Couple questions on reloading with slugs

[zeenon]

Ok I'm trying to help my brother in law out since he is not a forum savvy person. Unfortunately I am not shotgun savvy so I look to the experts here.

He bought a Lee Load-All 2 because he would like to reload on a small scale. No hunting, just a paper puncher.

He has 12GA Remington 870 Express Synthetic w/ a 28" barrel. I unscrewed the choke tube and it has MOD stenciled on it.

He has a ton of once fired 2 3/4 Remington Gun Club, Winchester Super X, and Winchester Super Target hulls. (He also has a bag of 2 3/4 ballistic products new hulls from Cabela's)

Winchester 209 shotshell primers

Alliant Blue Dot powder

He made about 40 - 1 oz slugs using the Lee mold

Winchester AA12 wads

I emailed Alliant and they have a data sheet for the Lee 1 oz slug: 12 GA Rem Premier 2 3/4 Hull, Lee 1 oz Slug. Win 209 primer, Win AA12 wad, Blue Dot powder 49 grs (1673 fps @ 10,200 psi)

So that is the background, now the questions:

1) Can he use the once fired hulls instead of the Rem Premier's?

2) On the Load All data sheet, the highest bushing (.198) drops 37.5 grs of Blue Dot powder. The recipe calls for 49 grs of powder. I don't have the unit in front of me so I don't know if that is the largest bushing and I'd measure it either way but, assuming it's correct, I guess I'd use a 24.5 grs bushing and drop a double load?

3) I'm sure once he get's into it he'll want to load 1 1/8 shot also. Searching the forum it looks like he'll need Red Dot (and less of a load). Can he use the same wads and primers?

4) In order to make a lighter load, how many grs should he back off the recommended amount at a time? (For the slugs I told him to make 5 each of 39, 41, 43, and 45 until he finds a load he likes)

5) Does he need a different choke tube? (My research on here says no, he's fine...but I thought I'd ask)

Z

[ETG]

I'm using Herco with WAA12 wads, win 209 primer, Lee 1 oz slugs. I also have to double drop to get the 34 or 36 grains I need (depending on using Win AA hulls or Remington). I examined the Remington Primer STS, Nitro 27, Gun Club, and sport load and they all look identical internally. The STS/Premire and Nitro hulls seem to have a little thicker case and the slugs imprint and slightly bulge out the case. Gun club and sport load do not imprint as much. I (and I'm not suggesting anyone else to - standard CYA statement) use these hulls interchangably. Now I mainly use gun club, sport load, and the black remington cases (without a name) for my slug loads. There is a difference between Claybusters WAA12 equivilent wad and genuine Winchester wads - the slugs fit better in the real winchester wads and bulge the hull less. I'm shooting these out of a Saiga 12.

[zeenon]

Thanks for the info!!

I was browsing around on the forum and another member said the:

Remington Premier 2 3/4 hulls = Gun Club

AA 2 3/4 hulls = Super X, Super speed, Universal

(To me, all of them (gun club, super x, target loads) look exactly the same)

Alliant sent me two data sheets for the Lee 1 oz slugs so I'll just have my BIL pick up a pound of each powder and load the gun club hulls with Blue dot and the Super X/Target loads with the Hercoas Alliant suggests.

I also want him to pick up a bag of 20 Ga Nitro cards just to try. Seems like others have said the wad pushes into the slug sometimes and placing a 20 Ga nitro under the slug helps.

Z