Slug or Round Ball?

[Michael J. Spangler]

Hi guys.
I'm going to start my venture into slug reloads.
I plan on mostly using them in a smooth bore for messing around at the range and possibly in a rifled barrel (if they shoot well) during hunting season.
Should I go for a round ball or a slug?
I wanted to stick with lee products. I'm a fan of lee precision.

I'm just jumping into this so I don't have set plans on powder/wads/hulls or any components figured out yet. I'm a blank slate at this point.
I'm digging into some threads to learn more and I have a good friend local that knows a thing or to about loading shot shells.

Thanks guys.

[Themoose]

Mike,

If you are going to hunt with a shotgun for deer or anything larger I would recommend you go with slugs. Roundballs have killed a lot of game, but for most people slugs will increase the effective range of the shotgun. I have never loaded the Lee slug, but I have loaded and shot piles of Lyman 525's. I have also tried various roundball loads in 12 and 20 gauge years ago and quickly abandoned them. If you do a search you will find a lot of info on slug loading data... You may want to buy some slugs first before deciding which mold to buy... see what works for you...

I'm not sure who all sells them, but a google will put you on the right track.. You can try BPI, Gardner's Cache and SlugsRUs for starters.

Hope this helps,

TheMoose

[ksfowler166]

I personally would stay away from roundball loads if you wish to hunt with them. They will work at close range maybe out to 50 yards but probably not. There is a reason before the invention of the deer slug that deer hunting developed alt. methods like cut shells to kill deer instead of using the pumpkin ball loads they had.

[AlaskanGuy]

And some of us are really rocket scientists when it comes to this sort of stuff.... Listen closely to them and you will learn a ton.... I am NOT one of those rocket scientists, but if you read through the casting for shotguns forums, you will quickly know who they are... I watch every one of their posts... I am learning a ton from them.... Most of them are more then willing to offer advice.... Just PM one of them....

AG

[waksupi]

Since I've killed deer at 80 yards with a smoothbore flintlock, with patched round ball, I imagine yours would carry well at least that far. Shoot and see.

[Hogtamer]

excess and waksupi are a couple of the type ak guy says you should listen too. I agree completely and add longbow to the list...I got lucky with this combo this week...7/8 lee slug out of an old 870 smootbore with an older poly choke. kinda neat when others stop shooting to watch the old guy with the shotgun..Attachment 100637

[FullTang]

They are all a ton of fun---I started casting with the Lee 7/8 oz slug, because it uses lead most economically. So, for "slug plinking" the 7/8 slug is hard to beat. I've shot zillions of them at this point, and I never get tired of playing with them. However, once you get the bug, you'll inevitably want to try the .69 round ball, and then you'll start to wonder about the harder-hitting 1 oz slug. Resistance is futile; might as well just order all 3 right up front!

[Hogtamer]

FT: 380 gr of lead moving @ ~ 1600 fps ain't exactly plinking! Well, an M1-A1 tank might think so but anything made of muscle and bone would think it deadly. The 58 cal. minie in a sabot is my next adventure.

[bandsmoyer]

I load both , i load them like trap loads, great fun and a big hole!

[Faret]

FT: 380 gr of lead moving @ ~ 1600 fps ain't exactly plinking! Well, an M1-A1 tank might think so but anything made of muscle and bone would think it deadly. The 58 cal. minie in a sabot is my next adventure.

Going to try that in the 20 GA?

[cpileri]

Dont forget to check out posts by: greg5728, Turbo1889(?),hubel and VDOmemories in addition to the ones mentioned by Hogtamer (read Hogtamer's as well).
C-

[Hogtamer]

Gonna be loading the minies in Hubel sabots firing out of a rifled 870. The loads pictured above are minute-of-plywood out of the rifled barrel. The wads just aren't thick enough...the super sabots are made for that so we'll see. Nothing like BIG LEAD! My 2-ball inspired by the tri-ball Dixie loads look promising to.

[Faret]

Using a 12 GA then. I got one on order that I may mod to work with my 20 GA.

[Hogtamer]

Faret, I had good luck with a single .570 round ball in a wad cup out of 20 ga. smoothbore. Don't remember the particulars but the minie is gonna be a big load in the 20.

[Faret]

Yep going to lighten it up by making a new base pin. Planing on making it shorter and a deeper hollow base maybe even put in a drive key!

[longbow]

Nothing wrong with round balls in smoothbore to at least 50 yards. My good loads regularly group at 3" to 4" at 50 yards. Groups do start to open up downrange though and by 100 yards I have fliers. Some groups pretty good and some not so good. I haven't checked maximum hunting group range yet but I am betting they are still pretty good to 70 yards or so.

So far my best results come from 0.662" or 0.678" RB's in shotcups or 0.735" RB's naked on hard wad column with plastic gas seal.

The 0.735" RB's also shot very well in a borrowed rifled Remington 870. I didn't get a chance to shoot past 50 yards but was running 2" +/- groups at 50 yards for several groups.

So far I have only found a few Foster slug loads that will equal a "properly" loaded round ball at 50 yards with most slugs grouping worse than round balls.

As for Lee products, no complaints and I use them too but Lee only makes a 0.690" round ball and I have as yet to get any sort of accuracy from a 0.690" round ball. A bit too big for most shotcups... at least that I can find.

If you want to stick with Lee you are likely better off to get their 1 oz. or 7/8 oz. drive key slug moulds. Many say the 7/8 oz. slug is more accurate. I am planning to get one but so far only have their 1 oz. Accuracy from that has been mediocre and not as good as good round ball loads but I am still playing with components. Either of these should be reasonable in a smoothbore to 50 yards or so and quite good in rifled gun.

As Waksupi says, a patched round ball can be quite accurate out of a smoothbore musket. I have not yet equaled their accuracy with consistency but I suspect the musket with patched round ball lets the ball leave the patch with less disturbance than a shotcup falling off.

That's what I have found anyway.

YMMV

Longbow

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Then we can talk about penetration... No hollow slug will out penetrate a round ball.. That may not be a concern on a soft skin corn cruncher.
Butwhen you need to "thwap" deeply a critter that has real tough hide you do not want to discover your hollow slug only flattens on the exterior armor tough hided critter that can do you bodily harm real fast.
Mike in Peru

[Hogtamer]

Missionary: I would agree except for the key drive slugs. I 've only been able to recover a few of the 7/8 oz slugs but I sawed a couple out of a 12" green pine tree. They were about half way through. There was some distortion but I was amazed how intact they were, certainly not flattened. I also shot some Winchester 1 oz hollow point factory and they basically turned into a 50 cent piece and barely penetrated. I would guess the cross member or "key drive" actually prevents mushrooming. Do love those thin skinned corn crunchers though, good one! We do have some pretty tough hogs in these parts.