20 ga roundball ?s

[quickshot]

Hey all. Its been WAAAAAAAAAY to long! I finally shot up all my pistol stuff and am getting ready to fire up the pot again. I have now decided to take on the idea of casting for my 20ga scatterstick. Slugs are the name of the game and there seems to be only 2 options available, both from lyman. Can't afford those molds. Was thinking maybe roundball? Here is what I have to work with:

Westernfield m149a 20 ga smooth bore
Fixed choke (no indication of what it is so I will assume full)
winchester AA hulls
a mountain of waa wads (given to me by an ex reloader)
win 209 primers
half a ton of unique

Primary use is just for general woods bumming and defense from 4 legged critters (sisters land has quite a few hogs around and they all are reported to have bad attitudes) maybe the occasional deer. Longest shot would be around 50-70ish yards. So a semi accurate combo would be needed.

What would the general consensus consider to be the best avenue for me to travel as far as ball + wad+ powder combo? Did I mention that I have never casted nor loaded for shotgun before?

Also is there any difference in charge for 7/8th load ( ie does 7/8th of #3 buck take the same charge as a 7/8ths slug?)

[grullaguy]

I think anything is possible if you think about it hard enough.

That said, I think you are taking on a pretty big challenge. Your 20 gauge bore should be around .615, but I don't know what your choke mikes at.
Lee's largest round ball moulds are .575 and .560. If they fit inside of a shot cup, you might have a workable recipe.
Balls smaller in diameter than your choke should be a good thing??
I am just brainstorming here as I don't have much experience loading for shotguns either. Round ball use in shotguns does interest me. The black powder guys are always shooting round balls in their muskets and I don't see why the application will not work in a modern shotgun.
Maybe you will have to resort to a lubed and cloth patched ball shoved down your muzzle. Tough for a quick second shot on an angry hog though.:kidding:

[fishhawk]

get in contact with blammer he has been working with a roundball load for 20 ga i think he has found that a .570 ball works best. steve k

[Harmon_Greer]

you need to measure your bore.. too big of a ball down a full choke could bulge barrel, ruin the choke or just blow the gun up. especially if your casting hard full bore diameter balls.

get the measurement at the muzzle and http://www.jt-bullet-moulds.co.uk/moulds.htm can make you a mould that will cast the right size ball for that gun.

[frnkeore]

Here is what I did for my 20 ga Rolling Block. Two, .575 balls loaded in a regualar shot cup. and a load of Unqiue for 1 1/8 oz of shot. You can't completely close the hull over the balls but, enough to keep them in. I intended them for emgerency close range appilcations. They will caring in your pocket just fine.

Was going to cut the sides off the cup to allow the use of my .610 RB or use some old PGS wads but, never did that. My old RB has been shorten and has no choke. I figured 2 .575's would get someone attention better that a single .610.

Frank

[Reload3006]

Hey all. Its been WAAAAAAAAAY to long! I finally shot up all my pistol stuff and am getting ready to fire up the pot again. I have now decided to take on the idea of casting for my 20ga scatterstick. Slugs are the name of the game and there seems to be only 2 options available, both from lyman. Can't afford those molds. Was thinking maybe roundball? Here is what I have to work with:

Westernfield m149a 20 ga smooth bore
Fixed choke (no indication of what it is so I will assume full)
winchester AA hulls
a mountain of waa wads (given to me by an ex reloader)
win 209 primers
half a ton of unique

Primary use is just for general woods bumming and defense from 4 legged critters (sisters land has quite a few hogs around and they all are reported to have bad attitudes) maybe the occasional deer. Longest shot would be around 50-70ish yards. So a semi accurate combo would be needed.

What would the general consensus consider to be the best avenue for me to travel as far as ball + wad+ powder combo? Did I mention that I have never casted nor loaded for shotgun before?

Also is there any difference in charge for 7/8th load ( ie does 7/8th of #3 buck take the same charge as a 7/8ths slug?)
I could be mistaken and probably am But I am pretty sure LEE makes a Drive key slug mold.

