new slug mold from accurate 12 and 20 gauge fullbore

[jason f]

5844258441
12 gauge 700 grain. 20 gauge 450 grain

[longbow]

Very nice! Have you shot any yet?

I take it you like Handi Rifles.

I have been toying with the idea of a 12 gs. USH and a .44 mag. Hmmm, didn't know they made them in .50-70 Govt. or did you have it rechambered?

Longbow

[jason f]

It is a huntsman muzzle loader rechambered to 50-70 . It has a machined insert where original breech plug was then rechambered to 50-70. All h&r muzzleloaders made after 2000 are 4140 steel same as rifle barrels.

[jason f]

They shoot great in both 12 and 20 ush with a hefty dose of bluedot

[longbow]

Does yours have threaded breech plug?

I had one of the early H&R Huntsman .58 muzzleloaders with push in breech plug sealed with an o-ring. That style was discontinued after an accident resulting in a fatality if memory serves.

I never had any trouble with it and it did shoot well but I sold it.

Those are nice looking slugs alright! 700 grs. is a hefty slug! I have used mostly Blue Dot in my loads as well but have some loaded up over IMR4756 right now. I just need some time and a little warmer weather to shoot.

Longbow

[oldandslow]

jason, 1/16/13

I too ordered a 12 gauge fullbore mold from Tom at Accuratemolds except mine is a 770 grain. Thanks to Longbow and a number of others I found a magic load of Bluedot which pushes my slug about 1000 f/second. I've tried heavier powder loads but it really thumps my shoulder. Those heavy slugs just go in one side of a wild pig and out the other side. Good luck with your new thumper.

best wishes- oldandslow

[nekshot]

Fellas my pain meds are kicking in and things are getting a little fuzzy but what are you all talking about, shotguns or are these for muzzle loaders? I love the looks of them and I am keen on slugs for shotguns but I need some more info on these slugs.

[jason f]

The slugs I got pictured are for my 12 and 20 gauge h&r ultra slug hunters. The 12 gauge I use 40 grains blue dot and the 20 gauge I use 33 grains blue dot.

As far as the 50-70 goes I cast a lee 500 grain 515 diameter bullet and size it to 512 and load it with 14 grains unique with bullet into the rifling.

I have another accurate mold that cast a 250 grain 401 diameter bullet that I load in a sabots for my smokeless muzzleloader with 48 grains imr4198. It is a converted 45-70 h&r handi rifle with the savage smokeless breach plug installed in it. It pushes the 250 grain bullet a little over 2000 fps.

[nekshot]

aaaa that makes sense. They look good, which one works best from your perspective? That 12 is a little bit stout for me but the 20 looks good to my liking of recoil.

[jason f]

My 9 year old likes shooting the 20 gauge. There isn't much recoil with the h&r ultra slug.
I like shooting the 12 better but it will rattle your teeth once in a while. When I was developing a load for it I was up to 44 grains of blue dot. It was torture to shoot to many of them. 40 grains is giving me consistent 3" groups at 100 yards.

[longbow]

Where did you get the 12 ga. recipe from? 44 grs. of Blue Dot under a 700 gr. slug is STOUT!

I based my heavy slug loads on Precision Rifles PileDriver recipe which was up to 44 grs. Blue Dot under a 610 gr. slug and that generated 12,500 PSI. Not sure how much more pressure would develop under a 700 gr. slug.

I reached 38 grs. under a 0.735" RB (~580 grs.) and in a light single shot that was enough for me! Of course a heavier gun would soak up some recoil but I wasn't planning on running 12,500 PSI loads either. I figured if I made it to 40 or maybe 42 grs. max. I wouldn't go any further but I didn't make it.

I fired 30 of those one afternoon and I am sure it caused brain damage! (got to blame it on something)

Longbow

[turbo1889]

Where did you get the 12 ga. recipe from? 44 grs. of Blue Dot under a 700 gr. slug is STOUT!

I based my heavy slug loads on Precision Rifles PileDriver recipe which was up to 44 grs. Blue Dot under a 610 gr. slug and that generated 12,500 PSI. Not sure how much more pressure would develop under a 700 gr. slug.

I reached 38 grs. under a 0.735" RB (~580 grs.) and in a light single shot that was enough for me! Of course a heavier gun would soak up some recoil but I wasn't planning on running 12,500 PSI loads either. I figured if I made it to 40 or maybe 42 grs. max. I wouldn't go any further but I didn't make it.

I fired 30 of those one afternoon and I am sure it caused brain damage! (got to blame it on something)

Longbow


I've gone up to 40-42 grains absolute maximum (depending on shell and primer) with a 730 grain 12ga. full bore slug in a 3" length shell with the proper wad column to allow for that. Using Steel instead of Blue Dot I can squeeze out a few more grains in the same load set-up but not much more.

He probably is looking at some heavy boomer 1-5/8 oz. lead shot load data as his reference point. I personally prefer to start working from the slightly heavier 1-3/4 oz. lead shot load data instead although it isn't near as common in the load books as a reference point.

It, also, somewhat depends on what kind of wad-column you are running. If you use entirely old-school wads with nitro cards over the powder and under the slug and then use felt, fiber, and cork wads to build a crush section in-between the nitro cards you can usually get a few more grains of powder in while still keeping the pressure out of the red line zone compared to using more modern components. That is especially true if you are loading 3-1/2 shells (requires custom chamber mod. in a gun capable of handling the extra power of 3-1/2 shells) where you can get more cushion material into the wad-column and slightly higher pressures are allowed.

And yes, there is some serious recoil issues that come into place when working at those power levels. My 3-1/2" cannon though has had over ten pounds of ballast put into the custom fitted big bench shooters type stock (not easy to make an H@R action and that kind of stock blank go together) with extra thick rubber recoil padding built into the butt of the stock. Not a gun you want to carry on your back very far but it makes a difference with the recoil.

[jason f]

http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/RecipeList.aspx?gauge=12&gtypeid=3

I found some heavy shot loads from alliant website. I might have got a little carried away but i I still wasn't having any stuck shells or smashed primers. Now I just stick with 40 grains of blue dot. Seems to be the best load for my gun. Recoil is still very manageable with the heavy ultra slug.

[turbo1889]

. . . I still wasn't having any stuck shells or smashed primers. . .

Good plan with the 40gr. loads many times a load shoots better (accuracy) just a little under max rather then full out.

I would caution you that with shotguns how the primers look CANNOT be trusted and should not even be considered as a half way reliable pressure sign like can be done with metallic rifle cartridges (one guy on this forum damaged his gun and blew the extractor out of his bolt on a heavily built bolt action rifled barrel slug gun as a result of trusting the shotgun primers to show pressure signs; they didn't even on the load that damaged the gun. I have experienced similar with loads that were showing 18-K or higher peak pressure levels on the pressure trace gun and they stuck the shells in the chamber like they were glued in as a definite pressure sign but the primers looked fine). Sticky cases on ejection are usually a good pressure sign to look for but don't trust the primers on shotgun loads.

[chrisw]

I wonder how this would do in my 870 12g. They sure look pretty!

[geraldsd]

I too, am wondering how it will shoot in a smooth bore shotgun barrel? I would like to try the 700 gr 12 ga.

[jason f]

In a smooth bore you would want the shuttlecock design to help stabilize slug. Diameter in a smooth bore might be another issue. I ordered my 12 gauge mold to drop. 733 diameter and my 20 gauge to drop 628.