Newbie - 12 Gauge AGC Diablo

[Jokerb90]

Introduction- never had a black powder gun, this one got me interested.

Ignorant, but wise enough to admit it.

Cheap, because we all earn our dollars, but will pay for good return.

Hoping this helps others, as well as myself. Purchased my AGC Diablo, wanting to be as self sufficient as possible, and looking to cast my own slugs and round balls.

Finally got 209 primers, need lots of advice, so much that I don’t know what I don’t know. Have some lead, and a Lee 4-20 on the way - what molds will work well? Seems 1 1/16 oz is max, but unsure how that translates to mold size, slug molds would be amazing.

Asked Lee, and they suggested here.
Wads, shot cards, sabots…learning as I can. Wads better than sabot? What wads/sabot would you recommend, and why?

Rookie questions, hopefully not covered already, not the best at searching, but tried…

Lastly, hopefully posted in the right forum, if not, please advise.

[725]

Welcome to the hobby. I suggest getting and reading a good text on ML's and casting. Best to follow good info as opposed to internet ramblings. This place is full of good guys with a wealth of experience. You'll get lots of advice. Just follow it with verification from a manual. I just saw or should I say just learned of such a thing as the AGC Diablo. It looks like lots of fun. Good luck.

[Nobade]

Yes, welcome to the madness! You've picked an interesting way to start. You will most likely find a .715" ball with the appropriate patch to work best for bullet loads, and standard 12ga. shot loads work for that. You might want to read the sticky from V.M. Starr on how to load a muzzleloading shotgun. Not much more to it, though if I were you I'd start on the light end of loads considering the lack of weight your new shotgun has. And don't bother with slugs, sabots, etc. It's not rifled and a ball will likely be your best bet.

[Jokerb90]

Had a friend stop by, measured bore at .71, will be looking for a .69 round mold next, will update! Thanks for the responses.

[longbow]

A cloth patched 0.690" RB will probably be your friend for that bore diameter. I'd try a lubed felt or fiber wad under it too.

You might find that a 12 ga. Lyman Foster slug will fit that bore and work reasonably well from it. Mine cast at 0.705" diameter so should just fit a clean bore. If you try that the slug should sit on a hard card wad so you'd likely want to load powder, nitro card wad, lubed felt wad, nitro card wad, slug then an over slug card wad to keep the slug in place. I suspect a round ball will do as well or better with less loading hassle though.

Should be a fun gun!

Longbow

[Nobade]

Had a friend stop by, measured bore at .71, will be looking for a .69 round mold next, will update! Thanks for the responses.

Wow, that's tight. I thought those were supposed to be 12ga? Going to make finding wads interesting. Yes, .690" ball would be the way with that.

[Mr_Sheesh]

And you want SOFT .690 balls, so pure lead (or thereabouts), stick on wheel weights would do, not #2 alloy or Linotype etc. :)

Those look like lots of fun, even though my hand hurts a little thinking of firing any heavy load in it LOL

[longbow]

Good point Nobade!

Felt wads should squish down pretty easy but nitro card or hard card wads at normal 12 ga. Diameter (0.740" IIRC) maybe not! Might need a custom wad punch!

There may be a close enough gasket punch available.

Longbow

[marlin39a]

There’s a Lyman .690 RB mold for sale on the muzzleloading forum.

[Jokerb90]

First casting done. Very few nice, but many useable and will get better. Used wheel weights, pot on 7 to melt, cast around 5.5.
Dropped approx 2 foot into water bucket. Many wrinkled, some out of round.
Thinking too hot, and too much drop.

After casting for awhile, made muffins for next time. Thanks for the help!

[ogre]

I am with Mr_Sheesh on this one. I feel that soft lead would be just the ticket for your Diablo. If your wheel weights are NOT the soft stick-on kind then they might be a little too hard and dropping them into the water bucket will make them that much harder.