New beefier wad designed for slugs

[Blood Trail]

Finally, they listened. Clay Buster just came out with a WAA style wad that supposed to be more heavy duty to handle heavy slug loads. Should be good for buckshot too. Got some on the way.


https://www.ballisticproducts.com/mobile/Claybuster-SW250-12-12ga-Slug-Wad-bag_250/productinfo/030CBSW250/



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[Rcmaveric]

Would those be good for Lee slugs? My results thus far with the Lee slugs have been dismal at best.

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[longbow]

My Lee 1 oz. slugs as cast are doing okay in Winchester wads. Sized down then paper patched up they do quite well to 50 yards though still need to do more testing. I think they have too much taper to them as cast. Far more than wad petals.

Same with the 7/8 oz. Lee slugs. Oddly so far I've done better with the 1 oz. slug which is opposite to what most people find. However, if I size them down then paper patch back up that removes the taper and both shoot better for me. Again, more testing to come.

I really should get a Lyman sabot slug mould too... or preferably the Mihec clone in brass. I haven't tried that one yet.

If these wads have thicker petals they may work better than others. It's certainly worth a try for the cost of a bag of wads anyway. Next time I order I'll add a bag of these. I'm sure BT will give them a good run for their money and let us know.

My old Pacific Verelite blue wads are thicker than most others I have tried and they were good with slugs. Not sure if that means anything here but thicker does seem to be better?

Longbow

[Blood Trail]

Here’s a quick review on them:

https://youtu.be/OyO5kLILd8o


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[6pt-sika]

I wanna order a couple bags of these . I was gonna order a bunch of Claybuster WAA-16 1 ounce and WAA-16 7/8 ounce wads from Ballistic Products and add a couple bags of these slug load wads . But I found a better price for the 16 wads on Gunbroker . But rest assured I'll eventually order some stuff from Ballistic Products .

[Rcmaveric]

You sold me Leon. I am ordering a bag on the 15th. I only have the Lee slugs. Oddly enough I learned something aswell from your video. A couple monthd ago i bartered for a Lyman Foster slug mold. I thought it was just an expensive Lee slug mold. I didnt know it was a full bore slug. Thanks for the learning.

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[longbow]

HAHAHAHAHA! Lyman Foster "Full bore slug." Not hardly. It is too big for shotcup use but way undersize for the bore of most shotguns.

Mine casts at 0.705" so way too big for any shotcup but still 0.024" undersize for the bore! There does seem to be a range of as cast sizes though with some people reporting them as small as 0.685" which might just fit a shotcup. Mine certainly don't.

My thought is that Lyman (or Ideal) used to sell a rifling swage die and my bet is that the 0.705" slug was run through the rifling die so displacing lead and making the slug larger diameter. if 0.010" grooves are swaged into the lead then that should raise "lands" on the slug of approximately equal displacement so making the slug 0.020" larger... almost bore size.

SluggerDoug posted an article here and on other sites on how he made a "rifling" swage using a helical gear to "knurl" grooves into the Lyman slugs using a matching core pin so the lead was displaced outwards to make a bore diameter slug which he said improved accuracy a lot.

Don't kid yourself though the Lyman Foster slug is not a bore size slug and good luck getting accuracy with them.

Paper patching helped mine but I still got a lot of fliers and in the end I gave up on it. To 50 yards round balls are far more accurate and my Lee slugs do okay to at least 50 yards as well. I have HB slugs from homemade moulds that cast to core size that are far more accurate than the Lyman as well.

That's all quite negative isn't it? Sorry about that. I have been very disappointed in the Lyman Foster slug and so have many other people. Not that they can't be accurate but I have never succeeded.

Longbow

[centershot]

You gents running round ball/wad combinations in rifled bores; what diameter are you finishing at? Is .740" too large for a rifled bore? So far my loads with a .662" ball and a single wrap of paper in a Federal 12S-3 wad are running 5" at 50 yards from a rifled bore. I'm thinking another wrap of paper might do it but it's gonna' put me over .733". How much compression is OK? I should add that the balls are cast of WW alloy.

[longbow]

Can't answer on rifled bore but if the ball is centered and picking up spin properly 5" is not good from rifled gun!

