Would like some feed back

[crashguy]

Upon closer examination of the my cb -1100- 12 wads I found that the petals have a rib down the center of that gets thicker at the base and decreases the interior cup by at least .020 and results in a flaring of the petals. Use of the .125 nitro card does reduce the influence of the rib but it obviously increases the height of the column which in turn effects crimping. It is clear that a change of wads is appropriate.

[stripercrazy]

thanks, I'm in the same boat as you lol I got 500 bad wads

[OnHoPr]

A thought crossed my mind as to the thickening of the center of the pedals near the base of the cup would keep the tapered Lee from canting in the barrel at launch to prevent a wobble. You could also try splitting the .125 nitro card to shorten the wad column.

[crashguy]

Those thick portions of the petals are messing the whole processes, the slug / cup fit and the wad/ hull fit. I actually removed them with sandpaper and with a 125 card everything fits together much better and they fit into the barrel ala Ajay's test. and... Split the nitro card .... easy enough ... I'll keep that in mind as an option when I assemble some more shells.

[crashguy]

Here is an update and a question.
I tried several combinations- all Remington gun club hulls, 30 g HS-6 and cb-1100-12 wads - first had no nitro card , second had one nitro card under the slug, the last had a nitro card under the slug and I sanded the ribs off the inside of the wad cup ( because the ribs caused the petals to flair) . The photo of the spent wads are from this test ... all mangled and the over powder cup portion was frayed at the edges as well. The photo of the target shows the combined accuracy of the whole lot at 50 yards offhand ( As far as the accuracy ..hey.. they are intended for range use, so what heck, they all hit paper ) Any input is welcome on those.
Now the question . The other photos show a proposed shot column. I cut up a wad and used nitro cards to adjust the height for proper crimp and fit. Is this a viable option or accepted practice for building a custom shot column?
And Yes .... I have some federal wads on order because I realize these wads are not cutting it .... I just can't resist trying.

[Hogtamer]

I loaded a bunch of the 1oz but have had much better success with the 7/8 lee slugs. They are a little shorter with thinner skirts but more importantly more front heavy. Lay them on there sides and they won't stay - they stand on their noses. Either slug though, I use BPI symmetrical OP wad, a waa12r, 1 or 2 nitro cards depending on slug out of federal hull. They are straight walled and your wad gets a deeper seat than the Reminton hulls you're using. My best load for 7/8 is 36 gr longshot in 2 3/4 fed. Hull which is manageable but stout. If you had to do one thing different with the components you have on hand, find some federal hulls and give them a try.

[crashguy]

I assembled some more today. Mind you I am trying to stick to the recipe ( from the Hodgdon site ) the problem I am having is the replacement claybuster wads are not allowing the slug to sit on the bottom of the cup without spreading the petals and causing. I actually managed to get the slug into the wads buy heating the wads then pressing the softened wad with a slug in it , into the muzzle of the barrel. This forms the wad around the slug and allows the whole thing to friction fit into the barrel .. like the slug wad test . I trimmed the petals , popped it out and there ya go. The wads sits atop 30g of HS-6 and the crimp is good or slightly depressed. I figure with a full load of 36g or a card under the slug that would take up the space I am now missing. Seems it all came down to the wrong wads plain and simple. I will test these and await the arrival of the proper wads , but ,in the mean time I will test these out .. hey I came this far, it's the principle of the thing now. I am thankful for the help and encouragement.... I guess you can't be a true Musketeer if you don't put in the time.

[SuperBlazingSabots]

Hello Elite Musketeer Brother CrashGuy, take it from one Musketeer to another Musketeer, you will be better of throwing those Sub standard quality wads, its like putting all the efforts to built a "Castle of sand"

Please go out to the nearest gun shop and pick up only the best wads from Federal or Winchester.

Together we will change the way we load Nitro Express Slug loads, for sure ! !

I'm proud to be a Elite Musketeer, among other Elite Musketeer's here.

" One for all & All for one "

Best regards,
Ajay
Blazing Sabots, LLC
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http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/view...f=118&t=196961
http://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/fo...p?f=43&t=39246
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[longbow]

Not sure about HS6 but be careful with loading when you remove the cushion leg from the wad.

I have done it using Blue Dot with no problems and my take is that with slow powders it has little effect but... when I read BPI's load recipes for for short hulls I got a surprise, they seem to build more pressure than a larger charge of powder in a longer hull. How I asked? Well, the short hull loads do not have a cushion leg where the long hull loads do. I think that loss of volume due to cushion leg compression after ignition is the reason. Again, my take is that with fast powders this seems to be more prevalent than with slow powders.

So, to be safe, cross check with other loads and shot loads looking at wad columns and types of wads (stiff versus soft). If in doubt drop the charge a few grains if you eliminate the cushion leg.

A benefit of using the gas seal under the hard card wad column is that the gas seal may be better supported against the flat hard cards than the cushion leg and it may seal better without blowing. It is worth a try, but yes, better wads is a better solution.

