Question on Cast Slugs

[Cargo]

I was talking to an out of state friend yesterday about shotshell reloading. I haven't loaded slugs yet but this seemed questionable.

He's making mini-slugs by lubing/PC'ing his Lee Drive Key slugs and then stacking the slug on a gas seal and nitro card(s) then roll crimping.

Am I being overly concerned about my friend or is this a valid way to go about it.

As I said, my apologies for the probably stupid question but I have VERY limited experience with reloading shotshells.

[toallmy]

I cannot say it's safe or not but I load short slugs with a slug dropped from a Lyman clone roll crimped , but with a reasonable powder charge in a proper fitting wad . Although I find much better accuracy with a full length hull .
I always say load by the book only when asked !

[Hogtamer]

The lee slugs are designed to be sabot-like, that is shot from a wad cup on a plastic wad.

[Cargo]

The lee slugs are designed to be sabot-like, that is shot from a wad cup on a plastic wad.

That was my understanding. Lee instructions were basically pour shot out, drop slug into wad then close crimp.

[longbow]

Yes, I can't see how he'll get any sort of accuracy with a loose Lee slug. They are so much undersize they'll rattle down the bore.

If he cut the cushion leg off the wad and cut the gas seal off the cushion leg (or used a dedicated plastic gas seal) then put gas seal over powder, nitro card wads over gas seal then slug in shotcup over those then crimped. That should work fine... depending on recipe and powder.

Something I can't confirm, since I don't have pressure testing equipment, is that removal of a cushion leg in a recipe calling for a cushion leg wad can lead to pressure spikes. I have some short hull reloading data and when comparing recipes for short hulls to regular hulls it appears that same basic recipe with or without cushion leg has same pressure when a lighter powder charge is used and no cushion leg. I am surmising that without cushion leg pressure can increase due to less volume at ignition. Without cushion leg ignition starts and pressure builds immediately. With cushion leg ignition starts, cushion collapses creating more volume and so delaying pressure increase.

From my own slug reloading I have seen what appears to be higher pressure signs (sticky extraction) when using a solid wad column in place of a cushion leg wad for otherwise same recipe.

Not sure it is true but something to be wary of.

I am also leery about using HB slugs in short hull loads. I base this on having loaded up some Lyman Foster slugs cast from pure lead then filling the cavity with COW and the rest of the recipe as per Lyman. These were 2 3/4" hulls shot in a 3" chamber. I had shot a few through my Browning BPS and noted rather stout recoil and sticky extraction but it was a book load except for filling the cavity of the slug.

I tried one in my single shot and it blew up! The top of the chamber blew off and the gun came apart in my hands. Fortunately I only got a couple of scratches and lost some hearing in my right ear (out in the bush and no hearing protection). Examination of the remains showed that the slug had obturated to fill the chamber as there were lead streaks from hull mouth to bore. My take is that the soft slug obturated and the filler kept it from squeezing back down at the forcing cone so pressure spiked.

I doubt Lee slugs would do that due to the drive key but it is something to be aware of as is the possibility of pressure increase with removal of cushion leg. It does not take much of a change to push a load listed at safe pressure into unsafe pressure. Shotshell components all work together and seemingly small changes can have large consequences.

Longbow

[Cargo]

Thanks to all, I'm going to relay these concerns to him.

[midnight]

Lyman lists loads in it's shotgun reloading manual for foster slugs. In Fiochi straight walled cases, pour in charge of powder, then cut the petals off a Win AA white wad & seat it on powder. Drop Foster slug on top of wad. Use nitro card wads under slug it get proper height for a roll crimp. This is a load for 2 3/4 inch shells. There is no mention of shooting them in 3 inch chambers. My Foster slug measure .694 after powder coating. They will not fit inside a shot cup so I intend to load them with the above recipe & shoot them in a rifled bore. I have slugs from a MP mold that neasure .678. These are a perfect fit in a shot cup & will be loaded that way.

