Another Russian Slug mold

[Blood Trail]

It finally came in. Ordered it along with 2500 or so of those wads. I’ll test these and a few other in my smoothbore. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171110/58a6bf5e8b812aa8cc06737c1bc346da.jpg


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[BNE]

Link?

You can get the wads from the same vendor?

[longbow]

Blood Trail you are the man! A mover and shaker if ever there was one! I like it.

The Russian mould I am looking at is the Tusker version. Greg Sappington sent me some Tuskers (Dixie Slugs) to try and I really liked them though they are designed for rifled gun. The Russians make a mould like yours with different HB pins so attached wads can be used for smoothbore use. You lose a bit of weight but they are 600 grs. so still a substantial slug even if a bit lighter.

Nothing wrong with those Gualandi clones though! I'll be interested in your results.

Lately I am living vicariously through you and others so keep it up. My time to blast slugs is coming again though.

Longbow

[Blood Trail]

Link?

You can get the wads from the same vendor?
I tried to contact Gualandi to see if they would sell me those wads. They wouldn’t. I’ve been talking to my wife about the prospect of becoming a distributor after one the the Russian mold makers asked me to. Maybe I can work out something with Gualandi. I got those Gualandi wads from one of my Russian members on my buck and Slug Facebook page.

Blood Trail you are the man! A mover and shaker if ever there was one! I like it.

The Russian mould I am looking at is the Tusker version. Greg Sappington sent me some Tuskers (Dixie Slugs) to try and I really liked them though they are designed for rifled gun. The Russians make a mould like yours with different HB pins so attached wads can be used for smoothbore use. You lose a bit of weight but they are 600 grs. so still a substantial slug even if a bit lighter.

Nothing wrong with those Gualandi clones though! I'll be interested in your results.

Lately I am living vicariously through you and others so keep it up. My time to blast slugs is coming again though.

Longbow
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171110/3bae04ecd5120c04697104cae93a865e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171110/99dc9d526b147e4b6e215ee6398bfb82.jpg

LB, kinda like these? I’m working on those as well. I’ll get back to testing once hunting season is over with.



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[BNE]

If you become a distributor, please let us know!!

[longbow]

I'm liking those pictures!

[stripercrazy]

yes i'd like to get some....thanks ed

[longbow]

Hey BT what diameter are these Russian slugs casting for you? Do all the moulds cast same diameter more or less. How many of those moulds have you got now?

Are they sized to suit rifled bore or smoothbore?

Since they come with different HB pins and wad/no wad design they should be suitable for both except for that pesky different diameter thing.

Curious minds want to know... well I do anyway.

I do like the one in the last pic!

Longbow

[Blood Trail]

Hey BT what diameter are these Russian slugs casting for you? Do all the moulds cast same diameter more or less. How many of those moulds have you got now?

Are they sized to suit rifled bore or smoothbore?

Since they come with different HB pins and wad/no wad design they should be suitable for both except for that pesky different diameter thing.

Curious minds want to know... well I do anyway.

I do like the one in the last pic!

Longbow

LB,


The upper belt is .724
Lower belt is .700
Body is .614

Has with most Russian slugs, they are designed with smoothbore shotguns in mind due to the rarity and complexity of buying a rifled barrel shotgun.

Being a plumbata-style slug, the wad should stabilize flight without rifling.

A lot of Russian molds have the option of buying different size pins to adjust overall weight of the slug.


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[longbow]

Thanks for that BT.

They should work fine in a rifled gun with or without tail wad but that small lower belt is a bit of a mystery.

Not sure why they wouldn't size the driving bands to 0.727" to suit typical rifled guns and a little undersize for smoothbore. Or better, size to nominal 12 ga. ~ 0.729" with belts narrow enough to squeeze down for rifled gun.

These things always mystify me, like Marlin using 1:38" twist, Lyman making Foster slug moulds that cast at 0.705", factories loading grossly undersize slugs. The list goes on and it seems no really good explanation as to why a product is designed and marketed with failure built in... or at least not optimal performance built in.

