New Member Introduction

[hand101]

Hello Everyone!!

Thank you for allowing me to join your forum. I hope to learn more as I continue to read, study and hopefully begin the wonderful process of casting my own Boolits.

Like the Title states I am a new member and I would like to introduce myself. If this is the wrong location for this, mods, please remove or move to correct location as I looked for a "new members" area and did not see one.

I am 38 almost 39 year old husband and father of 1 girl from the wonderful (to me) State of Insanity... aaahem.. I mean Iowa. I love to hunt, fish, camp, boat when I can. My primary critter to hunt is DEER. Rabbit, squirrel, coyote and occasional tom cat are also hunted.

My #1 firearm (for deer) is my Beretta Vitoria. Also known as an ES-100 or Pintail. Which mine is neither. With a 24 inch smooth bore barrel, IC choke that has now been replaced with a Cyl tube. Used to have a saddle mount with a Primary Arms red dot on it until this year it decided to take a **** on me during deer season. Lucky me. Sucks when you shoulder it and it has no red dot, then smack the side of it and it turns on, reshoulder it and it shuts off. So on and so on and finally I duct taped it so it was on all day. Missed many deer that day. Had it sighted in at 50 yards and was able to shoot 1-2 inch groupings with it using the ammo I use every year. I have now removed saddle mount and red dot and are using the rifle sights but had nothing to shoot at after red dot removal and season is now over. Already looking forward to next year. And that is the reason I have joined this site.

My #1 ammo for my Beretta is Remington Slugger 3 inch magnum 7/8 oz high velocity rifled slugs. My Beretta loves them and has always shot them well until this year. But I believe that was due to the red dot issues I was facing.

#2 gun is a brand new Stoeger M3000 sporting with 30 inch barrel. Have not shot it yet but I can get so many more "add on's" for it than my Beretta.

Reason for buying new Stoeger is, it is an Inertia driven semi auto (like my Beretta), the 30 inch barrel smooth bore (because I learned from reading on this forum that factories test their slug, and maybe all, shotgun ammo on a 30 inch barrel) and I want as close to factory FPSs. Then the price of the Stoeger is more than half of a new Beretta, Benelli, Franchi, Remington, Winchester etc. But has basically the same Inertia system of the Beretta, Benelli, Franchi.

I am looking at getting the best accuracy from my cast boolits as possible. Looking at Round Ball and Foster style slugs and reloading myself. I love to shoot Magnum loads with my Beretta and hope to do the same with either of the 2 reloads. I want to buy a Chrono for testing purposes to get my FPSs up. I want to try getting the Stoeger to be my "sniper" shotgun. Yes, I know that sounds stupid but I am wanting to work toward accuracy.

I am also torn on if I want to go optics or with fire sights style rifle sights on the vent rib of the Stoeger. Optics will give me a more accurate point of aim but the fire sites will give me more visual shot area on a running deer. Decisions Decisions.

Planning on adding a +9 mag tube for 14-15 shots and of course adding a Cyl tube. May also replace the stock with factory replacement pistol grip style shoulder stock. I hope I explained that right.

Type of loads I want to try and the reason I want to try them are: magnum round ball and or slug with no wad. Reason being no wad is because of possible wad pedals causing accuracy issues. I have been reading about that a lot on here. I have not problem with building solid wad column and plan on using roll crimps. I have many of my own picked up 3 inch Remington hulls along with many range and other hunter hull pick ups in varying brands of 2 3/4 and 3 inch. Was also planning on using BlueDot powder as it was suggested for "magnum" charges.

I have a year to build and test so time is not a factor here. My issue is knowledge which I hope to learn from this site.

I have been reading many posts and have a basic idea of what I "want", but I have the fear of not doing something right and ruining a new or (used) beloved shotgun.

Now this is where I ask you, Where do I start exactly? Do not say "buy a melting pot, get some lead, get a mold". I am willing to try different things but at the same time I do not want to break the bank, buy a bunch of "test" items with poor results and never use them again. But a solid baseline. Round ball sizes, slug mold suggestions, particular books (i know about reloading books but once again do not want to buy 100 different books for 1 page of info) etc. Based off what I have told you, any more questions you have for me, kind of information.

Round ball ideas were- .735 down to maybe .715. Once again do not want to blow up or damage my barrel or even myself.
Slug ideas were- Lee Key Drive 7/8 ounce because that is what the Remington slugs I shoot already are.
Stick with the factory loads?

I will be testing the factory loads stated above out of the Stoeger 30 inch soon. Being Christmas weekend I have not had time to get out and test or site it in yet to see its accuracy.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and cannot wait to hear from you and get to know you all better in the new year.

Thank You for sticking with me to this part of the post. You are now done. Please let this all soak in or just flame me.

