Wad for 7/8oz lee slug

[W.R.Buchanan]

Tony: thanks for the reply. Always good to know what others are up against in their countries.

I load my Slugs on a Pacific DL266 which produces perfect rounds , and then I run them thru a Roll Crimp Spool to finish them so they are more perfect.

STS hull is the current Lyman Slug load.
2 black hulls are Thug Slugs with Rio Hulls from BPI
Blue Federal Hull is a Lee Slug with a Roll Crimp
Pacific DL 266

Randy

[longbow]

TonyfromItaly:

Good to see you back... at least I haven't seen you post for a while.

I have a question for you... are the Russian moulds common in Italy/Europe? I am wondering about the attached tailwad slugs they offer. There is a Gualandi copy (not quite a clone) that could be cast in hard or soft lead. I don't think they offer a Thug Slug clone but some fairly similar and you say that the Thug Slug is more accurate than the Gualandi.

Also, you had some slug designs you were working on. How did those turn out?

I am curious as to what folks on the other side of the pond are doing with shotgun slugs, casting and loading. Is bullet and slug casting common there?

Longbow

[TonyfromItaly]

TonyfromItaly:

Good to see you back... at least I haven't seen you post for a while.

I have a question for you... are the Russian moulds common in Italy/Europe? I am wondering about the attached tailwad slugs they offer. There is a Gualandi copy (not quite a clone) that could be cast in hard or soft lead. I don't think they offer a Thug Slug clone but some fairly similar and you say that the Thug Slug is more accurate than the Gualandi.

Also, you had some slug designs you were working on. How did those turn out?

I am curious as to what folks on the other side of the pond are doing with shotgun slugs, casting and loading. Is bullet and slug casting common there?

Longbow

Hello Longbow , i made a mold for my 24 ga shotgun, an obsolete caliber that shoots marvelously. It is an undersized foster that i load like a sabot in a gualandi wad. weights about 20 grams , 0.70 oz and goes 480 ms, 1580 ft-sec, like a small express i would say. I also made a Lee like slug for 20 ga with the key.
A lot of folks cast slugs for hunting, not as much casting of bullets because we cannot shoot freely even in your own land, we have to go to a range.
The Thug slug is a pressed slug, swaged as you say, in fact the ribs are all perfect. This slug is sctually 2 pieces in one, the top that detaches from the cylinder walls, so it has a double effect, top part goes trough and the other that flatten on impact on hard skinned game. The 20 ga Thug has better penetration than 20 ga dues to its longer shape . Here in southern italy they have 100 yard slug contests. You shoot at targets with regular sights. All these guys use either gualandi or Thug slugs.

[W.R.Buchanan]

How about these with a rifled barrel, would they be legal in that 100 yard match?

they will go 100 yards easy the group was at 50 yards but should not open too much more at 100.

Randy

[TonyfromItaly]

Hello Randy, great roll crimp you do, you are a master.
They cannot use rifled barrel for the 100 meters match unfortunately, but they manage to break a 8"x8" tile. Anyway, it is an awsome pattern at 50 yards.

[longbow]

Tony:

I thought I recalled a copper jacket slug you were working on but looked back and found it was solid copper. How did that go in the end? I didn't find range reports.

Have you used any of the Russian slug designs? There are a couple that are similar, at least in proportion, to the Thug Slugs. If they are comparative accuracy they could be cast from hard lead.

I have read that the Gualandi clone is quite accurate so that might be a candidate. Also, the Kontareva - 3 looks good and Petander got some good results from it. With the long bearing surface and attached wad it should do well.

Longbow

[W.R.Buchanan]

Tony: thanks, these Sabot Slugs will go thru a Smoothbore as well. My A5 Buck Special Barrel shoots them fairly well. At least well enough to try shooting at 100 yards. I'll try some and get back to you on that.

Randy

[TonyfromItaly]

Tony:

I thought I recalled a copper jacket slug you were working on but looked back and found it was solid copper. How did that go in the end? I didn't find range reports.

Have you used any of the Russian slug designs? There are a couple that are similar, at least in proportion, to the Thug Slugs. If they are comparative accuracy they could be cast from hard lead.

I have read that the Gualandi clone is quite accurate so that might be a candidate. Also, the Kontareva - 3 looks good and Petander got some good results from it. With the long bearing surface and attached wad it should do well.

