Lee 1oz Slug Mold from wheel weights?

[Geoffrey]

Hi guys, been really debating my reloading plans. I have been casting soft lead 1oz slugs but cannot find much soft lead.

Something I have lots of is clip on wheel weights, probably about 700 pounds.

I was thinking of making buckshot from the wheel weights but I think I would rather stick to slugs but...

I have searched here but cannot find much info on wheel weight and Lee 1oz molds.

I believe that the WW will result in a different slug size.

I use Remington Gun Club hulls; combining WW 1oz slugs with which wad would work best? I know different wads have different pedal thickness.

I am trying to make a super simple reloading setup.

Which wad has pedal thickness that would work with WW slugs?

Thanks all

[crawfobj]

Can't answer your question directly, but you could always trade your clip on WWs for stick ons or pure lead here.

700lbs of clip ons but no stick ons?

[ctious]

I hate to say this. But I think your flirting with trouble trying to run ww slugs in a shotgun. Sizing would.be very important. Too big and Icould see wrecking the barrel. Shotgun barrels are soft. Be very careful.

[Geoffrey]

Only got maybe 100 pounds of soft lead.

That is why I am debating buckshot or round ball for wheel weight lead

[longbow]

Lots of people use wheelweights for the Lee slugs. I have some loaded up now but have not shot them yet. They cast at about 0.685" at the largest diameter just below the nose radius (they are tapered).

Since the Lees are hollow base they will easily swage to suit the barrel but in the correct wad they should fit fine and the plastic in the wad will likely squish before the lead gives too. I found that the Winchester white wads (can't recall the number) have thin petals and fit well with the Lee slug for a light push fit in the barrel.

Lee load data recommends several wads that are suitable for the Lee slug.

Most slug designs for smoothbores are designed to accommodate a choke should they run into one. Typical Foster slugs are relatively thin walled and will easily deform to suit the barrel (or choke) even when cast of ACWW. If heat treated that might be another story. I found I had to heat treat wheelweight slugs to keep them from deforming and ruining accuracy (shot from cylinder bore).

It is common for smoothbore slug & buck barrels to have at least an I/C choke. My Browning BPS has an I/C choke measuring 0.710" which is considerably smaller than a slug of 0.729" but is designed to shoot slugs.

Solid full bore slug designs for rifled guns should not be shot in smoothbores with any choke constriction at all as they are not designed to collapse. They are safe to fire in cylinder bore but of course would not give any accuracy at all as they would not stabilize.

An undersize round ball in a shotcup or brush wad is also a good alternative. Just be sure that the ball is smaller (or at least no larger) than any choke. I have been getting good results with 0.662" ball in a shotcup. I have found that if the fit of ball/slug to shotcup is too tight a fit in the barrel the wad petals squish or shear and accuracy is poor.

That's what works for me anyway.

Longbow

[pipehand]

The only problem with using wheelweights in the Lee Slug mold is that you may have difficulty getting the first few off the hollow base pin. Once the mold is hot, they come right off. I smoke the pin with a butane lighter, and cast hot and fast.

If you want to know which wads work, check for posts by VideoMemories. He's an outstanding photographer and has lots of data on the possible wad combinations with both the Lee and Lyman slugs.

[newcastter]

I say go for it, I cast Lee 1oz slug from WW and had great results, I had to use the Winchester Brand AA12 because the pedals on the Claybusters are to thick, Now I also had to go with that size as the 12AASL (pink) would not crimp properly because it was to long overall, now keep in mind I was using a nitro card under the slug so the pink wads may work if your not doing that but it is suggested that you do. I tested some with Blue Dot and they were all over the target at 25yds and only 2 of 5 hit target at 50yds and I also tested some with my regular trap load of 19.5gr of Promo and they shot a 4"group at 50yds. As noted earlier the WW lead did stick to the key pin on first couple but cast great after that. I am shooting them out of a Rem 870 rifled barrel.

[Geoffrey]

Thanks all.

I am getting ready to order Green Dot powder, CCI 209M primers, and true Win WAA12 wads.

I will also use a nitro card of some form.

Now to research how to make my own Nitro Cards.

[LUTNIT]

I've fired 500ish Lee 1oz slugs and I've only ever used WW's. I once accidentally put five of them through a full choke in my 870 (was shooting trap earlier) with no ill effects on the barrel.

