Lee slugs

[abunaitoo]

Just gathering up components right now.
Planing on trying the Lee 7/8oz slug.
Is there a certain type of wad I should look for????
2 3/4 shells.

Only trying this because I got a Pacific 366 loader i want to try.
Mossberg 500.

[SuperBlazingSabots]

Greetings Abunaitoo, first thing you need to mention, is your Mossberg a rifled barrel or smooth bore. If its a rifled barrel then you are fine.
In case its a smooth bore then you need to measure the ID of the actual barrel.
The Lee 7/8 oz slug in wad is a great slug now you need to fit it with a fiction fit to your barrel for accuracy. ( 6 to 10 lbs fiction )


If you have a smooth bore then push your slug in wad without any nitro card backwards to check for fiction fit 6 to 10 lbs pressure ! !

On the right is the picture of Lee slug in wad with nitro cards to raise it up.



Do care to mention as to what all powders you have on hand, not all loads that come with the slug mold are Kosher so be careful as some of them smack the shooter and shoots both ways giving the Dentist more business ! !

Watch out for powder seeping through.


How to fix it:

Use straight walled hulls for your loads, for load developing use Fiocchi hulls and once you find the ideal load then switch over to Federal hulls just for hunting loads.

Hoping it helps get you started for now.

Regards,
Ajay K. Madan
Super Blazing Sabots

[William Yanda]

2 3/4 shells come in many flavors. Essentially either straight walled or tapered walls. Use the appropriate wads for which ever type you have.

[abunaitoo]

Great help.
Barrel is not rifled.
Since I'm just experimenting.
I'll gather up what ever I can find.
Thank you

[dsh1106]

I use the blue and burgundy Federal hulls I bought from you with the FS120 OR FS123 wads and HS6 powder.

[W.R.Buchanan]

abunaitoo: I don't know about Pig Hunting on Oahu but I do know they hunt them alot on the other islands.

If I was you I'd go for the 1 oz Lee slug or a Lyman Pellet Slug for your M500. Round Balls are also a good option. The Pellet Slug will be devastating on Pigs, and would give you something useful to do with your newly manufactured ammo. All the Hawaiian Pork I've had was EXCELLENT!!! as the pigs eat pretty well over there.

In order to run buckshot or slugs in your DL366 you will leave the shot dispenser shut off and hand load them into the hull in the station after the wad is installed. Then complete the shell just like a normal shot load.

You are on the right track.

Do yourself a favor and get yourself a Smoothbore Barrel with Rifle Sights for your gun. Usually something on Ebay for a reasonable price ($80-125, many on there right now.) You will find that the accuracy with these slugs can be pretty good out to 60-70 yards and the rifle sights definitely make the gun more accurate than a simple bead.

Randy

[abunaitoo]

Still collecting all the different components I can find.
Range pick up.
I always seem to be doing that.
Just like recycling.
Not planing to do any hunting.
I'm kind of hunted out.
That and things here getting bad for hunters.
damacrap run state.
Shotgun is a Mossberg 500.
Smooth bore.

[MT Chambers]

Note the powder migration with some of those hulls, the powder is slowly escaping down beside the wad. If it continues it will result in some very poor ballistics and weird sounds when fired. you are better off to use tapered hulls with the right wads in most cases.

[Montana Slim]

I use the 7/8 oz with Winchester grey wads. I use 700x to make fun (1300 fps) shooting rounds & they cycle my gas operated Browning & are accurate in all my 12 ga guns. Easy on the shoulder, too. For serious loads I use HS6

[abunaitoo]

Friend just gave me 5 bags of Winchester Double A red wads.
Now I just have to get some primers and an mold.
I'm thinking of going with the Lee 7/8oz, just because it's the cheapest.
Suggestions good, or bad??????

[longbow]

I don't see it said above but if you are not familiar with shotshell loading you have to be aware that you can't just use any old hull and wad with a given powder charge and primer. Shotshell recipes count on all components working together to get a load that fills the hull so you get good crimp and normally so a specific velocity is achieved within safe pressures. Maybe stating the obvious there but hull design and primer brand can affect pressures dramatically. As in a change of primer brand from one 209 to a different brand 209 can affect pressure by up to 3000 PSI according to Tom Armbrust's pressure tests.

You need to pick a brand and type of hull then look up a recipe for that hull and use those components. Also to consider for slug loading is that the Lee 7/8 oz. slug is likely going to sit deep in the shotcup if it is anything more than a 1 oz. shotcup so you either have to space the slug up on nitro card wads or cut the petals back depending on wad column length.

Best place to start is by using the Lee slug load data here:

https://leeprecision.com/files/instruct/SM%203529.pdf

You'll get that with your mould.

There are three recipes listed for Win AA hulls and the 7/8 oz slug. That is the best place to start using those recipes. They may be a little "hot" so you can lighten the powder charge a bit and use a filler to make up the space, if necessary, to get a good crimp. If you roll crimp not so much of an issue.

