by Terry Wieland
It’s been a while since I’ve sung the praises of Federal Paper shotshells, and it’s time to do it again—this time for different reasons.
Federal Paper, as the line is affectionately known, is an anachronism: Trap loads in paper hulls, the last of their kind except for some specialty loads available from RST. Unlike the RSTs, however, Federal ammunition is everyday stuff for serious trapshooters, and it must be good, else why do they pay $20.99/box, and get into fistfights to get the last when stocks run low?
The usual explanations are that it patterns better, and it recoils less. The former claim has no scientific justification I know of, but if you believe something, and it gives you confidence, you shoot better. So whether it can be proven or not really doesn’t matter. And the last time I shot 49/50 at trap, I was shooting paper. So there.
As for the latter claim, well, I sorta believed it until a month ago. Now I really believe it. Here’s why.
Two years ago, I wrote about sustaining some serious bruising in a two-day shotgun match (Sporting Notes #74, April, 2022) while shooting a Purdey hammer gun and RST 1¼ – 3¼ pigeon loads. The next year, on the advice of some fellow sufferers, I switched to Remington Handicap Trap loads (1⅛ – 3 d.e.) and a W&C Scott & Son “Monte Carlo B”, which is about a pound heavier than the Purdey (8½ vs. 7 ½). The bruising was reduced substantially—and in the meantime, I’d been taken off the blood thinner, which had been a major contributor—but there was still enough pain, along with swelling, to make life grim for a few days.
I was prepared this year to just grin and bear it until I discovered one day that I had squirreled away a flat of Federal Paper Handicap Trap.
A word here about the paper shotshells, which I wrote about a while back in Sporting Notes #36, “Cornerstones,” August, 2021. A few years ago, I paid a visit to Federal and toured their facility, paying special attention to the old concrete building, circa 1921, where they have manufactured their paper shotshells for, now, more than a century.
They buy the paper in huge rolls from a paper mill that stays in business solely to supply it to them. It takes nine days to make a shell, starting by cutting the paper to size, rolling it into laminated tubes, impregnating with wax, allowing to season under climate-controlled conditions (that alone takes eight days), then heading them, priming, and loading.
By comparison, a typical plastic shotshell takes 20 minutes from the time you dump a load of plastic pellets into the hopper until a perfect hull comes out the other end. No wonder paper is expensive!
As you might imagine, even running at full capacity, the ancient facility can only produce so much, and this is eagerly gobbled up by trapshooters heading for the Grand, so it’s no wonder they can be hard to come by.
But, tucked away amid the chaos of moving, I found a pristine flat of the precious artefacts and thought, “Hmm. Why not try these?”
Off I ventured to the match and, while I’d like to say I won it, suffice to say I did not finish dead last, which is about as high as my ambitions range these days.
But. BUT! After two full days of shooting, with a generous dose of “one-two” shots with the Scott, I had not the slightest trace of a bruise, nor any tender spots on my shoulder. I might have been using the powder-puff loads so many of us favor for day-to-day shooting.
This is not what most would consider scientific evidence, but it’s good enough for me.
The explanation usually offered for the gentle impact of paper shells, by the way, is that they have the old-fashioned multi-layered base wads that provide a cushioning action, softening the recoil. Similarly, the walls of the hull, being layered paper, multiply the effect.
Some Baschieri & Pellagri (B&P) shotshells use the Gordon system, which employs a compressible plastic base wad to provide the same cushioning. I’ve shot quite a bit of their game-load ammunition, and all I can say is that I’ve always found it comfortable and suffered no ill effects. But that is not the same as laying down a steady barrage the way one does in trap and related shotgunny pursuits.
None of this is intended to be a scientific recommendation, but it occurred to me the experience was worth sharing, especially for those nearing a certain age or having to take medication with adverse side effects. Or, simply, for those who don’t enjoy being pounded by their shotgun.
Some years ago, Federal offered one type billed as Federal Gold Medal Paper Ultra-Lite trap loads, but they seem to be no longer available. Which is sad, because they filled the bill for everyday shooting admirably, if you could afford them.
Still, there is a wide range of loads—different shot sizes, different dram equivalents—and all have the one overwhelming virtue of a fine paper shotshell: They smell wonderful, especially when the gunsmoke drifts on a brisk October breeze. I always make sure I have a box or two in reserve, for just that purpose.
After all, even if you don’t hit anything, you still have that small pleasure.
Gray’s shooting editor is finding that advancing age brings with it more and more unexpected travails. But, sometimes, some benefits not realized heretofore.
