Reloading Hastings non-discarding 12 ga. wads

[Themoose]

I am in the process of assembling a number of slug loads for my new Browning A-Bolt. I have reloaded several hundred of Lyman 525's and shot them in a number of slug guns and don't necessarily plan on discarding the Lyman slug(as a matter of fact I just ordered a new 2 cavity mold from Miha)... but with a new toy, I thought I would like to test other loads as well. I purchased the reloading supplies from SlugsRUs to load the Hastings 12 ga round, but I thought I would ask if others have had any success with them. I pulled a slug from one of the wads and see that it is roughly 50 cal and also was curious if anyone had tried other 50 cal projectiles in this beefy wad? You can buy the combo of slug with wad or the wad only...

Any info you can share would be greatly appreciated...

TheMoose

[Hogtamer]

i wanna hear more about the gun and i don't believe it if u cant show me a good pic! my abolt is in .270. seriously, how does that weapon stack up? as to your question, lots of good slug loads here to peruse at your leisure.

[Themoose]

Hogtamer,

I have CI(computer impairment) and do not know how to post a pic here. If you want to see a browning A-Bolt 12 ga... just look on Browning's web site. My gun is the Walnut stocked and blued model... they also offer one in black synthetic stock and one in a camo'd stock. I have had other slug guns and none compared in finish to this one. I have had Remington 1100, 11-87 a couple of 870's and a Savage 210F(it was a bolt too). The Browning has a detachable mag and it feeds and extracts the rounds very smoothly... I have been suffering from the flu and had only one chance to take it to the range... I sighted it in @ 25yds with three shots and then shot it for a group @ 100yds off a bench... put three lyman 525 reloads in a tennis ball sized cluster...The only bad thing about the gun that I have noticed so far is that it does kick much more than my 11-87 with the heavy loads I use... I have not tried any other loads yet...as far as load info goes... I am only looking for loads using the SPW wads from SlugsRus... I have the load info supplied with the slugs and wads I purchased, but was looking for info from someone who had first hand info on them and was hoping to hear some results on other bullets used in that wad. I mounted a Leupold 2-8x Vari-XIII using the Browning scope mounts required for the A-Bolt shotgun.

[Hogtamer]

"put three lyman 525 reloads in a tennis ball sized cluster."

moose, that's as good as it gets! as for the recoil the 11-87 is of course a gas gun so get used to that kick. sounds like a fine weapon, was wondering about the smoothness of bolting those big old 12 ga rounds.

[Themoose]

Hogtameunds r,

In my opinion the A-bolt chambers and extracts the slugs very smooth... leaps and bounds over the Savage that I owned...another point that I failed to mention in the original post was that the recovered wads from the Browning showed no tearing or deformation where the same load thru the 11-87 or Savage were most often torn... appears the Browning has a much smoother forcing cone... the wads showed the imprints of the knurling I did on the bearing surfaces of the slugs...I think I will like this weapon a whole lot.

[longbow]

I am going to have to look these wads up to see if they are suitable for smoothbore.

Greg5278 has made non-discarding sabot/wad slugs that worked quite well. So far I have not succeeded there but the wads I used did not have a sturdy enough cushion leg so distorted some which in turn affected accuracy.

Gualandi wads are pretty beefy but even those distort and the slugs show it too... at least the ones I have shot and recovered. Mostly they shot pretty well but I did get a keyhole at 50 yards too and at least two recovered slugs showed significant distortion of both wad and slug from firing.

So far I am still looking for the "magic bullet" (home made of course) for 12 ga. smoothbore.

The search isn't over yet!

Longbow