Thanks for that.
The plan is to use the harder stuff with the shallower cup wads in the 3" where it'll be subject to more roughing up on the cone barrel and choke. Plus for half ounce loads in my wee 2.5" chambered gun.
I measured half an ounce of the 7.5 nickel plated shot (from Clay & Game) and counted it, came to 168 which makes it UK 7 shot. Which is good, but I can see me raiding a few 12g shells for smaller stuff.
In the meantime I'm quite pleased with the 1/2 oz load patterned this afternoon for the 2.5" gun, better more uniformed pattern than 1/2 oz Lyalvale Express I've been using, but then they were good at 25 yards, so the home loads may well extend the effective range out a few yards. Just one variation to try before I load up a few for the field and see how it fairs for real.
I've a wheen of data and components so it'll likely be a while before I settle. Biggest revelation so far has been sussing out the fact that the American data (from Ballistic Products, and there's a mass of it) wads featured are mainly the same as those from clay & game but named differently. The yank data seems to run hotter than the UK stuff I've got a hold of so I'll be proceeding with caution with that.
I'll keep you posted once I settle down.
Next up weebeastie's rocky mountain brass cases