Preping for a slug idea, question

So, I had an idea for a 12 ga. slug with a mould I had on hand. It is the Lyman 16 ga. foster slug (1 oz.), which fits well in a 12 ga. wad. The barrel I have in mind is a Pardner 12 ga. with a 3-1/2" chamber with a full choke. Mostly, it is a turkey barrel, but I would like to be able to take a deer with it. I tried to push a slug down the barrel in a wad, but it stuck at the choke with light hand pressure, but so did an empty wad. My major question is just how much pressure is it safe to require to push a slug out of a barrel. The slug did not fall free from the wad and choke at the sticking point, if that is relevant. I however did not push with great force to try to get it through.

If your slug is soft you shouldn't have a dangerous situation when it passes through the choke. You may or may not have an accurate load depending on what happens to the wad when it hits the constriction. Time at the range will answer that question.

BB

I'm with bikerbeans, I think you should be ok.

Smaller than 12 ga slug, plastic wad may tear petals off but thats ok.
Better wad petals give than barrels.

I suspect that slug is somewhat undersize in a standard shot up. I have patched 0.662" RB's (16 ga.) up to snug fit in 12 ga. Wads.

You might try steel shot wads. They have thicker petals.

Another option is to paper patch up to snug fit in the bore.

As stated above, if those slugs are cast of soft lead they are safe to shoot through a full choke in 16 ga. So even "safer" in a wad in 12 ga.

Assuming you use appropriate loading recipes.

Longbow

Thanks for the replies, wad by the way is the Claybuster version of the WAA12. I also ask because I intend to look into trying my .662 RB mould after I get a chance to cast with it. In both 16 ga (IC bore) and a similar setup as above in 12 ga. Is there a rule of thumb as to how much force still represents a safe situation under pressure of firing, or am I being naïve?

Not sure how that 16 ga. Foster will work but if you patch your 0.662" RB's you should be able to get good accuracy out to 50 yards at least ~ 4" +/- a bit groups for good loads.

There are differing opinions on how much force you should feel pushing a wad slug through the bore. Ajay (SuperBlazingSabots) recommended a "firm" push using about 10 lbs. force IIRC (search SuperBlazingSabot thread for many, many load details). I have found that a relatively easy slide fit works best for my gun and loads.

Do check to make sure that the slug or ball is not loose in the shotcup when inserted into the bore. The shotcup itself may provide a friction fit but in some cases depending on petal thickness the slug or ball will have a few thou "rattle room". I cloth or paper patch to get a good fit to bore.

0.662" RB's in my gun and using WW wads required cloth patching into the hulls (think loading a muzzleloader) to get a snug fit to bore. This gave very good accuracy in my smoothbore out past 50 yards. Round balls do pick up spins though and start to randomly veer off course at longer ranges making groups a little unpredictable by 100 yards. Sometimes good but mostly some... or many fliers.

0.662" RB's should also fit well in at least some steel shot wads as they have thicker petals than lead shot wads. I have not tried this but have been told that some combinations work well in rifled gun. Your 16 ga. Foster might be a good candidate for steel shot wads too.

For slugs I paper patch to get good fit to bore if required. If the slug/wad is "tight" in the bore then find thinner petal wads or size down the slug. If loose then patch up to snug fit.

Another couple of tricks:

- put a 16 or 20 ga. nitro card wad in the bottom of the shotcup for both RB's and HB slugs so the wad doesn't try to extrude itself into the HB slug or around the ball (I like 16 ga. better)
- fill HB slug cavity with hot melt glue to keep wads out and help the slug keep its shape
- for round balls use a scoop of Cream 'O Wheat on top of the nitro card wad both to provide a nice seat for the ball and to bring it up to crimp height

These all helped improve accuracy for me.

As for Claybuster wads, I have had better results with Winchester wads than the Claybuster equivalents for slugs.

Hah! reading back I kinda repeated myself a bit (maybe a lot)... getting old I guess.

Longbow

Greetings, I'll say 6 to 8 lbs fiction is a good fit, here is the wad fit chart : https://imgur.com/CtlOdHK
Hope it helps.
Best regards,
Ajay Madan

Thanks again, for the technical info (Ajay), as well as that bag of tricks (Longbow). It seems that the foster slug does have some wiggle room in the wad, at least when I'm not holding the petals in a closed circle. It may benefit from a thin paper wrap. I'll have to try both ways this spring.

Greetings Cowboy, this is how I paper patch my slugs to see the fiction fit in barrel and if need be load my slug this way.
Hoping it helps.
https://imgur.com/yjZi7z9
Push the slug in wad without nitro card to check for fiction fit.
https://imgur.com/2nkY5pd
Best regards,
Ajay Madan

Ajay is that a modified Lyman Foster you paper patched in that pic?

I used to use the old brown paper shopping bag paper to patch up my Lyman Fosters they were so undersize ~ over 0.020" under bore! Ridiculous!

I still paper patch home made wad slugs into shotcups so I can get custom fit regardless of shotcup. Got a bunch ready for testing as I type and testing will happen once our snotty weather quits being snotty!

Longbow

Greetings Longbow, yes indeed its the old Lyman .705" slug being paper patched, we slug shooters have to resort to any idea to make things work.

Wishing you the best at the range when the weather gets better.

Best regards,
Ajay Madan
Super Blazing Sabots

Yeah, "when the weather gets better." We got another snow dump yesterday. Not a lot but then it warmed up and its all mushy now. We'll see how things are this weekend. I don't mind when it is -5 or so and clear as the snow is light and fluffy and you don't get wet but we've been having late wet snow this year and irregular dumps. Just when I'd thinking "It's over..." Nope! Wading through wet knee deep snow at the range is no fun. It isn't often when we get snow in March though so it will be over soon!

So your Lyman Foster casts at 0.705" too! I'm pretty sure that is because they used to sell a swaging tool to put rifling on the slug and I bet the displaced lead swelled the slug up to bore... or at least closer to bore diameter but without that the slugs are so undersize it's ridiculous. SluggerDoug post his write up on "knurling" the slugs to rifled them using helical gears and that took them up to bore diameter. Of course that only works with soft lead.

Call me a quitter but I gave up on the Lyman Foster. Not worth the effort.

Longbow