Aluminum slug

[qkdraw44]

I have a lathe. Anybody ever spin a 12ga slug out of aluminium. Thinking of trying to duplicate a lyman pellet style slug. Possibly with lead up front. Cut some weight to get speed so it will fly flatter sabot or full bore? Thanx len qkdraw44

[bangerjim]

"I have a lathe"

You must also have tons of time on your hands! Making projectiles one at a time on a lathe is why I use molds. I have 5 lathes and do not make boolits with them.

Are proficient at spinning aluminum? It takes special tools and a lot of skill and practice. I do it with brass, copper, and aluminum to make parts for antiques I restore. But those items are MUCH larger than a 12g slug!!!!!!!!

But give it a whirl and let us know!!!!

bangerjim

[Multigunner]

Probably best to use a sabot.
You can look up the previous experiments with non lead projectiles for shotguns, there have been some interesting shapes.
One slug that looked promising was called a Balle Boulet, not sure of the spelling. The forward section was egg shaped with a short shaft and the base was a disc shape.
If the nose section canted to one side in flight the slip stream caught the disc base on the other side and righted it. This keep the slug from tumbling and kept it going in a straight line. Accuracy was said to be pretty good.
The Ballistic Reasearch company saboted steel slug showed great performance, but they had to cut back the velocity because the slugs sometimes broke up on impact at close range.

I expect an aluminum slug would have similar break up problems at the sort of velocities you could get with such light projectiles.

[Garyshome]

Too light!

[CJ8Ted]

I made a "wad slug" size aluminum slug and as Garyshome said it was too light. I never shot it and quickly moved to other trial projectiles.

Ted

[roysha]

I say NUTS to all the nay sayers. What have you got to lose but a little time and a few ounces of "Munimula"? Give it a try. Worst case scenario, it doesn't work. Like that is the first idea that didn't!

[lavenatti]

I'm with roysha. Give it a try. You could always drill a hole a fill it with lead for weight.

[koehlerrk]

Given the density difference, you could:

1. Machine an aluminum bar to the correct diameter to fit inside a wad.
2. Machine a cup in the front end.
3. Fill the cup with lead.
4. Load your slug and fire it.

The high-density lead at the front will keep it flying "mass forward" like a badmitten birdie... or a foster slug.
The aluminum body won't weigh much but will act as an aerodynamic tail.

It should be easy to make and should fly pretty straight. Try it and let us know.

[FLYCUTTER]

All that work when you can just cast lead slugs. I can say they work great for deer.