Lots of 12 gauge Remington Gun Club hulls, looking for Lyman 525 slug loading data

[mojomandan]

Guys,

I have maybe hundreds of once-fired Remington Gun Club Hulls, a smooth-bore Benelli Supernova Tactical pump shotgun, Blue Dot, Longshot, and Herco powders, DRA12, Remington 12S3 and DR 1 1/8 Blue wads, W209 primers, and Lyman 525 grain slugs I cast.

I have tried the Lyman shotshell recipe (Gun Club hulls, ~40-43 grains Blue Dot, Downrange DRA12 yellow wad, W209 primer) with and without nitro cards. My inconsistent accuracy at 50 yards ranges from 3 groups within 4" to only 1 out of 3 shots on the paper (and the paper is 11x17"!!). I have tried trimming or completely cutting off the petals with no appreciable difference.

The DRA12 wads that start with all petals intact have the petals ripped off (usually leaving 1 or 2 intact) and the "crush" area is always unevenly compacted. I imagine the unevenly compacted crush part is largely to blame for my poor accuracy.

I want to try a gas seal and some combo of felt filler wads and nitro cards to build a shot column that won't crush unevenly, but cannot find such a recipe with my hulls and slugs.

Any help would be appreciated

[Algaeeater]

Check this out on utube. So many Wads, So Little Time. It is done by Fortune Cookie LC45. He has several good videos on slug loading. Wads may be your problem.

[mojomandan]

Hi Algaeeater,

I did state that I believe wads are the problem, so we agree. I have actually seen that video you refer to, and while FortuneCookie45LC has some made some great instructional vids, he does not support his recommendations in that tutorial with accuracy or safe pressure data. He was only talking about "fit" of slug and wad. I don't believe that is enough reason to try his recommendations, but then again, I am not an expert.

There is one fellow in this forum who disproved that theory by making up his own load with a wad that was not a good fit for his slug, but still got great accuracy.

[FullTang]

I have hundreds of once-fired Gun Clubs, too---but I don't use them for heavy slug loads. No problem using them with lighter slugs, but the wad combo is the issue here. About the only wad I've found useful here is the genuine WT12 (orange) wad, or the equivalent WAA12. The Lyman manual lists a sabot slug load with 25 gn of Herco, and win 209. This combo give OK accuracy, but it's a loose fit in the Benelli barrel (I have a Benelli Nova Tactical) and there's a big jump across that 3.5" chamber, so this will never be a long-range slugger. Plus, the crush section on these wads is rather flimsy.

The genuine Federal 12S3 is a good match for the Lyman slug, and fits the Benelli barrel, but try to pick up some Top Gun or Fiocchi hulls on the range (there should be lots of them all over the place) and you'll see plenty of heavy loads listed for them. The official Lyman slug loads call for 12S4 wads, which will often have just enough room under them for a thin card, but I'm comfortable subbing the 12S3 where the stack height works out (and it's hard to blow up that Benelli barrel, since it's rated for 14,000 psi.)

[sparky45]

This guy has more published data on slugs, buck and slugs, and almost ANYTHING you could think of. VdoMemorie; look up his posts.

[mojomandan]

Fulltang, I do have a few dozen Top Gun hulls, but have not found much heavy slug load published data on them (most slug loads I find are for the Gun Club hulls, or Federal Gold Medal of which I have none). I have looked in my Lyman 5th Edition Shotshell Reloading Handbook, and on the Alliant and Hodgdon sites. Maybe I need to get a bigger variety of wads and powders.

Sparky45, I have glossed over some of VdoMemorie's posts, but I will now have a closer look to see what loads he has tested/recommended.

[FullTang]

Fulltang, I do have a few dozen Top Gun hulls, but have not found much heavy slug load published data on them (most slug loads I find are for the Gun Club hulls, or Federal Gold Medal of which I have none). I have looked in my Lyman 5th Edition Shotshell Reloading Handbook, and on the Alliant and Hodgdon sites. Maybe I need to get a bigger variety of wads and powders.

Hi Mojo,

You can always use Top Gun hulls with Gold Medal load data---this will always be safe, and the pressure will always be slightly lower with the fiber basewad Top Guns; the TG hulls have a bit less room than the GMs, but the difference is minimal. I think virtually all experienced reloaders agree on this. A lot of people worry about the fiber basewad working loose in the TG hulls, but I've never seen it---use them for one reload and toss; there are always plenty more where I shoot. The slug loads seem to really tear up the hulls anyway, so this is a fine way to do it.

If you're nervous about the substitution, the Lyman manual has a Longshot load for the "Federal Plastic Hunting Cases, Paper Basewad" (that includes all Top Gun hulls) with 36 gn of Longshot, Fed 209A primer, 12S4 wad for 1510 fps at 10,500 psi. You can always substitute any other primer, and pressure will be lower (at the risk of cold-weather bloopers, but I doubt it at these pressures.) Likewise, if you sub the win 209 primer, you shouldn't have to worry about using the 12S3s (assuming they fit; I don't have any Lyman sabot slugs on hand to check, but I think they do, if I recall correctly.) 12S3 could raise pressure slightly compared to the 12S4, but it's a minor effect compared to the primer change.

Don't mean to get all wild and crazy on you, but very few of us load slugs only by the exact published data, because the data isn't really very good, and a lot of it is obsolete (esp. Lee slug data.) And you do have a wide safety margin with a Nova/Supernova.

[mojomandan]

Hey FullTang,

Thank you for the insight. That certainly opens up the possibilities

[dverna]

I agree with FullTang about using GM data in the TG hull. I only reload the TG hulls once due to the paper base wad.

One warning, be careful of range pickups as the paper base wad will pick up moisture. I shoot TG's in an O/U for trap and they never hit the ground. I use them safely and have never had an issue.

Don Verna

[jmort]

Check out Ajay's threads. Fortune Cookie is an amateur in comparison.

[ackleyman]

Your load is too hot, start lower and work up. Be sure to keep the plastic out of your barrel, it will ruin groups very fast.