Just finished molding a couple of slugs

[ASSASSIN]

I just finished molding a couple of slugs, and as soon as the rain stops and I can get to the range, I hope to do some load developments and accuracy testing.

Slugs are 488 grains, with a + or - of 1.8 grains.

My reloading hull will be a 2 3/4" Federal Gold Medal.

Just doing chronograph readings, I have the following velocities recorded:

1,100 fps.

1,200 fps.

1,300 fps.

1,400 fps.

1,500 fps.

1,600 fps.

1,700 fps.

The highest pressure limit of any load does not exceed 10,800 psi..

What do you guys think the best velocity level might be, when it comes to the accuracy of these slugs?

I don't want to have to shoot hundreds of rounds to find an accurate load, and was hoping you guys could tell me which direction to go for an accurate load.

Thank you for your time and help.

[megasupermagnum]

488 grains? Did you cast them of Linotype?

Here's the old buckbuster slug advice. Load up 1 grain at a time until the wad petals deform and or shear off. Back off 1 grain, and that is going to be about your most accurate load. The reasoning is your slug is expanding when you fire, and the tighter it can fit without destroying the wad, the better. It worked out that way in my case, and my old load was 1 gr under where the petals began to shear of 800x.

[Hogtamer]

Velocity will not matter as much as accuracy. I found the Lyman slugs much more accurate with soft lead. 36 gr Longshot drives my ~ 522 gr slugs at about 1500 fps using trap commander wads in hulls you describe. 3” at 100 yds with rifled barrel.

[ASSASSIN]

megasupermagnum - my mold is for a 32 gram slug, which is 493.8 grains, and with mine coming out at 488 grains, I'm a little under 1 1/8 oz., which is very suitable to me.

No, I am not using linotype. A couple of years ago, I bought 18 bags of #8 magnum shot at an estate sale, and this is what I cast my round balls and slugs out of.

I will see just what it takes to shear off the petals.


Hogtamer - I will be loading and testing with Red Dot, Green Dot, Unique and Longshot.

3" groups @ 100 yards is very impressive! I hope I can get at least half the accuracy that you are.

May I ask what kind of gun you are shooting?

Are you adding hot glue to the base of the slug, or just using a nitro card in the base of the wad?

I will be doing all of my testing with a Remington 870 with a 40" Paradox barrel.

I can keep 5 .690 round balls in a 4" circle at 100 yards with that long Paradox barrel, pushing those round balls to 1,700 fps..

[longbow]

I'm guessing your mould is one of the Russian clones?

What wad are you using with the 0.690" round balls? I haven't found a wad that works with 0.690" balls in smoothbore. Wad selection is very poor locally so I haven't tried many different types.

Longbow

[Hogtamer]

Here’s a link I posted for another guy.
And I will trade you some soft lead for some of those magnum shot #8s.
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...ighlight=Lyman
This is 100 yds loaded as described out of hastings cantilevered barrel on 870.

[ASSASSIN]

Longbow,

I am using a Russian Svorag slug mold that comes with 4 different pins, for 4 different weight slugs.

As far as the .690 round balls go, I have found the "choke" to be the most critical part when it comes to best possible accuracy potential from these loads, and the wads themselves seem to make very little difference.

One wad has a nitro card in the bottom of it, and another wad has a gas seal from a 20 ga. AA wad, and both shoot exceptionally well at 100 yards. The AA wad shoots best with a modified choke, and the Gualandi wad shoots best with a full choke.

[longbow]

All my shooting with 0.690" RB has been through cylinder bore.

So far most wads I have tried have been too thick and petals sheared or extruded. Accuracy was poor.

I did find a wad with thin petals that fit the bore well with ball for nice friction fit but those petals sheared and again accuracy was poor. This is in smoothbore.

I've had very good results using cloth pathed 0.662" RB in shotcup, 0.678" RB naked in shotcups and 0.735" RB over a hard card wad column.