Wad fit is the next thing. Depending on your your diameter the wads listed may fit well or may not so follow Ajay's suggestions to check fit. If you find you need thinner or thicker petal wads then you'll have to experiment a bit and maybe change wads. Keep everything else the same though.

Largely it depends on your accuracy expectations. You can just follow the load recipe and you should be reasonably good. It'll certainly be safe and may shoot reasonably well to good. If accuracy is poor then play with different wads leaving everything else the same.

If you don't want hard recoiling loads then use birdshot loads for equal weight payload so 7/8 oz. to maybe 1 oz. birdshot loads and sub the slug for birdshot. These will not recoil near as bad as dedicated slug loads. Again, you may have to space the slug up on 16 or 20 ga. nitro card wads to get good crimp.

Some people have posted success stories using Lee slugs in factory birdshot hulls by opening and dumping out the shot, melting it then casting slugs and replacing the birdshot with slugs. It can be that easy.

Several folks here have said the Lee 7/8 oz. slug is more accurate than the Lee 1 oz. slug. So far I can't say I've noticed but I haven't shot a bunch of either. I can say that both have preformed better for me than my Lyman Foster slug ever did and by a large margin!

I did have some almost blooper loads though by using 1 oz. slug data with Unique under a 7/8 oz. slug. I have lots of Unique and figured it would be fast enough powder for the lighter payload... wrong! I got very poor burn on several loads. Going to a Green Dot recipe solved that and they shot much better! Point there is I think it is best to stick with faster powders under such a light payload. If you use 7/8 or 1 oz. trap load data you shouldn't have any issues. Or stick with the Lee slug data for zippier loads.

Another place to find load data is BPI Load Of The Week:

https://www.ballisticproducts.com/load14_04_25.htm

https://www.ballisticproducts.com/load14_06_13.htm

https://www.ballisticproducts.com/load14_04_25.htm

I believe all the BPI data is for straight walled hulls though where you Win AA's are tapered hull. There is a mix of 1 oz. and 7/8 oz. load data there.

I'll try to look tomorrow, I may have load data for Lee 7/8 oz. slug in Win AA and 7/8 oz. trap loads for Win AA for lower recoil loads.

I had to do a bit of de-burring of my Lee 1 oz. mould but the 7/9 oz. was perfect out of the box and both drop slugs like a brass Mihec bullet mould... as in they drop out and off the pin as soon as the mould is opened. Very easy to cast with!

I hope there is some useful stuff there.

Have fun!

Longbow

[abunaitoo]

Lots of great info.
Never loaded for shotgun.
Never shot much shotgun.
Shells I'm collecting are all for slugs.
Christmas time, so I'm watching my spending.
Might have to hold off until after the new years.
This thing all started when I got a Pacific 366 from the last Gunshow.
Friend had it on his table for two years.
It looked so interesting, I made him an offer and he was glad to get rid of it.
Just another example of buying the cart before the horse.
Or something like that anyway.

[longbow]

You'll find that slug load data is somewhat scarce and since component match matter it is even scarcer for what you find you have. Most of the shotshell reloading books have very limited data for each slug and since the recipes are component specific you will find that:

- you've collected a bunch of hulls (in you case Win AA)
- you've selected a slug (Lee 7/8 oz.)
- your local gun store has "X' brand of primers
- your local gun store has "Y" brand of wads
- you have (or your local gun store) "Z" brand of powder
- you check load data and at least one of the above is not to be found! What to do!

Since you are not a shotgun/shotshell reloading guy I'll repeat what I said above. Loading for shotshells is not like loading for metallic cartridges. You cannot safely (without lots of experience anyway) just work up a load, there are no obvious dependable pressure signs. Pretty much all shotshell reloading manuals I have state "Do not substitute components" and they are serious. Seemingly small changes can make large pressure differences.

Best to follow recipes exactly... except if you find recoil a little harsh you can drop powder charge a bit but you may have to add a filler cad to make up height for crimp.

Substitutions can be made and lots of people make them. Some perfectly safe and some not so safe unless you make other load adjustments.

Assuming a given payload weight and brand/amount powder charge the hull and primer are the tricky bits. Hulls come in basically two flavours - compression formed/tapered wall (like your Win AA hulls, Remington STS) or straight walled like Federal Gold Medal. Federal Field, Fiocchi, Cheddite and others. Load data is not interchangeable between hull types due to both different internal volume and "combustion chamber" shape. The tapered hulls are best suited to small charges of high energy powders for trap and skeet shooting. The large volume hulls are best suited for heavy or magnum field loadings. Having said that there is a lot of overlap in use.

Nothing wrong with using you Win AA's for slugs, they are good hulls. Just be aware that you should be using Win AA load data.

Primers, as mentioned, are particularly important and can have significant effect on pressure. Just a chance of brand of primer can affect pressure by 3000 PSI. Not too big an issue if you are loading 7000 or 8000 PSI loads but could be if you are loading 11,000 PSI loads and the change is up!

The first pressure sign you are likely to see is sticky extraction from swollen head. If that happens STOP shooting! Those will be over max. you aren't likely to blow up a shotgun but... I have and can say is isn't fun! I've posted the circumstances and it was largely due to component substitutions/changes to a book loading.

