Lee .410 Shotgun Reload Data for the 195gr and 210gr Slugs

Could seriously use some help directly locating the actual reload data for the Lee .410ga 195 and 210 shotgun slugs.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LEE-Mold-2-...5/112377414769

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LEE-Mold-2-...0/111156545783

I've been searching HodgdonReloading.com, AlliantPowder.com, and any other reloading data sites and blogs I can find, but so far theyre only listing load data for shotshell loads and not for any .410 slugs

I went to Lee's website which said their load data can be found on Alliant Reload Data section of their website but like said, they only show data for shotshell loads... unless I'm not properly navigating their site.

I've tried youtube videos but not much luck there.... either theyre not doing any .410 slugs or their videos aren't even worth anyone's time to watch since the uploader feels it isn't useful to provide the obvious details necessary to load the shells like what powder, how much, what wad to use, what thickness shot card is it, etc .... yeah I know 209 primers for all my shotgun shell reloads.

and of coarse, I've been doing searches using google, bing, and a couple other search engines but still nothing

Would seriously think with Lee being such a popular reloading supply business, there would be a lot of data on their site, on youtube videos, and/or on the net somewhere.

and I use IMR/Hodgdon Hi-Scor 800x powder for my Lee 12ga 7/8oz KeyDrive slugs and for my Lyman's 20ga 350gr sabot slugs with perfect or near perfect results , and so would be nice if I can find a recipe for the Lee .410 slugs using the 800x but if not, I would still be happy to find a few tried'n'true credible loads and without having to buy a bunch of reload books just to search through them to find out they dont have any reload data for the Lee .410 slugs and so then I'm just having to go through the process of listing them on ebay and hardly getting half of my money back, if I'm lucky, since Ebay takes 10% of your selling and shipping price and PayPal started taking a share by charging a processing fee.

GTLO:
The Lee moulds you are referring to are for the .41 special and .41 magnum cartridges. They are not intended to be loaded in the 410 shotshell loads. Although, you didn't mention if you were going to shoot them in a rifled barrel. If you were to load them in the 410 hull, and shoot them in a smooth bore they would start to tumble as soon as they left the muzzle. As the old saying goes; "You could not hit the barn, standing inside of it". What you need, is the Svarog slug mould, or the Lyman 410 sabot slug mould. I see that you are familiar with those designs. Both of these have the weight forward design that is needed in a smooth bore to fly straight. I haven't used either in a shotshell of 410 gauge, but I do have the same mould by Lyman for my 12 guage. As for load data, I have not ever looked for 410 information. Some shooters have bought factory shells in 12 and 20 and opened the crimp, then replaced the shot with the same weight slug. So, if you find a shot load in a manual that has the same shot weight of your slug, you can use the slug in place of the shot. But only if you can get the other components to match the right height and proper crimp.
Regards
P.S.
You could always load up .410 round balls.

Hey GTLO
Those weights are above my loadings. Using projectiles of 41 caliber will give weight without any BC. Any projectile of length will tumble without spin or weight forward. Thirty eight and 9mm will fit inside a standard wad trimmed for length. This allows for any choke restriction and gas seals much better. For barrels over 4", I have found 2400 to work best. A .358 dia. 160gr situated backwards into a shortened hull and shortened wad loaded to 900fps gave moderate accuracy up to 35yds. The 9mm 124gr, loaded the same, gave better accuracy and higher velocity. Working these loads up had far more dismal failures than acceptable results. Good luck to you.

Oh wow...THAAAAAANK YOU... you most likely saved me from some hair pulling later on down the road!

I was under the assumption, which yes can lead to making an *SS not out of U but ME ;o) , that if the mold said .410 this would be for the shotgun, but I just went to Lee's actual descriptions on their website and see where theyre saying like you did "Lee Double Cavity Mold produces a .410 diameter 210 grain Semi Wad Cutter nose bullet suitable for 41 Magnum"

but yes, these rounds are for my wife's Mossberg 410 pump shotgun and I believe it currently has the smooth bore barrel.

I wouldn't bother with reloading the .410 but around here in eastern Ohio the 410 ammo is only being stocked on a couple different store's shelves but in VERY small quantities which get bought up before I can even grab one 25-round box ....grrrrr but hey I dont blame the buyers since they know if they dont buy it up, someone else will and so its a dog-eat-dog world when it comes to ammo

So since I'm sitting on plenty of Remington and Winchester 410 hulls, and have approx 200lbs of recycled wheel weight lead I melted down into 1lb ingots, and I love to reload during the winters months due to spinal cord injury keeping me in a wheel chair which makes it difficult to get outside and do much of anything in the snow and cold, I'll do anywhere from 1000-1500 rounds at a time and then come good weather we love putting holes in an old junk down in the back yard including a honda civic that we owe some vengeance to lol.