[Harmon_Greer]

not in twenty gauge

[missionary5155]

Greetings
If you do a "Round Ball" search here in shotguns you will find many hours of interesting reading. Most will deal with 12 bore & Round balll but there are complete threads that roll around the 20 bore. 50 yards is about the going average for reliable accuracy. Starting any round ball moving down range at 1400 + fps is going to put a perminent hurt on any critter it impacts. Round ball will out perform any hallow base slug in penetration and RB is real easy to cast. I highly suggest the search and patient reading. Alot of time has already gone into RB shoting.
Mike in Peru

[Reload3006]

I have a 20 gauge slug mold that I made I would be happy to loan you if you want it .

[quickshot]

@Reload3006

pm sent

[1kshooter]

I have a 20 gauge slug mold that I made I would be happy to loan you if you want it .

I would love to see that puppy if you have a pic and don't mind sharing?
20ga is my go to uplands gun(browning Gold Fuzion light) and some times my two german shorthair pointers come running back to me with new found friends hot on there heals!!! yipp yiiiip yiiip oh ****!! bang!!

[nanuk]

I recently picked up a barrel for an H&R in 20ga rifled.

I was hoping for smooth bore, but this is what I could afford.

I read, in my case, a 58cal miniBall might work great.
But I would really like to try a round ball (or 2) so I follow with great interest pretty much all ball loads for shotguns

[turbo1889]

Since you are using Unique for you powder a single 0.570"-0.575" round ball inside the shot wad on top of a stack of 28ga. nitro cards that are in the bottom of the shot cup of the wad under the ball to bring the ball up to flush the mouth of the wad would probably be your best bet. A start charge level can be obtained from an overview of the Lyman 20ga. slug load data considering that both of their current slugs are heavier then a 0.570”-0.575” round ball is. Some of their older shot shell loading manuals do have load data specifically for a 0.570”-0.575” round ball inside of a shot-wad.

It is possible to build a double ball load using that same ball size like frnkeore mentioned above and you can set it up to crimp correctly at the mouth but Unique is too fast of a powder to propel such a load with twice the weight with two balls instead of just one in my opinion.

Since your gun has a choke and you don’t know how constrictive the choke is for sure then I suggest you stick with using a 0.570”-0.575” round ball inside of the shot cup on a regular shot wad. Full bore diameter balls offer potential improvements in both accuracy and knockdown capabilities but are reserved for guns with minimal to no choke constriction and rifled barrel dedicated slug guns.

[Hardcast416taylor]

If I recall, there used to be loading data in Lyman shotshell manuals for the 20 ga. using .458 dia. cast bullets in shot cups.Robert

[357maximum]

You might end up needing to buy a few things to make this work really well. The good news is that BallisticProducts carries all you need to do this.


I did alot of testing on this several years back. Unique never gave me the "ooomph" with accuracy. Unique just was not accurate in my guns.


I found both "oomph and accuracy with:

Cheap federal straightwalled target load hulls with the wound paper basewad

26.0 IMR SR4756

Standard Win 209 sparkplug

One .575 roundball cast of leadpipe alloy

Sit the round ball on top of 28 GAUGE 1/2 INCH THICK fiber wad inside a federal 20S1 wad and use a standard fold crimp.

I ran this load through several old "hardware store" singleshots (modified with a scopemount) and a mossberg 500 (with a receiever mounted scopemount) and it worked well in all the guns regardles of choke. The tighter choked single shots actually were a slight bit more accurate than any of the changeable chokes I had for the mossberg.

If you can get your hands on the older Lyman shotshell manual #3 there is alot more recipes. That is where this one came from....page 276 according to my notebook in fact. There is no modernday 20gauges that should be harmed by this combo , but that is MY OPINION.



If you use your AA hulls and AA20 wads with the above recipe you need to reduce the charge of SR4756 to 25 grains due to internal volume differences.

All my success came with straightwalled hulls, but your gun may very well be different in it's like/dislikes.

There is no data for unique with the compression formed hulls....there must be a reason for this.

[Reload3006]

I would love to see that puppy if you have a pic and don't mind sharing?
20ga is my go to uplands gun(browning Gold Fuzion light) and some times my two german shorthair pointers come running back to me with new found friends hot on there heals!!! yipp yiiiip yiiip oh ****!! bang!!
sorry just saw your request I have it in a box ready to send to Quick ... maybe he will take a pic. its really nothing special just an aluminum mold.

[1kshooter]

ok Reload3006,thanks for the reply

[Reload3006]

Hope that the molds have gotten to you safely. Let us know how they are working out for you.