Not so many people seem to use them, but I recommend 7/8 ounce loads for trap and skeet shooting in 12 gauge. I also recommend loading down to about 1125 to 1145 f.p.s. in velocity, as opposed to the usual standard 1200 f.p.s.

I've shot a lot more skeet than trap, but recently I've become interested in trap shooting too. About a week and a half ago I shot my first straight 25 at trap using such a load in my Remington 870. (It's the cheap one; plain and ugly as a boat paddle, but it works, and quite well. It has a 26 inch barrel with ventilated rib and screw-in chokes; I put a full choke in it for trap shooting.)

My trap load: Remington hulls (Sport load, Gun Club, or STS), Remington 209P primer, Claybuster clone of the WAA12L wad, 15.2 gr. of 700X, 7/8 oz. of #8 shot.

The virtue of such loads is that they break as many targets as heavier loads (ones with more shot and/or more powder), but they do not punish your shoulder or tire you out as much -- and that contributes to better shooting on your part.

This same load works well for skeet too, in an over/under (it might be too light to cycle many autoloaders; it would work in a pump but few people use a pump for skeet). But for skeet I switch to #9 shot.

7/8 ounce 12 gauge loads, for that matter, are nearly indistinguishable from 24 gram international loads (7/8 ounce = 24.8 grams), although the international loads are usually loaded to a significantly higher velocity than what I use.

They work great for doves, too, if one is using that large a bore for them. I prefer a 28 ga, but have been known to tote a 12 after the gray ghosts.

My experience has shown that light for gauge low velocity loads tend to throw very dense patterns. It is not hard to get a 7/8 or 1 oz 12 ga. load that will put more pellets in a 30 in circle @40y than you can get with 1-1/4 (or more) h.v. load of same shot. Sometimes less=more.
I still prefer my 28 for doves, though I have shot a few with 1-1/8 in a 10 ga.
C.G.B.

I kinda have the reverse problem- I have a saiga shotgun for 3 gun that works sweetly IF I can get the pressure to a certain point.

The Winchester AA 1 oz SSC load works well, but the recoil impulse with a international trap load is much better, unfortunately it isn't cycling the action well.

I have not found a 7/8 oz (or 24g) load that is advertised as "high pressure" for 12 ga. It seems everyone but me is looking for the opposite. The guys I shoot with say just keep adding powder until it works. Unfortunately, that goes against most everything I've learned....

Any ideas out there?

Proper shotguns have two barrels. They digest 7/8 oz loads with no cycling worries.

"Proper shotguns have two barrels"....that's right and they are next to each other not on top of each other. And they have 2 triggers...

I carry xerox copies of this in my range bag and give it to anyone who wants it. This is from an article by Dave Holmes but don't remember which mazazine it came from.

PUTTING THE FUN BACK INTO SHOOTING...3/4 oz at a time.

HIS pet load is as follows.

3/4oz of 7.5 (or your choice) with 18.5gr of Titewad for 1330fps. The grey AAL Winchester or Downrange pink XXL wad are interchangable. He also is using Fiocchi primers since they have been the cheapest. A Remington hull w/a .060 crimp completes the package. Pressure is in the vicinity of 7,500psi low enough that switching primers and wads offers meaningless variation.

Recoil by the numbers:
8.25# gun 12 foot lbs.
7.5# gun 13.2 ft lbs
7.0# gunn 14 ft lbs

The above load, when I use a 12ga (seldom), is all I have used now for several years at skeet and five-stand. It's also my wifes favorite load in her Browning Cynergy Sproting. My 12 ga gun is a Grulla SxS. My favorite gun is my AyA #2 Round Body 20ga SxS w/29" barrels and Briley tubes.

Ya, I know. 2 barrels. Always carry a spare....

If I wanted to be timed with a sundial.... Try shooting 28 targets in under 15 seconds with your 2 stuffers...

If all I wanted to do was shoot clay birds, you guys are right. The light loads work great for that purpose. As I said, I can't find much of anything which they advertise higher pressure that will work a gas operated gun.

Easy..shoot 'em while they're still coveyed up in the box!

I load a lot of 7/8ths oz 12 ga. load for sporting clays. Shot several rounds with them in the 90's (that's saying something, if you've been around my shooting....). As a matter of fact, come to think of it, my highest scores are with the 7/8ths loads, and yes, I load them with Titewad.

A suggestion for the gentleman with the cycling issue: try loading with American Select or E3. It'll take just a pinch more powder, but those higher end powders aren't as "spikey" in their pressure curves, and my wife's 391 likes very light 1 oz loads with Am. Select a great deal. HTH, Dutch.

Well...I don't reload shotshells, but found that B&P's 7/8 Competition 2000 (now Comp 1) @1160 hard to beat.

+1 on the value of 7/8 oz loads in 12 ga they preform far better than one would expect. Patterns for me run better in the 1200 to 1250 fps range.

Rem Hull
17.4g of Clay Dot
Clear Duster wad
7/8 oz of hard #8's

Do they make something other than O/U's??