Good 12 ga home cast slug

[warren5421]

I have decided to cast my own 12 ga slugs as buying them is taking more money and longer times to receive also I am shooting more slugs tha buckshot. I would like a recommendation for a good slug mold for a Mossberg 500 26" barrel with screw-in choke. I would like a 20" barrel with screw chokes but have not been fast enough to get one. It has 3" chamber but I use 2 3/4" shells.

[corbinace]

I am listening too...

[GhostHawk]

I think the Lee 7/8ths oz is right up there. For some reason the 7/8ths finds better accuracy than the 1 oz.

[Mr Peabody]

Unless you really like recoil I'd try the Lee 7/8 slug first. I've had good results using Carlson's screw in rifled choke tube out to 50 yards. I shoot a gas operated semi auto shotgun and a pump gun. Felt recoil is hugely different!

[Retumbo]

I have had good success with the 1 oz over 30grns of HS-6.

This wAs at about 70 yards

[firefly1957]

I cast the lee 1 oz. and shoot it from smooth bores it does well for me not great accuracy but I am shooting with just front bed standing offhand . 3 inch 25 yard groups is the norm.

[foesgth]

When I started reading this forum I was like you. I was looking for a way to avoid the high cost of slugs. I found a great solution. I started getting RIO primed hulls from Ballistic Products. I picked up a Lee Key Drive 7/8oz mold. Use their PT1205 wad with 24.1 grains of red dot and roll crimp (there is a sticky on roll crimping). Great load will make you a 3 gun champ without a huge investment. A few years back one could buy the RIO hulls primed for about a nickle each. Oh, the good old days.
Now, take my advise, leave don't come back. I didn't follow that advise and now have 4 shotshell loaders and 3 shelves in the garage full of bins of wads, hull, OS cards you name it. I have even bought a couple of new shotguns. These guys will lead you astray (but, it has been lots of fun!).

[Frosty Boolit]

That's alot of red dot

[frkelly74]

I have been playing with .68 " round balls for defense loads. I like to try for reduced recoil loads. My gun is an 18" cylinder bored mossberg 500. It is light and will kick you if it gets a chance.

[foesgth]

That's alot of red dot

I got the load from BP.

LOAD# 140217-5487

HULL: RIO 12ga. 2.75”

PRIMER: RIO209

PROPELLANT: ALLIANT RED DOT 24.1 Grains

WAD: PT1205

SHOT: 7/8 oz. LEE key Slug

FOLD CRIMP: 6-point

Result: PSI 10300 FPS 1480

[Huntsman]

I have had good success with the 1 oz over 30grns of HS-6.

This wAs at about 70 yards

Those groups look pretty good. Was it fully rifled barrel? Make?

[Draftpick]

I have decided to cast my own 12 ga slugs as buying them is taking more money and longer times to receive also I am shooting more slugs tha buckshot. I would like a recommendation for a good slug mold for a Mossberg 500 26" barrel with screw-in choke. I would like a 20" barrel with screw chokes but have not been fast enough to get one. It has 3" chamber but I use 2 3/4" shells.

I would recommend the Savrog or AS molds, those are some great performing slugs they have several styles and pin combinations.

[MarkP]

I have been playing with .68 " round balls for defense loads. I like to try for reduced recoil loads. My gun is an 18" cylinder bored mossberg 500. It is light and will kick you if it gets a chance.

I would 2nd the recommendation for a Round Ball Mold:

LEE .690 RB --- they shoot surprisingly well even in a smooth bore. Low cost option to try.

I have the Lyman 525 gr Sabot mold and it shoots great out of fully rifled bbl's okay out of smooth bore and rifled choked shotgun bbl's.

1 oz & 7/8 oz LEE do not shoot as well as the Lyman 525 in my testing. Also Lyman is easier mold to use but 3 or 4 times the cost.

Lyman 350 gr 20 ga Sabot mold shoots okay nothing like the 12 ga shoots (fully rifled 20 ga bbl)

RB - in 20 ga shoot pretty good and are consistent from load to load.

[Retumbo]

Those groups look pretty good. Was it fully rifled barrel? Make?

Lee 1oz through a smoothbore, Win 1200

[Petander]

Now, take my advise, leave don't come back. I didn't follow that advise and now have 4 shotshell loaders and 3 shelves in the garage full of bins of wads, hull, OS cards you name it. I have even bought a couple of new shotguns. These guys will lead you astray (but, it has been lots of fun!).

Haha! You're not the only one!

Got several fancy fragmenting whatsoever molds by now... surprisingly, I prefer a 12 gauge fullbore round ball in a rifled barrel. Good 75 meter accuracy and more power than many shoulders can handle.

Mine are PC:d.

[missionary5155]

Another RB shooter! Far easier to cast and our Mossy will do head shots at 40 yards all day long. What more do ya need?

[longbow]

And another round ball shooter here!

From smoothbore you should be able to achieve 50 yard groups under 6" without much effort.

My good loads run 3" to 4" at 50 yards. This with both RB's in shotcups and full bore RB's.

My favourite loads are 0.662" RB cloth patched into shotcups and 0.735" RB on hard card wad column with plastic gas seal.

For easy loading a 0.678" RB in a shotcup can give quite good accuracy with a shotcup that has fairly thick petals.

A full bore RB should give good accuracy through rifled choke tube but bearing area is very small so depending on rifling depth and ball hardness, skipping rifling may be an issue with rifled choke tube but they do very well in fully rifled barrels.

I suspect that a RB in a shotcup would have to be a tight fit to avoid skipping rifling in a rifled ckoke tube and to transfer rifling spin to the ball without skidding.

Several folks have posted about good results using 0.690" RB's. I am not one! I have had trouble with wad petal failure with 0.690" RB's. I think wads with thin petals and tough plastic are required for success.

Longbow

[Huntsman]

Lee 1oz through a smoothbore, Win 1200

That’s pretty good for a smooth bore! My first shotgun is a Win 1200. Bought it with my paper FAC years ago.

With all the talk about the .690 rb has me thinking that maybe I should try. I use the Lee .690 mould for my TC Treehawk bp shotgun which shot pretty good with fiber wads, I never thought of loading them up in hulls.
As well a Carlson rifled choke tube that I could try as well. I can imagine these rb’s have good penetration.

[Draftpick]

I have decided to cast my own 12 ga slugs as buying them is taking more money and longer times to receive also I am shooting more slugs tha buckshot. I would like a recommendation for a good slug mold for a Mossberg 500 26" barrel with screw-in choke. I would like a 20" barrel with screw chokes but have not been fast enough to get one. It has 3" chamber but I use 2 3/4" shells.

My favorite slugs that perform are the Russian slugs, botfly, zevroboy, they have multiple pin options and they have great performance. If you just want something for range use the RB like other have mentioned are easy to and fairly accurate IMHO the Russian slugs are in a different league.

[Blood Trail]

Yeah, I would say Lee slug wouldn’t be my first choice. You’re looking for a rapid expansion slug. Russians lead in this category with their Botfly, Twister, grizzly shock, and the sverboy segmented HP slug.

The botfly expanded to over 1.25” on a whitetail only moving at 1250 fps.

The 6 petal twister left a 4” ENTRY hole.












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