Home Forums Reloading Shotshells beginner help please

hello all my first attempt at shotshell loading and posting to reloading shotshell section loaded rifle for many years.

have new 20 ga cheddite primed hulls
i have csd20 wads
i have lilgun powder
i have advantage and cheddite manuals

i tried 2 loads today and they kick like a 12 gauge.is this expected or am i doing something wrong.

my loads from cheddite manual
#1 is 32 grains of lilgun +csd20 wad slit + 1/8 felt wad in base of csd wad and 1 1/8 oz shot =492 grains on my scale , book says 9800 psi @1200 fps

#2 is 42 grains lilgun +csd20 wad slit +1/4 wad in base of csd20 wad and 7/8 oz shot=382 grains on scale and book says 10400psi @1570 fps

can i drop powder charge down on these and just add more wad or gas seal over powder wad to make up the height difference and tame these down.thank you

Yes you can drop powder charge, and imo anything over 1150fps is nothing but a waste of powder and unnecessary recoil.
lil gun is not really an ideal 20ga powder, and iirc those csd wads dont have a cushion section and always produced the most recoil in my turkey handload tests I did.

thank you i wanted to try green dot,unique,but this is about the only combination i found available.

If you are trying to load "normal" 20 gauge loads ie: 7/8 oz @ 1200 fps, Lilgun is not a suitable powder.

The first load you quoted is a 2 3/4" Magnum load.

The second load is a hyper-velocity field load, and will not work as a reduced load.


Availability has forced you to pick poor choices of hulls, wads, and powder, for normal 7/8 oz loads.


For a novice reloader, the best and easiest to use hulls are Remington STS or Gun Club, and Winchester AA.

Use Winchester AA20 or Clay Buster CB1078 wads.

Any of these powders will work for 7/8 oz @1200 fps loads.

Alliant: Green Dot, Unique, Herco and 20/28.

Hodgdon: Universal

Winchester: WSF

For higher velocity 1300 fps loads:

Hodgdon: HS6, Longshot

Alliant: Pro Reach

Michael

Yep powder to fast for 20 gauge.

Lil'Gun is actually a very slow burning shotgun powder in the same burn range as Winchester 296. It was developed for the .410 bore. It is also suitable for magnum pistol and small capacity rifle rounds.

Lilgun allows the 20ga to almost catch up with the 12ga performance! But in a light 20ga the recoil will be equal or worse than a 12ga. User beware and be careful what you wish for!