I went out today to buy .410ga slug loads so could cut them open and get a pretty good idea for how the factory slug loads are being done, and I uploaded pics of the dissected slugs
Our Wally World DOES NOT have any 410ga slug loads and I haven't seen them there since Summer of last year. The salesman there today said he hasn't seen them in a while either and there's a good chance that they won't even be getting 'special' 410ga loads come this deer season
So I checked 3 actual sporting goods stores within a 20 minute drive from me and only one said they had 410ga slug loads, and lucky me, they actually had 3 different brands:
1) Brenneke Close Encounter (looks like a thug slug), 2 1/2" shell, 1500 velocity, 1/4oz slug ...... made in German and loaded in the USA
The finished length of the shell after they roll crimped it, is approx 2 1/16"
The order of loading components went as:
a) Powder
b) White plastic 'podium' wad with gas check on its base to seal against the powder. From there it necks down to a THIN stem and then has a pedestal or flat thin base
c) Slug is then 'pressed' onto the wad
2) Federal Power Shock. Maximum Rifled Slug HP, 2 1/2" shell, 1775 velocity, 1/4oz slug
The finished length of the shell after they roll crimped it, is approx 2 1/4"
The order of loading components went as:
a) Powder
b) White plastic log-shape wad with cushioning ribs near the lower end of it
c) Slug only rests on the wad and is not fastened to it
3) This is the one I found interesting due to what I've never seen or heard of being used to load shells with
So it's the Winchester SuperX Rifled Slug Hollow Point, 2 1/2" shell, 1830 velocity, 1/5oz slug
The finished length of the shell after they roll crimped it, is approx 2 3/8"
The order of loading components went as:
a) Powder
b) The green plastic gas check
c) What appears to be ground corn husk (the interesting aspect I mentioned)
d) Nitro card
e) Slug
I am most interested in that Federal slug load due to simplicity and due to tip of the slug came out near the end of the shell like the Winchester load did, but NO THANKS on loading my slugs with using Winchester's NUMEROUS components including 'ground corncob'. The tip of German Brenneke slug was actually a near 1/4" down from where they finished the roll crimp, and since this is a factory load, it's looking like it doesn't matter if the slug isn't out to the end of the finished shell or not. I just know with my fold crimp, it's best to have the slug come out to where the fold is going to lay down on top of it.
I know that I can't just go by what I see and like here with any of these slugs since the load I end up going with can change things quite a bit due to the type of powder, gas check, wad, nitro cards, fiber cushion, the length of my cast slug, and the fact that these factory slug loads here are finished with a roll crimp and I will be using a fold crimp