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Thread: MP Full Bore 525 Slug Results

  1. #21
    Boolit Man
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    Just a quick report from the range earlier this week.

    Loaded 40 grains Blue Dot + X12X gas seal + 1/2" fiber card + 1/8" felt + 1/8" Nitro Card, and roll crimped by feel with a hand drill (the rounds previously pictured.

    Chrono reported
    1322
    1306
    1266
    1280
    1304
    1310

    These certainly feel as Thumperish as I need to go for now. I'm going to borrow a drill press and crank out a batch of 40 or so with consistent roll crimps, and maybe get a few sent off for pressure testing.

  2. #22
    Boolit Buddy
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    FedEx just dropped this mold off for me yesterday. My initial session with some ww alloy yields .729 slugs at around 642 grains with WW alloy. I have pure lead, but didn’t bother using it since I usually take 2 or 3 sessions to get my best casts from MP molds anyway.

    I’m willing to order some proper RotoMetals alloy for this one. What is the consensus for this mold? I intend to use these for whitetail. I would think 30:1 would be ideal, but I’m no expert with regard to alloy mixes. Should I stick with pure lead?

  3. #23
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    Nothing but WW here, and have never gone pure lead on anything. I see no real benefit in doing it as it involves completely cleaning out my Pot. YMMV.

    I just made 150 Lee Slugs and 180 round balls last Saturday. Shot some at my 3 gun on Sunday.

    Guys,,, do yourself a favor and buy or recycle some 2.5 Dozen Egg Crates. I drop my cast boolits directly into the pockets from the mould and there is no damage and you know exactly how many you've made.

    Randy
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  4. #24
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by W.R.Buchanan View Post
    Nothing but WW here, and have never gone pure lead on anything. I see no real benefit in doing it as it involves completely cleaning out my Pot. YMMV.
    I hear you, I also do not want to empty my pot if I don’t have to. Not that it’s super awful burdensome, but if I don’t have to…

    My concern is terminal ballistics. I fear the slug will be brittle and fragment instead of sticking together. Unfounded concern?

  5. #25
    Boolit Grand Master


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    There is no concern of brittleness with COWW with slugs such as this.

  6. #26
    Boolit Man
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    Personally, I would only want to go with pure/very soft if you plan to run these very slow or at low pressure.

    I'm running range scrap which seems a bit softer than WW, but much harder than pure.

    Many of my recovered slugs from a usually wet/moist clay backstop show signs of fragmenting off half or more of the leading edge.

    That said, with a glue filled slug starting at 640 grains, the pictured slugs retained 500-570 grains of mass and were no smaller than about 0.75". I have zero concern with these failing to penetrate most anything that walks North America.

  7. #27
    Boolit Master murf205's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by W.R.Buchanan View Post
    Keep in mind your Shotgun probably doesn't weigh as much as a Double Rifle, and the recoil will limit you shooting sessions. In my case they'd be 1-2 shots!

    Randy
    Amen! So much for the "softer push" compared to the sharp high velocity "jab". That is a situation often quoted about big bore guns compared to high velocity rifles. If it's projectile is heavy and you drive it forward at any reasonable velocity, it's gonna bite on both ends.
    IT AINT what ya shoot--its how ya shoot it. NONE of us are as smart as ALL of us!

  8. #28
    Boolit Buddy
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    MP Full Bore 525 Slug Results

    Quote Originally Posted by Agent1187 View Post
    ... X12X gas seal + 1/2" fiber card + 1/8" felt + 1/8" Nitro Card
    Did you happen to note the weight of your entire payload?

    I have some loaded up, but won't have a change to get out & shoot them this week. I have Fiocchi shells, X12X gas seal, but then just an FS12 over that, then roll crimped. I'll try some charged with 35, 37, and 39 of blue dot. Since it seems that they'll be supersonic, I should able to use the Shotmarker and get more reliable at-target velocities. I struggle with my optical chrono and shotgun rounds.

    I haven't filled any cavities with glue. However, I did make one set of shells with the cavity filled with buffer. I just charged the shell, pressed the X12X and FS12 into place, and then set the slug upside down full of buffer, and slid the shell down over it. I'll see if it has any effect and report back.
    Last edited by ChuckJaxFL; 08-14-2022 at 06:36 PM.

  9. #29
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    The only problem I see with your above loaded round is that the Roll crimp is seated on the 45 degree angle on the front of the slug and is not even all the way around. it will not unwind evenly and accuracy will suffer.
    This si the reason why they recommend these slugs are finished with a fold crimp.

    If you were to place a 1/16" card over the slug it would have a flat surface to stop against and when fired the card would push the crimp open evenly.

    A roll crimp needs a flat surface to sit on. (see pics) Hence the step on Brenneke Slugs and other similar slugs. Foster style (Lee) with the rounded nose all need fold crimps so that the crimp is opened evenly all around as the slug pushes it forward.

    Randy
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  10. #30
    Boolit Buddy
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    I shot 12 of my test rounds today at 50 yards.

    Three rounds each with 35, 37, and 39 grains of blue dot. Then three rounds with 39 grains, but with the base of the slugs full of buffer. Accuracy was unimpressive, 3.5”-4.5” for the first three groups, then the 3 shots with buffer grouped at about 2.5”.

    Velocity is unknown, none of the rounds registered on the Shotmarker. If I get better results in the accuracy department, then I’ll break out the chrony and try harder to collect velocity data.

    I’m not sure what to try next. Maybe swap a fiber card for the FS12? Or try fold crimp instead of rolling? What say ye?


