Just received MP full bore 12 gauge slug mold

[AbitNutz]

I just got MP's 525 gr, 2 cavity, brass, hollow base, diablo shape, shotgun slug. It looks like Lyman's giant "pellet" molt but it's a full bore size being over .730 at its forward driving band. I'll have to play with what wad to use. I plan to coat it with Hi-Tek bullet coating, as I do with most of my bullets. (I love that stuff)

So how is the mold? Well, as you've read others write here, it's just about perfect. There are no scratches or flaws. The deep yellow brass is blemish-free, inside and out. The interior cuts have no machine marks of any kind. The sprue plate fits flush and with the correct amount of tension. It fits firmly but not overly tight. Where the pins for the hollow base pins fit through the blocks, they align perfectly and do not bind in any way. This will allow the slugs to eject easily from the blocks and drop off the hollow base plugs. The mold blocks fit together perfectly without any sign of an air gap. I can't see any light through them when held up to a bright light. The Lee-style handles I use fit perfectly with good but not sloppy movement. I'm likely to drill it to take my mold temp probe.

It doesn't matter if you take into consideration what this mold cost, it was about $115.00 shipped from freakin' Slovenia and it got here in really good time, two weeks? This is a really, really, nice mold. I'm not sure what else could be done to improve it.

The next step is to clean them really well and get any contaminants off them. A lot of folks like to season their molds by heating them and then letting them cool a half a dozen times or so. I've never done that. I've never done that but I've only had a couple of other brass molds before. Of course, they turned out fine and produce bullets like crazy. In fact, I really don't have many problematic molds.

[W.R.Buchanan]

You are planning on shooting these thru a Rifled barrel,,, Right?

Randy

[Blood Trail]

You are planning on shooting these thru a Rifled barrel,,, Right?

Randy

They should do ok out of both.


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[17nut]

And they cast way more than 525!!!
Mine runs 656 from 97/3:
287052
287054

[megasupermagnum]

What do the front and rear driving bands measure? I've got the standard Lyman sabot slug, and mine measures about .681" on the front band, and .667" on the rear. I've had decent luck with them in a lead shot wad in 12 gauge, nothing to write home about. I've been shooting these as a full bore in 16 gauge, and I was just shooting them sunday. The bore on my Remington 11-48 barrel is about .674", so a little larger than some 16 gauges. I've got 3 barrels for it, and all three are ballpark in that area.

I am going to go out on a limb and say this combo is the single most accurate slug I have ever witnessed from a smoothbore shotgun. I've only shot these at 50 yards, but they are consistently in the 2" to 2 1/2" five shot groups. I've tried a few loads, and they all shoot about the same. I'll list my favorites below. I have seen a Remington 870, that I shimmed and pinned the barrel, and mounted a Leupold scope on, that will shoot Remington 7/8 oz Sluggers as good or slightly better likely at 100 yards. That's a purpose built slug gun. This 11-48 is a recoil operated semi-auto, with plenty of slop to operate. The slug barrel came to me as a rusty 28" full choke barrel. I buffed off all the rust, and scrubbed the bore clean. It was better than I thought under that patina. I cut it back to 22", and soldered on a front and rear sight. The rear being a slider style from a Remington rifle. The front being a band style from NECG. I did all this by hand, barrel cut off with a saw, filed by lazer eyeball level, and did nothing but debur it. The rear sight slider moves under recoil, so I always put it back to the spot marked, but I'll hopefully find a better solution soon. Despite all this, it shoots lights out with that slug. It makes me wonder what this slug would do from a purpose built slug gun. The slugs I purchased from GT bullets, and I have not sorted them or anything. They all look good. I fill the bases with hot glue using the pan press method, then give two very light coats of alox tumble lube. I have no idea on velocity, but looking at data, they are probably ballpark 1200 fps. This gun is only just over 6 pounds with this barrel, so that's plenty.

Federal 2 3/4" hull
Federal 209A primer
25 gr Bluedot
OB16 gas seal + (5) 16ga nitro cards
Lyman 525 slug
fold crimp

Federal 2 3/4" hull
Federal 209A primer
26 gr Bluedot
Claybuster CB100-16 with petals removed + (1) 16ga nitro card
Lyman 525 slug
fold crimped

I am very excited to see how these full bore ones do in 12 gauge. I hope they work as well for you, as these 16 ga ones have. Somebody should make a .672" version for smaller bore 16 gauges.

[17nut]

Mine is as stated a full bore and runs some .732"

[17nut]

The next step is to clean them really well and get any contaminants off them. A lot of folks like to season their molds by heating them and then letting them cool a half a dozen times or so. I've never done that. I've never done that but I've only had a couple of other brass molds before. Of course, they turned out fine and produce bullets like crazy. In fact, I really don't have many problematic molds.

It lets the pins settle in so they dont shift during casting.

[ebb]

That sucker is huge! I going to go out on a limb and say that, that bullet is going to leave a hickie on what ever it hits.

[megasupermagnum]

Mine is as stated a full bore and runs some .732"

That's too bad. If you have powdercoat, I'd use that instead of Hitek to get the diameter up as much as possible.

[17nut]

That's too bad. If you have powdercoat, I'd use that instead of Hitek to get the diameter up as much as possible.

May i ask why?
My Mossberg rifled barrel slugs right at .728" and with a .732" bullet i think i'm golden ;-)

[megasupermagnum]

At .728" in a rifled barrel, you will be just fine. In a .731"-.732" smooth bore, which a lot of Mossberg's run at, not so much. I can barely stand MP molds, but if they had dropped at .735"-.738", I may have considered this one mold. I'll have to see if I can convince NOE to make it when things settle down.

[Greg5278]

Smoothbores are a bit more forgiving when it comes to diameter. i have good accuracy with a .735" Foster slug in a .727" bore.
Accuracy was around 2"or less at 50 yards.

Rifled Guns are much more fussy. Hollow Base designs often show more Yaw than a similar Smoothbore.
Custom Chambers help, but it doesn't help most Folks.

Greg5278

AKA 12 Bore

[243winxb]

Pure lead Lee key drive slugs expand to the bore & slump. From looking at my recovered slugs. Or was it the impact/sudden stop?