Low Brass and slugs?

[dk17hmr]

I have a bunch of low brass Remington hulls, I have no intrest in loading shotshells but slugs might be fun to play with.

Can I load slugs in low brass?

[longbow]

Slugs are fun to play with!

Best to start with a loading manual that lists slug specific loads and lists the hulls you have. Most likely they will be listed in a manual or on a website ~ try Hodgdon or Alliant, they both have lots of shotshell and slug loads listed.

Reloading for shotgun is not the same as reloading for metallic cartridge. Seemingly minor changes in components can change pressures up or down drastically.

Having said that it is generally accepted that a slug substituted for an equivalent weight of shot will produce lower pressure than the shot.

What type of slug are you thinking of? Do you have smoothbore or rifled gun?

Longbow

[dk17hmr]

I was think the Lee slug, probably the 1 oz. Also thinkin about getting a .311 RB mold for buck shot.

Right now all I have is smoothbore shotguns, I was also thinkin about getting a rifled 12 gauge slug barrel for my NEF handi rifle.

[missionary5155]

Greetings dk17hmr..
Are you digging tunnels yet ?
I have used low brass for all my RB loading. Maybe High Brass is stronger but those brass walls are so thin I dought it makes any real difference. Just start out low and work up.
It was only 68 here today... maybe 53 tonight...
God Bless you ! Mike

[dk17hmr]

No tunnels yet, there was about 12" or so of hard pack and about 8" new fluffy snow. Only going to get about -4 tonight....luckly we have a wood stove the furnace went out yesterday, house is staying around 62 degrees.

My dad bought a cheap MEC 600 JR over the summer, I need to pick up a slug mold and some wads to load them in.

My uncles all hunt in Michigans shotgun zone and probably wouldnt be opposed to free slugs for their deer guns.

[Gunfixer]

dk17hmr
Ditto what longbow said. Find a recipe that uses the hull you have and it will be no problem. I have shot quite a few Lyman sabot slugs downrange out of AA really short brass hulls without a problem. My favorites though are the ACTIV no brass at all!( no longer available, sniff)

[NSP64]

Where did the furnace go?



:kidding:

[dk17hmr]

Where did the furnace go?

Lunch....must of put his truck in the ditch with all this snow

[longbow]

dk17hmr:

What you will likely find a little frustrating (at least I do) if you are used to metallic cartridge reloading is that shotgun load recipes are very specific and require exact components. The primer, hull, wad and payload are all put together to obtain certain performance ~ at least for shot loads, velocity is the key.

Slug loads not quite so much but changing components without some experience and knowledge can be dangerous. Hulls vary tremendously in design and volume so give very different results. Even just the change of a primer can take you into dangerous over pressure.

I have at least 6 shotgun loading manuals and several brochures and booklets from powder manufacturers. Most only list pressure for one specific recipe and powder charge so difficult to see what a change may do.

Reloading for Shotgunners is one of the better manuals I have and it has recipes for a wide variety of hulls. It also generally lists several powder charges from light to heavy so you can start at the lower pressure loads if components are being mixed and matched and know that even if pressure increases you will be okay.

Not trying to scare you but shotgun reloading takes a different approach than metallic cartridge.

The Lee Drive Key slug is probably a good choice to start with as there are quite a number of loads available and since it is 1 oz. and fits in a shotcup it could be substituted in a 1 oz. shot recipe or other slug recipes. Makes life a little easier if you don't have to experiment too much.

If you want, I can look up some load data and post it for you once you get a slug mould. Also, there is lots of info here and at www.shotgunworld.com if you do a search.

We had massive amounts of snow (twice normal December snowfall ~ 3' deep in my yard and 7' snow banks along the driveway!) and cold but now it is almost balmy and the snow is melting fast. It will get cold again though.

Good luck with your slug loading.

Longbow

[phaessler]

Hey now, I saved a few thousand Activ hulls, what I could store in 5 gal buckets, and have loaded them several times, quality stuff there, even have 500 or so T-12 wads. I never had any trouble with them handling 44grs of BLueDot and a lyman slug. Oh , those were the days......
I never really noticed a difference in high or lo brass, I know some of the base wads/ or shell bottoms (inside) will force you to use different wads depending on it though.
I have recently started using the newer AA hulls (lo brass) , the grey ones and they seem to work fine, only good for 3-4 loadings though.
Slugs are fun, but too many are painful.
I posted the Lyman load sheet that comes with the 12gauge 525gr slug on anther thread if someones interested. Lyman Sabot slugs I think??

Hope everyone is warm, seems global warming is getting the best of us......


Pete

[mikenbarb]

Just an FYI, The height of the brass has no effect on what can be loaded in it as long as the load data is for that specific hull. Im loading magnum slug charges of 48.0gr. Blue Dot in low brass Remington hulls using the 1oz. keyed slug. It all has to do with the taper of the hull and if its a one or two pice or polyformed or not. Get in touch with Lee and they will send you data for their slug or pm me your address and I will mail you a copy. The old way of thinking was if it was a low brass shell it was a skeet or low power load but thats not true.