What do your recovered wads look like? I am wondering if you are squeezing too tight though 0.662" is a small ball. That wad must have thick petals or you are using thick paper to get from 0.662" to 0.733". If petals were 0.020" you'd be at 2x0.020"+0.662" = 0.704" then paper. How thick are those petals?

I wonder if the petals are shearing or distorting badly? Maybe try rolling the balls between 2 files or under a file on a steel plate to "knurl" them a bit for better grip and use less squeeze.

So, no answers, just speculation and questions!

Longbow

[centershot]

longbow, the wads look good. Last outing only 1 out of the 10 fired showed any damage, a torn but attached petal. It tore at the base where it cinnects to the bottom of the cup. Wads show strong rifling on the gas seal and light engraving on the petal at the circumference of the ball. At that point the petals are .028" thick. Paper thickness is .008". The balls mike .660". Totals up to .734". Another wrap of paper pushes it to .750"! EEEK! Perhaps I can play with paper thickness to end up at around .740", that's as large as I would go without feeling I was risking safety. I will try the "knurling" trick with the files before I do anything else. Thanks longbow, I appreciate your input!

[bikerbeans]

I would try your 0.662" roundball in a brush wad. The ball will not engage the rifling, but the wad will and the spinning wad will impart spin to your round ball. The standard 12ga twist rates are way to fast for a round ball anyway, so i don't see slippage as a problem. I tested this loading technique with a custom 24ga rifled shotgun and it works to the tune of 4 to 5 inch groups at a 100 yards. If i was better at casting I could most likely shoot a better group.

BB

[centershot]

Yes, I had forgotten about longbow's custom rifled choke tube, something like 100:1 twist rate. Certainly worth a shot! People have told me that it's a problem o "over-spin" a bullet; I've never understood how that could be a problem, any thoughts?

[bikerbeans]

Not sure about over rotating bullets but i knoe patched round balls in muzzleloaders don't like fast twist barrels.

BB

[longbow]

My take on rifling twist that is "too fast" is that any defects in the ball, slug or boolit have that much more effect on the line of travel. Imbalance is magnified at faster rotational speed so if "over rotated" those imbalances have greater effect.

That and in the case of shotgun slugs/balls, they are generally much larger diameter than typical rifle or handgun boolits so any imperfections/imbalances tend to be further from the center so again have more effect on flight.

Round balls don't take much twist to stabilize so I have to think that faster twist than necessary for stabilization is bad for those reasons. Modern shotgun rifling tends to be about 1:36" +/- a bit so about 3x what is required to stabilize a bore diameter ball. Of course the goal is to stabilize sabot slugs not primitive blobs of spherical lead. Well, call me old and primitive but I like big 'ol round balls and short fat slugs!

Different strokes!

Yes, got to get to the rifled choke tube. I bought a choke tube adapter and very tight choke tube from Brownells and dug out my rifling machine. Not to find a bit of time to bore to diameter, which I think will be around 0.710", then rifle to 0.729" groove depth. My twist rate will be 1:72" best a I could twist my rifling guide. It is a bit fast for bore diameter round ball but still pretty slow.

Life is slowing down lately so I may finally get this done.

Longbow

[Ironduke]

I like your review, Blood Trail. Tells me what I need to know. I'll be ordering these for my 525gr Lyman.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Yeah I am getting a Lyman Clone and will get a bag of these just for grins.

I tried casting buckshot and found it to be a PITB with a mould by a guy who used to be here. Sold it. The Lee mould looks like it could work easier, but for the amount of Buckshot I shoot it might be cheaper to just buy Shot from BPI and be done with it.

Also, my source for Federal Factory 00 or 000 Low Recoil Buckshot is $3.25 a box which is .65 a round which is hard to beat.

Low Recoil Federal Slugs are $3.50 a box or .70 each which is hard to beat.

Try Target Sports USA for these. https://www.targetsportsusa.com/shoppingcart.aspx?resetlinkback=1

Please understand When I go to Front Sight for Training they won't allow any Reloaded Ammo, it all has to be new stuff.

For my 3 Gun Shoots all I shoot is Reloads. and I can't wait until my Lyman mould comes in.

Randy