Random thought shotgun casting thread

[W.R.Buchanan]

We had 50 mph winds Tuesday and that completely stripped the oak trees of their Pollen Nodules,,, minus the pollen which looks like sulfur dust and was blowing everywhere. It literally looked like it was raining sideways except the Rain was yellow!

We picked up the nodules yesterday and blew everything around and now it is unsafe to go outside until the pollen gets washed away.

Temps are nice but Allergies are Rampant. My head is about size 8 1/4 right now. 7 1/4 is normal.

Absolutely nuts here! But we should get a big crop of acorns this year which the deer will like. We got lots of deer right now.

Randy

[mic]

I use them all the time for all sorts of stuff in my shotguns from 410 to 12g

you are right there

[W.R.Buchanan]

I built a Bridle for my stock yesterday to allow me to mount my sling on either side of the stock. It was made from my normal 1.5" belting with two Uncle Mikes studs cut off and welded to some fender washers. It got taken to my favorite Auto Upholstery shop and sewed together. It is held in place by Velcro.

I can now carry the gun Cross Body with the muzzle down or Cross Back for long hauls.

This is a better way to haul a shotgun around and is more comfortable while standing waiting to shoot.

At Front Sight you shoot in two relays. You are standing behind your partner and are supposed to be coaching him while you are not shooting. You have to have a sling on the gun for this. Previously I had just the regular Sling attachment on the gun. Now I can sling the gun 3 different ways and the Butt Bridle comes right off so there's no change to the gun.

Randy

[dsh1106]

Time to setup the shotmaker, then modify the setup to run pure lead.

I worked on this last year and came pretty close, just need to find my notes and refine things a bit.

And I've got a 69 caliber minie mould to try out too.

Scott

Made about 10 pounds of pure Pb shot today wasn't very round but it's very usable.

I did cast up some Lyman .69 cal minies, must be the advertised weight is for Lyman #2, these things weight every of 745 - 750 grains when made from pure Pb.

I'll have to post some pictures later.

Scott

[longbow]

I will certainly be interested in your results with those huge Minie's! I'm hoping you get as good or better results as shown in those Taofledrmaus videos.

While i have always liked the Kynoch Paradox slugs I have to say that the Lyman Minie is as heavy and every bit as impressive a slug so if they work well from rifled barrel they are a good substitute and no expensive mould required. The CBE Paradox moulds are really nice but not cheap! I guess the solid version isn't too expensive.

If these Lyman Minies stabilize consistently from a smoothbore as well that makes them even more versatile. The Taofledermaus video showed the Minie well stabilized from smoothbore but they only made a few shots too so not conclusive. If they do stabilize well and give accuracy as good or better than conventional slugs that would be terrific.

Anyway, looking forward to range reports on this one!

Have at 'er and keep us posted.

Longbow

[6pt-sika]

I will certainly be interested in your results with those huge Minie's! I'm hoping you get as good or better results as shown in those Taofledrmaus videos.

While i have always liked the Kynoch Paradox slugs I have to say that the Lyman Minie is as heavy and every bit as impressive a slug so if they work well from rifled barrel they are a good substitute and no expensive mould required. The CBE Paradox moulds are really nice but not cheap! I guess the solid version isn't too expensive.

If these Lyman Minies stabilize consistently from a smoothbore as well that makes them even more versatile. The Taofledermaus video showed the Minie well stabilized from smoothbore but they only made a few shots too so not conclusive. If they do stabilize well and give accuracy as good or better than conventional slugs that would be terrific.

Anyway, looking forward to range reports on this one!

Have at 'er and keep us posted.

Longbow

That larger one will be "only" the fourth slug mold I have for the 10 gauge

[725]

I see Lyman catalogs about half a dozen mini .58 cal molds. Most are substantial, but one is in the 315 gr. range. Has anybody tried the Lyman minie in a saboted 20 ga.?

I'm, of course, getting ahead of myself, as usual. I haven't even worked out my .575 round ball experiments yet and I'm already thinking about that Lyman mine.

[longbow]

725:

Looking at the Moose Minie .69 and that Lyman .58 Lyman 315 gr. I am thinking that Moose basically scaled up that Lyman design from .58 to .69. They certainly do resemble each other and Lyman has been making that .58 315 gr. mould for many years.

I can believe the Moose .69 535 gr. Minie will work as a "Foster" slug drag stabilized because if has a large HB cavity but if asked before seeing the Taofledermaus video I would not have believed the 730 gr. .69 Minie would stabilize from smoothbore.

I'll say I haven't tried it but have read posts by people who have tried Minies in smoothbores with poor success and generally tumbling Minies. The Minie was designed for rifled gun and doesn't in general (I don't think) have the balance point in the right place for good drag stabilization. However, even that big 730 gr. Minie stabilized from smoothbore on the Taofledermaus video. That big 'ol 730 gr. .69 looks like a scaled up 575213 old style Minie.

Anyway, if the Moose Minie stabilized from 12 ga. both rifled choke tube and smoothbore I am betting that Lyman .58 315 gr. will stabilize from 20 ga. whether rifled or smoothbore, but from rifled gun it should do well if the wad/Minie fit is good.