John

[JayT]

Lol. Welcome and good luck! Every resource you could ever want is only a search away on this site. Everyone is helpful here, and there is very little chest thumping and flaming here. I, too, recently started casting (at 40 y/o) and I wouldn’t be anywhere near as successful were it not for the good folks on this site.

I started out on the cheap with a Lyman 10 pound pot and a box of range lead bought from a member here. You can go with a bottom pour, but I wanted to start from the absolute basics. I cast 9mm, 40, .308, and 300BLK right now using cheap Lee molds. I can’t comment on what you’re looking to cast for, as I have no experience with that, but they work great for me and didn’t break the bank. I’ve reloaded for years, but casting looked like a fun project, and it truly is. I get a lot of enjoyment doing all this stuff from absolute start to finish, and I’ve learned a lot more about my guns and the little lead balls that come out of the end of them than I ever knew before.

Some free advice: ask if you don’t know, and the more experienced folks will jump in with answers, because they’ve been there-done that a million times over.

Again, welcome to the site, and best of luck to you!

[retread]

Welcome to the site! I can't help as I do not load for shotgun but there are my who can. Good luck to you and a Merry Christmas!

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Welcome aboard! The more the merrier. It's great that younger folks are continuing the noble occupation of casting their own bullets. As already stated, you'll be amazed at the knowledgeable help and willingness to help that you'll find here -- a good place to be.

[JBinMN]

Welcome to CB.GL forum!

[ammohead]

Welcome Hand! Again, I don't have any smoothbore experience to guide you from. But starting out doesnt have to be expensive. A cast iron pot from a garage sale and a turkey cooker or other hot plate will give you melted alloy. Cast boolits whether from a smoothbore or a rifled tube kill very well. Be careful not to get too hung up on maximum velocity. Find a load that is accurate and hunt within its limitations. This is supposed to be fun, and the fun comes in little victories. Try not to set too high of a bar right away lest it get frustrating. Good luck, you have come to the right place.

[pworley1]

Welcome to the madness. Merry Christmas.

[Duckiller]

Welcome! Not to give you a bad time but I believe your Beretta is a gas operated shot gun. Less felt recoil than inertia guns. You should also try hunting pheasants. They are fun and good to eat.

[hand101]

Duckkiller. It is by far not a gas operated action. Trust me on that. I have had to argue with many people about that too. And I am not trying to be rude to you either.


Ammohead. I have many items for the smelting process. I have been collecting lead for many years. I was casting crude homemade fishing sinkers and ingots off and on for years. Before the big ammo crunch I was using once fired brass, putting a twisted wire with a loop on top in it, then filling with lead for a smooth finished (hopefully less snags) fishing weight (brass still on it, not as a mold).

Have a Merry Christmas all. Still reading posts and doing research on what I want to try.

[Cherokee]

Welcome to the forum and to casting.
Merry Christmas.

[copdills]

welcome aboard

[Echo]

Welcome aboard, mate. This is the best forum on the net, and you are very welcome.

[Victor N TN]

Glad to see you here. I hope your questions can all be answered to your satisfaction.

[runfiverun]

there will some good ideas in the shotgun casting section.
if not ask questions one at a time, and then you can think through the whole process.
the key drive slug will work but you'll also need some equipment [and materials] to put everything together properly for your gun.

[brass410]

a valuable resource for for shotgunners is " Ballistic products" these guys have a boat load of info and products for the shotgunner I use them almost exclusively for wads hulls etc super good to deal with. Oh yes by the way, "Welcome" these guys here at cast boolits are a wealth of knowledge, I learn something every day.

[Old Scribe]

Welcome aboard from the State of Jefferson.

[Wayne Smith]

Welcome aboard! If you have cast fishing sinkers you have everything you need short of molds to make slugs. Pot, heat source, and ladle - that's what you need. Some soft place to drop the results is nice. We have a whole section on casting for shotguns, go down there and introduce yourself - you will be right at home!

[dverna]

I would start with the Lee 7/8 oz slug. If you do not want to risk buying the mold, many here have it and you can buy enough from a member to give it a try in your gun. If it works, you are done, and it has a good chance of doing so. Some of the Lee data is pretty stout but it is safe. You can reduce powder charges as desired within reason.

The round balls are typically good for 50-75 yards in terms of accuracy. Some get good results at longer range.

Please, check load data you may get on this or any site with published data. There are some “experts” out there who aren’t. If in doubt, an email to the powder manufacturer costs nothing and they will not steer you wrong. BTW, you cannot tell if a load is reaching over-pressure territory with a shotshell like we can with pistol and rifle loads. If anyone tells you otherwise, ignore their data.

[RGrosz]

Welcome aboard, What part of the state you from? Grew up in NW Iowa now got some wonderlust and moved out of state, but not to far. Can see Iowa & Nebraska from home
As I say welcome again
Rob

[hand101]

RGrosz... SE Iowa.