These aren't far off at 0.724" but that is a rattle fit. I wonder if a wrap of paper would stay on? That is a benefit of wad slugs in that you can patch up to provide the correct fit if loose and the patch is protected by the wad. Not sure if a paper patched slug would make it through the bore with paper intact after leaving a relatively rough hull, opening the crimp then jumping through the forcing cone. I have read posts about cloth patched 0.690" RB's though and the claim is that the patch stays on... and these are patched like a muzzleloader when the ball is put into the hull. If a cloth patch stays on then there must be enough gas leakage to keep it tight to the ball I am thinking.

Anyway, I digress. These Russian slugs are a little undersize but not by a lot. Certainly not to Lyman Foster standards anyway.

What sort of accuracy are they giving you (smoothbore) and any comparative results? Seems to me you have three or four moulds so far. Does one shine brighter than the others with regards to accuracy?

Hahaha... no matter how hard I try I can't get away from wanting to convert a side by to a "double rifle" so most likely smoothbore it will be.

I have been thinking recently though that I took the wrong direction when starting my rifled choke tube. My rifling machine works well but I made myself a pile of work by deciding to go the Pachmyr/Cutts style muzzle brake system instead of getting my barrel bored and tapped for a commercial choke tube then just buy a blank choke tube and rifle it. If my slow twist deep groove rifling works well then I could get a side by with screw in choke tubes and rifled two blanks. Regulation would still be an issue but might be easier to deal with by rotating choke tubes and using a locknut.

But I digress again.

Thanks for the info and if you have comparative accuracy info I'd like to see it. I'n interested in how these shoot and how they compare. I like that last pic of what looks like a mini Paradox slug.and just might order a mould and a pile of wads.

Longbow

PS: Just remembered that it seems to me most of your moulds are solids for rifled gun aren't they? Is the Gualandi the only wad slug you have so far?

[Blood Trail]

Thanks for that BT.

They should work fine in a rifled gun with or without tail wad but that small lower belt is a bit of a mystery.

Not sure why they wouldn't size the driving bands to 0.727" to suit typical rifled guns and a little undersize for smoothbore. Or better, size to nominal 12 ga. ~ 0.729" with belts narrow enough to squeeze down for rifled gun.

These things always mystify me, like Marlin using 1:38" twist, Lyman making Foster slug moulds that cast at 0.705", factories loading grossly undersize slugs. The list goes on and it seems no really good explanation as to why a product is designed and marketed with failure built in... or at least not optimal performance built in.

These aren't far off at 0.724" but that is a rattle fit. I wonder if a wrap of paper would stay on? That is a benefit of wad slugs in that you can patch up to provide the correct fit if loose and the patch is protected by the wad. Not sure if a paper patched slug would make it through the bore with paper intact after leaving a relatively rough hull, opening the crimp then jumping through the forcing cone. I have read posts about cloth patched 0.690" RB's though and the claim is that the patch stays on... and these are patched like a muzzleloader when the ball is put into the hull. If a cloth patch stays on then there must be enough gas leakage to keep it tight to the ball I am thinking.

Anyway, I digress. These Russian slugs are a little undersize but not by a lot. Certainly not to Lyman Foster standards anyway.

What sort of accuracy are they giving you (smoothbore) and any comparative results? Seems to me you have three or four moulds so far. Does one shine brighter than the others with regards to accuracy?

Hahaha... no matter how hard I try I can't get away from wanting to convert a side by to a "double rifle" so most likely smoothbore it will be.

I have been thinking recently though that I took the wrong direction when starting my rifled choke tube. My rifling machine works well but I made myself a pile of work by deciding to go the Pachmyr/Cutts style muzzle brake system instead of getting my barrel bored and tapped for a commercial choke tube then just buy a blank choke tube and rifle it. If my slow twist deep groove rifling works well then I could get a side by with screw in choke tubes and rifled two blanks. Regulation would still be an issue but might be easier to deal with by rotating choke tubes and using a locknut.

