New to the forum and a ?

[Bob B.]

Hello, this is a great site!

I do most of my upland hunting with either a 20 Ga. Sterlingworth or a 16 Ga. Sterlingworth. Both are choked Mod. and Full. I use Spred-r loads from Poly-wad in both, as Woodcock and Grouse are a close range affair in N.H. and ME. My question is for all of you who chase ducks with old doubles. I also have a nice restored early A grade 12 ser #190xx. It sports 30 in. Krupp Barrels that were gone through by Mike Orlen. The chambers were lengthend to 2 3/4. I rescued it from a would be restorer who would most likely have destroyed it, but thats a story for another day. Anyway I do alot of duck hunting with modern guns and have some great go to loads for what ever I may be hunting on a given day from Geese to Eiders to Woodies. But I must say that I have no experience with any of the available non toxic offerings that are safe to use in a 1911 Fox. Can someone point me in the right direction. I don't reload as of yet, so it must be something I can buy and shoot. I won't be shooting Geese or Eiders with it either, just decoying Puddlers, so no need for super duper loads. I'd really like to get the old girl back out in the field!

Thanks in advance,
Bob.

[foxhusker]

RST shells have 2 1/2" one ounce nice shot loads that would work pretty good for me here in the plains of South Dakota for both pheasant and duck hunting. But I will tell you investing in a mec sizemaster you can really set up some nice reloads which I do as well and the guys from precison reloading are always helpfull when trying to work out new loads.

[Silvers]

Welcome Bob, I recently hunted waterfowl with RST NICE shot loads in 12 gauge (1 ounce at 1175fps, pass shooting and decoyed, and they worked VERY WELL. The shells are 2-1/2", low pressure, and will work just fine in old Foxes in good condition. I used a Super Fox and my old Winchester 97 pump gun on the trip. Loaded shells are $75.00 per box of 25 - but I asked myself, how many are you really gonna shoot? My rationale - unless you're a really avid waterfowler the cost to amortize a reloading press may not pay out. And they're not exactly giving away suitable soft non-tox shot for reloading, so for many it's a better deal to buy the RST factory shells. My opinion of course.

RST also has a complete line of low pressure 2-1/2" and 2-3/4" shells in lead shot for upland game with vintage SxS's, and they recently introduced a spreader shell using the excellent Gualandi (sp?) cruciform wad. I saw the spreaders at the Vintage Cup a couple of weeks ago but they may not be in the on-line catalog just yet. 12 and 20 gauge only. If you decide to call RST, Alex or Jill can tell you about them. One thing about RST, the company is owned and run by vintage double gun enthusiasts and they have modern ballistics testing capability in house, and professional ballisticians who come up with the loads. They're the real deal.

I've used modern high pressure Fiocchi and Kent shells with that Gualandi spreader wad extensively in competition shooting with an over & under and they work exceedingly well, better than others I've tried with competing spreader-type wads. However those shells are loaded at high pressure for modern guns. I really know when one goes off.

Here's the RST link. Silvers

http://www.rstshells.com/

[Bob B.]

Thanks for the replys. I will look into the RST shells.

-Bob.