Longbow

Hello Arcoricurvo, i did produce a few solid copper foster style slugs to be used as sabot. We tried them on hog hunting and they worked real well. They were made on a cnc lathe. Then the no toxic fad, in some way faded for hog hunting, so i let it go because they were costly to produce. I like the russian kontareva 2 and 3 design. I think they used my idea, i made a mold of a foster slug eith 2 bands and pubblished it long before the russian did it(see my avatar9. I think that with an attached wad, they will be very precise. My next project is to take a Lee slug mold, modify it . I would like to add 2 bands to it so we can load it by itself over gas seal and fiber wad. What do you think?

[TonyfromItaly]

Tony: thanks, these Sabot Slugs will go thru a Smoothbore as well. My A5 Buck Special Barrel shoots them fairly well. At least well enough to try shooting at 100 yards. I'll try some and get back to you on that.

Randy

Great idea Randy, then you can go to Calabria and partecipate in those longe range shoots !

The way we hunts hogs in large groups of hunters here in Toscany, shots are very short, less than 40 yards usually, usually 20-30 meters. So for us, what is important is stopping power. I found that the Lee slug and the lyman sabot slug are the best around in 12 ga. In 20 ga i would add the Thug slug, beside the Lyman or russian clone. The gualandi in both calibers, at short distance behave like a full metal jacket, the run through and the do not stop it in its tracks. Shots are made as the hog runs, so it is not easy to hit in a the head or shoulder.

[mac60]

I never could get the 1 oz. Lee slug to shoot worth a hoot. No matter what I tried I couldn't get accuracy that I considered good enough to hunt with. Results with the 7/8 oz. were about the same until I stumbled across a YouTube video by a guy who goes by SirSloop - I believe he may have hung around this forum also. The wad he was using was the short shell wad from BPI. I rounded up all the components he was using and gave it a try - worked out great. Here's a link to a video where he goes over it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9QZHOiZQLk

Here's the wad.

https://www.ballisticproducts.com/Sh...ctinfo/072SSW/

You'll need some cushion wads and a nitro card to go with it. I can't speak about fit. I never paid any attention to it, I just loaded them up and shot them. It worked out great for me. Just my experience with it - that's all.

[longbow]

Hello Arcoricurvo, i did produce a few solid copper foster style slugs to be used as sabot. We tried them on hog hunting and they worked real well. They were made on a cnc lathe. Then the no toxic fad, in some way faded for hog hunting, so i let it go because they were costly to produce. I like the russian kontareva 2 and 3 design. I think they used my idea, i made a mold of a foster slug eith 2 bands and pubblished it long before the russian did it(see my avatar9. I think that with an attached wad, they will be very precise. My next project is to take a Lee slug mold, modify it . I would like to add 2 bands to it so we can load it by itself over gas seal and fiber wad. What do you think?

Tony:

I read that the Kontareva 3 is supposed to be the most accurate. Not sure if true but if it is at least 0.730" diameter and fills the bore it will be well aligned and those base wads appear to be pretty good and return to shape after firing/while in flight so stands to reason that they would be a good slug. I may just order one of those moulds to try it. I had wanted the Tusker but don't see it listed anymore. I also like the Paradox slug but that one is listed as being 0.724" diameter which is too small in my opinion.

I may just alter the HB pin for my full bore slug so that it takes the same wads and give that a try. Shouldn't be difficult to do and the wads are readily available as far as I know.

As for the Lee slugs I have had similar thoughts off cutting a driving band at the nose and base to make them full bore but since I have full bore slug moulds I haven't bothered because I don't see any advantage over what I have. What I did do a year or so ago is to modify the Lee HB pin to make a lead cone through the drive key so I could drill it for a screw and attach tail wads. The idea worked but I need some better felt and plastic washers for the tail wad. These remain wad slugs but with added tail wad like a Brenneke. A friend said he has some of the dense felt (Durofelt?)used for shotgun wads but he has not brought it over yet. I may just order some. The attached wad slugs I made looked good but accuracy was no better than several other Foster slugs I think mostly because the washers on either side of the felt were distorting and the felt was too soft. I'll try again with better felt. That mod should actually work well I think if proper materials are used and it is easy to do.

But yes to your question, I think adding driving bands to a Lee slug to make it somewhat over bore size should work and eliminates the shotcup variable. Possibly that and an attached wad would be good too.

Longbow