But I digress again.

Thanks for the info and if you have comparative accuracy info I'd like to see it. I'n interested in how these shoot and how they compare. I like that last pic of what looks like a mini Paradox slug.and just might order a mould and a pile of wads.

Longbow

PS: Just remembered that it seems to me most of your moulds are solids for rifled gun aren't they? Is the Gualandi the only wad slug you have so far?

The Russian slug molds I️ have so far are as follows:
-12 and 20 ga Lyman pellet
-Solid base hollow point ‘paradox’
-Svarog hollow pint segmented slug that the wad screws in to the base
-this mold with the Wad

I️ haven’t gotten into detail in reloading, only preliminary range reports. All of the shot extremely well at 50 yards from a rifled barrel.

Next go-around, I’ll spend more time testing from smoothbores.

I️ plan on using my 835, 930, and 590A1



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[longbow]

I have to say I really like that last pic of yours and the Gualandi. Those two appeal to me most. Now you got me thinking. A new mould and a thousand or so wads...

I always like Paradox bullets but they are for a rifled gun or rifled choke. They are also quite heavy at 740 grs. These look similar, are intended for smoothbore and are lighter weight.

You my man are an enabler! I may not be able to stop myself.

Longbow

[Ginsing]

I like the way the gualandi looks as well. I have had very good results in one of my guns with challenger slugs.
I wonder how difficult it would be to get a mold and a 1000 wads here in Canada.
Now you certainly have the wheels turning in my brain

[Blood Trail]

I’ll start off using Load data for the DGS slugs in BPI’s Slug Manual. I️ am a little disappointed as they don’t use a lot of slow burning powders.


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[HangFireW8]

Grossly undersized factory slugs are no mystery. They do that to avoid liability when fired from old, thin barreled, full choke shotguns.

-HF

[longbow]

I'd have to think that any "modern" (maybe not Damascus) barrel would be fine with full bore Foster slugs. They are swaged from soft lead and they have thin skirts and noses. And they bump up to bore diameter at firing so they are full bore when they hit a choke anyway.

When I got my Lyman Foster mould that casts at 0.705" I lived on the North Coast of BC just a bit South of the Alaska panhandle where it rains and snows wet heavy snow... a lot! I was shooting slugs trying to get decent accuracy using Lyman load data and not succeeding at all. In the spring I found many of my slugs and they were no longer 0.705". They fit the bore perfectly.

There was no damage or distortion from being slowed by the snow. The noses were intact. However, the noses and skirts were all skewed a little different from (my take) the fact that the slug was so undersize it swole up unevenly and/or cocked as it made the jump through the forcing cone and filled out to bore diameter.

I tried paper patching to get better fit and immediately got better accuracy. Not as good as Lyman indicated their slug would do but much improved. Like 8" groups at 50 yards instead of 12"+ groups. I did get some fliers now and again (yeah fliers out of an 8" group) which I figured was the patch suffering from opening the crimp and jumping through the forcing cone. Could also have been patches not cleanly leaving the slug too.

So, yes to me anyway, grossly undersize factory slugs are a mystery. Once they obturate to bore diameter they are no longer undersize and they do that before they get to the choke.

Brenneke, Gualandi and AQ slugs I have bought loaded and shot all shot better than Fosters and all were at or very near bore diameter but are safe to shoot through chokes right to full choke. Brenneke and Gualandi are also hard cast but the AQ is pure or at least very soft lead.

Those three slugs are all of European origin and I have to think there are plenty of thin walled barrels in Europe and lots of Damascus barrels too. If there was a safety issue and possibility of liability they would have warnings not to shoot through chokes but they don't, and Brenneke for sure says their slugs can be shot through any choke.

Longbow

[tomme boy]

The lyman foster mold is supposed to be used with another die that puts the fins on them like factory foster have. But good luck finding the swage die.

