So far I have not been able to get anything resembling "Accuracy" from Lyman Slugs shot from both my Mossberg 500's with Vang Comped Barrels.I attribute this to the back bored barrels which open up to .745 before choking back down to .730 at the muzzle.
My logic is that these slugs must be Launched Perfectly Square and In Line with the bore of the gun and the over size of the bore is more than enough to insure that these slugs will NOT be launched perfectly in line with the bore,,, EVER!
These guns shoot Foster Style Slugs like Lees and Federals pretty well (50 yards) as those slugs are less affected by any discrepancies in alignment than the Lyman Sabot Slug is, due to the shape. The big flat nose just directs the airflow off the front of the slug in whatever direction it is pointed and the slug is sent Willy Nilly into the world, in a totally random fashion.
However last week I saw groups from Leon/ Blood Trail and Hal/Hogtamer that were Rifle Accuracy in every respect.(1-2" at 100 yards) In both cases they used established loads from the Lyman Book and shot those loads from Rifled Barrels. I think Leon's gun is an H&R Handy Rifle and Hal's gun is an 870 with a Hastings Rifled Barrel. Both have scopes mounted.
Since I have this really great MIHEC Brass Mould that makes Lyman Slugs better than anything Lyman ever did, I am pretty serious about making them work somehow.
I have loaded quite a few of these slugs into O/F Federal Blue Hulls using low powder charges and Roll Crimps. These shoot fairly well from my A5 with the Buck Special Barrel which is a Smooth Bore with an IC Choke. I got around 3" at 50 yards which is acceptable from a smoothbore barrel. But I am looking for more like 2" at 100 yards from the Hastings Barrel for my A5. This should be doable as that gun has shot a 1x1.5 group with open sights at 50 yards with STI Slugs with my Brass Inserts.
So with that in mind I went to the shop yesterday and found a bunch of Pretty Green O/F Rem STS Hulls that were stashed and looking for something special to do with.
I got out my Lyman book and shuffled thru it until I found what I was looking for which was 18 gr of Green Dot with a WAA12 wad, and Rem 209 primer. Fold Crimped. According to the book these should be running about 1150 fps at @10,000 psi.
I loaded the first one with no card under the slug and the Crimp Closed a little deep, so the next one got a .125 card and it came out a little proud, so the next one got an .070 card and it closed perfectly,,, so I finished the box like that. See pic.
I also "Finished" these by running them into a Roll Crimp Tool I got off the Reloaders Network. You'll note, the nice rounded front edge on the hull, which took care of the flared edge left by the Fold Crimp Tool. This will enhance feeding in my guns. This is Common Practice in Italy as they are pretty serious about their shot shell reloading over there, and really serious about making things that look good IE: Ferrari's and Women.
So now all that has to happen is to go up and shoot some in the A5. Have to do it this week as next week we are gone to Front Sight for a 4 day Shotgun Class and 4 days of Pistol Shooting.
Randy