Shooting copper slugs in smooth-bore?

[hansol]

Hey guys,

I cast up some copper-jacketed slugs today. Then, after the fact, I started to wonder if it is safe to shoot copper slugs out of a smooth bore?

The slugs weigh 580 grains, with a diameter of .702ish (12 gauge loads). I'm not using a wad cup, just shooting the slugs naked.

Am I going to kill myself? Cheers!

[Greg5278]

No you won't kill yourself, but accuracy will probably be poor. The normal bore for a 12ga is .729" A good smoothbore slug will have some full bore bearing area to help center it in the bore. You don't want a cylindrical slug of bore dimension, as pressure can be too high. Solid copper and brass projectiles can be fired, but the design is different. I have some that were designed with 4 body bands of .060" wide. They only bear on the nbands, the shank is never touched by the lands.
Greg

[turbo1889]

+1 on what Greg said.

Now as for the slugs you already have. Give them a couple wraps with plain white masking tape to bring them up to bore size -- should let you use what you have and get decent accuracy. Provided they are properly balanced for smooth bore stability of course.

[hansol]

I will do the masking tape trick to help with accuracy. As for if they are balanced for stability, I really have no idea. They are my own invention, so I don't really have any idea how they will perform.

Slug Dimensions: .702 wide by .560ish long, 1 1/3oz (580 grain)

While I'm at it, here is the load recipe I am looking at using. Feel free to critique, as I have limited experience with these matters. I've been looking at the data for 1 3/8oz shot loads, as well as "Piledriver" loads that I had given to me:

win AA hull
CCI 209 primer
38 grains Blue Dot
WAA12 white wad (with petals cut off)
fiber wad
580 jacketed slug
(roll crimp)

I've read that in general, a slug will give LESS pressure than a shot load of same weight, due to the fluid dynamics of shot being driven into a forcing cone, or something like that. Is this correct?

[blysmelter]

How do you cast a copper jacketed slug?

[hansol]

You take a hollow copper jacket, and then fill it with molten lead. It's pretty straightforward from what I've seen. Some guys even use copper pipe for rifle bullet "jackets".

Actually I think that's what Mr. Nosler did back in the 70's?

[Silicon Wolverine]

corbin makes tools to make jackets from copper pipe. i just havent got the 1000$ or so it takes to get started.

SW

[jhalcott]

I watched a guy shoot 2 boxes of Remington copper slugs thru his shotgun. He never hit the target once. He said he was sighting in for deer season! When we moved to the 50 yard line to the 25,His slugs were hitting side ways! I read the box and it said "Rifled bores ONLY"!! OOPS!

[turbo1889]

For smooth bores "nose-heavy/tail-light" and "nose-aerodynamic/tail-not-so-aerodynamic" are the rules of the game for straight shooting slugs. If you were to take a length of copper tube and only fill it up halfway and load the light hollow end towards the rear that would probably work just fine. Even better if the nose was nice and rounded and the tail had a drag inducing ring or two crimped or cut into it.

[Greg5278]

I have fooled around with copper jacketed slugs in the 12 ga. I made a sort of swage die, and used a cast core. The jacket is a 1/2" copper tubing cap, they usually run around .705" diameter. I bumped up the size in a die to .727" and they engraved fine. I also tried some as a hollow base, using a large ball bearing in the die to swage in a hollow. It worked okay, but was a pain to make. They weren't nay better than the cast lead slugs in the accuracy department. I seem to recall paying $.20 each for the caps in bulk.
Greg