I'm not a "shotgunner" so please bear with my ignorance. I am looking at either the Lee 7/8 or 1 ounce 12 gauge mold as a possible candidate for a not shotgun related project.
As I look at a couple of photos as well as a video - are these slugs very similar to a hollow base round nose "Foster" slug? From what I am seeing, they look like a Foster but with a "divider" cast into the hollow base?
I have done a lot of looking and finally found that a Lyman 12 gauge Foster mold casts a slug that is supposed to be .705 in diameter.
Can someone supply me with the diameter of the slug that the Lee 12 gauge 7/8 and 1 ounce's slugs drop at?
My project revolves around a .69 caliber rifled musket I have recently purchased. 50 years ago, I had an original "Whitney Plymouth Rifle" - a .69 caliber percussion rifle produced during the Civil War. It was never cut down like a lot of post war muskets were, but the rifling had been reamed so it was used as a smoothbore shotgun. At there time, I had a source for cast 12 gauge Foster hollow base slugs and they worked well in the bore - I never measured the bore but if the Lyman mold drops them at .705, the reamed bore probably measured at around .707. With the hollow base lubed with my BP lube, they shot very well out of the reamed bore.
I haven't received the .69 caliber rifled musket (a version of the 1842 Model that was rifled - but a shorter version known as the "Macon Rifle") but I have to believe that the bore will be .690 + or -. While I am looking for one of the Lyman/Ideal .68569 hollow base minie ball molds - the mold drops a boolit over 600 grains in weight. Fun to shoot once in a while but not a steady diet of them. That is why I need the O.D. of the Lee mold slugs.
I am guessing that the Lee mold will drop them too much oversize to size down to use in the .69 caliber. Ideally though, a 1 oz. hollow base slug that will accept BP lube - 1 oz = 437.5 grains - would cut down on lead usage and still shoot pretty well at reasonable distances. If I can't find something that will work, I will probable contact Tom at Accurate and see what he can cut for a hollow base mold. I know he doesn't make HB base pins, but easy enough to get one made up.
I do have a Lyman .678 RB mold which was commonly used in the .69 caliber muskets. Undersize, yes, but one has to remember that they were used in conjunction with paper cartridges - no lube to speak of to keep fouling soft so undersize ball to be used in a .69 smoothbore in order to keep shooting. I will be experimenting with that RB as well - using both paper cartridge as well as RB with lubed patch. I have read where one fellow "knurled" the .678 balls to increase the size enough that they shot well out of his .69 rifled musket (1842 Macon Rifle) and had a target to prove it. That will be another "experiment". Once I get this .69 caliber 1842 Macon Rifle figured out - the next step will be to build one of the smoothbore .69 caliber 1842 Muskets. That one will get some experimentation with buck and ball loads as well as RB by itself.
Thanks for any info that you can provide on the Lee 12 gauge slug molds - greatly appreciated. Will probably not work for my needs but still worth getting the information on it to see if it might be a candidate or an immediate "forget it".