20 ga lyman sabot slug

[sammy]

I have casted many bullets over the years with some decent results..
got into slug hunting recently then went all in.
bought moulds did ok with casting, but when it came to loading,, well from what i have read from your fine site i am not alone with questions....
i wondered if someong could give more info??

[Heavy lead]

Sammy,
I don't load for the 20, but I do for the 12 gauge with the same type Lyman mould. This will bump this thread so someone else that does shoot the 20 can help. Do you have a good source for loading data, like the Lyman shotgun manual. If you don't I've got one and tomorrow night I can probably get some data out of that for you.

[sammy]

thanks for the hit heavy lead..
I have lots of load data just no luck with it unfortunately..
have tried several loads with poor results.. unable tohold a group of better than 2 feet at 50 yards. 100 is even worse..
have tried fed s1 wads w/25 gn 4756, also ww571 powder 28 gn.
have tried similar loads with rem and win wads tried tuning powder powder charge all with only minor changes in accurcy ..
thought maybe the gun but patterns nicely under 4" at 100 with the lightfield factory jobs..
but cost , tons of castible lead and the enjoyment of loading/shooting guide me to makeing my own....

[44man]

That has been my experience with ALL slugs. I have all kinds of molds and have tried for years. Base wads driving into the hollow slugs or shot cups getting destroyed. I recently bought the new BLS-12 sabot's and they shot past the bullets putting holes through the sabot and gas seal.
For a rifled barrel you really need a bore size slug without a shot cup.
Some of the kits sold like the Sabot Technologies Hammerhead and the Hastings sabot slugs are extremely accurate at 100 yd's. All the factory loads are accurate.
Back in the smooth bore days the WW rifled slug was super accurate and I tried for years to duplicate it with no luck. I could keep all the WW in a tea cup at 50 yd's but my loads went where they wanted to go.
Up to this point, nothing works unless you buy. :-? Even the Lee slug sucks, shooting a tight group one time and the next time they spray the backstop. I can't get two sizes of round balls to shoot either.

[Heavy lead]

I have had mixed results myself too. I do have one pretty good load with the Lyman in the 12 gauge, I trust it completely to 75 yards, past that it is a crap shoot, this is out of a fully rifled barrel. I've often thought a real bullet with a hollow point (only for balance, not expansion) with regular grease grooves would be the way to go. It's been a frustrating endevour at best, at least for me.

[sammy]

well it is nice to see i am not alone with slug troubles....
when i first tried loading slugs i hade a little luck but canot duplicate it now.
i noticed that the lyman book states pure lead slugs...
do you gents think this will change their accuracy?
i currently have only casted the slugs in the same mix i use with my pistol bullets..
thank you for all the info..