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  11. #31
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by W.R.Buchanan View Post

    If you were to place a 1/16" card over the slug it would have a flat surface to stop against and when fired the card would push the crimp open evenly.

    Randy
    You and I must have been typing at the same time.

    I’ll definitely try you suggestion.
    I have some of those, as well as clear plastic overshot cards. Do you think it matters which?


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  12. #32
    Boolit Grand Master


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    Take out the X12X, and put a 12ga nitro card between the slug and FS12. You will not get good readings from a shotgun with any chronograph other than a skyscreen style chrony. Some do get magnetic types to work, but not always. The trick with slugs is to make sure you have plenty of room. I like mine at least 15 feet from the muzzle. This is a stark contrast to shooting shot, which I want at about 3 feet to 4 feet tops.

  13. #33
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by megasupermagnum View Post
    Take out the X12X, and put a 12ga nitro card between the slug and FS12. You will not get good readings from a shotgun with any chronograph other than a skyscreen style chrony.

    I’ll try that too. Thanks for the suggestion.

    Regarding the chronograph, the Shotmarker should work fine for slugs, as it is acoustic. But, they must be supersonic at the target (muzzle velocity is irrelevant).

    I’m betting these are just over the threshold at the muzzle, and drop transconic before they get to 50. I’ll lob some commercial foster slugs through it to confirm.


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  14. #34
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    Chuck: try the Clear Plastic ones they will give a more solid surface for the Roll Crimp to seat against. If your hulls are clear you can see how the crimp seats against the slug all the way around it, like shown in the pictures above. It doesn't get any better than that.

    You can rotate the shell and see that the crimp is evenly seated against the outer Flat Portion of the slug. When the slug starts to move forward the crimp is pushed out by the slug and if the crimp is seated evenly around the slug it will not induce any off center influence on the slug. Thus it should eliminate that variable from your accuracy quest.

    The Fold Crimp is simply pushed open by the slug as it leaves and since crimp is essentially opened in a reverse of how it is closed in the first place, there is little to no off center influence. Look at the hull when it is pre-crimped by your machine , that is what it looks like as the slug starts to push it open. You can easily see how that has the least amount of "off center" influence on the slug as it passes thru.

    Also very consistent!

    Hope this helps

    Randy
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  15. #35
    Boolit Buddy
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    MP Full Bore 525 Slug Results

    Thanks, all, for the suggestions. I have another set of test rounds loaded up.

    Three each, 37 & 39 grains, roll & fold crimp. The stack heights were such that I needed two cards under the slug for the roll crimped rounds, one card for the fold crimps.


  16. #36
    Boolit Man
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    Looking forward to more range reports!

    I had to take a break, as I was finding that shooting these was messing with my trap shooting (same gun for both).

    Regarding an earlier query - my wad column of x12x gas seal + 1/2" fiber card + 1/8" Felt + Nitro card weighs in at 48 grains, which was surprisingly close to a WAA12 wad at 42 grains.

  17. #37
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    I had to take a break, as I was finding that shooting these was messing with my trap shooting (same gun for both).

    So you are shooting slugs thru your Perazzi Trap gun? That takes some Balls. Beware of running solid slugs thru tight chokes. That will cause problems!

    Randy
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
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  18. #38
    Boolit Buddy
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    Today I shot with a regular optical chrony at ~12ish feet, as well as the ShotMarker system at 25. The rounds were (mostly) still supersonic at 25, so they registered. For what it's worth, I trust the ShotMarker numbers more than the optical chrony. It won't get tripped up by muzzle flash, wads/shotcups, or the like.

    I shot 8 rounds today, 2 test rounds to align the optical chrony, then 2 groups of 3. 37 grains of blue dot in everything that I shot. I had some rounds loaded with 39 grains as well. Those will be disassembled, or a far manlier man than I is welcome to them.

    First two rounds were just to ensure I lined up the chrony. One of them is represented in the Shotmarker screen as the empty outline. The other didn't register on the Shotmarker at all.

    Shots 3-5 are the roll crimped rounds assembled as above, Shots 6-8 are the crimped rounds. I know 25 yards is hardly a real "proving" distance, but I wanted to collect some velocity data.

    The recoil from all of these is unpleasant. And, there is a noticeable difference in the recoil of the folded crimp round vs the roll crimped round, the fold crimp being noticeably more violent. I really expected the opposite, with one fewer cards under the slug and no overshot card, there's less mass. I guessed wrong.

    Chron/SM
    1. 1333 1204
    2. 1268 ****

    3. 1307 1194
    4. 1333 1209
    5. 1306 1198

    6. 1217 1209
    7. 1214 1207
    8. 1170 1211


    Is there anyone following this thread that has actually taken an animal with this slug? The full-bore 640 grain one?
    Last edited by ChuckJaxFL; 08-20-2022 at 07:36 PM.

  19. #39
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by W.R.Buchanan View Post
    So you are shooting slugs thru your Perazzi Trap gun? That takes some Balls.
    Nope. That takes slugs!

  20. #40
    Boolit Buddy
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    I tried these again at 50, then at 100. Drops were as predicted using .070 as a BC and 1300FPS for muzzle velocity.

    At 50 yards, I was 2" center to center. However, by 100 I was looking at a 6"-7" group. I was hoping for 4" or 5" but no such luck. That said, where I hunt, 50 yards is a longer than usual shot, and I typically get shots within 25 or 30. So, I'm on-the-fence about fielding these this year. They are "probably ok", but I'd hate to have a super-rare 80 yard shot and not feel comfortable taking it for fear of a poor shot.

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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