Lee 1 oz drive key slug loads on the cheap

[Curly James]

Somewhere in this forum I read a brief post by a gentleman who said he uncrimped the cheap Walmart 100 pack shotshells and replaced the shot with a Lee slug. I apologize, I can't find that post now. However, I was sitting in my loading room a few days ago looking at a can of Lee slugs and a box of the Federal 100 pack shotshells. I began to uncrimp them, place a base wad made from some thick corrugated cardboard I had nearby and then I simply re-crimped them on my Mec. I made up 10 of these and shot them yesterday. Recoil was not bad at all. My battery was dead in my chronograph so no velocity readings. Surprisingly, they fired 5 rounds into 5 inches at 50 yards using an ancient Remington 870 with an 18" barrel and a massive XS big dot front sight. The XS sight covered the upper area of the IDPA target I was shooting at. The load was about 8 inches below the center scoring ring, if you can quantify that given the sight I was using. It was great for windage. The fired shells did not seem to exhibit any symptoms of excess pressure and ejected just fine.

I also managed to hit the 16" gong at 100 yards 2 out of 5 rounds by sitting the big bead on top of the gong. I am going to explore this load more with a chronograph and maybe another shotgun with some better sighting equipment.

Anyone else tried this?

[rancher1913]

yman was the one doing it, hes in africa and cant get anything but birdshot. make sure you do the same weight for weight or you could have over pressure problems.

[Curly James]

Yes sir, the load in the Federal shells was 1 1/8 oz of #8 shot. My slugs consistently weigh in just under that. I have loaded 10 more to try this weekend, just making sure it wasn't a fluke. I want to try them out in a couple more shotguns, one of which has better sights for shooting slugs. I also want to chronograph the loads. If my guess if correct they should be on the same power level as the low recoil offerings by the major manufacturers. I did read Turbo's substitution and pressure thread this morning and think I am fine doing this project. If this works I will buy a couple hundred of these shells and have enough slugs to last me a loooong time. Right now a hundred pack is $22.00 at Wally world. A little time on my part and that is a lot of slugs for very little money.

[rancher1913]

if you search for ymans posts he has had very good success and has done write ups with photos, he hasnt posted in awhile, sure hope hes ok.

[centershot]

if you search for ymans posts he has had very good success and has done write ups with photos, he hasnt posted in awhile, sure hope hes ok.

I was thinking the same thing. After reading the OP, I spent some time going over Y-man's posts. I'm sure some of you remember Junior1942 (may he R.I.P.), it struck me that he and Y-man had so much in common! Two guys from opposite sides of the world, working with what they had, innovative problem-solving at it's best! Good memories.....Sorry for the thread hijack.....

[Curly James]

Don't worry about a hijack. I looked at yman's posts but could not find any reference to substituting slugs for shot. If you can link me to it I would be very grateful.

[Curly James]

Nevermind I looked at how you spelled y-man and searched again. The dash made the difference

[Idz]

I used a deck screw and pliers to uncrimp WalMart 12 ga Winchester cheap 1 1/8 oz shotshells. A 1/16" styrofoam takeout box provided 5/8" diameter wads to take up the extra space above and below the 1oz Lee slug . A Lee shotshell reloader recrimped the shell. On this forum user TURBO1889 did some pressure measurements showing no problems with using slugs.

[Curly James]

Hi Idz, how was accuracy with your shells?

[mac1911]

You velocity should be close to whats on the box of what ever you use.
i run Clays powder win wad with my lee slug. I use load data for trap load velocities and they are pleasant to shoot.
Banged this little test out on lunch break. Quick elbows on table and shoot. No real difference between barrels or red dot/irons at 50 yards. Might get a slightly better scope or ghost ring sights and try again.


<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PGUfTfGwYVk" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
https://youtu.be/PGUfTfGwYVk

[centershot]

I used a deck screw and pliers to uncrimp WalMart 12 ga Winchester cheap 1 1/8 oz shotshells. A 1/16" styrofoam takeout box provided 5/8" diameter wads to take up the extra space above and below the 1oz Lee slug . A Lee shotshell reloader recrimped the shell. On this forum user TURBO1889 did some pressure measurements showing no problems with using slugs.

My good man, you have just saved me a LOT of work! Thank You!

[Idz]

I haven't done much real accuracy testing but in my limited comparisons of commercial slugs and my homemade slugs I couldn't tell the difference.

[centershot]

I haven't done much real accuracy testing but in my limited comparisons of commercial slugs and my homemade slugs I couldn't tell the difference.

