Loading homemade slugs

[longbow]

Silas:

Something I have been using quite successfully is hot melt glue. Of course it cannot rub on the bore or YUK! So, it has to be paper patched/paper tube or a wad slug.

I have gone largely to wad slugs even with round balls because I find them easier to load and easier to get good accuracy with from smoothbore.

My solid slug is somewhat undersize currently as it was originally intended for use in thick steel shotcups. I have to "patch" diameter to snug fit into standard shotcups. I also modified the mould so it has a pin to make a screw starter hole in the base of a nose pour TC style slug. After casting I run a short #10 wood screw in then put the slug in a bored CPVC 1/2" pipe coupling then top up with hot melt glue. This makes a nice uniform attached wad. So far they have been shooting fairly well but I will be modifying the mould by boring the nose portion out to about 0.680" with a reduced shank to suit the taper of shotcup petals. There will be some other modifications to eliminate the screw and give more glue surface.

Accuracy is not as good as I want yet but the slugs are tough and the only time I have lost wads is shooting through a substantial tree and if hitting rocks so the slug is basically destroyed. In fact I recovered some yesterday that I had shot when there was lots of snow on the ground and some from our 100 yard sand berm. All could be loaded and shot again.

I have also made forms to add hot melt glue "skirts" to Lee Drive Key slugs and they shot pretty well giving groups about 4" to 5" at 50 yards. Not quite as good as round ball loads but better than as cast Lee slugs so far.

I will post some photos of my recovered slug collection probably tomorrow.

Your idea of melted plastic bottle has been brought up before and just might work. It should be similar to the hot melt glue but harder and able to rub on the bore. Since I have not melted bottles I am not sure how well it would pour but hot melt glue is pretty thick and it works well so it should be okay. While I am using a CPVC plastic coupling with no problems, I think you would need to use a metal form for melted plastic. Bored out aluminum tubing should work. I just push mine out after they are cool and hard. No split mould required.

Longbow

[Cap'n Morgan]

The Never Ending Story continues...

Iv'e been tinkering with epoxy wads during the last few weeks. A few modifications to the wad mold still remains. The gas seal on recovered slugs indicates blow-by, probably due to the wad being of too small in diameter, I'll probably add a small rim in the wad mold to increase the base diameter, I dare not make the full length wad bore size as I do not know what will happen when a solid epoxy wad passes through the choke constriction.

I tried using a felt wad instead of a gas seal with a dry wall screw as "spine" - the slug looked good, but shot poorly. Apparently nothing but really hard material will work properly, at least that's the conclusion I have reached after several failed tries.

Today I decided to try a few factory made slugs. These were loaded at FN Legia in Belgium but are a carbon copy of the "Original Brenneke". I only had a handful, and had long planned to test them to see if the factory claims of 2" groups at fifty meters had any base in reality. I didn't get the magic two inch group at fifty meters, but I did get a very decent 3" - actually 2-3/4" for four shots. I'm now more convinced than ever that the helical fins on the Brenneke slugs serves a purpose for keeping the slugs on the right track. Of course this means I'll have to abandon the previous design and make a new mold with helical fins This will probably take some time, but I simply must do it in order to preserve my peace of mind

Stay tuned for updates...

The four holes from the factory slugs are circled with blue. Not bad at all!


Gas seal & felt wad, combined with epoxy wad:
The gas seal combination shoots okay, but the felt base was a disappointment.

[longbow]

Cap'n Morgan:

Good to see you are still at it! I have my new slugs to test out as well but just haven't had time. maybe this weekend.

Personally I do not believe the helix makes any difference and Brenneke also says the fins/ribs do not cause slug rotation. Brenneke does use a fairly dense fin/rib pattern though and your slugs look to me like there is not enough bearing surface at the ribs. I recovered Brenneke style slugs from my home made mould and some ribs were just about mushed to nothing. My conclusion was not enough bearing surface.

I think fit and alignment in the hull are the most important aspects of keep slugs lined up well and centered in the bore without tipping damage.

In any case, I will be following your progress with interest. I will also post my results when I have some.

Longbow

[somdgunner]

i hear you can load a home made slug in to a regular shotshell by removing the shot and inserting the home made slug in the shot cup. where do i find home made slugs?

[longbow]

Lee Drive Key slugs and probably Lyman sabot slugs can be loaded that way. I think turbo1889 sells a variety of slugs ~ Lyman sabot slug being one.

There must be other sources of ready made Lee Drive Key slugs but I seldom buy commercial slugs because I cast what I want.

You can pick up a Lee Drive Key slug mould in 7/8 or 1 oz. (12 ga.) for about $25.00 and cast as many as you want.

Another option is round balls. they are readily available at Track Of The Wolf:

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/127/3

if your gun is cylinder bore then I recommend 0.672" to 0.678" as being best fits in standard shotcups and also being right about 1 1/8 oz. so easy substitution for 1 1/8 shot load.

If the gun is choked then you have to use a ball/wad combo that will fit through the choke but 0.662" should do it for almost any choke except a full turkey choke.

Also, just to be sure you are aware, when substituting a slug for shot you must use a slug of equal weight (or lighter) to the shot load. While a heavier slug will fit into the same space as a lighter shot charge since it is more dense, the extra weight could cause a nasty pressure increase. 1 oz. shot charge can be replaced with 1 oz. slug, 1 1/8 oz. shot charge can be replaced by 1 1/8 oz. slug, etc. It wouldn't hurt to use a 1 oz. slug to replace a 1 1/8 oz. shot charge though.

If you want slug try turbo1889. Do a search then PM him to find out how to order slugs and what he has.

I hope that helps some.

Longbow

[longbow]

Capn'n Morgan:

My latest results here:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...g-To-Try/page2

Things are looking promising at this point. I have a bit more mould modification to do then should be where I was headed with this idea. I may vary attached wad length a bit but this seems to be working pretty well.

So far accuracy is close to but not as good as round ball accuracy at 50 yards but should hold up better at longer range ~ to be tested shortly. I will try to tighten my groups a bit more at 50 yards then move out to 100 yards...

Up to now it seems like I have been beating my head against a wall but this time only my shoulder is sore!

Longbow