megasupermagnum
10-28-2021, 02:35 AM
I decided to make a short video of how I've been trimming wads lately for slugs. Its a dirt simple solution, that I could spend 10 minutes writing out, or just show it. There's absolutely more elegant ways to trim petals, but this is a way you can do it with something you already have in a garage, and be trimming perfect wads in 5 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjxt1wBnqDY
The reason for this is that I've been tasked with loading ultra light slug loads for a young shooter that is my nephew. Don't ask me, but for whatever reason I've been asked specifically that I do it with 12 gauge, not by him. I offered my 20 gauge, but apparently they don't feel comfortable with me cutting down the stock just for him. So as it is, I'm loading these for a 12 gauge H&R Tracker II with a small stock cut just for him.
I first tried my own personal favorite light recoil load of a .735" round ball and Unique for 1000 fps. He shot a few, but it was clear he wasn't comfortable. You should not push a kid to toughen up on recoil. I won't say I fought it too hard, as I've been meaning to get back to the 7/8 oz Lee slugs anyway. I may have actually been the one to suggest it.
The number one complaint I have with wad slugs is that lead shot wads simply are not good sabot's. They are good enough for lead shot, but they are not that accurately made, and they are not built to withstand a slug anyway. So instead of trying to work around the cushion and cup, I decided to simply steal what I needed, a sabot. I cut the wad petals so that they are only long enough for the slug, and then cut the cushion section off. This allows me to try every lead shot wad I have, they will all work, and I can find the cup that is most accurate.
The way I'm loading these is with an X12X gas seal, then a stack of all hard nitro cards, then the slug and sabot on top. My first attempt was with the slug only in a Federal 12S4 sabot. I found less than stellar accuracy, and the wad did not look great on the outside, more on that later. My second attempt with the 12S4, I used a 1/8" nitro card in the bottom of the wad, then the slug on that. I should mention that I am filling every slug hollow base with hot glue. Even with these poof loads, the slugs deform in an inaccurate manner if you do not fill the base. I also added some Mica wad slick to these sabots on the second attempt, and it did not seem to help much with the rifling
The most suitable powder I have for this is 700X. Red Dot should work just as well. If you have Alliant Extra Lite, that is going to be the best of the best. My only goal is to get below about 1050 fps, as the reduced noise/boom is a definite advantage for kids. I started at 17 grains of 700x, and worked my way down. I loaded as low as 11 grains, thinking for sure I'd have bloopers. Today I shot my second attempt, and even after leaving the ammo outside all night, I had nothing but solid bangs with 11 gr 700x. I plan to try 10gr next time, just to get an idea where that lower limit is. I unfortunately do not have any chrony data. It was raining hard, and I got no good readings. I'd almost guarantee 11gr 700x is below 1000 fps, maybe as low as 800 fps. I plan to focus mainly in the 12-13gr range, depending on the chrony readings. It sure seemed to me that 14gr was quite a bit louder than 13 gr. I am loading these in Federal Top Gun hulls, which are nearly identical in volume to the Federal Gold Medal. I am using a Federal 209A. I would only use a Federal 209A or CCI 209M primer if you are going to mess with these super light loads. I doubt pressures are much above 5000 psi, and a strong primer is going to help keep away bloopers. A solid card stack is going to help with this too. That's also why I want to try 10gr. If I still don't get bloopers, I'll feel pretty good that at 12gr, I won't ever get them.
So the results I am getting are not spectacular, but show promise. Actually I'm getting better accuracy on the lower end of powder. It seems to me that the Federal 12S4 is too soft a plastic for the job. They all show odd rifling marks, with "fuzzies" indicating they are not engraving smooth like a good sabot should. At 12gr, I'm getting around 3" 50 yard accuracy from my scoped ultra slug hunter. Not fantastic, but definitely huntable. When I go up in powder, the engraving gets stronger on the wad, but so do the strings of plastic. I even ran a couple patches down the bore of the gun, and there are plastic bits in there. I'm going to move on from the 12S4. Next up is the wad I'm trimming in the video. It is a Claybuster CB3118-12A. These are what I used to shoot with Buckbuster 1oz slugs. These must be at least 15 years old, and they are great wads. I have no idea if the new Claybuster versions of these have the ribs inside or not, these do not. The plastic on these seems more suitable to slugs. It is not soft and stringy like a 12S4. Besides that, the diameter with a slug is different, and I'm not sure how that will go. I cast my Lee slugs with 20-1 alloy a while back when I intended on using them with mid range loads. Ideally I think these light loads would work better with a pure lead slug. Mine as cast are around .687" at the widest part of the slug. In the 12S4 wad they measure about .736" at the widest spot. In these CB wads, they only measure about .728". If they were pure lead, I'd feel better. I am seeing signs that the slugs are expanding somewhat at these low pressures, but I'm not sure it will be enough. I do have other wads to try as well, but these are what I'm trying next. Along with that, I'm going to try a dab of glue in the bottom to glue the nitro card into the wad. The reason is if you look close, none of the wad petals of lead shot wads are slit all the way to the bottom. They are close, but not quite. Based on recent results on a bear, it has come to my attention that that nitro cards will stay with a slug from air pressure alone if allowed. My thought is by gluing the card to the wad, it will separate cleanly from the slug, as maybe the wad is not separating from the nitro card cleaning. It's an easy test anyway.