You should do a search of VDOmemorie posts (Ajay). Not sure if he ever used that 315 gr. .58 Minie but he did post on several other .58 Minies in shotcups for 20 ga. Fit is what you are looking for and Ajay did his homework.

Longbow

[6pt-sika]

I see Lyman catalogs about half a dozen mini .58 cal molds. Most are substantial, but one is in the 315 gr. range. Has anybody tried the Lyman minie in a saboted 20 ga.?

I'm, of course, getting ahead of myself, as usual. I haven't even worked out my .575 round ball experiments yet and I'm already thinking about that Lyman mine.

I tried some .578” Minnie’s in a 16 smoothbore and as you might expect not so good , but not in a 20 gauge yet . I have a couple 58 minnie molds , but the ones I tried in the 16 came from a borrowed Lee mold .

[725]

longbow & 6pt-sika

All along with my thinking, too. I would be using a fully rifled 20ga., (Hastings) saboted in a standard shot cup. I think fit is everything. My efforts with a tight fitting RB in 12 ga. have convinced me that that imparts a good spin consistently, which, for me, has translated into very satisfactory accuracy. So much to try and seemingly so little time to do it. If anybody casts the Lyman mine .58 @ 315 grains, I'd love to hear what the diameter specs are.

[6pt-sika]

longbow & 6pt-sika

All along with my thinking, too. I would be using a fully rifled 20ga., (Hastings) saboted in a standard shot cup. I think fit is everything. My efforts with a tight fitting RB in 12 ga. have convinced me that that imparts a good spin consistently, which, for me, has translated into very satisfactory accuracy. So much to try and seemingly so little time to do it. If anybody casts the Lyman mine .58 @ 315 grains, I'd love to hear what the diameter specs are.

For a 20 gauge rifled gun I have a Savage 220 but I only shoot jacketed stuff in that all factory . I “had” a Savage 210F 12 gauge that I killed a bunch of deer with and sold it . Now my only rifled 12 is a Hastings barrel for my A-5 Mag . I never shot lead or reloads in the 210F either but I suspect I may very well try some in that Hastings barrel .

[6pt-sika]

Well I’m awaiting the Big Brown Truck ! We have a Midway order scheduled to arrive today and a pair of Lee roundball molds are in the order .575 and .562 . I just finished about twenty minutes ago making a 50/59 WW/Pure alloy for those two molds . So if the truck ever gets here I’ll degrease the molds , soot them a touch and cast a couple dozen both sizes .

[6pt-sika]

Cast 60 .562” balls and 60 .575” balls .

[6pt-sika]

The new to me 1904 Parker GH 10 gauge with 34” barrels finally showed up ! Not sure when they changed the 10 gauge designation for this grade from “EH” to “GH” but I have an “EH” that was made in 1899 and this “GH” that was made in 1904 so it most certainly was sometimes in between ! I might add this gun is one of s very few that was this grade 10 gauge and with 34” barrels . The Parker Story says 15 but there are more then a few log books missing so I would say probably no more then thirty or so .

[dsh1106]

Here's a couple of pics of my 1st attempt at casting the Lyman 69 cal minie, looks like I'm going to need a little tin to get this to completely fill out.


Here's some pics of pure Pb shot, 2nd attempt at this, it was a little chilly out when I made this. I think the coolant was too cold. Once warmer weather gets here I'll give it another try.

[gpidaho]

^^^^^^ That shot looks pretty good to me Scott. Good job. Gp

[Markopolo]

Hey LB.. I saw that fortunecookie45lc put up a video that might interest you....



Interesting way to assemble the “mini” package... might wanna check it out..

Marko

[longbow]

Indeed! Interesting stuff! I was wondering if my roll crimper would handle the long nose but I'm guessing if the commercial roll crimper does, my home made one will. I have a bunch of smooth sided Moose slug copies cast and waiting to be loaded. I may get out this weekend. The Easter bunny better be on the lookout!

I found that my smooth sided Moose Minie copies sit nicely in my Winchester 1 1/4 oz. shotcups on one 16 ga. nitro card wad. They are a very snug fit in my 0.733" barrel. By adding one more nitro card wad the fit becomes an easy slide through so two 1/8" nitro card wads should be about the right fit for my Slugster barrel which runs 0.729"+.

I am getting excited! Even if results are stellar, these will make a nice attached wad slug anyway. That's my default position. I am hoping they work well on their own.

I'll have to look and see if fortunecookie45lc has a video of these being shot.

I don't have any brush wads so will try the Winchester was as is and if they don't work due to cushion leg failure I may still have a few Pacific Veralite wads which have petals that are too thick but a nice cushion leg I will cut off to put under the Winchester cup as fortuncookie45lc did.

I've been a bit busy getting ready for out annual archery shoot so not focused on slugs lately.

Longbow

[dsh1106]

^^^^^^ That shot looks pretty good to me Scott. Good job. Gp

Thanks Gary,
Can't beat the cost of pure Pb at about $1 lb, not sure anything I'd shoot at would know the difference. Maybe I'll get some "range" alloy from the Captain and see how that works.

Scott

[longbow]

Those big 'ol .69 Minies look pretty nice too!

I'll be looking forward to a range report on those bad boys!

Longbow