best powder for lee slugs

[Hogtamer]

I look at 100 yds for accuracy. Most anything can be kept on paper at 25 - 50 yds, so a 4" group at 50 yds isn't accomplishing much. Unless of course that's as far as you ever intend to shoot. Nothing wrong at all with that, just trying to wring all the accuracy that can be had out of common shotguns.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Perfect, thank you very much.
Based on my property, out here in the woods, I don't have clear line of sight (best case, in the wintertime) more than 50-75 yards anyway.
During summer, heck... I can't see past more than one corner of my property than about 100'.
So, since I don't need a sniper rifle as a shotgun, I'm not "overly" concerned with anything worse than a paperplate size group.
That'll get the job done, regardless of what it is.

[725]

I'll have more info tomorrow, but here's my slug (RB) test for the season. I cut a hull to 2.750, used Herco powder, power piston (without my notes, I can't now remember which one), a 1/4 inch cork wad under a .702 RB (511 gr) from a custom Jeff Tanner mold, and a fold crimp off a MEC loader. To be shot in an H&R 10 ga frame / 12 ga.rifled barrel single shot shotgun. Got a scope well mounted and high hopes. Preliminary testing shows good rifling and intact petals on the recovered power pistons. Tomorrow's test is for group. I'd chrony the load but don't want the wads to wreck my chronograph.

[rhouser]

My recipe for the lee 7/8 oz key slug is special purpose. I wanted a low recoil 25 yard accurate smooth bore load for my wife's 18" barrel 870 "house gun" that sits in the corner of the family room. I wanted a load that would meet or exceed the terminal ballistics of a .45 ACP (energy and wound channel).

I ended up with the following load after many different trials. I also found that this load is just fun in a KSG because of low recoil and very tight 25 yard accuracy (cloverleafs 6 or 7 consecutive shots into a big ragged hole at 25 yards). My wife found the recoil to be Very Acceptable in the 870 and could accurately "run the gun" hitting 5 consecutive shots on a paper plate at 15 yards. Almost no recovery time for her between shots. She is now highly confident in her ability to employ the 870 "house gun".

Load follows: Hull: Fiocchi Factory Primed 2 3/4". Charge: 10.0gr Alliant Extra-Lite. Stack: BPI pt1205 wad + 1/4 20 gauge felt wad for a cushion + 20 gauge .125 nitro card for a hard base + 7/8 lee slug. This forms what I consider to be a "perfect package". Remember to do a push test in your bore. I am using cylinder bore 12 gauge guns with this.

I took the 12 gauge 7/8 oz load data for Extra-Lite powder from the Alliant Powder manual and started stepping down watching for bloopers, odd recoils, strange sounding loads, etc. I ended up using 10 grains of extra lite. This allows for a low recoil, relatively low noise, discharge that proved accurate at 25 - 30 yards in my two guns. I really haven't ever tried them at 50. This load is also very accurate and easy in my Benelli autoloader but you have to work it like a t-bolt.

Using the 10 grains of extra-lite , I get perfect 6 point fold crimps with the fiocchi hulls and 700 loads per pound of powder. Note that you will need about 36 pounds of lead to cast the 700 7/8oz Key Slugs. At a dollar a pound this makes your slugs about .05 cents apiece. This is getting down to a really cost effective fun load.

I have literally built and shot several hundred of these now. I have had no problems of any sort. I have NOT tried them out in very cold weather to see if they are cold sensitive. I have shot them in 100 degree weather and they are fine. I CAN NOT SAY THESE WILL BE SAFE IN YOUR GUN. Please use your own judgment. I will say that these make KSG shooting really fun for turtles etc.


Just my 2 cents...
thanks rch

[Retumbo]

I am sold on HS-6. Had some early success. Been busy lately cutting down trees with my slugs. Back on the search of accuracy.

Right now sitting at 32 grains of HS-6.

My first success last year

[rromano158]

About 1.5 years ago I was at a gun show looking for the then elusive pistol powder. Came across a vendor at a booth selling a powder called MaXam CSB-5. He had load data on it for several pistol calibers that I do indeed reload. I bought 4 lb. He said he gets it in 55 gallon barrels then parts it out into smaller amounts. It is imported from Spain where there it is used for shotgun loads.

I tested it out on a few calibers, and it was okay but really wanted my favorite Winchester 231. Finally after nearly a year after that I now have my favorite pistol powder back in my safe, so I thought about getting into shotgun reloading. First I thought about just doing lead shot in target loads until I found out how much lead shot costs. I can buy the already loaded shells cheaper than I can reload. Well now, I figured I could cast #00 buck and the Lee Drive Key 7/8 ounce slug.

I emailed RIO Ammunition, Inc here in the US who is a subsidiary company or MaXam. They replied back advising that they have no load data on any of their powders for the "home reloader". That they sell there powders in bulk to different manufacuters for them to develop their own load data, and had not intended their powder to be parted out in this manner.

My question is has anyone on this site heard of the MaXam CSB-5 powder and have any load data for 12 gauge shotshell using #00 buck and the Lee Drive Key 7/8 ounce slug?

[Hogtamer]

parent company of Rio. There's a 28 gram load (.98 oz) on their site. Gotta do the conversions and they are for straight wall hulls. BPI might be able to help.
https://www.maxam.net/media/Default%...Components.pdf

[rromano158]

With the high cost of lead shot ($55.00 for a 25lb. bag) is anybody loading steel shot? I'm considering 7/8 ounce of regular BB's with a steel compliant wad just for a target load. Any load data suggestions?

[Bob in St. Louis]

For $25 at Walmart, you can buy 100 rounds of Federal 1 1/8 ounce birdshot.
If you're just plinking targets with BB's, you can't beat that, and there's "no assembly required".
I don't see how a fella could reload simple shot any cheaper than $0.25 a round.
By the way, that box of 100, equals seven pounds of lead.

[PerpetualStudent]

Yeah for actual shot, you don't hit savings until you hit high volume. You might get higher quality shells if you reload but Lord knows I'm not good enough to tell the difference. Back when I ran the numbers about a year ago, you can actually make your dollars go further with buck, slugs and hunting rounds. If you want the ability to load those, or use a lot of those, it may be worth reloading for you. For the odd round of trap? You're probably not going to come out ahead.