Ordered the Lee 1-ouncer yesterday, and will be dusting off a Mec press that probably hasn't seen the light of day in 25 years. Metallic is old hat; shotshell is mystic voodoo.
Bear in mind I'm primarily after RIFLED barrel info, but will probably be lobbing them from ungrooved sewer pipe as well.
What I've gleaned so far:
1. 7/8th ounce wad cups are probably the desired vessel to stage the warhead at the right height for the star crimp.
2. You WANT the wad to jam into the drive key for a rifled barrel, but possibly not for a smoothbore. In either case, you want the wad to let go of the projectile easily. Seems like base wads are the order of the day for smoothbore, but not for rifled and that some manner of goo to help separation may be desired.
3. It would seem these things want to be soft. I scrounge and melt recovered slugs that test out around 40-1 / 8BHN. Figure to use that, maybe add some tin if the mold doesn't behave. I have a PID on the pot - how hot does this puppy need to run?
4. I have access to once-fired Federal 2 3/4 buckshot hulls. Anybody know what they equate to in the recipe books? Do they equate to ANYTHING? The Flite Control wad they come packed with is a rather different animal.
5. Back to the drive key. . .seems like you would want to deliberately line that up with the collapsible bits of the wad piston somehow. Any thoughts on that?
How am I doing so far? Any thoughts and pointers before I dive in the pool?