Lee slug mold

[glock3540]

I've been casting rifle and handgun bullets for almost a year now with good success. I want to cast a few slugs for a shotgun but have a question. What's everyone's opinion on the Lee 1oz slug mold. Lee's write up on it mentions shooting it in a rifled barrel but mentions nothing about a smooth bore. Does anyone shoot them in a smooth bore and what type of accuracy are you getting. I want to order a mold but all of my 12ga's are smooth bore

[sundog]

Glock, I have one. Yes, it does shoot - pie plate groups at 50 yards. I load mine in a wad with a felt wad underneath the slug. I found that the design of the key digs into the plastic really bad, so a felt wad in the bottom of the shot cup helps alot. You have to do a little lee-menting to the mould to get it to work. File/stone of the burrs of the thingy part that makes the key and coat it with release of heavy smoke it. I keep a handful of them and my own buckshot loads by the back door - just kinda handy for whatever. btw, I load the buckshot loads in clear hulls so I can see what's in them. The slugs are loaded in AAs and just marked on the outside with felt tip. sundog

[Leftoverdj]

I've played with slugs and buckshot for 20 years or more and have reluctantly concluded that the factories can do it better and cheaper than I can. I've enjoyed the playing and am still at it, but it ain't really practical. I could have bought several lifetimes worth of slugs on what I have spent on moulds and components.

If you happen to be a very high volume slug user and only need casual accuracy, the one ounce Lee works well enough. Contrary to Lee's instructions, you can cast slugs from WW, but you need the mould and alloy quite hot. I discovered this when when a slug stuck so firmly on the core pin that I had to melt it off by dunking the whole mould in the pot. After that, the slugs released fine.

Unfortunately, Lee has not bothered to update their data since Activ went out of business. That made a good half of their data obsolete, and they did not supply much data to start with.

[7br]

I have had really good luck with the lee 7/8 slug with a rifled M870. I use AA hulls, grey wads and HS6 powder. Coffee cup size groups at 75yards. I figure I can load for about 15cents a round versus $1 or more for premium slugs.

[charger 1]

I've played with slugs and buckshot for 20 years or more and have reluctantly concluded that the factories can do it better and cheaper than I can. I've enjoyed the playing and am still at it, but it ain't really practical. I could have bought several lifetimes worth of slugs on what I have spent on moulds and components.

.


If you want a real slug,but with the accuracy of pre-rolled try ballistics products bluforce..7/8 ounce 5/8 dia 1900 fps 3/4 " groups at 100

[35remington]

Yes, it will still go nose-forward when fired in a smoothbore; just how accurate it is may be open to question. It's my opinion, from using the Lee slug in several smoothbores, that it will be difficult to surpass the factory loaded Foster slug. The Lee slug uses the wad to take up the windage between slug and barrel; the factory Foster (hollowbase slugs, usually 1 ounce in 12 gauge) ride on the bore itself.

It's a distinction that has a bearing on how they shoot, I think. (Sorry about the bad pun).

To get the Lee slug to release from the base plug, coat it evenly with Midway's Drop Out, which is a spray on graphite. Keep it OUT of the cavity. Despite the claims for the product, use inside the mould cavities only produces undersized bullets and uneven bullet sufaces in any mould I've used it in.

Frequent reapplication of Drop Out may be required to keep the slug separating from the base plug cleanly. Keep a pair of Vise Grips handy for the times it refuses to separate, reapply the Drop Out, and keep casting. I also use wheelweights and have found this necessary to get the slugs off of the base pin.

A tip I picked up elsewhere helps accuracy somewhat. If the wad petals are mangled or torn, slug accuracy goes to hell. Lubricate the roughened interior of the empty shotgun shell with mica or graphite to prevent the wad petals from being pinned against the shell sides by the slug on firing and getting torn off.

Keep your expectations modest when judging accuracy with smoothbore barrels. Around four inch groups at fifty are very good groups with a smoothbore, and they won't shoot any better than that, if as well, with the Lee slug. Best I could do was more like five or six. Smoothbores won't shoot like rifled barrels no matter what load they use. Rifled barrels are no guarantee, though, and a number of combinations I tried through my rifled 12 gauge weren't that hot either.

Best accuracy with the Lee slug, for me, was using it with trapload velocities of around 1200-1250 fps and a rifled barrel. About 3 inches at fifty for five shots. The full charge loads they list are damn painful to shoot in my lightweight rifled Mossberg, and the bead/U notch open sights are not so good, so it's a brutal and unrewarding gun to shoot.

What Sundog said about using a felt filler is a really good idea, and it helps regulate the wad/slug column height so you can get a proper pie crimp.

[m stevenson]

I cast the Lee 1oz. slugs.
They work really well seated atop an aluminum flashing "cookie" to keep the wad from obturating into the base of the slug and sticking to the slug during flight. Previous to adding the aluminum cookie you could tell the ones the wad stuck to, by the hummingbird like whine going downrange. These also were always flyers, mostly low POI.

