Using plastic filler beads on top of the shot?

[derbyacresbob]

After finding plastic filler beads in factory Federal Heavyweight loads and in Remington Ultimate Home Defense HD BB loads I started using some plastic filler beads.

They are really nice when I need just a little bit of filler to tighten up the crimp and make the crimp level. I just put a small pinch of the beads on top of the shot.

The Remington UHD HD BB loads had 1-1/4 oz of HD shot in a pretty deep wad with about a 1/2 inch of beads on top of the shot.

Is it better to put beads on top of the shot or felt or cork wads under the shot to take up space?

[iawiley]

Where did you get your filler beads at Derby? I have a few different HW loads that, while the crimps are ok, I wish I had someway of getting the crimp a tick tighter without constantly changing it.

[derbyacresbob]

After I ran out of the beads I took out of Remington and Federal shells I ordered some from Amazon.com.

The craft department at Walmart may have them.

The beads I got are brand "The Big One" For Craft & Doll Making if you want to do a search on it.

[Fishh2o]

Do the plastic beads do anything to the pressure or fps of a load? I know some of the spacers cork, plastic etc can have a "SMALL" effect on the load.

[iawiley]

Thanks Derby, found'em.

[hawglips]

Do the plastic beads do anything to the pressure or fps of a load? I know some of the spacers cork, plastic etc can have a "SMALL" effect on the load.

I think anything over the shot that takes up space and has weight will have some effect on the pressure. I've never done a with/without comparison though.

[derbyacresbob]

Just for the heck of it I just went out and did some 1/4" cork and plastic filler bead weighing.

Two 1/4" 20 ga cork wads weighed 7.1 gr.

The plastic filler beads that it took to use up the same space as the two 1/4" cork wads in a 12 ga wad weighed 20.0 gr.

So the plastic filler beads weighed 12.9 gr more than the cork wads did. 1/32 of an ounce is 13.67 gr

I was pretty sure the plastic beads weighed more but I didn't realize they weighed that much more.

So if you end up using very much of the plastic filler beads, it would be a good idea to make the shot charge a little lighter.

On most of the loads I make I just put a small amount of beads on top of the shot and that amount weighs around 10.5 gr.