But hey thanks for the info and I'll look up those moulds you recommended including looking into using a round ball

If your .410 shotgun is choked, you want to be sure that the ball is of a diameter which will fall through the barrel and choke of its own weight, otherwise you might burst the barrel. A .390" diameter ball is a good fit in most full-choked .410 shotguns.

I split the barrel of my own boyhood .410 shooting .44-40 black powder loads in it. Soft, pure lead bullets worked OK, but the first shot with a commercial hard-cast .429 bullet actually recoiled forwards and the muzzle split open like the hood of a cobra! I cut off the muzzle a couple inches behind the split and installed a new front sight. The remaining cylinder bore is .420" and shoots fairly well with pure lead .425" round balls, loaded in .44-40 brass, but any elongated bullet keyholes and shoots wild.

A .390 round ball loads most easily in a .38-40 case for use in a full choked .410, or you can stack several inside a .410 shot cup for use in .44-40 or 5 in 1 blank brass. Back in the day RCBS produced dies for .44 Game Getter Long Shot, which can be assembled in the Starline 5 in 1 blank cases. If you have a set of dies for the .45 ACP shotshell, those dies will also work. Otherwise you can improvise by cutting 1" off the base of a Lee .308 Win. seater die. Then insert a reversed Lyman or RCBS top punch from your lubricator sizer into the top of the seating die, adjusting the threaded top collar to position the end of the top punch to just above the case shoulder of the shortened seating die. This positions the ball in the case mouth as you "bump" it against the die shoulder to form a nice heavy crimp.

Attachment 268020Attachment 268022Attachment 268023

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gunarea

Hey GTLO
Those weights are above my loadings. Using projectiles of 41 caliber will give weight without any BC. Any projectile of length will tumble without spin or weight forward. Thirty eight and 9mm will fit inside a standard wad trimmed for length. This allows for any choke restriction and gas seals much better. For barrels over 4", I have found 2400 to work best. A .358 dia. 160gr situated backwards into a shortened hull and shortened wad loaded to 900fps gave moderate accuracy up to 35yds. The 9mm 124gr, loaded the same, gave better accuracy and higher velocity. Working these loads up had far more dismal failures than acceptable results. Good luck to you.

---

Even though I placed the order and paid for the Svarog .410ga mold, I was seriously considering what you said about using a smaller and common bullet from another caliber so I can more easily load my 410ga shells whereby placing the bullet into the wad, which is how my 12ga 7/8oz Lee keydrive slugs and 20ga 350gr Lyman sabot slugs are loaded.

When buying the Svarog molds from their website instead of Ebay, the savings was HUGE! 100.00 - 115.00 when buying from them on their Ebay listing, but only was 57.00 (includes shipping) when buying from their website. So if I do change from using the Svarog mold (whereby their cast bullet will be: head diameter 10.4 mm ...... 0.409 inch, bullet height 11.8 mm ..... 0.464 inch, and bullet weight 117gr ...... 0.267 ounce ) and use a bullet from another caliber, I can easily place the Svarog mold on Ebay and sell it for profit or at least sell it for the cost I had in it and at most will only lose the 10% ebay fee on the selling and shipping cost of it.

So the 9mm 124 grain gave better accuracy and higher velocity. Dd you happen to measure the diameter of the wad after the 9mm bullet was placed into it?

What hulls, primers, wads, and powder did you use for your .410 shotgun loads?

Did you use a round nose, truncated, or other type of 9mm bullet?

A pistol bullet will not fly strait out of a shotgun barrel. They will tumble,,, Period. Any accuracy will be strictly luck.

Randy

What about drilling the base on say a .400 cast Pistol bullet?

CW

Making a Mini Foster style slug might work, but I don't think he can do that due to his condition.

I have a whole bunch of Lee 175 gr .40 cal boolits I've made, but once you drill out the base they will be down in the 125 gr range and just like slugs you can buy,,, but not as good.

Randy

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cwlongshot

What about drilling the base on say a .400 cast Pistol bullet?

