a 590 and they would not feed properly from the magazine. Same with a S&W 916: you could drop one in the chamber through the open ejection port, no problem, but when fed from the magazine, they would flip over and try to enter the chamber rim first. For some woods walking situations, a good combo might be a 7 1/2 birdshot minishell in the chamber for small edible game and buck or slug in the magazine if a large predator shows up.

 

[A strange person]

It's fine if they don't feed perfectly. They would mostly be sitting in my pack as a backup for squirrels, etc.