poco loco
12-13-2010, 07:22 PM
I picked up the mold a couple months back and started by reading the 125,321 threads here about the Lee and other slugs and enjoyed every one and learned a lot about slugs and slug loading in the process as I read most every slug thread I could find....
I wanted a very light load to start and after doing some research started with win 1oz slug hulls once fired, 18.5gr Red Dot, 12s3 wads, 3/8 card wad spacer, 20 gauge waxed card wad cut to about a 16th thick as a wad cushion, cci standard 209 primers......
basically using some 1-1 1/8 shot loads and some of the info gathered here...
they shoot great, decent accuracy pie plate easy offhand at 40-60 yds, haven't put it in a rest yet to really see as I'm still just working on perfect function and looks.....
The fold crimp worked about half the time with these hulls so I started researching roll crimpers...decided to start with the STI due to cost and reviews.....Precision Reloading needs props here to, great service when i had a question/problem and with good suggestions and a promise to replace the tool if needed...... I'm ordering some overshot wads as soon as I hit post....
Anyway the crimper works great if I do my job though it does slightly impact the slug face....I'm going to radius the inner ring a bit to see if I can solve that, and I'm getting some pretty slugs that seem semi accurate and with very mild recoil in a 870 slug gun rifle sights....
Now to my question...(sorry, kinda long winded at times)
I was looking at 12g ammo at ammo to go and noticed the Aguila 1.5 inch slugs for any shotgun....I thought they looked neat as heck plus, you could fit 8 of them in a standard Mossberg 500 magazine instead of 5 standard size shells.....
So I looked over my bench and called a buddy who also loads and asked a couple questions and said lets build one....
I looked at the components I had used and first dropped the spacer wad...brought me to 2" even, looks great cycles through both the rem and the mossy no problem...
Then I looked at it again, grabbed a gas seal, added back the card wad and cut the shotcup off of the 12s3 used this as my wad column and am at 1.75" total, still cycles like a dream looks perfect....
My buddy swears that as long as I'm using the same hulls, primer and powder that I can shorten the column like this with no concerns as long as I keep the gas seal firmly on the powder and have good even wad pressure all of which I do......
I know this might not be as accurate do to the long leade but is there any safety thing I'm missing here in attempting this?
The load in the full size hull is very mild so.....what am I missing here, is there a good chance I can do this safely as long as I stay with very light loads as I'd like to try the same size with 18 of green dot which I've been using for 9 Pellet 00 reduce recoil/velocity.......since I got the sharpshooter molds, I've been in molding heaven....now if only the rotary rock tumbler I picked up on ebay works like I think it will.....better than my Lyman case cleaner at the least I'm almost sure......
Anyway, Great Site here and y'all are so good in sharing the knowledge here, it's a pleasure and a privilege to finally sign up and be a member here at cast boolits..:drinks:...(though I've sent more than a few others this way and spent many many nights lurking and learning).....thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.....
Poco
I wanted a very light load to start and after doing some research started with win 1oz slug hulls once fired, 18.5gr Red Dot, 12s3 wads, 3/8 card wad spacer, 20 gauge waxed card wad cut to about a 16th thick as a wad cushion, cci standard 209 primers......
basically using some 1-1 1/8 shot loads and some of the info gathered here...
they shoot great, decent accuracy pie plate easy offhand at 40-60 yds, haven't put it in a rest yet to really see as I'm still just working on perfect function and looks.....
The fold crimp worked about half the time with these hulls so I started researching roll crimpers...decided to start with the STI due to cost and reviews.....Precision Reloading needs props here to, great service when i had a question/problem and with good suggestions and a promise to replace the tool if needed...... I'm ordering some overshot wads as soon as I hit post....
Anyway the crimper works great if I do my job though it does slightly impact the slug face....I'm going to radius the inner ring a bit to see if I can solve that, and I'm getting some pretty slugs that seem semi accurate and with very mild recoil in a 870 slug gun rifle sights....
Now to my question...(sorry, kinda long winded at times)
I was looking at 12g ammo at ammo to go and noticed the Aguila 1.5 inch slugs for any shotgun....I thought they looked neat as heck plus, you could fit 8 of them in a standard Mossberg 500 magazine instead of 5 standard size shells.....
So I looked over my bench and called a buddy who also loads and asked a couple questions and said lets build one....
I looked at the components I had used and first dropped the spacer wad...brought me to 2" even, looks great cycles through both the rem and the mossy no problem...
Then I looked at it again, grabbed a gas seal, added back the card wad and cut the shotcup off of the 12s3 used this as my wad column and am at 1.75" total, still cycles like a dream looks perfect....
My buddy swears that as long as I'm using the same hulls, primer and powder that I can shorten the column like this with no concerns as long as I keep the gas seal firmly on the powder and have good even wad pressure all of which I do......
I know this might not be as accurate do to the long leade but is there any safety thing I'm missing here in attempting this?
The load in the full size hull is very mild so.....what am I missing here, is there a good chance I can do this safely as long as I stay with very light loads as I'd like to try the same size with 18 of green dot which I've been using for 9 Pellet 00 reduce recoil/velocity.......since I got the sharpshooter molds, I've been in molding heaven....now if only the rotary rock tumbler I picked up on ebay works like I think it will.....better than my Lyman case cleaner at the least I'm almost sure......
Anyway, Great Site here and y'all are so good in sharing the knowledge here, it's a pleasure and a privilege to finally sign up and be a member here at cast boolits..:drinks:...(though I've sent more than a few others this way and spent many many nights lurking and learning).....thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.....
Poco