Ive been working on perfecting a 12ga lee drive key slug handload. I've gone through a few revisions of components. I was shooting blue dot powder but had issues with it igniting whenn I was out in Feb testing (cold). I have since switched to Herco, but I'm also considering Bullseye or Clays powder. I originally tried a WAA12SL wad, but it was too tall. I switched to a windjammer wad but the pedals were too thin and weak. Last go around I tried Downrange darkblue (xl1?). The fit was PERFECT with a 1oz slug but the accuracy was terrible. The pedals were all getting wrecked and the base was crushing. I have switched to 7/8oz slugs as they fit height wise better and reports are they fly better.
So on to a new idea. Ballistic products sells these "super short" wads which are great cause the slug can sit way up high. This helps the slug open the crimp instead of the pedals. I use a 20ga fiber wad with a 20ga mini-nitro card on top to get the slug to the proper height. The mini nitro prevents the slug from digging into the fiber wad. The slug fits in the wad well with the fiber wad raising it up. Both Herco and Blue Dot are thin extruded powders which have a tendency to slip past the wad base. I use a 1" paper punch and some orange tissue paper I had around in the closet). Newspaper works but I dont have one! Put it all together in a clear cheddite 2-3/4" hull with a 6 star crimp. I cooked up 50, and have yet to fire them. They certainly seem like they will be good in the accuracy dept, but I failed with the DR wad so you never know until you try. The tissue paper holds the powder in very well, and looks awesome!!!
on a side note the lee load all meters extruded powder but it spills some out the sides. I use the shot side of the load all with the 7/8oz bushing which throws 33.5gr of Herco. Perfect! I'll be using a powder measure in the future for extruded powders and shotshell.
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