CW

---

Hey thanks for the idea :)

I had already thought about what you mentioned whereby drilling holes in the tail end of the bullet in order to make it front heavy for better accuracy, and I believe it would work pretty good other than I load 500-1000-1500 slug loads at a time and so drilling each bullet is pretty labor and time consuming

I bought the Svarog Match (sabot) .410 mold which casts .409 slugs. Got it brand new for half the cost of what the Ebay sellers list it for which on average of 110.00, but it's nearly impossible to find much .410 hulls components that are in stock. In fact I have been searching for them for the past 2 months and every site I come across says theyre either out of stock and/or has been discontinued. I have even contacted CircleFly Wads who I've done business with for at least the past 4 years but even after 2 weeks of calling them and leaving my name and number, they haven't called back. I even went to their distributors list and called several businesses from it but they told me that they only place orders to CircleFly Wads 1-2 twice a year at the most and would take my order and then leave me in limbo as to when I would actually receive my items.

So after all the hassle, I've been talking with my dad who's a machinist and we're currently working on making our own mold for a .375 Sabot slug that will fit nicely right in the commonly sold claybuster 410hs wads which will make things much easier than trying to find the right gas checks, nitro cards, cushion wads, and/or etc fillers that are needed to fill in the gap between the powder and the slug for the Svarog 410 sabot slug that is a bore fitting slug and therefore can't be placed down in a commonly-sold and inexpensive wads for the 410 shotgun shells

Will also remind everyone that I'm not concerned with ultimate accuracy since I am not in competition shooting and not hunting with this Mossberg 500 410 ... it's my wife's gun which she can shoot without hurting her shoulder and the gun is just for having fun blowing holes in old junk down back and for home defense whereby will most often be used at shorter distances and so even tumbling bullets will hit their target at those shorter distances based on all the videos I have seen on it. However based on the project I want to do here, I will do my best to put things together in such a way as to obtain the best accuracy with the resources that's practically available to me and thus more suitable for my individual situations

Why don't I just buy shotshell loads from the store? Hard to find around here for over a year now and when the couple stores in our area have them, they only stock a few 25-round boxes and they always get bought up before I can get there to buy any.... and have you priced a bag of lead shot lately? Where I live the only store that carries it within an hour drive wants nearly 55.00 for a 25lb bag and after tax that's nearly 60.00 dollars when I'm getting wheel weight lead for approx .22 cents per pound and getting soft lead for anywhere between .40 and .50 cents per pound which then makes this job affordable for our particular budget with me being on social security disability due to a spinal cord injury

Have you considered buck loads , I load some in 410 for a Mossberg 500 . They knock pop cans around at 25 yards just fine .

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Get-The-Lead-Out

When buying the Svarog molds from their website instead of Ebay, the savings was HUGE! 100.00 - 115.00 when buying from them on their Ebay listing, but only was 57.00 (includes shipping) when buying from their website.

---

Thank you for the tip - ordered one from their site.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AndyC

Thank you for the tip - ordered one from their site.

---

No problem :)

My mold should be here any time now.

Well good luck to ya and would appreciate it if you get your recipe done before I do, make sure to come back to forums to post it here in this thread and in a new thread :)

Sorry for such a late response. The wads used were claybuster, petals cut off to just clear the projectile. A MEC sizemaster press and hand punched wad spacers. The 38 caliber slug is a Lyman 358495 round flat cowboy, WW alloy drops at 161 gr. A Lee 124gr round nose 9mm did best for accuracy. Fired from a Savage 22/410, Mossberg 500, H&R topper and a NEF handi. Hulls were shortened to just under two inches, there is a thread on my procedures somewhere here. The punched paper wad spacers were used to adjust height as powder charges were varied. The MEC does not require hulls to be skived for good crimp results, provided correct projectile height is present. Hercules 2400 proved to be the best propellant of the half dozen tested. Each of the firearms did different with identical loads and had to be addressed individually. Only the Savage had sights for our adult test firing comparisons. The boys did better than us and did so with the single shot guns. The Mossberg worked with the short shells so long as no hesitation crept into cycling. I am hesitant to give actual charges, the 9mm slug achieved velocities around 1400 fps. Both boys took Turkey, with head shots!

Wow thats impressive accuracy and sounds awesome!

Any target pics?

CW

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AndyC

Thank you for the tip - ordered one from their site.

---

Hey just wanted to update you on that Svarog website/seller of the molds

I just checked the tracking last night and was given an eye-opener... can see the Russian post office received my item on Sept 29th and ever since Oct 2nd it says they are still preparing the item for shipment

I contacted the seller and showed him where their website details specified on the check-out page that "because of Covid19 14-30 day delivery time" and how it's now been 31 days and their post office hasn't even shipped out my item yet.

