Mold recommendation

[dverna]

I would like a slug that will "work" in both a smooth bore and rifled barrel. I am loading for both guns.

By "work" - here are my goals:

Star crimped shell - not roll crimped
Must use a standard wad
"Light recoil" - 1 oz at 1200 fps or 7/8 oz at 1300 fps - for a lady to use comfortably
Accuracy 6" at 50 yards

I have read many of the posts here and see some people having success with the Lee and some not. Some with the Lyman and some not. Maybe by keeping my velocity down one mold will work better than the other. Cost of the mold is not a concern as I see that as a one time investment that will be amortized over 1000's of loads.

Lastly, I have just purchased 2000 lbs of 2/6/92 "Hardball" alloy and would prefer to use that. I also have 400 lbs of Linotype, 600 lbs of WW and some range lead. I would prefer not to have to buy pure lead but will do so if needed.

These slugs will not be used for hunting. These are for training for self defense.

Thanks for any advice.

[littlejack]

If you want accuracy in smooth and rifled bores, the Lyman Sabot Slug. But alas that is too heavy for ya (525 grains).
Reguards
Jack

[dverna]

LJ

525 gr is no problem. I can lower the velocity to 1000 fps. These loads will be used for 50 yard or less practice shooting.

[littlejack]

I load them in Remington cases, and drop them in the WAA12 wad. I use 30 grains of Herco powder, but you CAN use less.
Jack

[LUTNIT]

I worked up a very comfortable load using the Lee 1oz key drive slug mould.

Win AA hulls or Rem Game Club; both work fine
WAA12 wad (I think? They're orange.)
20gr Alliant RedDot
CCI 209M primers

chronies 1233fps out of my 18.5" barrelled Rem 870. I shoot ~5" groups at 50yds but have been meaning to try again with 20ga nitro cards under the slugs. I've read from many people on these boards that it increases accuracy.

[William Yanda]

I can't speak for Lyman, but Lee recommends soft lead. I used soft lead from the Captain and another source, both scratched with my thumbnail, mixed 50/50 for uniformity. Some say they use clip on wheel weights with no problem.
I haven't loaded any of the GM shells I got from you .....yet
If you would like to try some of the lee 1 oz. slugs cast from soft lead, send me a pm
Thanks
Bill

[SuperBlazingSabots]

Hello Dverna, call MidSouth and order a Lee 7/8 Oz Slug mold for $18 plus change, load can be pushed faster and will not kick like a mule.

Once you get the mold in hand, we will talk further:
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee75/Dantebeowulf/LymanampLeeslugscopy.jpg
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee75/Dantebeowulf/LeeDriveKeysluginwadcopy.jpg
order some Trap Commander wads from BPI shown in the picture on right!
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee75/Dantebeowulf/Leesluginwad.jpg

I think you will soon be ready for some serious fun!

Enjoy it while you are at it!

Warmest regards,
Ajay
BlazingSabots@Gmail.com
Blazing Sabots, LLC
www.facebook.com/BlazingSabots?ref=hl
www.facebook.com/pages/Preci...75489969155338

[dverna]

Guys,

Thanks for the feedback it is much appreciated.

I would love to buy an Lee mold to play, with but they are not available anywhere I have checked. I found one on EBay for $45+ and decided I could wait until Lee gets caught up.

Bill that is a generous offer and if I cannot bet a mold in 4-6 weeks I will reach out to you.

I have a bunch of Top Gun hulls I will be using as "shoot and pitch" hulls. I hope they will work; but if not, I have a lot of AA and STS hulls. My "gut" tells me a straight walled hull will shoot slugs the best but have a LOT of learning to do.

Ajay, I have seen a lot of your posts and data - GREAT STUFF that should shorten the journey. Nice work!

Don

[LUTNIT]

I have used Federal Top Gun hulls in place of Remington plastic hulls in some slug and buckshot recipes and have not had any issues. The fold crimps can crack after the first reload on the Feds so it's good to have a philosophy of "shoot and pitch" with them. Even Fed high brass hulls don't seem to last nearly as long as Rem or Win before the plastic starts to crack on the folds. Also since the Top Guns have fibre base wads you should check each one to make sure it didn't get wet and all the card in the base is separating. It's pretty easy to spot and I wouldn't reload any that look deteriorated.

I know what you mean about Lee moulds being hard to find at the moment. I was looking for a couple and everyone seems to be out of stock. I'm in no rush (don't even have the rifle I was intending them for yet) so I can wait until the panic buying subsides and Lee catches up.

[turbo1889]

For the needs stated by the OP I would suggest using a 0.678" round ball inside of a shot wad with a sub-guage nitro card (18ga. is best but 20ga. is a common size that works nearly as well) under the ball inside the bottom of a shot wad (Fed 12S3 wad would be my suggestion) and a scoop of COW under the ball and over the ball (Lee dippers work great).

The Lyman 525 wad-slug could be used but at the low velocities the OP desires out of a smooth bore gun he will most likely run into stability problems and get widening patterns of key-holes beyond about 25-yards.

Either of the Lee drive-key slugs could be used but it is a PITA to cast with the Lee mold with the hard alloy the OP has purchased because antimony alloys stick to the base pin of that mold badly.


Currently Track of the Wolf(.com) has a Lyman mold in that size available for a reasonable price. Anywhere else you will only find that size in an RCBS mold which will cost you twice or more the price.

For the kind of loads the OP is interested in I would also suggest loading in Remington single piece compression formed 2-3/4" hulls with a charge of Green Dot or similar burn rate powder (middle of the burn rate range for shotguns, not the fast stuff like bullseye and Red Dot, but not the Slow stuff like Blue Dot either).

[turbo1889]

The OP could also use the Lee 0.690" ball mold which will cost him about half the price of buying the Lyman 0.678" ball mold from Track of the Wolf (.com) but that extra 0.012" of diameter on the ball size makes it just a little oversize and he will pinch the wad-petals and reduce his accuracy a little bit as a result (or at least such is typically the case between the two ball sizes most of the time in most loads for most guns.) The slightly larger Lee ball would also be slightly heavier as well and the OP appears to want to make minimum weight, minimum velocity, low recoil, tactical type loads.

Round Ball molds are also among the easiest and fastest molds to cast with.

[littlejack]

I have personally expierienced what turbo is stating about the .690 ball. At least one petal was pinched off using R-P cases, and WAA12 wads. I was shooting them in a Hastings rifled barrel. This did go away when I switched to .678 balls. I'm still working on my loads.
Reguards
Jack