Looking for advice on a 1-1/8 oz 12ga load for sporting clays with my Beretta 686
I've been shooting sporting clays for a few years now and recently got a Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon I with IC/M chokes. I'm trying to develop a reload that's soft shooting but still breaks targets consistently out to 40 yards. I've been using once-fired STS hulls, Winchester 209 primers, and 18.0 grains of Alliant Extra-Lite with a Claybuster WAA12SL wad, but my patterns seem a bit thin on longer crossing shots.
1 Answer
I run a very similar setup with my 686 for sporting - great gun. Your load is definitely on the lighter side for powder, which might explain the thinner patterns at distance. I'd suggest bumping up to around 19.0-19.5 grains of Extra-Lite if you want to stay with that powder, or consider switching to something like Hodgdon Clays at around 18.5 grains with that same wad. That should give you a bit more velocity without much more recoil. What shot size are you using? #8s should be fine for most sporting targets, but if you're really struggling with those long crossers, you might want to try #7.5s for a denser pattern.
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