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Thread: Slug's I've Made and Tried

  1. #1
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Slug's I've Made and Tried

    Just so I don't create too much thread wander in my 7/8 oz. Brenneke'ized Lee Slug thread I decided to start another thread and post pics of some of the things that have come up in the thread and my "experiments" that are not Lee slugs.

    Over the years I have tried a variety of hollow base slugs both filled and unfilled, and with attached wads, solid slugs with attached wads, copper tube slug skirts, nitro card attached wads, hot melt glue attached wads, felt attached wads, machined polyethylene attached wads and maybe a few others.

    Lately I have been trying to improve accuracy of Lee slugs by attaching wads both cast on and screw attached with some success and recent failure... or at least not much if any improvement.

    Below is a pic of a few of the variations I have tried in both wad slugs and full bore slugs:



    From left to right (okay then it posted 90° rotated so... from bottom to top!):

    - 0.662" RB on two nitro card wads in a 12 ga. unslit CSD wad, cup cut length to suit~ obviously bore diameter. These work pretty well with press in balls or slugs.
    - 0.678" RB on flaired copper tubing ~ bore diameter: These gave sticky extraction for some reason so I did not pursue it any further. The copper tube was flaired inside a piece of 12 ga. barrel so was exactly bore diameter. I suspect the ball set back under acceleration flairing the tube more but...? No, no choke, it was a cylinder bore gun.
    - 0.678" RB on bottom flaired copper tubing ~ wad slug: these worked but not the best accuracy. A bit more story on this... I had previously tried 0.662" RB on unflaired copper tubing and they shot pretty well but required cloth patching to bring them up to good fit so were a bit of a pain to make. I decided if I went with 0.678" RB and copper tubing flaired to suit the bottom diameter of the shotcup they'd be easier to make and shoot the same. They did not but maybe fit to wad issue?
    - TC solid slug on flaired copper tube ~ wad slug: Same idea as previous with round balls but using a shank that fit the tubing. Again, not as accurate as I would have expected. Possibly fit to wad wasn't great.
    - TC solid as previous but with bore diameter front band and screw for casting glue wad or flaired copper tubing to bore diameter ~ bore diameter: Haven't tried these.
    - 12 ga. unslit CSD wad with same slug pressed in and two nitro card wads under, cup cut to suit ~ bore diameter: Haven't tried these.

    If cast from soft lead I suspect Lee slugs could be sized down to fit into CSD or other unslit wads for a non-discarding sabot slug. Most of the info here was not really related to the 7/8 oz. Brenneke'ized Lee slug thread so I put it here for what it is worth.

    Longbow

  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Apr 2021
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    Thank you for posting. Very interesting info and I know it took a lot of time to do.

  3. #3
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I guess I should add that I am shooting smoothbore and original intent when I got back to slug loading and shooting many years ago was to achieve 100 yard hunting level accuracy from smoothbore using home cast and loaded slugs.

    I have gotten some very good accuracy from factory Foster slugs and home loaded AQ slugs but not near as good with home cast and loaded slugs.

    I have read that Lyman Foster slugs can produce 4" groups at 100 yards but I've as yet to see targets demonstrating that and one random 4" group isn't proof! I've done that with round balls but certainly not repeatable on demand. I'm talking about consistent repeatable groups.

    My opinion is that the wad column is as important as the slug and that the factories have access to what they want where the home reloader uses what he can get.

    The main reason for this thread is that I have been playing with modified Lee slugs in another thread here:

    https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...-Brenneke-ized!

    and some suggestions came up that I have already looked at so wanted to separate the two threads.

    The slugs above are just some of the attached wad slugs I have tried. I have also made several Foster HB slug moulds as well.

    For the most part my results have been that the simple round ball loaded properly is as good as any home cast and loaded slug I have tried out to 50 or maybe 60 yards. Easy to cast, easy to load and good accuracy to at least 50 yards.

    It has been the quest for 100 yard accuracy to match AQ slugs, Brenneke slugs (and similar), and some factory Foster slugs that I have been pursuing.

    I have made several moulds that produce slugs that shoot very well but... not good enough at 100 yards.

    Also, just because I haven't managed it doesn't mean it can't be done or that others haven't done it. I'd just like to see targets posted!

    And in more recent times we are seeing some pretty impressive slug moulds coming from Russia. Most use proprietary plug in wads but some use readily available brush wads screwed onto the slug. These may be the best options yet.

    Of course if a guy uses a rifled barrel it us a whole new ballgame and some pretty impressive accuracy is being achieved by many. A couple of names come to mind ~ Blood Trail and Hogtamer.

    l am stubborn and like the versatility of smoothbore so am still trying to achieve my goal.

    Back to the slugs above, the idea for ball and slug inserted into CSD wads came from Gregg Sappington and it works pretty well. The copper tube idea was mine in an effort to eliminate skirt distortion in hollow base lead slugs. It worked but seems hard on wads and is more work to produce... and at best wasn't any better than good lead Foster slug loads.

    A good read on Ranch Dog's Lee slug load development is here:

    https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...-Tail-Feathers

    https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...-Tail-Feathers

    Some good work there!

    The quest continues!

    Longbow

  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master
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    “I have read that Lyman Foster slugs can produce 4" groups at 100 yards but I've as yet to see targets demonstrating that and one random 4" group isn't proof! I've done that with round balls but certainly not repeatable on demand. I'm talking about consistent repeatable groups.”

    And that folks separates the men from the wannabes.
    Don Verna


  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    An excellent post!

    Thanks for sharing, Longbow.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check