Svarog Botfly slug brings home the back straps!

[Blood Trail]

My son Ethan made a perfect, and I mean PREFECT shot on the old cull buck. Shot was quartering away at 32 yards. Slug expanded perfectly totally destroying the heart and the front lobe of the lungs.

As soon as the slug hit, blood erupted for this old warrior. Blood trail was awesome and he ran 30 yards.

Slug was recovered on the offside shoulder just under the skin.

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[Blood Trail]

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[Blood Trail]

The load was mild. 2.75” clear Cheddite hull, 28 grs of Longshot, Botfly slug with a BP18 wad screwed to it, and a deep roll crimp.


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[Blood Trail]

Recovered slug. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191109/79615cf7b04e44be386eee9e18e5f856.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191109/e00c437bbc06522d5521dbdd3a8d7391.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191109/12c2481cdf2991067efb96a65b03de2b.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191109/4dfb99834906df2ac1f80f93b2e7e37e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191109/6d1bf19634233509874aebf34e562913.jpg


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[slownsteady22]

Thats awesome congrats. I am suprised it wasnt a complete pass through.

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[Blood Trail]

Thats awesome congrats. I am suprised it wasnt a complete pass through.

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It was a very mild load and he was quartering away. These are also hollow pint and segmented.


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[Blood Trail]

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[W.R.Buchanan]

NO need for further testing,,, it works! Pretty devastating round!

Randy

[jdfoxinc]

Yep, not cooking that heart.

[Smoke4320]

Congrats to your son and to you. he should be hooked on deer hunting now. Looks like the slugs performed perfectly for the job

[longbow]

Congrats to your son and you! Great shooting and terrific slug performance.

I'll have to try that method of screwing wags to slugs. It certainly seems to be working for you!

Your son and that Botfly did the job alright!

Longbow

[Rcmaveric]

Awesome, congratulations!!

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[Markopolo]

Wow Leon!!!! what an awesome load, development, and that moment with your son is completely awesome.. i love the face paint...

[Blood Trail]

Awesome, congratulations!!

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Thanks y’all. This slug is only moving around 1300 FPS. I’ve gotten up to 1550 with it.


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[W.R.Buchanan]

I maintain that most of these slugs perform best around 1300 fps. I see no need to run them any faster. All my best groups with the STI slugs have been between 1250 and 1275 fps from the rifled barrel, and the Lyman slugs are loaded to the same velocity range and perform very well at 50 to 75 yards in the smoothbore barrel.

A quick reminder,,, you are firing a .73 caliber 500 grain slug at 12-1300 fps. The Taylor Knock Out value for that is 67.7! For comparison a .458 Win Mag with a 500 gr bullet at 2150 fps is only 70? Size matters alot.

What would you rather shoot at a Texas Buck? Or any other Buck or Elk or Moose, or Black Bear, Brown Bear, Grizzly Bear, or Polar Bear,,, or steel target? We could go to Africa but you should have gotten the point by now.

If you need to shoot anything bigger(Dinosaurs?) then you can load the Russian Solid Slugs up to Brenneke Black Magic specs, but I doubt you'll pull the trigger on any of those very many times.

This thread should be a perfect example of just how powerful a 12 ga shotgun can be when loaded with the right ammo..

Randy

[Blood Trail]

I maintain that most of these slugs perform best around 1300 fps. I see no need to run them any faster. All my best groups with the STI slugs have been between 1250 and 1275 fps from the rifled barrel, and the Lyman slugs are loaded to the same velocity range and perform very well at 50 to 75 yards in the smoothbore barrel.

Randy

Well, depends. There are a few exceptions. One the places I hunt, the closest shot I have is 100 yards.

I got a load for that too. Hammerhead slugs. Sub-MOA 100 yard group coming in at 1650 FPS.

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[W.R.Buchanan]

Leon: This is the accuracy I have come to expect from the STI Slugs. MY 50 yard group with 23 gr of Unique for 1250 fps is about the same size,,, shot with Iron Sights from my Hastings Rifled barrel on the A5.

I see smoothbores as 60-75 yard guns under most conditions and I see Rifled barrel guns as solid 125 yard and maybe 150 if you have the trajectory sussed out. Of course all this is contingent on your ammo actually performing like the STI slugs do. My Brass inserted STI slugs fly nice and strait too.:mrgreen:.

A perfect example of ammo NOT performing as advertised was Federal 000 buckshot out of my M500's Vang Comped Barrel last week literally at 15" at 15 yards. This gun normally shoots 00 buck into 4" at 15 yards and 7" at 25 yards. However it sprayed the 000 all over the place. I could only conclude that three neatly stacked layers of 3 balls each launch better than Randomly Dropped 8 Ball loads which will be different every time.

Point being that ammo wasn't a good fit for that gun. Most people who've never heard of this place would not know this and just be satisfied with whatever they could get from their guns with store bought ammo and they wouldn't even try anything new,,, mostly because they'd never hear about it. Not paying attention comes to mind..

