smooth bore

[milltownhunter]

will a lyman sabot mold shot very well in a smooth bore shot gun

[waksupi]

Never heard of such a thing being done.

[DLCTEX]

You have to take into account the diameter of the boolit, plus the thickness of the walls of the sabot, and the diameter of the bore in the narrowest part of the choke if any. Exceeding the diameter of the choke is trouble waiting to happen. I have been surprised how well some slugs shoot in a smoothbore, and how bad others do. Try them in your gun and see. DALE

[MT Gianni]

Remember when you do that sabots are illegal for hunting in MT. Gianni

[longbow]

No experience with the sabot slug - that is the 525 gr. wasp wasted slug you are talking about?

I have read posts about shooting them in smoothbores but they were designed for rifled bore even though they are nose heavy. If you are shooting a slug barrel - cylinder bore or improved cylinder they may be okay for 50 yards or so. Maybe do a search here or on shotgunworld for more info.

I'm with Dale on the choke issue though. If you are using a full choke barrel they probably aren't a good choice but then most slugs are not a good choice in a full choked barrel.

If you have a mould or slugs there is certainly no harm in trying them if you have recipes and a slug barrel. I'm not sure if they are classed as a sabot slug for hunting or not since they are so close to bore size but MT Gianni brings up a good point - better check first.

[milltownhunter]

just looking for a cheep and easy way to load shotgun slugs for range use i do not hunt with a shotgun are there any other slugs that use just wads i never load shotgun

[longbow]

Again, no personal experience with them but the Lee drive key slugs are popular and are sized to fit standard Win AA type shotcups. They are a Foster design but I think they are really more set up for a rifled gun though I believe Lee claims they will work in smoothbore too (they are perfectly safe, I mean accuracy wise).

Are you planning on casting your own or buying slugs? If casting your own then round ball or Lee slug is probably easiest and Lee moulds are relatively inexpensive. If buying then there are other options like Gualandi Blue Force.

I have about given up on using shotcups myself and am leaning to full bore diameter for my smoothbore. I have had good success with AQ slugs and Brenneke's but they are pricey to buy so have made my own AQ style using round ball and attached basewad. So far testing looks good but I am trying other things and also to simplify making them. I also shoot Lyman Foster slugs with poor accuracy so far.

JMax reports good success with 0.678" round ball in a shotcup: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=24509

There used to be another commercial slug or two sized to fit shotcups - SGB (shotgun bullet) was one but I don't know if they are still available.

It depends on what you are looking for partly. AQ, Brenneke and Gualandi all make full bore slugs with attached basewads and all have good reputations for accuracy.

If you want cheap and easy to load with reasonable 50 yard accuracy the Lee Drive Key slug or 0.678" round ball is likely the way to go.

Check out the BPI site: http://shop2.mailordercentral.com/bpicart/departments.asp?dept=198

And the Precision Reloading site: http://www.precisionreloading.com/2004catalog.htm page 13 in the catalogue.

Maybe give you some ideas- or better, solutions

Longbow