Bob

[Blood Trail]

I’ve made mini slugs from Lee key drives. Pretty simple and safe. I cut the shotcup off a wad and loaded the slug in it. Great for Hd applications.


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[longbow]

Midnight:

At 0.694" I doubt you'll get any accuracy even from rifled gun but not harm in trying.

If cast from soft lead the Lyman Fosters do slug up to fill the bore... or at least the soft Lyman Fosters I shot into soft snow filled the bore but they were so far undersize that bump up was inconsistent and uneven.

I have some Claybuster 7/8 oz. wads that are a good fit for 0.692" slugs so would likely work for yours especially if they weren't powder coated. Something to try anyway. If they fit, that should work well in the rifled gun.

My Lyman Foster slugs cast at 0.705" so too big for any shotcup but still well under bore diameter. I have not had any success with them at all in my smoothbores. A poor design in my opinion.

Your Mihec slug should do well in a standard shotcup. My Winchester 1 1/8 oz. wads give a slightly loose fit with 0.678" RB's. A slightly thicker petal would be better.

Longbow

[midnight]

I don't expect the fosters to shoot very well but I'll load up a few and give them a try. I'll have to put my faith in the .678 515gr MP slugs. They fit in the shotcup. I may or may not need felt or cork wads under the slug to get a good folded crimp. I wanted a little lighter slug & my fosters weigh 440gr but those are the only molds I've got. Still haven't pulled the trigger on one of those Russian molds.

Bob

[longbow]

Don't know if you have seen these:

https://as-molds.com/the-bulletmold-foster/

Traditional Foster style or with specialty attached wad. These are full bore so eliminate wad fit issues.

I have not bought one so can't speak to quality but they are significantly less expensive than the "other" Russian slug moulds. I guess these are also heavier than you want.

They have a selection of other mould styles too and a relatively lightweight version of the Lyman sabot slug at just under 1 oz.

You may want to fill the cavity of your Mihec slugs with hot melt glue or silicone caulk... or something to help keep the skirt from collapsing and also to keep wads from blowing into the cavity.

Longbow

[Sitzme]

Ballistic Products has some inexpensive information on short shells. I have used their load data and wads to make short shell slugs and buckshot. It would be safer for him to work with known loads. Having said that, I think that the load data is for shot but I substituted slugs/buckshot of the same weight. It has been a couple years so I am a little foggy on it. There is other short shell load data available also but it is pretty slim pickings.

[Blood Trail]

Don't know if you have seen these:

https://as-molds.com/the-bulletmold-foster/

Traditional Foster style or with specialty attached wad. These are full bore so eliminate wad fit issues.

I have not bought one so can't speak to quality but they are significantly less expensive than the "other" Russian slug moulds. I guess these are also heavier than you want.

They have a selection of other mould styles too and a relatively lightweight version of the Lyman sabot slug at just under 1 oz.

You may want to fill the cavity of your Mihec slugs with hot melt glue or silicone caulk... or something to help keep the skirt from collapsing and also to keep wads from blowing into the cavity.

Longbow

I have that mold with hollow base and the Azot wad Center pin. You can adjust the pin to create different weight slugs.

Heaviest you can go is almost 1000 grs.




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[Blood Trail]

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[Blood Trail]

I know a while back BPI was selling federal truball and hydroshock slugs from pull downs. I got a couple of boxes and they just been sitting. They might bring them back. I pc some today.


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[longbow]

How does that AS Foster style with the tailwad shoot compared to the others?

[Blood Trail]

How does that AS Foster style with the tailwad shoot compared to the others?

Haven’t shot them yet


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[MtGun44]

When do you get the proper wads, Blood Trail?

[Huntsman]

I’d be interested to see how they shoot Blood Trail. They look very shuttle cockish.

[Blood Trail]

When do you get the proper wads, Blood Trail?

I order 10,000 of them a couple years ago.


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