[HamGunner]

How about a 1 3/4" 12 ga. slug. Here are my results from Handloader.com.
http://forums.handloads.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=20672&PN=1&TPN=2

This is an untested load and should not be considered to be safe in any gun.

[mikenbarb]

***WARNING- the data above may not be safe for all shotguns***

[HamGunner]

Mike are you the unofficial post policeman? None of any of the posted data in any forum is to be considered safe. Unless data is taken out of an official published manual, I only consider it someone else's untested data. What is the problem?

Okay, for all those Liberals out there that think we need to protect everyone from themselves, I will post a warning, myself.

[mikenbarb]

Rick, Chill out. Like I stated in the other post where you also put this load you developed, Im just trying to keep someone from getting hurt. Im not saying that its unsafe but its not published data and MAY be unsafe in another gun besides yours. There should be a BIG warning before any load is listed thats not properly pressure tested. Sorry to offend you if I did but just think that if it saved someone from getting hurt it was all well worth it in my eyes. It just makes them think twice to be sure its safe and its only a few more keystrokes to put a warning on top.
PS- No im not the post police and im sure as heck not a Liberal.LOL.:roll:

[HamGunner]

I'm chill'n. :)

[mikenbarb]

:drinks: Thanks buddy. No harm meant by it.

[cajun shooter]

Nothing wrong with posting a warning about any load that has been posted HamGunner. We have alot of new members on the forum. Some have the know how and some don't. Mike loads alot of slug loads and has the know how.

[mikenbarb]

Thanks cajun, I load approx 100+ slugs per month and looking to increase to over 200. I still like the Lee's the best but its getting real close with the new Lyman sabot. Their both shooting a ragged hole @75-100yds but the Lyman is dropping off in accuracy after 150yds while the Lee's keep doing great furthur downrange.:-D I got the Lee worked up to 250yds with pretty good accuracy and my goal is 300yds with a 7-8" group or better. Im shooting them out of a custom 12 gauge slug rig set up for bench rest slug shooting that also doubles as my deerstand gun. Im currently building a custom BR Tar-Hunt and hopefully it will be done in 2 months.

[Dixie Slugs]

I agree that there is a great deal of potential in the Lee Key Slug! We tried various
wads and settled on the Federal 12S3. It has no ribs inside of the petals and does not shread when using hard cast slugs. We put one 20 ga .200" nitro under the slug. Blue Dot seems to work best and we settled on 47 grs (wich is about two grains under the listed amount)
When the Lee is cast hard from bullet alloy, the penetration is much deeper on Hogs. Cast hard, the best barrel setup is a cylinder....the Imp Cyl and Mod or fine, but a full choke will clip off the petals.
The poster is correct inasmuch as today's low brass are the same as high brass in volume and strength.
However we have had the best results with a non-tapered hull like Fiocchi, Federal, and Cheddite. The Federal 12S3 is very slightly larger than most wad and seals better. It also helps to dust the wads with Motor Mica.
Regards, James

[handyrandyrc]

I used Winchester Grey AA hulls, 12AA white wads, and the Herco load listed in the Lee manual that came with the 1oz. drive key slug mould. I could put them all on a 2'x2' board from 100 yards, once I figured out how much to hold over. Now, I couldn't tell you WHERE on the board it might strike, but it was on that board.

Tested with both a Saiga 12 and Winchester 1300 Defender. Both had minimum length 18" barrels and cylinder bores.

Those loads kicked my tail. Talk about rattling teeth out!

[HamGunner]

Just in case there is still any doubt about the possibility of 1 3/4" rounds being unsafe, reloaded or otherwise, they are available store bought at Midway USA when they are not sold out. They seem to function well in the 1300 win., Ithaca 37, Mossberg 590 and a few others. So if someone is interested and are afraid to reload because others have assumed that they are dangerous, they can be bought here.

http://www.midwayusa.com/browse/BrowseProducts.aspx?pageNum=1&tabId=3&categoryId=19461&categoryString=653***9217***

[Dixie Slugs]

As far as I am concerned, the factory 1 1/2" shells are safe indeed....the queston arises is whether the reloader has information/data that is safe to reload.
As I said befeore, we have loaded 2" and 2 1/2" and had them pressure tested...but I can't quite see why one would want to play with 1 1/2" when there is date for the 2"?...and the 2" and 2 1/2" feed much better in pump guns. But I suppose it's whatever floats your boat.
Regards, James

[HamGunner]

Yes, it floats my boat. I had a reason for working on that length. Plus, I see no reason for just filling up space with extra wads if all the components needed for the load only require that length. The load I was working from had to have several extra spacer wads thrown in solely to make the shell come out to 2 3/4" length. If anything, since I replaced the non-cushioned wads with a cushion wad, I will probably have less pressure. I also dropped back in powder charge so I really do not see a problem with using less shell. I did not make up the load out of thin air.