Questions on Lee 1 oz cast slug.

[longbow]

Cap'n Morgan:

I am more inclined to think that the ribs may break up airflow creating turbulence that "rolls" over the rest of the slug rather than a smooth air flow that might pick up on a minor defect which could cause some yaw or oscillation. Of course without a wind tunnel or high speed video, just my opinion.

What I should do and have not is to pick up a Lee 7/8 oz. slug mould and see if it is indeed more accurate than the 1 oz. slug and if it beats my TC HB slugs for accuracy. None of those have ribs but I do have a full bore slug mould with ribs to compare to.

I did make a slug mould several years ago that produce an entirely finned slug with smallish teardrop sort of nose. Six fins and all joined at the base. They looked great and I thought they would shoot well but no. It turns out that the fins being mostly behind the nose were in a partial vacuum due to the shock wave of the nose (my suspicion anyway and from others as well) and while there was lots of fin and fin area accuracy was poor and stability obviously not good. These were straight fins.

What I really need is more time and unlimited money to play some but don't we all?

I came to the conclusion that rifling was the best choice for long range accuracy (100 yards or so) and did start on my deep groove, narrow land slow twist choke tube... but the key words there are "did start". It has not progressed at all for over a year so I should get back to that one.

I will try some more HB and Breneneke style slugs though. Especially since the Zlugs Hogtamer sent punched perfectly round holes in the paper at 50 yards which says they fly well. No sign of yaw at all. So I suspect the launch was flawed. I will try again.

So far you have made the best progress by far and I congratulate your perseverance and excellent results. Your Brenneke mould and wads are very, very nice and I am jealous!

In your position I would be looking to turn a side by 12 ga. into a "double rifle" using those beautiful Brennekes. Not sure how regulation would go but I would try. That has been one of my fantasies is a side by slug gun with rifle sights that would provide at least hunting level accuracy to 100 yards (say 6" to 8" groups using both barrels ~ of course smaller groups would be welcome).

There I go rambling on again. Sorry.

It will be interesting to see how your Beretta does with a proven slug. As I mentioned before, I have had problems with ribs crushing and I am not sure why. I am shooting 2 3/4" hulls in 3" chamber but otherwise a standard barrel and the slugs are a "slip fit" I had intended then to be a thou or two over bore but the mould cast about a thou under bore. Not sloppy but not tight. Nonetheless, I have had several ribbed slugs show crushed ribs from tipping in the bore.

I will be looking forward to more of your results. I am hoping to have some to post in the near future as well.

Longbow

[Huntsman]

I tried shooting foster slugs (factory) out of a rifled barrel and the results where quite comical.

That would lead up the rifling a fair bit too...

[pacomdiver]

anyone find a good load for smoothbores with the 1oz?

[rsrocket1]

As posted in #11,
Claybuster Lightning wad, 18.6g Red Dot in a Remington Gun Club hull. Average MV = 1217 fps. through a 26" Remington 1100 IC choke. Very manageable recoil.

I'm working up loads with Titegroup. 16g gives me 1065 fps, 17g gives me 1126 fps. I'm going to try some 18g loads next.

[warpspeed]

I've been shooting the 7/8 slugs in my 1100 and found them to be just a touch better than the 1 oz.

GC / STS / Nitro hull, TGT12 wad, 20.5gr Winchester SuperHandicap powder. I tried using HS6 and got good results as well.

[rcav8r]

I guess I need to experiment a bit. I have a chinese ithaca 37 clone, smoothbore, with rifle sights. It'll put remington 1 oz rifled slug loads in a 6" circle at 100yards if I do my part at the bench.
The lee slugs I tried, which were about 8" at 50 yards, weren't even on the paper at 100. Need to try different powders I guess.

I suppose I could just keep buying the remingtons, but with their reputation going to ****, I have no idea how well the newer manufactured rounds will perform yet. I still have some old school rounds from them.

[longbow]

I have had some very good results using factory Foster slugs with several producing almost rifle like accuracy to 50 yards and beyond, and some that gave approx. 6" groups to 100 yards (all from smoothbore). Also, I bought some AQ slugs from BPI a few years ago and wound up with groups running around 6" at 100 yards. So far none of my home cast slugs have done that well. I really liked the AQ slugs and that was what I was trying to duplicate with my home made Brenneke style round balls and slugs. Some did pretty well to 50 yards but that 100 yard goal is a tough one in my experience.

My Lee 1 oz. slugs grouped about 6" at 50 yards so my round ball loads are better to 50 yards. In fairness, I have only shot about 25 rounds of Lee slugs so far so not a comprehensive test at all yet.

Longbow

[Blood Trail]

These are two of my better groups at 50'yards. I believe I used Blue Dot and maybe Longshot.

[OnHoPr]

@BT

I have had many groups like the target at the top and a few even better using Green Dot, Rex III, Herco, 800 x, 4756, and Steel. While Longshot and HS 6 didn't perform in MY gun. That's the only thing keeping me from using the Lee slug more often, is the consistency. If you could put 25 shots in the group like on the top @ 50 yd it would take that hesitation in the mind away while sitting in the blind. But, if you have 4 or 5 4-6" flyers in the in the 25 shot group it messes with my blind mind about hitting a deer good in the boiler room. Most of these flyers are really not the slugs fault IMO, but the shot cup's fault, though there might be a slight chance that the slugs design is enhancing wad failure. That Lee slug under 100 yd cast 50/50 would be pretty decent deer medicine in brushy terrain even better than the foster. I never tried BD because of the temps in late season doe. They can range from -5 to 20 degrees. I used it back in the '70s for duck and squirrel hunting and it performed real good until ice start forming on the water, then bloopers. I used WAA12Rs and RP12s back then. Longbow said he doesn't have any problem with the temps using BD, but he is probably using stiff wad columns with his slug shooting. It would be great if I could get that Lee slug into a 3" 25 shot groups.

[gwpercle]

Thanks very much. I'll never use it but now least know how they are used

Never say never....you just never know what the future holds. Keep it !

[BwBrown]

Longbow, what is approx weight of 12 GA round ball, and are those loaded in a shot cup

12 gauge means 12 bore diameter balls to the pound. So a 12 gauge ball would be 1 1/3 oz. (16 oz divided by 12)

Holds true for all gauges: 16, 20, 28.
410 gauge is not a gauge, but a caliber. Using the above round ball rule, the .410 would be (I believe) 67 gauge.

[longbow]

Yeah, I have had good results with Blue Dot even in quite cold weather at down to -15 degrees C. So far it is my powder of choice but I am running out and none available locally. And yes, mostly hard card wad columns so maybe a bit stiffer column promotes more compression and better ignition?

SR4756 was recommended to me but so far I still prefer the Blue Dot overall. I do have a couple of pounds of 4756 though and little BD so...

I had pretty good results using Unique based on Lyman and BPI recipes using equal weight but different slugs and balls too. I still have a couple or three pounds of Unique. It is a little fast for heavy loads or heavy slugs but works well with the typical 1 oz. +/- slugs.

BwBrown is correct except that the 0.735" balls are larger than bore diameter and run about 575/580 grains so about 1 3/8 oz.. Spheres gain weight rapidly with small diameter changes.

Longbow

[Blood Trail]

Longbow, pm sent.