Lee slug

[lunicy]

has anyone used the lee slug mold? good/bad?

[Dixie Slugs]

We have tested the one ounce Lee Key Slug mold cast with hard alloy. The only wad that held up was the Federal 12 S3 (no ridges inside the petals) with a 20 ga nitro under the slug in the wad. We used only straight walled cases (Cheddite) and Blue Dot. We found it to be accurate as any Foster type slug.
Regards, James

[mikenbarb]

I use lots of the 1oz. keyed slug and having great success with them in my Remington 1100 with a fast twist 1:26" Badger rifled barrel. Im using 2 different loads that lee recommends for them and I reduced the powder charge a little for best performance. Im getting an average of 4-6"@ 150yds. and im hoping to get it down to 5" @ 175-200yds if all goes good. I know a few other guys using them and getting mixed results but most are reporting good to great results in rifled barrels. It all depends on what your shotgun likes and I would suggest trying a few different load combos that are supplied with the mold to see what works best for your gun. Just remember that they are intended for use in a rifled barrel but they can also be used in a smooth bore with OK accuracy out to around 50 yards. Good luck and if you need any help with them let me know and I would be happy to help. I have been testing them for about 4 months and have shot about 40 of them with each recommended load they supplied(Approx 500 shots total).
PS- Lee recommends using only pure lead with them and its what I found worked the best and you should ALWAYS use their recommended load data or some bad things can possibly happen that would ruin your day bigtime!

[Adam604]

I searched for loads to use my 7/8 oz. Lee Key Drive Slug and found very little until I searched the forums on Cast Boolits and some others.

First casting with the Lee Key Drive Slug mold was tricky to get the slug to drop out, but I expected that after reading about casting with Lee molds on this site

The slug always released fine from the mold but really hung onto the drive key plug. After casting a few out of wheel weight lead and needing to pull them off the drive key plug I inspected the cast slugs for defects on the drive key plug surfaces. I used a 7x magnifying glass to look at both the slug and the mold and the drive key plug. Pay very close attention to the slot in the drive key plug. I found some so I used a very fine file and 600 grit emery paper and cleaned them off. I then used a bit of cloth ribbon with some polishing compound (Tripoli) to buff the plug to a nice shine. I also tried regular toothpaste, but the Tripoli (white buffing compound) gave a better shine. I smoked the drive key plug with my butane lighter (do this to a cold mold or it won't smoke coat it)

I did a second round of inspecting and polishing after using the mold for a while. It really drops out now.

This time the casting session went much better. The Slug would drop out with just a little tap of the handle or fall out by itself. I've used pure lead (stick on wheel weights) and regular wheel weight lead. I the last couple of months I've cast more than 1000 of them and shot most of em too..

Don't make a habit of whacking the drive key plug with a stick to get the slug to drop out. If you do, after about 20 - 30 slugs the plug will fall out of the mold bracket (yep, did that, so don't do it if it won't drop off pull the stuck slug off with a pair of pliers and polish the plug some more)

I dipped the mold into the hot lead melt to get it hot. The mold seems to like it really hot to cast easy. Don't let the plug get too cold or it will stick. If lead is sticking to the outside of the mold after dipping you are not hot enough.

I use Bull Plate lube on the sprue plate the mold top and on the alignment lug of the drive key plug

The first 12 gauge slug shells I loaded and shot where Federal 12 gauge target loads in 100 packs I bought at Walmart for $20. 1 1/8 oz of 71/2 shot 3 dram equivalent. I used a scratch awl to open the 8 fold crimp and dumped the shot into a coffee can to be melted down later. I used a deep socket to neatly
open up the crimp all the way so I could push in the 7/8 oz slug on top of a 20 gauge card wad. Using my fingers to reshaped the crimp I worked the crimp fold mostly closed and used a 10mm deep socket wrench to complete the fold. The crimp refolded like I never opened them at all.

So far I've shot about 200 of these with no sign of pressure or problems and have been getting pretty good groups. Best so far is 3.5 inch groups at 75 yards from a bench. I use a smooth bore Mossberg 500 vent ridge pump with a modified cylinder choke tube. Standing, I can get better than 5 inch groups at 50 yards. My son is a better shot and his groups are smaller than mine.

I just got a Lee Loader in 12 Gauge off ebay and have loaded more than 250 slugs into the Federal hulls from the above loads. (Federal target hulls -- not Federal Gold).

The load I use is:
Federal target hull
Federal 209A Primers
23 Grains Unique
Federal 12S3 wads (pink)

20 gauge card wad
7/8 oz. Lee Key Drive Slug
Crimp with a 8 segment fold

These rounds are shooting almost just like the "dump and load" rounds. Mild recoil, no pressure signs and consistent performance as far as I can tell. I expect I'm getting about 1350 ft sec with this load. This is a recommended load for 1 1/8 oz of shot.

I "tested" for penetration so I made a Deer target. I used some old carpet that I pulled out of a hallway, 36" wide 25' long. I folded it in half and soaked it in water then I rolled a 2x12 inside it. It was heaver than hell and about 1.5 - 2 foot in diameter. I shot at it from 40 yrd, 50 yrd and 75 yrds. I was expecting to get flatted slugs out of the carpet somewhere. Every shot was a thru and thru. I tried pure lead slugs, wheel weight slugs and water dropped wheel weight slugs. No sign of expansion with any and they blew through the target like it was paper. Might need to try a hotter load.

Just the other day we had a shooting party and 12 different folks tried my slug rounds in 5 different 12 gauge guns and they all had similar results. Everyone was able to hold 5-7 inch groups at 45 yards with no problem and no practice. Heck some have never even shot a 12 gauge before.

I plan to buy a 1oz Lee slug mold as a Christmas present for myself...