[longbow]

You are right on the swage die and I suspect that when the grooves are swaged into the slug it swells to larger diameter. With equal width ribs and grooves if the grooves are 0.010" deep the ribs should displace about the same so a slug that casts 0.705" as my mould does would be 0.705" + 0.010" + 0.010" = 0.725" final diameter.

The question becomes... why on earth didn't Lyman increase the slug diameter when they quit selling the rifling swage die?

Yes, the undersize slug does swell up to fill the bore if cast from soft lead but in my experience it does so very unevenly so accuracy is poor. Since it swells up to fill the bore anyway, why make it undersize? Kinda like asking why Marlin still uses 1:38" twist rifling in .44 mag and .444. There just doesn't seem to be a good answer.

[KrakenFan69]

Blood Trail,


Pic 6 of 6 is the mold I am interested in for sure. Hoping you can score the distribution and help us out in Canada getting some of those beauties!

Thanks,

Kraken Fan #69

[longbow]

I hope they have two! I want one too!

[trapper9260]

Bloodtrail what are all the Ga. of slug molds do they have ? the ones that you got yours from?

[Blood Trail]

Bloodtrail what are all the Ga. of slug molds do they have ? the ones that you got yours from?

I got mine from two different Russian slug molds companies that I can’t pronounce. Good thing is, they have slug molds for **** near all calibers.


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[trapper9260]

I got mine from two different Russian slug molds companies that I can’t pronounce. Good thing is, they have slug molds for **** near all calibers.


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Ok some time in time i thinking of one for 410 and see about 10ga. But need to see what the cost will be.Just thinking right now.

[W.R.Buchanan]

These are pretty cool looking slugs ! the fact that they are Drag Stabilized by the wad is what makes me interested. I have DGS Slugs from BPI (actually from Luca the rep for the Italian Mfg at SHOT) and they are the best ones I have shot yet.

However they are not any more accurate at 50 yards than my Pumpkin Balls over Trap Loads, but definitely hit harder. I don't see anything delivering Rifle accuracy from a smoothbore. Close with respect to range but not there yet. To many variables they have to overcome after leaving the barrel.

That said I was able to shoot a 3 shot 2" group on my sighting target at my Front Sight Tactical Shotgun Class last week. Then I shot this 3 shot in the guys face at 50 yards off hand in about 10 seconds. This was Federal Low Recoil 1oz slugs. First two shots in the right eye are 1.5" apart.

Without a rifled barrel I think we are doing about as good as we can with slugs of any kind. but I will keep looking.

Randy

[megasupermagnum]

That reminds me of an article I was recently reading. I don't think anyone would ever argue you can get rifle accuracy from a smooth bore. The very best I've seen is 4" at 100 yards. One gun would do that fairly consistently, the other I built, and it will average closer to 5-6" at 100 yards. I consider an average 3 to 5 groups of 5 shots each. I shoot 3 shot groups when testing loads, but I don't consider a single 3 shot group an average. 6" at 100 yards is still fantastic IMO from a smoothbore. I too have been impressed by round balls. Inside of 60 yards, they can be every bit as accurate as rifled slugs. It makes a guy wonder why they aren't still loaded in factory ammo, the only thing I can figure is safety through tight chokes. Rifled barrel shotguns are overrated from what I've seen. I've seen a few examples of true 150 yard guns, but never saw one shoot consistent 6" or smaller at 200 yards. I tried all kinds of fancy sabot slugs through my rifled guns, the best is my USH with Hornady SST's, but it's only good to 150 yards (any only certain LOTS on top of that). That gun shoots about 3" at 100 yards. The article I was reading was comparing rifled shotguns and muzzle loaders. They claim the AVERAGE 100 yard group is 2.54". That's total garbage, maybe a group here and there, but not an average over many guns. Muzzle loaders with modern bullets are capable of that accuracy, and 1.5 MOA is not unreasonable. The best I can figure, the downfall of shotgun slugs is the forcing cone. The regular forcing cone allows anything to be safely fired, but that much free bore can'be be doing anything good for accuracy, especially a 2 3/4" in a 3 1/2" chamber. Anyway, that's enough rambling, I'll link the article below.

