Lyman or lee

[megasupermagnum]

I've been shooting the 73-770s with promising results, but I'm not quite there yet. I've found it to be challenging to lube with Canaruba red, but I think a softer lube should work better. Accuracy wise, I've shot a few 2" 5 shot CTC groups at 50 yards, but average closer to 3". 100 yards is where I've been having trouble, and I need to play with the wad stack more to find the one that works. 73-680C is about what you describe for your changes. As for roll vs fold crimp, I think it's a draw. I prefer roll crimps when I can, but I fold crimp all my round ball loads. I personally would feel better fold crimping those lee slugs as well, there just isn't anything for a roll crimp to grab on. Another thing is that you often have to reshape the case mouth of a roll crimp to reload it with a slug. This is another benefit of round balls, is that they go in so easy. The full bore slugs like the accurate 73-770s are an absolute bear to load in anything but a new or trimmed hull.

[longbow]

I use my MEC Sizemaster when loading slugs and the wad fingers do the heavy lifting even with full bore slugs They generally go in pretty easy.

Can't say whether fold crimp or roll crimp allows more hull reloads as I kinda mixed mine some and most of my hulls are toast now. I have to buy some new hulls and use the old ones for short hull loads.

I wondered about roll crimp with big round nose slugs and balls but so far I have had no problems. I figured the roll crimp would be hard on petals when loading round balls in shotcups but again, so far no indications of wrinkled petals. I can't recall if I roll crimped or fold crimped my Lee 1 oz. slugs so no help there.

I roll crimped the 0.735" RB's and again. no problem where I figured the ball might run over the crimp. Doesn't appear to.

Wads... I use mostly Winchester pink, yellow or white depending. I can't recall the numbers now but can take a look. They all work well depending on payload. Seems to me the pink are thinner but they are short little wads too. All are a fairly tough plastic.

Pacific Verelite have also worked well for me. I bought some old ones from a local guy a few years ago. Not sure if they are still available new or not. Not around here they aren't anyway.

Winchester AA Red wads did not work well for me at all with any slugs or round balls. The plastic is quite soft and petals tend to pinch off or distort.

I've had mediocre results with Claybusters which are Winchester clones. They seem okay with shot but not so good with slugs. I haven't checked petal thickness compared to Winchester wads. Others say Federal wads work well but we don't have any locally.

And again, I use a 1/8" nitro card wad (or two) under RB's in shotcups and a small scoop of COW on that to make a nice seat for the ball. That all helps keep the plastic wad from extruding around the ball, and depending on shotcup depth, brings the ball up to good position for crimping.

I have not used any slugs in a rifled gun, only 0.735" RB's. That may change shortly as I am eyeballing rifled Remington 870's and Mossberg 500's. We'll see!

Longbow

PS: Forgot to answer... the wads I use are smooth inside. Remington RXP wads have (had? not sure if still available) ribs on the petals. Some others may too. I do not use ribbed petal wads for slugs.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

the cream of wheat is a good idea for the RB's, do you think it is needed/helpful with the lee 7/8's slugs? also, has anyone compared the lee slugs in a smoothbore vs. a smoothbore with a rifled choke? my barrel is 28" long, does anyone know how long the rifled chokes extend out of the muzzle? I would imagine they would need to be at lest a few inches long to even work.? -Travis

[longbow]

You do not need the COW with HB slugs... especially the drive key slugs though a nitro card wad under the slug is still a good idea in my opinion. I have had wads push up around the drive key distorting the wad some. I gather that is the idea for rifled gun... to provide a positive grip to rotate the slug in the rifling but is not necessary or desirable in a smoothbore. Even in a rifled gun if the wad distorts too much it woul dbe a bad thing. I have to guess that the Lee recommended wads are suitable for the application though so that woul dbe the place to start ~ with Lee recommended (or other user recommended) data.

If using a typical Foster style HB slug (open HB with no drive key) then yes, I would use a filler but more likely hot melt glue, silicone sealer or similar to help support the skirt and mostly to keep the wad from pushing into the hollow base.

There are a variety of rifled choke tubes available from same length as standard tubes to extended tubes. I have not tried any but some report improved accuracy with some slugs. My complaint with the modern rifled choke tubes is that they are rifled with fast twists of 1:36" +/- a bit to suit sub caliber sabot slugs where a bore size round ball or "square" slug wants something more like 1:120". They also have very shallow rifling. Both are detrimental to spinning a speeding slug up to twist rate in 3" to 5" of rifled choke tube. Not saying they don't or can't work, just that they are not optimal for bore size stubby slugs or balls.

Most shotgun manufacturers have branded rifled choke tubes plus there are Hastings, Colonial, Carlsons and others:

http://www.browning.com/products/sho...hoke-tube.html
https://www.opticsplanet.com/carlson...-20-gauge.html
https://www.hastingsdistribution.com...duct_list&c=30
http://www.colonialchokeandtool.com/...d-choke-tubes/

There is no shortage of brands or types, just have to get one that fits your guns choke tube threads or ream and tap to suit the rifled tube you want.

Longbow