Longbow

[crashguy]

Update- I put together a few more shells. Here is the result

All were Remington gun club hulls, 1 oz Lee slug, win 209 , 30g HS-6. at 50 yrds supported, Mossberg 930 18 in cylinder bore. The photo with the red wads ( downrange )had half a .125 nitro card . The purple wads Fed 12s3 with a .125 nitro card . The pink wads were the claybusters with no card. I managed to get them to fit by using heat to soften them and stuff them into a barrel forming them and sizing them. It actually worked but took a while to put them to get them together. these wads were mangled, some nearly split from the key drive. The gas seals were torn on all but the federal wads and I realized that although my barrel is not ported, it is gas operated and there are 2 gas ports mid barrel that line up perfectly with tears in the seal. Mystery solved .. but I do not know what effect it has on the slug. the petals are just being torn off ... should that be a concern in my load development? Also I think I need to clean my barrel the recovered wads look filthy.... Will a dirty barrel effect the wad as it travels through?

As a side note to another endevour....In an effort to be more self sufficient .. the last photo shows a batch of shot (size 6-9 ) I made using my lee pot , some pipe fittings and a propane torch( that's a whole other story) I loaded it up into some 1 oz loads with 700x and got reasonable results for a cylinder bore at 10 -20 yards.

Ed

[MarkP]

I used the silver CB wads (AA 7/8 oz clone) and Hodgdon Longshot and Al Pro-Reach powders, My wads looked fairly well intact except the inside surface of the gas cup at the slug's heal extruded up into the slug's hollow base. I filled the hollow base with CAR RED lube I think it help accuracy, it lessened the extrusion of the gas cup into the hollow base. (REM 870 Rifled bbl w iron sights & 1187 Rifled bbl scoped)

I bought the Lyman 525 gr (giant air rifle pellet looking slug)and have not used the Lee for at least 3 years. IMO the Lyman is an easier slug to work with both when casting, loading, and shooting. It just works from light plinker loads to full. I use the same silver wads and they extrude up into the base of the Lyman slug but accuracy is rifle like at 75 yds. It may be more uniform / concentric since the Lyman does not have the drive key rib as the Lee has. Possibly the Lee has an initial yaw at slug wad separation (just a wild guess) 4 inch groups at best versus 1.5" groups. The Lyman has minimal bearing surface at skirt and small land up front.

Interesting note: I shot one of these slugs at my 16" gong from a distance of 160 yds offhand and hit it. Very surprised I tried it again and hit it again, and did it a few more times. So being curious how they would group I placed a large sheet of card board on my target holder that is only 10 yards further out from my gong. Could not hit the cardboard and it a was a 4' x 4' sheet and I was resting the gun while shooting. But could still ding the gong that was ten yards closer. I found the slugs strikes in the grass several feet from the cardboard sheet. I recovered some of the slugs you could load them again almost no damage they were just in the root system of the prairie grass.

[pipehand]

Crashguy, I'm waiting for that "whole nuther story" about the Lee pot shotmaker. It sounds like you went beyond the practice of putting a can of water under the spout to use the drips as swanshot.

[crashguy]

Ok Pipehand... because you asked for it.
Let me preface this whole thing with saying this project was intended to provide me with a small quantity of # 6 and smaller shot for use at close range ( less than 25 yards from a smooth bore cylinder barrel). The shot was by no means perfect but the shot produced satisfied my goal.
Being I'm in New York, I would consider this a "ghetto shot maker" ... down south it might be a "hillbilly shot maker", out west ? , I have no idea.. maybe a "chuck wagon shot maker" would be a good description. Also, like most other projects I undertake, the items I use are generally what I have laying around my shop, so, if any of the components I used are not what may be considered .."optimal".. just keep that in mind.
The goal of this maker is to melt the lead in the Lee pot and have it flow into the cast iron pipe cap that was tapped for a welding tip down an aluminum ramp and into the coolant. Simple.
Actually .. not simple, but not to bad either. I had a bit of trial and error but over all this was the setup I had in mind when I started. This system needs to be monitored, the pipe cap and ramp needs to be kept hot, I used a propane torch and it worked just fine. The small pieces of metal and washer are used to level the pipe cap and adjust the height of the dripper from the ramp. The pedestal the pipe cap sits on is a soup can cut for proper height The ramp is just a piece of aluminum polished and soapstoned. It is all held in place by gravity , nothing is secured. I just used regular straight anti-freeze as a coolant. The dripper also needs to be cleaned periodically, that little wire is from a bread twistie. I trust you guys can figure out my shot recovery system. I kept the cap filled and the flow was good, the torch ensured everything stayed that way. Once I got everything up to temp and flowing I just added lead to the pot and let it run (about 8-10 lbs and hour). I was limited in duration by the capacity of my coolant container and the need to stop flow in order to remove the produced shot.
My set up is a bit precarious and I'm sure there are some among you that will come up with much better configurations. When you do please share (LOL, if I have it in my shop I'll give it a try)
.

[pipehand]

Thanks. That is ingenious.

[crashguy]

Pipehand...thanks, you are very generous. It was the result of combining frugality, the need for self sufficiency and free time.

[Hogtamer]

Crashguy, that rig suggest you have the makings of an honorary redneck! If it just had some duct tape on it some where we'd sign you up!

[SSGOldfart]

Hmmm that's great it could be made into a double dropper easily