https://www.americanhunter.org/articles/2012/8/29/shotgun-or-muzzleloader/

[Blood Trail]

That reminds me of an article I was recently reading. I don't think anyone would ever argue you can get rifle accuracy from a smooth bore. The very best I've seen is 4" at 100 yards. One gun would do that fairly consistently, the other I built, and it will average closer to 5-6" at 100 yards. I consider an average 3 to 5 groups of 5 shots each. I shoot 3 shot groups when testing loads, but I don't consider a single 3 shot group an average. 6" at 100 yards is still fantastic IMO from a smoothbore. I too have been impressed by round balls. Inside of 60 yards, they can be every bit as accurate as rifled slugs. It makes a guy wonder why they aren't still loaded in factory ammo, the only thing I can figure is safety through tight chokes. Rifled barrel shotguns are overrated from what I've seen. I've seen a few examples of true 150 yard guns, but never saw one shoot consistent 6" or smaller at 200 yards. I tried all kinds of fancy sabot slugs through my rifled guns, the best is my USH with Hornady SST's, but it's only good to 150 yards (any only certain LOTS on top of that). That gun shoots about 3" at 100 yards. The article I was reading was comparing rifled shotguns and muzzle loaders. They claim the AVERAGE 100 yard group is 2.54". That's total garbage, maybe a group here and there, but not an average over many guns. Muzzle loaders with modern bullets are capable of that accuracy, and 1.5 MOA is not unreasonable. The best I can figure, the downfall of shotgun slugs is the forcing cone. The regular forcing cone allows anything to be safely fired, but that much free bore can'be be doing anything good for accuracy, especially a 2 3/4" in a 3 1/2" chamber. Anyway, that's enough rambling, I'll link the article below.

https://www.americanhunter.org/articles/2012/8/29/shotgun-or-muzzleloader/

Every one of my slug guns clover leads many of my reloads at 100 yards.

Two shoots a fist sized group at 200 yards with Remington accutips (before I started reloading) and the other two I haven’t taken them out that far.


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[megasupermagnum]

I've had the opposite experience. For rifled guns, I have an Ultra slug hunter, mossberg 500 cantilever barrel, and benelli nova cantilever barrel. My USH will shoot an average about 3" at 100 yards with certain lots of Hornady SST's. I can get close with BPI LBC sabot slugs and Longshot. I've been playing with 770 grain slugs this year, and they are barely on paper at 100 yards. My 500 and nova wont shoot as well, but they are good enough at 100 yards with most. My Nova actually shoots Remington slugger rifled slugs better than any sabot slug. I used to load Buckbuster slugs in it that shot about 4" at 100 yards, but they are no longer sold. I don't mess with the 500 much, I also have a smoothbore/rifle sight barrel for it that I use on it more. That smooth bore shoots round balls quite well, at least at 50 yards. I used to hunt with an NEF huntsman .50 muzzle loader, and now use a T/C Impact. Both will put Hornady FPB bullets inside 3" at 100 yards with open sights. This is the first year MN has allowed scopes on muzzleloaders, so I haven't even seen their real ability. That's been my experience anyway. My slug guns are very touchy, and the muzzle loaders shoot just about anything well. If my slug guns cloverleafed at 100 yards, I'd have nothing else to fiddle with, that is the ultimate goal. I know you shoot quite a bit, but in the fall when guys are sighting in their slug guns, I've not seen one clover leaf at 100 yards. Not that it can't be done, I just haven't seen it.

[karlB]

208220208219
this aluminium mold is from russia, too
weight is 35 g

[Blood Trail]

Here’s Uncle D’s slugs at 100 yards. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171121/42ddf106e6617d72ee3f333ac03f3cd5.jpg
Remington accutips out of an 835 lead sled with 75lbs of lead shot. Just a hair shy of 200 yards.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171121/279c96e734ae77be11a17ae78647e684.jpg


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[Blood Trail]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171121/6dd1170b0e49693e6ceeaaef515b025d.jpg

Cluster of hammerhead sabots at 100 yards.