With Rem Gun Club hulls I will use either WAA12R (red) or WAA12 (orange) wads depending on what powder I'm using. They are fairly snug in the hull but can be put in with finger pressure. I have managed to shoot 2.5" groups, off hand, at 25 yards and about 4" groups at 50 yards with them off a bench (bead only).

To make nitro cards just get yourself a hole punch in whatever size you need and cardboard in whatever thickness you need. I just use cereal boxes and use as many as I need to get the thickness right.

[gotin]

I've shot hundreds of them, lead was either stick-on wheel weights, range lead at 10 BHN or harder 12 BHN alloy - all cast easy if the mold is hot - dip it in the molten lead for a minute and start casting away. An old towel is required to soften the drop when you get to speed, otherwise they tend to dent if dropped on hard surface or over each other.
Smoothing the inner edges of the drive key with sandpaper seemed to help release, now the slugs drop without even taping them.
Shot in a mossberg 500 over 17-18 grains of 700x in a pink claybuster wad they get to about 1100 ft/s. No cutting of petals or nitro card required. I seem to get the same velocities with this combination from Winchester, Federal and Fiochi hulls.
The hard lead ones stay mostly intact, I tested one in a box full of packed sand - it traveled about a foot and was only slightly bent.

[longbow]

My Lee mould casts very well with no sticking ~ though I pre-heat. The slugs release well and are very consistent in size. They are nice and round and run 0.687" at the nose and 0.667" at the edge of the skirt. Personally I think they have a bit much taper as any wads I have do not have that much taper on the petals. Also, I think the nose is a bit large. I only had one wad they fit and would slide through the barrel reasonably easily and those were Winchester white. Recovered wads had some petal damage.

I shot some today and was not too impressed. The group was 10" wide x 6" high at 50 yards where my round ball loads were running more like 4" x 2" to 3" with the worst being 2" wide x 5 1/4" high (strange the slugs and 0.678" balls had horizontal spread and the 0.662" balls had vertical spread ~ maybe some pilot error). In any case, the round balls loads did considerably better than the slug loads.

I plan to try sizing the Lee slugs down about 0.005" for better fit in the wads I have. I can't buy much if anything locally and have to order in. Hopefully the Lee slugs will improve in accuracy with different fit or wads. If not well, the mould didn't cost much so really nothing lost. All in all I prefer round ball casting, loading and shooting anyway. The 0.678" round ball is about a perfect fit in Win AA red wads.

I was hoping I could reduce group size at 50 yards and beyond with the Lee slugs but not so today. I will try again.

Longbow

[Nix]

As a few folks have already said, WW Lee slugs work fine but they can be a bugger to get out of the mold sometimes. I've had a few that no matter what I tried just would not drop; let me save you the trouble of a warranty and say "Don't try to pry them off with pliers, you'll just break the rivet that holds the hollow-base pin to the mold". Ask me how I know!

[35remington]

Nix, the key to avoid sticking is to get the mould quite hot to start. I have no problem casting one after another without sticking......as long as the mould starts out hot and is kept that way.

Cast quickly.

[DEVERS454]

I've used wheel weights, straight soft lead, and Lyman #2.

I spray a bit of Fosters mold release stuff on the pin and I have never had a problem.

Using the Lee data is the best place to start. I've also taken the load data for a 1250fps 1oz recipe and used Claybuster wads to get the height I needed. Take a good crimp to hold it in place or thin overshot card.

I have roll crimped them with one of those pre-scored overshot cards and they work well.. but really time consuming.

Wadslugs like the Lee are easily good out to 50-60 yards as well as anything else.

With a rifled choke (Carlson) on my 870, I have hit 90 yard headshots with a 4x shotgun scope.

Someone tested the mold out with powdered tin and non-toxic stuff... I guess they must have poured it into a cold mold. Anyhow, it was REALLY light (350gr?) but zinged along pretty well. Again, alot of work for very little payoff.

[badboyparamedic]

Lee slug mold, AA hulls, Pink wads, 16 grains of 700x or16 grains Promo. All with slugs made from WW.