They responded with a careless attitude saying "We're not the post office. What do you want us do about it"

I replied saying if my item doesn't show it's shipped out within several days, then it's obvious that your post office lost or otherwise botched up the shipment and so I would like a full refund so I can have my money back and start looking elsewhere for the mold

They now responded in Russian (had been in all English up until then) saying "We dont work that way. We just ship out new one to you"

I asked them to put things in English so I don't have to go to a translator and put in their messages just to know what theyre saying, and they responded with "go translate it"

So looking like these people are real AZZES and so hope things go better for you than I'm seeing they are going for me... I mean good grief, how much longer after if seeing they botched up the shipment, that they ship out another one and then I finally get the mold?!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Get-The-Lead-Out

No problem :)

My mold should be here any time now.

Well good luck to ya and would appreciate it if you get your recipe done before I do, make sure to come back to forums to post it here in this thread and in a new thread :)

---

Sure will - just got the invoice and paid it - a total of $76.46 with DHL shipping, so hopefully I'll avoid the Russian post-office even being involved.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AndyC

Sure will - just got the invoice and paid it - a total of $76.46 with DHL shipping, so hopefully I'll avoid the Russian post-office even being involved.

---

Good thinking of you choosing DHL instead.

Me and my wife are on a pretty strict budget being s.s.disability or I would have certainly chose the DHL as well especially after now seeing what's come up with my order

Huh. I thought is was an appropriate joke. I got a chuckle out of it. It must be rough going through life without a laugh now and then.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Get-The-Lead-Out

Good thinking of you choosing DHL instead.

Me and my wife are on a pretty strict budget being s.s.disability or I would have certainly chose the DHL as well especially after now seeing what's come up with my order

---

I got this today:

https://i.imgur.com/uH2nkRI.jpg

Looks like I may get it this week:

https://i.imgur.com/38fuv73.png

Mold arrived a day early.

Mold with the insert in place for the hollow base:
https://i.imgur.com/DCm982o.jpg

View of the cavity:
https://i.imgur.com/Q0kv3Yn.jpg

Not pretty because I cast them quickly from a cold mold. 107gr (around 1/4 oz) and .410" dia at head and skirt.
https://i.imgur.com/CMrMl3R.jpg

Looks awesome Andy!!!

I sent ya a PM

CW

Answered.

Brass cases arrived and they fit:

https://i.imgur.com/6BlnuVz.jpg

Now just waiting on the wads and we should be up and running with experimentation.

Wads finally arrived today - a replacement from MidwayUSA, as the location of my original shipment is in dispute between UPS and USPS.

I have to admit I have no idea what powder-charge I'll use - I have H110 and L'il Gun.

Greetings, yet another good post on .410 slug load, I'm enjoying it.
Thank you for sharing it.
I give you * * * Star, Good ratings.
The Star rating is screwed up therefore I cant use it, any one giving one star for this post is like back stabbing his sincere, hard work and efforts, please fix the ratings on the forum ! !
* * * * * Star Excellent with documemtation and pictures
* * * * Very Good
* * * Good post and helpful
* * Average but OK
* Nothing to brag about
Best regards,
Ajay K. Madan
Super Blazing Sabots

I finally had a little time, so I'm developing the initial .410-bore slug loads and going slowly.

Each additional 0.5 grains of powder raises the slug inside the case quite visibly:
https://i.imgur.com/mvdKSYu.jpg

The setup inside - powder, over-powder card, 3x 1/4" cushion wads, slug, overshot (or overslug, in this case) card - sealed with hot glue:
https://i.imgur.com/aC28MP2.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gunarea

The 38 caliber slug is a Lyman 358495 round flat cowboy, WW alloy drops at 161 gr.

---

Just curios but was this a hollow base WC? With needing it weight forward for a smooth bore, just wondering if a hallow base wad cutter would work more like a slug/wad combination

Greetings AndyC, great pictures to back up your post and for us to visualize things far better. I would only change for plastic OP wad for far better obturation and therefore even reduce the powder charge by .5 to 1 gr after using that.

Thanks for sharing it.

Best regards,
Ajay K. Madan
Super Blazing Sabots

Looks good! For size comparison I'd really like to see one of your .410 Lyman Slugs next to a 12 ga Lyman Slug?

Randy

Thanks, Randy. I don't have a Lyman 12-ga slug, but here's this slug next to a .22LR:

https://i.imgur.com/gJEvQYJ.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SuperBlazingSabots

Greetings AndyC, great pictures to back up your post and for us to visualize things far better. I would only change for plastic OP wad for far better obturation and therefore even reduce the powder charge by .5 to 1 gr after using that.

---

Plastic wads will be next once I find a safe load with these fiber wads.