Idz, I don't know for sure, but perhaps when we "re-process" these factory loads we know that we're not going to get our teeth rattled when we pull the trigger. That alone can produce better groups. There are a lot of other variables, not the least of which is a tight factory gas seal. Plenty of us have done it to know that it works well enough. For effectiveness you really can't beat a 73 caliber projectile at close range. A 1 oz. lead ball at a sedate 11-1200 fps packs a LOT of authority!

[rsrocket1]

I don't recommend nor endorse this to anyone but I also load the Lee 1oz slug using target load data. I've tried the 24g Unique 1400 loads and they do rattle my teeth. I suppose they are accurate for hunting when you shoot a couple shots on a trip but shooting a dozen or two in a day is hard on the shoulder. A 1200 fps load using a fast powder like Clays, Red Dot or Titewad works well.

https://images3.imgbox.com/8f/57/8Gp4E4fZ_o.jpg

I found that Claybuster Lightning or Windjammer wads work best because they use 8 thin petals rather than 4 thick ones and there is no rib going up the middle of the petal. This allows the slug to be loaded without bulging the hull. The slug in the blue Windjammer wad on the right has some pillow stuffing underneath it to help with the stack height.

https://images3.imgbox.com/4a/ab/NJvSIVJK_o.jpg

https://images3.imgbox.com/b8/67/baLvU5KO_o.jpg


https://youtu.be/tqJYFByJXZE

Be sure to haul your trash out every time.
I still get my recycling fees back when I return the "modified" plastic bottles and cans :)

[Curly James]

I took 3 Lee 1 oz slugs and paper patched them to fit the bore of my shotgun. I used printer paper from my office. I loaded 16.5 grains of Clays into a WW AA hull rated for 1 1/8 oz loads. I cut the petals off a Win WAA12R wad, loaded it with 2 cardboard spacers on top and dropped the paper patched Lee slug on top of that. I then star crimped the shells. All three went into 4 5/8 inches at 50 yards from a smoothbore Mossberg 20" barreled model 500 shotgun. I used the bead and set the 5 Inch circle I was shooting at on top of the bead. This shows promise and I will make some more of these for further testing. I made up more of the loads from my first post using the Federal shot loads. They still shot into 6 or 7 inches using the Mossberg, although I seemed to get a flyer every 5th or so round. I have paper patched bullets in the past for muzzle loading rifles and some centerfire guns. The idea seems a natural for slugs. I am sure it has been tried before. anyone else got any input/ideas on doing this?

[centershot]

Curly,
I also use a paper patch except I use it on a round ball. After some experimentation I found that I needed a heavy piece of paper. I cut a strip off an NRA pistol target and it worked perfectly! That paper is 0.011" thick. I insert the ring of paper into the wad and then load the ball, the paper fits around the circumference of the ball. Here's the results:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?369800-Centershot-Sabots&highlight=centershot+sabots

Needless to say I was Happy! Keep the projectile tight in the bore and you'll most likely find your best accuracy.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I've got to try this with Lyman Pellet Slugs to see if it improves them, So far they have been very unimpressive and it's a shame cuz they are so cool looking and you've got to know that anything that gets hit with that big flat nose is going to remember it.

I got a Mihec Brass Mould, and it drops absolutely perfect Slugs. now all I've got to do is figure out how to load them. My Round Balls are simply my Trap Loads with a .662 ball and a 1/4" felt wad below it.

Randy

[centershot]

I've got to try this with Lyman Pellet Slugs to see if it improves them, So far they have been very unimpressive and it's a shame cuz they are so cool looking and you've got to know that anything that gets hit with that big flat nose is going to remember it.

I got a Mihec Brass Mould, and it drops absolutely perfect Slugs. now all I've got to do is figure out how to load them. My Round Balls are simply my Trap Loads with a .662 ball and a 1/4" felt wad below it.

Randy

Yeah, it might even leave a mark! :) Seriously though, there seems to be a lot of yea and nay on the "pellet slugs" and I wonder if a relatively tight fit in the bore, or not, is the reason. Randy, I took your advice a long time ago, load a trap or skeet load with a RB that fits and go shoot! It was the fit that made the difference. IIRC, my "sabot" load is around 0.010" over bore diameter. Looking back, I realize that it needed that because of the squishy plastic used in the 12S3 wad. It needed to be that tight to securely engrave into the rifling. Cut a strip of paper off an NRA target (about 0.011" thickness) and put it in the wad before you load the slug into it. Might work, it did for me!

[W.R.Buchanan]

I will try it,,, like today!

Randy

[MT Chambers]

Folks may want to experiment with both the round ball and the Lyman slug which is shaped like a pellet.