Longbow

[ASSASSIN]

One thing that I forgot to mention, is that in all my years of shooting round ball loads, at least for me anyways, every gun that had a long, tapered and smooth forcing cone, would always out shoot most any barrel that had a short abrupt forcing cone, especially when distances exceeded 40 yards.

I'm willing to bet that it will make a big difference with these new slugs as well.

[ASSASSIN]

I have only shot the .690 round ball, and accuracy from a cylinder bore or improved cylinder have been very sad to say the least.

[ASSASSIN]

Excellent post Hogtamer!

Shipping is too expensive to swap out, and I figure that if I can stay with the same shot, then I won't have to worry about my loads changing by going to a softer shot, ie., softer slugs or round balls.

[ASSASSIN]

I have seen a couple of posts where guys were "cutting" the hot glue from the bottom of their slugs, and this just takes up too much time. This is what I do.

Take a piece of flat glass or acrylic, give it a good cleaning, then buff it with paste wax. This will make the slugs very easy to pop off, once they have a few seconds to set up.

Now, when you fill the slug cavity with hot glue, mound it upon the middle, then press it down onto the glass or acrylic and hold it there for about 5 seconds. Do 10 to 15 at a time, and once you put the last one down, the first one you did has had time to solidify, and you can just start plucking them off one by one.

After the hot glue has had time to cool, pluck it off the flat surface and roll the hot glue ring right down off of it.

By forming the hot glue plug this way, it stays perfectly flat with the base of the slug and takes less than 10 seconds per slug to do.

[megasupermagnum]

That's the way I do it too, but all I use is an old cookie sheet, and spray with whatever is in reach, say PB blaster. The knife method definitely works, and has potential to be faster, but requires care in cutting. Dexterity is not my strong suit.

[ASSASSIN]

I thought about using a cookie sheet, but when my wife caught me eye balling one of hers and gave me THE LOOK, I quickly abandoned that idea and moved on to something else.

[longbow]

I have a block of steel I use but same idea, overfill a bit then invert and press down on the lubricated block of steel to squeeze excess out.

Yes, don't mess with wife's cookware!

[ASSASSIN]

My range has been too wet to get out and shoot, so I spent a little more time in the casting room, and cast up some of the 1 oz. slugs identical to the ones in the first post, and shot them for velocity today, just to see how fast I could safely push them.

Still keeping pressures to a maximum pressure limit of 10,800 psi or less, I was able to get 3 loads that exceeded 2,000 fps..

I "mopped" the bore with motor mica, as well as coated the wads with it. Even at 2,000+ fps., there was no issues with plastic fouling in the bore.

It would be great if these light and fast slugs proved to be accurate, but I won't know just how well they shoot until I can get to the range.

I'll be sure and post my results after I can get in some serious range time.

[megasupermagnum]

A 1 oz slug at 2000 fps, and you haven't even hit 11,000 PSI yet? No way you are doing that with shotgun powder, even 2400. Are you using IMR 4227, or SR 4759, or something else?

[ASSASSIN]

Yes, I am using shotgun powders.

Considering the minimal bore contact with this slug design, plus it being inserted into a shot wad, with the addition of motor mica and a 40" rifled barrel, it is quite easy to get loads that will exceed 2,000 fps. without running into excessive pressures.

Question is, will these lighter weight loads prove to be acceptably accurate.

[megasupermagnum]

What powder? I'm sure a 40" barrel gets you some more speed, but it can't be 300 fps. The very fastest 1 oz slug data I know of is the Lee 1oz slug at 1700 fps with Bluedot. I have no idea on the pressure of that load, but it has to be up there. I'm looking through old data, and see some up around 1550-1600 fps with powders like 571 and 800X. About the slowest powder you can still call a shotgun powder is STEEL, and from what I've seen it doesn't gain you that much speed over Bluedot, not 300 fps.

[ASSASSIN]

The problem with listing the powder, is potential liability issues. Someone without the proper pressure testing equipment may try and see just how much more powder they can get in a load, and I don't want to be responsible for their actions or consequences.