You've taken the time to figure out loads that work in your slug guns and the pictures tell the story. I mean the guts of that deer were Literally DESTROYED! A store bought Foster Slug wouldn't do that.

Randy

[bikerbeans]

Leon,

Your son is following in your footsteps. You have done a great job teaching him to shoot and hunt. You are bringing him up a fine young man.

BB

[Blood Trail]

Leon: This is the accuracy I have come to expect from the STI Slugs. MY 50 yard group with 23 gr of Unique for 1250 fps is about the same size,,, shot with Iron Sights from my Hastings Rifled barrel on the A5.

I see smoothbores as 60-75 yard guns under most conditions and I see Rifled barrel guns as solid 125 yard and maybe 150 if you have the trajectory sussed out. Of course all this is contingent on your ammo actually performing like the STI slugs do. My Brass inserted STI slugs fly nice and strait too.:mrgreen:.

A perfect example of ammo NOT performing as advertised was Federal 000 buckshot out of my M500's Vang Comped Barrel last week literally at 15" at 15 yards. This gun normally shoots 00 buck into 4" at 15 yards and 7" at 25 yards. However it sprayed the 000 all over the place. I could only conclude that three neatly stacked layers of 3 balls each launch better than Randomly Dropped 8 Ball loads which will be different every time.

Point being that ammo wasn't a good fit for that gun. Most people who've never heard of this place would not know this and just be satisfied with whatever they could get from their guns with store bought ammo and they wouldn't even try anything new,,, mostly because they'd never hear about it. Not paying attention comes to mind..

You've taken the time to figure out loads that work in your slug guns and the pictures tell the story. I mean the guts of that deer were Literally DESTROYED! A store bought Foster Slug wouldn't do that.

Randy

I’ve learned a ton from the group over the years. My problem is I have 6 slug guns and been working on tailoring loads for each one.

That’s a love-hate relationship, but I’m sucker for pain.


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[Blood Trail]

Leon,

Your son is following in your footsteps. You have done a great job teaching him to shoot and hunt. You are bringing him up a fine young man.

BB

Thanks brother. I father wasn’t around. He’s doing life in prison and has been locked down since 1979.
I’ve always said if the Lord blessed me with a son, I’d be the father I’d wished I had.

To be honest, I don’t deserve such a great kid. He’s a straight A student and has a tender heart. He’s just growing too dang fast.


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[bikerbeans]

Leon,

All children grow way too fast!

BB

[longbow]

Yup! You feed 'em and water 'em and they grow up and move out! Doesn't seem fair somehow... I miss my babies! But of course they are adults now and going their own way. We are close though and that's good. We still vacation together and get together for Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. even though they both live 8 to 10 hour drives from "home" and in opposite directions.

My wife and I always spent lots of time with the kids and got them out shooting guns and bows from an early age. We hiked and camped and just spend time together. Still do.

You take care of the boy and stay close to him as you now are. You will never regret the time you spend with him now and you will get to spend time with him when he's grown because of it.

Good to see he's out with Dad enjoying the outdoors. I'd say you are doing a good job and commend you for your commitment. Many parents just drop the kid(s) off at the hockey rink, baseball diamond, at camp or whatever and don't actually make any effort to spend time with them. You are not one of them! Good on you!

Take care.

Longbow

[missionary5155]

Good afternoon
Tell your son "Well done" from me ! I never saw a corn cruncher in SW Michigan until I was 16.
Mike in LLama Land

[W.R.Buchanan]

The main difference between the Liberal and Conservative Philosophy,,, is the Conservative rewards those who produce and do good and try to take care of the rest.

The Liberal Punishes the Producer and Rewards the non producer, and nobody wins except those who are in charge who always seem to make out really well.

Reward the kid when he produces well in school!

I have a nephew who graduated high school at 16 2 year City college at 17 and just started Aeronautical Engineering School at a Jesuit College in St Louis at 18. He chose that school because he didn't want to have Liberal BS crammed down his throat at MIT which he was accepted to.. He's not even Catholic!

My brother has no problem rewarding this kid because the kid is that good. Sounds like your's is too!

You'll do fine because you already know what you need to do. Much easier than trying to figure it out as you go like so many have to.

Randy

[More_Slugs]

The load was mild. 2.75” clear Cheddite hull, 28 grs of Longshot, Botfly slug with a BP18 wad screwed to it, and a deep roll crimp.


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Outstanding hunt and post, thank you!

What are you casting your Botfly slugs from? How hard after curing?

I recently was able to acquire a new Botfly slug mold and looking to cast some slugs.
I have lots of various leads (Foundry, Monotype, Linotype, Pure, WW, and Antimonial) so I can make whatever I need.

[Blood Trail]

Outstanding hunt and post, thank you!

What are you casting your Botfly slugs from? How hard after curing?

I recently was able to acquire a new Botfly slug mold and looking to cast some slugs.
I have lots of various leads (Foundry, Monotype, Linotype, Pure, WW, and Antimonial) so I can make whatever I need.

I use soft lead, but I’ve used wheel weights in the past. I would save your foundry and linotype for buckshot and bullets.


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