[ToysRUs]

I've been messing with the 7/8 ox Lee slug to find a low recoil round that will cycle my mka 1919 semi auto gun.
My goal was to put together a practice/ 3 gun load that had good enough accuracy while keeping the gun on target.
Also inexpensive enough so I could practice and practice. Also star crimp only, I'm on the loader who wants to roll crimp when 2 handle pulls crimps the hull....
With Longbow's help (Thanks LB) I started here.
WinAA /Super X high and low brass hulls, WAA12 wad, Green Dot and Win 209.
The BIGGEST pia was the fact that the shot column in the wad is so tall and needed almost 1/4" of cards underneath the slug high enough to get a proper crimp
Here is what I figured out as far as the Wad because I am not going to card up 1/4" again and again.
There is a 7/8 oz wad with a considerably shorter shot cup, WAA12L. The nice guys at claybuster sent me a few samples of their wads to mess with.
The CB0178-12 wad is exactly what I needed. It holds the slug perfectly and at the proper crimp height! put the powder in, add the wad and slug and crimp! Beautiful!!! (see photo, wad on the right is the 178 the others are just other short cups that CB sent me)
60221
Now the only thing Wad wise I may modify is that the CB wad seems to have thicker petals than the same Win wad. the CB wad is a nice snug fit in my Mod winchoke tube. Also the heavier petal may stop tearing of petals.......
I loaded this and went to the range last weekend with the chrono. modified winchoke in the gun, CB0178-12 wads
19.2 gr. = 980 fps no eject
19.7 gr = 1050 fps occasional eject
21.2 gr = 1170 fps always eject
These Velocities are at least 150 fps lower than the Lee Charge All table for a 1 oz shot load.
(ie. 1290fps is really 1170fps)
Recoil is way lighter than a Winchester 1 1/8 oz #6 field load or Remington Slugger slugs.
Accuracy is ok shooting off hand at 25 yards and 50 yds. mostly hitting paper plate at both distances.
Once I have the cycling and velocities done I will work on tailoring from the minimum up to see if accuracy gets any better.

Currently I have 4 boxes loaded with 21 gr (+ or- .2 gr) of Green dot to go blow through the gun and see what happens. I'll put a box through with the gun in the Lead Sled to gauge accuracy

Currently loaded up is that:
Win AA hulls (although I've used Super X and AA high brass prior the AA crimps the best/most consistent)
Lee 7/8 oz slug molded 100% lead
Claybuster CB0178-12 (WAA12L)
21gr Green Dot powder
Win 209 primer


Things are looking up in the reduced recoil dept!!!
Besides, being in Nashville with Barrett nearby everyone here likes blowing .50 cal holes in things!!!!!!

[35remington]

I find the Claybuster wads have considerably lower integrity than the OEM Winchester wads. Petal loss and fracturing crush column collapse are significantly worse than the more expensive Winchester wad. The Winchester SL wad is also a candidate for fit (pink variety) that allows a card under the wad (or not) and still fits, at least with the one ounce slug. The gray wad is probably better for the stubby 7/8 ounce slug. The thin card may help smoothbore wad survivability in the cheap clone wads.

Recover expended wads from both and compare. Also evaluate the wad's frictional fit in the hull, as the Remington once piece hulls have somewhat tighter fit which may influence wad survivability.

[ToysRUs]

Notice the column is crushed evenly and not torn.
The wad on the left has a partial tear of a petal and more pronounced indent from the key drive.That is atypical of the wads I picked up.
The wad on the right is more typical of the ones I looked at. Key drive indent, no torn petals.
I also switched from IC to Mod winchoke when I shot these shells. the IC was loose even with the wad and slug inserted in it. The Mod tube was snug.
60265

60266

As far as any of the other wads with the 7/8 oz slug they all sit so deep IMO there is no way to star crimp without moving the slug up a bunch with cards.

[35remington]

Nevertheless, if you need more wad integrity sometime, the OEM wads are more durable. The difference is important at times. It is for me.

[longbow]

I just did some shooting with Lee Drive Key slugs (ACWW) for the first time and had some petal failure using Winchester white wads. They push through the barrel but seem a bit tight. It is possible that with the harder alloy doesn't give quite enough for to suit the petal thickness.

A few of mine looked like ToysRUs' wads with the slightly torn petals.

Fit and quality both important! Sometimes you have to do a bit of trial and error.

I hear good reports of the Federal wads being very tough. I will have to see if I can order some.

Longbow

[Geoffrey]

Hey Longbow I have 1000 12S4 wads en route to me. My local Wholesale Sports is bringing them in for me.

Not sure where the nearest Wholesale is to you though. Spokane WA is the closest one that I can remember.

[longbow]

I have to stock up again so will have to order a bunch of stuff. Wads are still legal to buy in the States and bring back but not much else! It isn't worth the trip since I can order wads anyway. I will start with Bilozir Fine Guns and see what he has. He is a BPI rep.

[Geoffrey]

Good plan