I'm posting here as the shotshell reloading forum doesn't get a lot of traffic

I have several charge bars and one is either for 1.0 Oz lead or for 1 1/8 Oz lead...

it's marked:
12 GA.0

I weighed a charge of #7 shot from it and (this is a laugh) it weighed 1.06 Oz....or 1 1/16th OZ

Can anyone tell me what this is supposed to be?

Dawg,
The 12ga. bar should dump 1-1/8oz. of shot. That is what the british called the "square" or standard load for the 12ga. A 16ga. bar should deliver a 1oz. load. A 20ga. bar should deliver a 7/8oz. load and so forth.

If my terribly unreliable rusty memory is correct, I believe MEC charge bars are "calibrated" with #9 shot. Larger shot sizes will throw under weight as they don't pack as densely.

If yours is throwing 1-1/16 oz of #7 it's probably a "1-1/8 oz" bar.

quote:

If yours is throwing 1-1/16 oz of #7 it's probably a "1-1/8 oz" bar.

I'm thinking this is probably the case.....

All of the MEC charging bars I've ever used throw a little light with most shot sizes, even #9's. The coarser the shot, the lighter they throw. I assume that this is to slightly offset reloaders' mistakes in powder charges or improperly substituted components. However, it uses less shot and I've always found that lighter charges of shot kill as many birds as full-weight charges of shot.

Hey Vapo, About 45-50 years ago a buddy of mine decided he wanted to try some of the 1oz loads. We had a few Charge Bars which had Fixed Shot Sizes, but the Powder was Adjustable as well as I can remember.

Can't remember where he got the different Wads and he had just enough to almost make a box of shells.

Anyway, we had nothing that would throw the Shot at less than 1 1/8oz, I think. We needed a "Hole Shrinker" and got it fixed.

How would you have made the Shot Hole "Smaller" 50 years ago?

my hole shrinker was a roll of aluminum tape. i did thst for awhile then got one of those universal charge bars. by the way the bar you have is 1 1/8
Dave

quote:

How would you have made the Shot Hole "Smaller" 50 years ago?

I used electrical tape once....it worked but later when I could afford a new bar I bought a new one.....I now have seven charge bars here of various sizes and dimensions....

And thanks everyone....I'm convinced it's 1 1/8 OZ

BTW, I emailed MEC about it and they did everything under the sun to sell me a new one......and never answered the question.....specifically...what amount of lead is it supposed to drop.....three times they emailed me and never answered the question!

Were you two guys hiding in the back when my buddy put the Tape in???

He used the Black Plastic Electrical Tape too. That was back in the old days before we had discovered Duct Tape, or I feel sure that would have been the Tape he'd have used.
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I was thinking a bit more about it last night and remember the old Black Cloth Tape. Didn't matter if you had a new roll, both sides were sticky. After using it your hands would hold "dirt" real well.

quote:

I was thinking a bit more about it last night and remember the old Black Cloth Tape. Didn't matter if you had a new roll, both sides were sticky. After using it your hands would hold "dirt" real well.

We called that tape "friction tape". My dad thought civilization had reached a new high when vinyl electrical tape finally became available.

Hi Vapo,

I've loaded and shot hundreds of thousands of 12 ga. shotshells. I used MEC loaders for years while loading as well.

I never once bothered to weigh an actual dropped shot charge. For my 9000 grabber (Progressive loader) I just have charge bars for each shot weight from 1oz, to 1 3/8oz.

With this said, shot shell loading doesn't have to be as precise as loading metallic cartridges. I wouldn't worry if I were you if the bar drops a small bit different from what it's marked. After setting the proper powder bushing and weighing what it drops at the beginning to match the load data, I've never weighed subsequent charges either.

I always picked a load from the manual for the shot weight and velocity and just loaded. When you shoot a 5 gallon bucket of reloads each practice session, you don't want to spend much time weighing powder and shot!

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
...We called that tape "friction tape". ...

Yes indeed, you are correct. Thank you.

Of course back then you could wash the Tape Residue off your hands with good old Leaded gasoline. I'd guess the "tell EVERYONE how to live" Liberals would have a cow if they saw us do that today. Especially if a drop of gas hit the ground.

quote:

"tell EVERYONE how to live" Liberals

fuck-em......lets get on with life!

When the cost of shot started edging upward, I switched to 1 oz. loads in the 12 gauge. When it went through the roof I dropped down to 7/8 oz. Didn't notice any fewer birds being broken. In fact I think my Sporting Clays scores went up a bit on average. Less wear and tear on the gun and the shooter. If shot prices fall, I'll stick with the light loads.