I first heard of using muffin mix to tighten the patterns from a smoothbore several years ago when someone showed me a YouTube video of a fellow using it as a shot buffer to get tighter patterns from his fusil. Being skeptical of anything I see on YouTube or read on the internet, I didn't give it much consideration. Latter, I happened to be browsing through Dan Caywood's web site and found information on loading with muffin mix in his tips section. At this point I was thinking "if Dan Caywood recommends it, perhaps I should get a box of muffin mix and test it."
I am a firm believer in using a pattern board for all types of shotguns and smoothbores. You can not know the performance of your gun and load without checking the pattern it throws or where the center of that pattern will be in relation to the point of aim. It's difficult to hit flying targets if your pattern has holes big enough for a bird to pass through unscathed. With modern shotguns changing the shot size, choke tube, load or even brands of ammunition can have a positive effect on patterns. The variables in a muzzleloading gun are even more numerous but they are easier to control.
I have done considerable testing of shot loads with my trade gun (a 20 gauge Chief's Grade Gun from NorthStar West with a cylinder bore) and I'd learned some things that worked in this gun. First, I found that I got tighter patterns than the equal volume loads by backing off of the powder by ten grains. Second and more critical was finding the correct combination of cards and wads to produce the best patterns. I tried the W.M. Star recommendation of loading two thin cards over the powder and one thin card over the shot. That loading produced even but very open patterns. I was getting much tighter patterns loading a nitro card and half of a lubed wad over the powder and a thin card over the shot. But I was also getting some patterns with the center blown out. What I found on the pattern board was the imprint of that lubed wad with shot pellets imbedded in the wad.
Those wads with the pellets stuck in them had enough weight and mass to blow through the shot colum and caused a hole in the center of the patterns. I sloved that issue by placing a thin over shot card on top of the lubbed cusion wad. The shot pellets do not imbed into the wad with the thin card over it. My best load for clay targets is;
80 grains 2-F powder
one nitro card
one half of a lubed cussion wad
one thin over shot card
one and one eighth ounces (1 1/8) #9 chilled shot
one thin card over the shot.
For turkey hunting I just changed the shot size to # 7 1/2 or #6 shot.
Here is a 30 yard pattern using that load with # 7 1/2 hard nickle plated shot.
That pattern is dense enough to kill a turkey but I had to see if the muffin mix loaded as a shot buffer would improve the patterns.
I was a little suprised when I read the list of ingredients from the box.
Jiffy corn muffin mix ingredients.
Wheat flour, yellow corn meal, sugar, animal shorting (lard), baking soda, salt, wheat starch, citric acid, folic acid, silicon dioxide, several preservatives and a list of dietary minerals and vitamins. (I may never eat corn muffins again.)
I loaded the same 80 grains of 2-F powder down the barrel and seated a nitro card and half of a lubbed cussion wad firmly on the powder charge. Next I pushed a thin over shot card about 2 inches down the muzzle, added the shot and the same measure of muffin mix. By tapping and shaking on the barrel the muffin mix settles through the shot charge. When you see the shot pellets coming to the top it is mixed well. It will look something like this;
Then placing another thin over shot card over that, seat it all the way down onto the powder. It takes some time to load this way and you may find it easier to pour half of the shot in with half of the muffin mix, tap it a little then add the remaining shot and muffin mix and tap it some more.
Usually turkey hunting is a one shot proposition so the extra time and effort to load with the muffin mix is a moot point. Altho I have never needed it, I do carry a premeasured shot charge with out the muffin mix in a paper coin roller for a quick re-load. I had some initial concerns about the amount of fouling the muffin mix might leave in the gun but it proved not to be an issue. So, how does it shoot? Like this from 30 yards.
I believe the fats and sugars in the muffin mix fuse together with the shot under the heat and pressure of firing and holds the shot colum together farther out of the muzzle.
For a comparrision this is the pattern from my 20 gauge Remington 870 with a full choke barrel and my favorite turkey load. It is a buffered load of hard, copper plated shot. Over the past fourty years I have killed a ton of turkey with that gun and load.
I was quite suprised by how much the muffin mix tightened those patterns from my trade gun. Considering that every gun is different and that your results may vary from mine, I would still recommend testing the muffin mix for your cylinder bore smooth guns. It may prove to be a very effective turkey load.
PS - It's been said, the proof is in the pudding.
So here it is, Merriams turkey gobbler taken in the Santa Fe National Forest, on April 25th 2018.
