I finally got a chance to pattern the Thompson Center New Englander 12 gauge barrel today. It was kind of fun actually. I started out with 80 grains of Pyrodex RS and a plastic wad and then 90 grains (1-1/4 ounce) of #5 shot. I was using CCI Magnum as caps. The right hand side of the page marked Goex 2f was actually Pyrodex. My mistake when I labelled them.
It was clear here that the shotgun did not like the plastic shot cup but the fiber over the powder wad, then the fiber wad, the shot, and then the over the powder shot card did real well....
On this testing I used Goex 2f, and the fiber wads and cards.. I tried 80 & 70 grains. Both of them threw good patterns. I then tested plastic and fiber wads with lots of different powders, and different amounts of powder. The Goex 2f and 70-80 grains of powder did the best job overall.
I then took a walk in the woods with the dog. I was hoping to jump a grouse but only saw a red squirrel running through the woods. So I let him have it. The shotgun rolled him perfect. It was 22 yards according to the laser range finder.
I thought about hunting more, or shooting my White Bison that was scoped and decided that I wanted to test more loads with the shotgun, so I would shoot the Bison for the rest of the afternoon. Always another day for the grouse and squirrels.