A reloading manual should list pressures. I have 3 editions of the Lyman Shotshell Reloading manual, Reloading for Shotgunners, powder manufacturer data, published pressure testing load data from reputable sources and magazine articles. I suggest Reloading for Shotgunners because it lists far more load recipes and variations than the Lyman manuals do and shows pressures. I find the Lyman manuals will list maybe one or two load recipes with a given set of components then either primer changes or wad changes or...?

So, for given powder and charge in a given hull, use the primer listed or a known equivalent and you will be good. I don't worry a lot about the wad as long as it is the same basic type of wad. Going from a long cushion leg wad to no cushion leg or hard card wad column could cause a pressure spike. Think "less volume at ignition" like seating a handgun boolit too deep. As long as the wad is similar I don't worry. Also, with straight walled hulls I have swapped types with no problems except due to different basewad heights the wad column length may have to change.

Back to your Win AA hulls. Find a load either from the Lee data you will get (pretty hot slug load = recoil) or use load data for Win AA and 7/8 to 1 oz. birdshot load for the 7/8 oz. slug. These will be mild recoiling slug loads and perfectly safe. Again, for both slug and birdshot load data if you don't have a manual (you should get at least one). If your slug/wad to bore fit is too tight you may find sheared petals on recovered wads (yes, go look for wads to see what they look like after shooting). If petals are sheared likely accuracy won't be best. If petals aren't sheared but accuracy is poor look for wrinkles from catching on crimp or just plain too loose (back to Ajay's push fit test). You may have to try different wads as petal thickness varies from brand to brand and type to type by a few thou.

Shotgun bores vary widely in diameter too so what fits one gun (my Mossberg 500 with 0.730" bore) might not fit another (my Cooey single shot with 0.733" bore) so again wads are the key here.

Lee recommends using dead soft lead. I think most people use range scrap or wheelweights (I do). Here again wad and fit may matter. A tight fit with soft lead may swage to fit and shoot okay where with wheelweights petals may shear. Try it and see what happens. I'm cheap, my wheelweights/range scrap are free so I use wheelweights or range scrap.

You might also want to try round balls. Round ball loads can be surprisingly accurate out to at least 50 yards equaling or bettering slug groups. Round balls are easy to cast and easy to load. Lyman makes 0.662", 0.678". 0.690" and 0.735" RB moulds. The best (in my opinion) are 0.662" which I cloth patch because they are small in a shotcup, 0.678" which are a good fit in many standard trap wads and 0.735" which are full bore slugs so NO CHOKE!

And that is something I missed earlier... choke. Your slug/ball/wad has to fit through a choke if the barrel is choked. the general rule of thumb is that the slug/wad fit through the tightest constriction shouldn't be more than 0.003" over the smallest constriction (choke) so if the barrel is choked the slug wad fit through bore should be loose/easy slide fit but tight through the choke. The RB's in shotcups will be fine through a choke and so will the Lee slugs as they are designed to collapse if they hit a choke. Fit to bore and choke will determine accuracy in the end. If cylinder bore then no issue just fit to bore.

Now there I go rambling again! I know, I've been told I talk too much. Too many words.

It really isn't complicated but you do have to be aware and pay attention to details if you want to shoot safely and get accuracy. Easiest approach is to use the Lee slugs or round balls with trap load data for equal weight and pick a wad that gives good fit.

Have fun!

Longbow

[Gray Fox]

How do round ball loads shoot in a rifled barrel? I have the Mossberg rifled barrel with cantilever scope base for my Rem 870. Has anyone here any experience with this barrel with round ball or Lee slugs? I have both the 7/8 and 1 oz molds and would get the right sized RB mold if it will work OK. GF

[longbow]

Not much experience here as all I have are smoothbores. I did borrow a Remington 870 with rifled barrel and it shot 0.735" RB's into about 2" to 2 1/2" groups at 50 yards. Those same loads shot into about 4" or less at 50 yards from smoothbore.

I sent some 0.678" RG's to Hogtamer to try in his rifled gun and he got mediocre accuracy out to 100 yards IIRC. Not sure of RB/wad/bore fit though and of course fit is critical. He posted results so search for Hogtamer.

Look up 725's post on his RB accuracy using 0.702" RB's in shotcups and TRG3's accuracy using 0.690" RB's in shotcups.

From smoothbore to at least 50 yards I can say that good RB loads are at least equal to most slug loads I have tried if not better. Stretch the distances though and RB's tend to have a mind of their own! My take is that they pick up random spin from air drag and veer off course like a curve ball or knuckle in baseball.

That's all I've got.

Longbow

[Gray Fox]

Longbow, thanks, GF.

[savage308]

Just gathering up components right now.
Planing on trying the Lee 7/8oz slug.
Is there a certain type of wad I should look for????
2 3/4 shells.

Only trying this because I got a Pacific 366 loader i want to try.
Mossberg 500.

try the federal hulls with fed so wads and 16 grains of reddot and you will be very happy