Hushpower 20g Cartridges?

[Yogi1Kanobee]

Hi.

 

I'm about to order a Mossberg 20g Hushpower and would like to get a stock of cartridges. I'll probably get a case of the Gamebore Hushpower cartridges, but before I do, I was wondering what cartridges other people use?

[sitsinhedges]

Buy some Gamebore Traditional Game in 28gram 6

[Yogi1Kanobee]

Buy some Gamebore Traditional Game in 28gram 6

 

Would that be as well as, or instead of?

[sitsinhedges]

Would that be as well as, or instead of?

 

My opinions on the Hushpower cartridges are well known, I don't rate them at all. If I had to buy factory cartridges I would use a heavy fibre game load because the constraints of pressure mean they can't be that fast. I recall I was chronoing the Traditional Game at something around 1150fps, the 30/5 Hushpower cartridges were silly slow. Traditional Game worked well in my gun but I still prefer my reloads.

 

The main thing with a Hushpower gun is to know where it is shooting, my best day this year with mine was 50 pigeons for 75 shells, the gun is very capable if you do your bit.

[Yogi1Kanobee]

Thanks for that. I'm glad I didn't just go ahead and order them.

[sitsinhedges]

I never actually bought any Hushpower cartridges. I was given maybe 30 odd by a chap who had bought a Hushpower 20g O/U and a 1000 of them. He was struggling and reported hearing the pellets hitting the birds which were just flying on. Maybe my chrono results explain why.

[Yogi1Kanobee]

Is the Hushpower still noticably quieter with the Gamebore Traditional Game cartridges?

[sitsinhedges]

Is the Hushpower still noticably quieter with the Gamebore Traditional Game cartridges?

 

Yes, very much quieter than normal, just slightly louder than with proper hushpower cartridges.

 

If you fire the gun towards a wood or a solid object you will get some bounce back with any cartridge that will make it sound quite loud but if firing into an open field or into the air they are ideal. I'd get a varied selection of cartridges and see what suits if I was starting again.

[Skid]

Yes, very much quieter than normal, just slightly louder than with proper hushpower cartridges.

 

If you fire the gun towards a wood or a solid object you will get some bounce back with any cartridge that will make it sound quite loud but if firing into an open field or into the air they are ideal. I'd get a varied selection of cartridges and see what suits if I was starting again.

 

Just to add to this, I've tried a good variety and out of all the standard carts the best pattern I got was the Gamebore Traditional Game loads, closely followed by Express Special Twenty (25gm). The subsonics actually patterned best of all but as pointed out they can be a bit slow. OK for close decoyed birds but I certainly doubt their punch at longer ranges and have seen a few flying off strongly with feathers dropping out behind them indicating a hit. However, they are really quiet with true subsonics and you can hear the shot ricocheting out the end of the barrel where some of the pellets have caught the edge of the baffles. So quiet in fact that I've shot a pigeon out of a tree and the ones only 50 yards away in the next trees didn't budge

Also, if the auto is anything like the O/U it will shoot low as well so check out the pattern with a selection of carts as sitsinhedges says. As an example my O/U is about 18" low at 40 yards, enough to make a difference when you forget to allow for it in a rush..

[Guest cookoff013]

Just to add to this, I've tried a good variety and out of all the standard carts the best pattern I got was the Gamebore Traditional Game loads, closely followed by Express Special Twenty (25gm). The subsonics actually patterned best of all but as pointed out they can be a bit slow. OK for close decoyed birds but I certainly doubt their punch at longer ranges and have seen a few flying off strongly with feathers dropping out behind them indicating a hit. However, they are really quiet with true subsonics and you can hear the shot ricocheting out the end of the barrel where some of the pellets have caught the edge of the baffles. So quiet in fact that I've shot a pigeon out of a tree and the ones only 50 yards away in the next trees didn't budge

Also, if the auto is anything like the O/U it will shoot low as well so check out the pattern with a selection of carts as sitsinhedges says. As an example my O/U is about 18" low at 40 yards, enough to make a difference when you forget to allow for it in a rush..

 

my opinion of subsonic shells are well known too. as its a special tool, needs special ammo. as its likely to be a limited cartridge gun, reload for it. dump some 5s in it and go have some fun. buy a lee loadall in 20gauge, and press out 200 shells, its time consuming, but comparing factory hushpower to homeloads is a great way of understanding how a homeloader can beat the system. factory hushpower loads are almost always #6 because it is cheap.

for the price of a lee loadall and virgin components, you could easilly recoup your moneys worth. infact on just cartridges, they are £300/ k and youw easily make them for £160, plus the cost of the reloader, you save £100 on the first 1k, then £140 on every 1k after that, in a shotsize you want / need, available whenever you want.

 

andy should give you a recipe, and help set you up as bushing sizes and optimal shotsize.

 

now, with that you'll end up using them all the time, i did. my special loads are 32g #4 subsonics. and they punch hard, for no recoil. compared to the #6 at 1500fps, my #4 win hands down even beyond 50 yards. *(energy retention)

[Yogi1Kanobee]

Well, I ordered up a case of the Gamebore Traditional Game, plus a box of the hushpower just to try. The reloading sounds interesting - perhaps something for the future!