Many of us have interest in low powered rifle/pistol loads. Now with this excellent Shotguns section perhaps we can develop/document a discussion of reduced shotshell loads. The following excerpt of an article by Harvey T. Blake found in Dope Bag in the May 1971 issue of The American Rifleman I recently found starts my contribution.
"Surprisingly, however, few reloaders ever attempt to go in the other direction, though it is a fact that shells can be loaded down almost to the velocity of a BB-gun and still function reliably. One day, with nothing better to do, I decided to see how low I could go and still have my shells fire reliably. In these tests I used as little as 7 grs. of Red Dot powder with one ounce of shot, and never had a “blooper". Needless to say, the noise levels of these loads were very low and recoil negligible...All of my firing has been done in a 12-ga. single barrel gun."
According to a reference from Ballistics Lab at ADI Australia using ADI AS30N (which some writers claim is Hodgdons' Clay)in 12 gauge: 11 grains powder = 851 fps @5970 psi in Winchester AA compression formed cases, Win209 or Fiocchi 616 primers, WAA12 wad and 1 1/4 oz shot.
Regards, Bruce KD6DRU
