Lee Drive Key Sabot results (pic)

[Dondalinger]

Hello, I am new here and have been reading about the Lee Drive Key slug for a few weeks. I live here in Eastern Virginia and some counties only allow shotguns for deer hunting. I currently have 2 rifled slug guns and simply cannot afford to shoot them much with factory ammo. I have been reloading rifle and handgun cartridges for years and decided to give the Lee slugs a try to save some cash. I had never cast any bullets prior to this experiment. I was able to get some old lead plumbing pipe (pure lead) and smelted it down into ingots. I ordered the Lee 1 ounce drive key mold, bought a MEC 600 Jr press and purchased all the components. After casting about 75 slugs, I put together 8 rounds and tested them this evening. Someone had mentioned the problem of the wad column being driven into the base of the slug causing erratic flight. Another had suggested placing a 20 ga nitro under the slug and yet another suggested lubing the slug with bore butter. I loaded 4 slugs using the bore butter and 4 dry. I feel the dry did better. The lubed ones casued the petals from the wad column to shear off. The dry ones did not. I did not get any that had the hummingbird whine going downrange. The slug did leave a slight imprint of the drive key inside the wad. I'm under the impression this is normal and gives the slug its spin.

Anyway, I shot 8 shots at 60 yards using my Mossberg 695 bolt action fully rifled with 22" barrel. I did not have a real good rest, so the groups are not spectacular, but IMO are decent for a first time trial.

I will continue to fine tune the load. I am looking forward to trying it out this year on a whitetail.

Thanks to all for the useful information I have gotten from this site.

I really enjoyed smelting the lead into ingots and casting the bullets.

Here is a recipe for the load I used.

Charge- 34 grains HS-6
Primer- Win. 209
Hull- Federal top gun 2 3/4"
Wad- Federal 12S3
Lee 1 ounce drive key cast from pure lead

The target on the left was the lubed slugs (notice the sheared petals)

Keep in mind, this was from a semi stable rest. I'm sure with a solid rest and a Bulls Bag, the groups will be much better.

Regards, Don Dalinger

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y133/DONDALINGER/DriveKey.jpg

[Heavy lead]

Looks like minute of deer to me. If you shoot these at 100 yards I'd be real interested to know the results. I'm getting very good groups at 50 with my load right now, but 100 opens up. But I'm just starting as well. Keep us posted and welcome aboard.

[Shooter6br]

Got great groups in My Mossberg with Lyman slugs Clover leaf Maybe worth a try

[Heavy lead]

Got great groups in My Mossberg with Lyman slugs Clover leaf Maybe worth a try

What wad and powder/primer/hull combo are you using?
I'm using the Lyman as well with waa114, federal gold medal, federal 209a, and longshot. At 50 I am real happy, would like a better group at 100 though.

[bigbore442001]

This is very interesting. My Dad and I live in and hunt in a shotgun deer state, Massachusetts. Factory sabot slugs have become so expensive that we're apprehensive to shoot many. Last night we stopped at Dicks Sporting Goods and they had a "sale" on sabot slugs. They were running at basically $15 a box of five. That is three bucks a shot.

I'm looking at something less costly to have that 10% chance at a deer during the shotgun season.