frustrated in slugville

[stripercrazy]

tested my barrel with 1oz lee key slug and roundball lee .690....I can't get the slug and wad in the barrel :x or the ball and wad...I tried the claybuster pink and red wads that replace Winchester wads all are too big to go thru a 1100 smoothbore barrel....what a kick in the groin at least I tested before I shot the shells I loaded...I seen a guy loading these wads into shells that he took the birdshot out(youtube)...that's why I got them...I got another barrel that's a smoothbore but it has a remchoke for the 1100 and I got a fully rifled 1100 gun all 2 3/4 shell guns..seems I've made bad choices. I fired some lee slugs out of some birdshot shells that I took the birdshot out used the same wad and recrimped...they fired ok out of the remchoke barrel with a rifled choke in it. now I got to take apart the shells I worked on, that I thought were good.....I can't believe a 12 gauge slug and wad won't go thru a smoothbore barrel I gave a lee slug and pink claybuster wad to my friend to push thru his mossberg changesaw with a breach barrel...he said it didn't fit..whats the thinnest wad out there? I hate to think I got to buy a new gun....anyone shooting a rem 1100 smoothbore?the slug and ball do go thru...I've got no idea what wad to try...thanks for any help

[pipehand]

No one that I know of has had good luck with the clone wads. Try the original Winchesters. I've had pretty good results with the Federal 12S3's and a 2 gauge nitro wad.

[stripercrazy]

looking at Ajay's post the win yellow 114 wads look thinnest any one try these?

[jmort]

I have come to the exact same conclusion. Was going to try with Lee Precision .690

[Idz]

I have a Browning A5 and a Rem Model 11 full choke smoothbore shotguns and both work fine with the Lee slugs in re-purposed WalMart target shotshells. Both the 7/8 and 1 oz slugs should measure about 0.680 diameter. The full choke is 0.694 diameter. It sounds like you can't even chamber your loads? You do have to be very careful when using the Lee slugs that it drops into the petals and doesn't crumple one of them. You also have to fiddle with the length. I use two 1/16" styrofoam tray discs 5/8" diameter to get things right for a good crimp on the Walmart shells(Winchester Universal 12ga, 2 ¾", 1200fps, 3 dr eq, 1 1/8oz, #8 shot) and a Lee 1oz slug.

Good Luck

[longbow]

The Lee Slug should fit in most "standard" shotcups. Mine fits well in Winchester pink, white or yellow and in Pacific Veralite wads. It seems to me it is a bit snug in the yellow ~ that has the thickest petals of any wads I have.

I have not shot the Lee slug much yet but first time out I was running about 6" groups at 50 yards so not bad. My slug/wad fit was a light push through fit... I would say less than what Ajay normally recommends. For rifled gun you will want a fairly snug fit or it may not grip the rifling well.

I am one who has never had success with the 0.690" round ball even in thin petal wads wit reasonable fit to bore. I have had very good results using 0.662" ball in shotcups (shimmed/patched to snug fit) and 0.678" round balls in shotcups ~ perfect fit for smoothbore.

If you want to use 0.690" RB's BPI lists one of their wads in a 0.690" ball load so it must fit okay. Otherwise Ithaca Gunner is right with using the BPI brush wad or try a donut wad. These do not have petals but are cups or wads with holes that keep the ball centered in the bore. I was going to try donut wads but it was too much work and BPI products are not available locally so I have to special order everything. I can get regular wads and 0.678" RB's work well in those so that's what I have been doing. Out to 50 yards or so the round ball is tough to beat!

Longbow

[stripercrazy]

..I've just been looking for the diameter of the chokes and ....the rifled choke is .718 and I switched out the birdshot with the slug and they fired thru the .718 rifled choke w/no problems(don't know what the factory wad was).........smoothbore/rifle sights/deer barrel I thought would be .730 ....thanks for the replys they'll help me make better choices thanks for the help

[longbow]

Well, there's something I didn't know about the Ithaca Deer Slayer. I have always heard they were one of the best smoothbore slug guns and that may explain why.

No personal testing or knowledge of old factory Foster slug diameters, just what I have read indicates that most if not all of the factory Fosters were considerably undersize apparently to ensure they would pass through a full choke. Maybe true, maybe not but that is what I have read in old slug shooting articles.

What I do know is that my Lyman Foster mould casts at 0.705" which is very much undersize for standard 12 ga. bore at nominal 0.729" (all of mine run around 0.729"/0.730"). Some of those slug recovered from snow show that they obturated to fill the bore but the noses were all slightly off center and many cocked a bit from uneven obturation due to not being centered in the bore as they expanded.

The soft lead thin skirted Foster will easily swage down through a choke so why the factories tended to make them undersize is beyond me since they obturate and fill the bore anyway. Ithaca's solution appears to be to make the bore suit the slug. Not a bad idea but I am not sure what that might do to a load of 00 buckshot as it is pretty snug for 00 buck stacked in 3's. Anyway, interesting stuff.

Getting back to round balls, I have to wonder why the factories did not go the round ball route using donut wads or wads like the BPI brush wad. I have no trouble maintaining group sizes of around 4" at 50 yards with good round ball loads and most slug loads (home cast and loaded anyway) struggle to get groups that size. As long as the ball will pass through a full choke it is safe to shoot and the balls are plenty accurate to 50+ yards.

Longbow

[Idz]

Here is a chart of all the choke sizes:
http://www.colonialarms.com/chokespecs.html

Slugs should be made of soft lead so they can squeeze through the chokes. Most are made to fit through the smallest choke since the manufacturer knows people won't read directions.

When they started looking at steel shot it was discovered that barrel pressures are less with slugs than shot because the shot fills the barrel and then must be suddenly squeezed down when it hits the choke. Whereas the slug pretty much stays the same size.

A fellow actually made measurements with his pressure barrel verifying this. See

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=107590

The accuracy of the Lee sabot slugs in Walmart shells is much better than my ability and vastly cheaper.

[stripercrazy]

Idz, thanks for the chart and that link.....going to read it a couple times until it sinks in...longbow and Ithaca gunner great info

[TX.shotgun01]

I load and shoot LEE 1oz slugs in my REM 1100, I use REM gun club and Win AA12SL wads, they work fine you may try them

[crashguy]

Just so you don't think I't you check out this thread http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?204858-Would-like-some-feed-back attention to post 20 on those "claycrappers"

[stripercrazy]

I got 500 of them too oh well live and learn I guess :) thanks ed