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[tomme boy]

Blood, what was the reason the wad maker would not sell them to you? If the Russians can get them then we should be able to.

[Blood Trail]

One guy said it was an ITAR issue, but I have no problems getting them from another guy in Russia.


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[W.R.Buchanan]

I am trying to tame down the recoil of my Mossberg 500 Slug gun. Been looking at several methods of doing this. Different recoil pads aren't doing the trick.

One of the things that came up at Hans Vang's Website was extending the forcing cone and porting the barrel.

They claim half the Buckshot spread at 25 yards the stock barrel puts out at 15. This is all about the Forcing Cone and it also affects accuracy as the slug has a more gradual transition from chamber to bore, and is more likely to be concentric and thus produce better accuracy.

My gun is about 10" at 15 yards and more like 20" at 25 yards. 5" spread at 25 yards would be a definite improvement.

My M500 could definitely benefit from the Back Boring and Porting and I can do the porting in my shop, wondering how much of it is in the forcing cone? Maybe I'll call them.

Randy

[tomme boy]

So we just need to find a imported then to get them? Brenneke slugs are imported by someone in my town. Maybe I can get them to import them? Just have to find out who it is first

[Collimators]

208351

Special WAD

ebay item #272951213028

[W.R.Buchanan]

There you go! He's on Ebay. Gotta love those Russians.

Randy

[Blood Trail]

[QUOTE=Collimators;4211984]208351

Special WAD


What seller?


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[KrakenFan69]

Dang. Missed it.


Kraken Fan #69

[Collimators]

write on ebay

[KrakenFan69]

Hey Blood Trail,

Do you have this mold? Can you tell me height of the slug alone and the stack height of this slug on one of the "special wads". I am looking to order one and just curious. Also if you have any good load data that would be great too.

Thanks,

Kraken Fan #69

208563

[Blood Trail]

Hey Blood Trail,

Do you have this mold? Can you tell me height of the slug alone and the stack height of this slug on one of the "special wads". I am looking to order one and just curious. Also if you have any good load data that would be great too.

Thanks,

Kraken Fan #69

208563

Give me a few minutes.


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[PapaG]

Have the original Lyman Foster. Had the die. Made no difference at all for accuracy in three different guns, all with "sixties" non rifled deer barrels, Browning, Remington and IThaca. As far as Fosters bumping up, my experience is yes and no. I feel mostly no or why would Federal make the TruBall load which is specifically designed to keep the slug centered in the bore.
I have fired Fosters, both factory and mine through a clean, shiny bore and found lead streaks unevenly distributed along the tube.
Been fooling around with slug design, loading, and experimenting for the best part of forty years and don't know it all. Probably not much but a few things I'm sure about. Barrels have preferences. Rifled choke tubes are not much of an improvement. Some guns shoot Fosters better than others shoot sabots, a few anyway. Hastings rifled barrels were good. My 220 is the most accurate that I have had. I have dumped quite a few pounds of lead down range out of shotguns and no longer enjoy getting the snot pounded out of me on the bench.
Patched Lyman Fosters are fun out of a muzzle loading Navy Arms double.
Nuff rambling. Lots of fun left to have.

[longbow]

Hah! I was wondering if anyone had tried patching Fosters and shooting them out of a muzzleloading musket or shotgun.

How well did those shoot for you?

Even if they shot well, I really dislike casting with my Lyman Foster mould. The pin sticks pretty much always. A little more taper and a good polish might help but I don't much like the undersize slug so haven't bothered. If I had a Brown Bess or a muzzleloading shotgun I would give them a try though.

In my experience with soft lead they do bump up. I shot many into deep soft snow and found them in the spring. All had bumped up to bore diameter. That may depend on powder and wad column some but all I found had bumped up. BP should ensure bump up.