I get groups of 5"~ @ 100yds through a Mossberg 835 and Mossberg rifled/ cantilever scope mount barrel.

My dad's M1100 w/ Hastings rifled/cantilever scope mount barrel does 4" or less.

Mark

[TAWILDCATT]

I tried the LEE slug and what was said about seizing to the base plug was nothing compared to mine.dont use WW use pure lead.I am going to take the plug off and make a solid one.as to activ hulls try 500 brand new.you can see the tears dripping of my cheeks.I will try again but this time I will have the ceiling in place so I dont die of heat.that southern sun is brutal on roofs.

[handyrandyrc]

I've done much casting of the Lee 1 oz. slug, and have fired it in smoothbore only. It was an 18" Saiga 12 semi-auto shotgun. I used the "Herco" load data on the Lee sheet, with AA hulls, WAA12 white wads.

Once I figured out how much to hold-over (rainbow trajectory), I could hit a 2' x 2' target every time with a slug at 100 yards. Again, this is a smoothbore 18" shotgun. They are all over the target, but I can hit it every time.

[Blammer]

well I can tell you what NOT to do....

DON'T load the powder in the hull then seat the lee slug right on top of it, and then cut the hull down and roll crimp it. You'll have about 1.5" shell. Don't shoot it.

Accuracy will be terrible, the bullet will lead your barrel all the way down and the bullet will come out in two pieces....

ask me how I know..... :)

[quasi]

I have found the Lyman 12 guage 1 1/4 oz. sabot slug to be much more accurate than the Lee drive key slug in my unrifled shotguns. I use ww alloy.

[WBH]

I too, have found the Lyman "hour-glass" 1 oz slug to be superior to the Lee for accuracy. I shot a small buck this past season at 167 meters (by range finder) with a rifled barrel. I used Federal Gold Medal hulls and Win 209s. Needless to say i was more impressed with the shot than the buck.

For brush up to 50 yards, the Lee is certainly most sufficient.

[dukenukum]

I use the 1 once lee slug all the time with very good results out of my smooth bore the lyman slug works well but is more money for the mold and handles with a slug mold use soft lead only :castmine:

[bc3660]

can someone tell me the diameter of the LEE 1oz slug? Thanks Steve

[BCB]

Mine measure in at right around 0.68"...BCB

[quasi]

I use the 1 once lee slug all the time with very good results out of my smooth bore the lyman slug works well but is more money for the mold and handles with a slug mold use soft lead only :castmine:

Soft lead only? Why?

[turbo1889]

Q~ Will the Lee slug work okay out of a smooth bore?
A~ Yes, use the Federal 12S1, 12S3, or 12S4 wads exclusively. Use a single 20ga. Nitro card under the slug inside the shot cup. When loading litely coat your finger with "Bore Butter" muzzle loader lube and wipe the inside of the shot cups on the wads, the nitro card, and the slug. Do not roll crip -- this will tear the pettles off the wad and make the slug hit all over the place. Star-crimp only preferably an 8-point crimp rather then a 6-point. Loads using WSF powder are the most accurate. You should be able to consistently hit a paper-plate at 75 yards.

Q~ Is the Lyman Slug better?
A~ Yes, about twice as much, in that groups are half the size --- that's true with both rifled and smooth bores.

P.S. With Lee Slugs in a rifled barrel for best results forget the nitro card under the slug inside the shot cup and instead completely pack the back side of the slug full of the "Bore Butter" muzzle loader lube, do not leave any air pockets or bubbles (you can melt it and then pore and let harden). In this configuration the lube's incompressible hydrolic nature prevents the wad from being packed up inside the slug but still allows the "drive-key" to preform its function and rotate the slug with the rifling. The pressence of lube also means clean slug/wad seperation. You can also fill up the back cavity with high-temp hot glue and the results will only be ever so slightly less accurate.

[crowbeaner]

I can relate to the info here. I shot my shoulder B&B trying the Lee slug in 5 different loadings in 4 different guns. Each different barrel shot different loads better/worse. You have to try a bunch to see just what your gun likes or doesn't like. I cast mine from pure lead with just a skim of tin. They mike at .675, and the Rem 1100 was the accuracy champ with 3 shots in 2" and 2 shots snakeyed at 100. The Ithaca 37 was next, and the Browning A5 last. Mike your barrel before you start; the diameter makes a big difference. I measured 5 barrels and got 4 different diameters, so you have to check. Smallest was .700 and the largest was .730. With a .675 slug you can see the discrepancy. The thickness of the wad petals matters too. I am going to try the shot card trick to see if it improves any of the loads. I'm just about ready to start trying the Lyman foster slugs to try and get a load that will come close to the Federal load my Browning prefers. If anyone knows where I can find little plastic ball inserts for the hollow base of the slug please post it. I'd like to try and come up with a truball load. Thanks and enjoy. CB.