This is a revovered sabot, shot with 13gr 700x. You can see the odd fibers of plastic that are being strung up, and the rifling doesn't look as clean as it should. To me it looks like the plastic is too soft for the job of centering a slug in a bore.
https://i.ibb.co/rQJ28TB/IMG-20211028-004219974.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjxt1wBnqDY
The reason for this is that I've been tasked with loading ultra light slug loads for a young shooter that is my nephew. Don't ask me, but for whatever reason I've been asked specifically that I do it with 12 gauge, not by him. I offered my 20 gauge, but apparently they don't feel comfortable with me cutting down the stock just for him. So as it is, I'm loading these for a 12 gauge H&R Tracker II with a small stock cut just for him.
I first tried my own personal favorite light recoil load of a .735" round ball and Unique for 1000 fps. He shot a few, but it was clear he wasn't comfortable. You should not push a kid to toughen up on recoil. I won't say I fought it too hard, as I've been meaning to get back to the 7/8 oz Lee slugs anyway. I may have actually been the one to suggest it.
The number one complaint I have with wad slugs is that lead shot wads simply are not good sabot's. They are good enough for lead shot, but they are not that accurately made, and they are not built to withstand a slug anyway. So instead of trying to work around the cushion and cup, I decided to simply steal what I needed, a sabot. I cut the wad petals so that they are only long enough for the slug, and then cut the cushion section off. This allows me to try every lead shot wad I have, they will all work, and I can find the cup that is most accurate.
The way I'm loading these is with an X12X gas seal, then a stack of all hard nitro cards, then the slug and sabot on top. My first attempt was with the slug only in a Federal 12S4 sabot. I found less than stellar accuracy, and the wad did not look great on the outside, more on that later. My second attempt with the 12S4, I used a 1/8" nitro card in the bottom of the wad, then the slug on that. I should mention that I am filling every slug hollow base with hot glue. Even with these poof loads, the slugs deform in an inaccurate manner if you do not fill the base. I also added some Mica wad slick to these sabots on the second attempt, and it did not seem to help much with the rifling
The most suitable powder I have for this is 700X. Red Dot should work just as well. If you have Alliant Extra Lite, that is going to be the best of the best. My only goal is to get below about 1050 fps, as the reduced noise/boom is a definite advantage for kids. I started at 17 grains of 700x, and worked my way down. I loaded as low as 11 grains, thinking for sure I'd have bloopers. Today I shot my second attempt, and even after leaving the ammo outside all night, I had nothing but solid bangs with 11 gr 700x. I plan to try 10gr next time, just to get an idea where that lower limit is. I unfortunately do not have any chrony data. It was raining hard, and I got no good readings. I'd almost guarantee 11gr 700x is below 1000 fps, maybe as low as 800 fps. I plan to focus mainly in the 12-13gr range, depending on the chrony readings. It sure seemed to me that 14gr was quite a bit louder than 13 gr. I am loading these in Federal Top Gun hulls, which are nearly identical in volume to the Federal Gold Medal. I am using a Federal 209A. I would only use a Federal 209A or CCI 209M primer if you are going to mess with these super light loads. I doubt pressures are much above 5000 psi, and a strong primer is going to help keep away bloopers. A solid card stack is going to help with this too. That's also why I want to try 10gr. If I still don't get bloopers, I'll feel pretty good that at 12gr, I won't ever get them.
So the results I am getting are not spectacular, but show promise. Actually I'm getting better accuracy on the lower end of powder. It seems to me that the Federal 12S4 is too soft a plastic for the job. They all show odd rifling marks, with "fuzzies" indicating they are not engraving smooth like a good sabot should. At 12gr, I'm getting around 3" 50 yard accuracy from my scoped ultra slug hunter. Not fantastic, but definitely huntable. When I go up in powder, the engraving gets stronger on the wad, but so do the strings of plastic. I even ran a couple patches down the bore of the gun, and there are plastic bits in there. I'm going to move on from the 12S4. Next up is the wad I'm trimming in the video. It is a Claybuster CB3118-12A. These are what I used to shoot with Buckbuster 1oz slugs. These must be at least 15 years old, and they are great wads. I have no idea if the new Claybuster versions of these have the ribs inside or not, these do not. The plastic on these seems more suitable to slugs. It is not soft and stringy like a 12S4. Besides that, the diameter with a slug is different, and I'm not sure how that will go. I cast my Lee slugs with 20-1 alloy a while back when I intended on using them with mid range loads. Ideally I think these light loads would work better with a pure lead slug. Mine as cast are around .687" at the widest part of the slug. In the 12S4 wad they measure about .736" at the widest spot. In these CB wads, they only measure about .728". If they were pure lead, I'd feel better. I am seeing signs that the slugs are expanding somewhat at these low pressures, but I'm not sure it will be enough. I do have other wads to try as well, but these are what I'm trying next. Along with that, I'm going to try a dab of glue in the bottom to glue the nitro card into the wad. The reason is if you look close, none of the wad petals of lead shot wads are slit all the way to the bottom. They are close, but not quite. Based on recent results on a bear, it has come to my attention that that nitro cards will stay with a slug from air pressure alone if allowed. My thought is by gluing the card to the wad, it will separate cleanly from the slug, as maybe the wad is not separating from the nitro card cleaning. It's an easy test anyway.
This is a revovered sabot, shot with 13gr 700x. You can see the odd fibers of plastic that are being strung up, and the rifling doesn't look as clean as it should. To me it looks like the plastic is too soft for the job of centering a slug in a bore.
https://i.ibb.co/rQJ28TB/IMG-20211028-004219974.jpg