[PapaG]

Shot great to about 35 yards where they kind of converged and crossed. One was higher than the other.
I shot a few out of both a Pedersoli Mortimer and a Dangerous game rifle. Both patched. Five inches out if DGR. Lyman Sabot was 4" out of the rifle. 125 grain ffg was all i could take.

[longbow]

At some point the nose will likely blow off. I was playing with short hulls and real short wad column in my smoothbore and wound up blowing wads right through the slug. I didn't fill the slug so the nitro card wad and gas seal blew into the base and took the nose with them. The nose and skirt are very thin and the nose won't contain the pressure like a minie... at least in my experience.

An altered pin should fix that easily enough though, shortened a bit to thicken the nose and a little more taper to thicken the top of the skirt would help a lot I think.

Another alternative is the Nessler Ball. As far as I can figure they weigh the same as a round ball but have a shot hollow base and short skirt. They were designed for smoothbore muzzleloaders and were widely used during the Crimean war and apparently also in the American Civil War. I made a mould based off graphics and it weighed almost exactly what a 0.735" RB weighs. They did not shoot exceptionally well from my smoothbore but were slightly undersize so I knurled some up and made a sizer to suit my bore and plan to try again.

I know... thread wander! Oops!

But in my experience, just like with cast boolits in rifles and handguns, fit is king! The Lyman Foster just plain doesn't fit.

Longbow

[Blood Trail]

LB,
Was able to hit the range today, mainly to test some 20 ga slugs, however I loaded up 3 groups of of those Russian Italian slugs to shoot in my smoothbore. Should of used my 590A1 but instead I used my 930 duck gun with 28” barrel and IC choke. Impact appears to keyhole. A found two of the tailwads that departed from the slug before impacting target.

Best group was using BD. This wasn’t a serious test. Next one will be and I’ll use my 590 (looking for a smoothbore slugger too). This was a 50 group bead sight. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171210/f88a54c87d6f1f4473b4918d08a39512.jpg


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[longbow]

Yup! Looks like a bit of wobble going on there alright.

I'm surprised the tail wads would separate. How tight is the fit into the hollow base? Maybe some epoxy into the cavity then the tail wad would help? Hmmm, epoxy might be too brittle so maybe silicone or some other flexible adhesive would be better.

Either that or a small wood screw through the nose and down into the tail wad. That should hold that tail wad even if loose in the cavity.

I've had hot melt glue tail wads come out of HB slugs. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it but I am thinking the lead is smooth and cold when the glue hits it so the glue freezes at the surface without properly bonding then is just a size for size fit in a tapered cavity so not much to keep it there. Then kick it in the butt and squeeze it through the bore so don't be surprised if it loosens up more! If I pre-heated the slugs it might solve that but a screw in the cavity solves it faster and easier. That holds the tail wad in place even if it isn't well bonded to the lead.

I still think old Wilhelm Brenneke got it right. I'd like that Tusker with an HB pin to form a tit or rib (Drive Key like) with a screw hole for screw through the wad like Brenneke classic. I can do that if I buy the mould.

I was thinking of getting Accurate to make a Dixie Tusker mould then I'd make the HB pin and use hot melt glue for tail wad but it would have to be paper patched or cast into a plastic tube so no glue contacted the bore.

Looking forward to more test results... both yours and mine. I'm slow but getting closer to testing.

Longbow

[cwlongshot]

Any new news on distributors for these proprietary slug wads?

I was able to buy small quantity from Russia but cost wise it's not a viable option. RLN and Bal Prods is out.

[Blood Trail]

Any new news on distributors for these proprietary slug wads?

I was able to buy small quantity from Russia but cost wise it's not a viable option. RLN and Bal Prods is out.

I’m not certain. I bought 10k a couple of years ago. I’ve seen them on eBay but the prices ain’t pretty.


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[cwlongshot]

Thank you!

I found some .25 ea... shipped.