slug loads

[usmc1963]

i have good loads worked up for the lee 7/8 and Lyman 525 but i keep trying differnt loads spent most of the day trying out new loads nothing worth talking about asked self how come self tells me keep shooting i think i am hooked on just sending lots of lead down range for the fun of it anyone other than me do that

[glenr1]

yes, I only punch holes in cardboard with slugs and mu KSG or Mossberg tac 12 at a local indoor ranger. No longer hunt and never was any good at the so called shotgun games of any description!

[Hogtamer]

Ooooh, you got it bad, and I'm afraid the only cure is more shooting! A bunch of us suffer the same ailment. Just the other day I was wondering what happened to that last 1000 primers I bought.....

[longbow]

There is something about sending that large lump of lead down range and seeing the large holes they make... that and the never ending quest for better long range smoothbore accuracy (I am begging to think that maybe I should try that new fangled rifling stuff).

I think if I was doing this all over again I would have more shotguns and muzzleloaders and less cartridge rifles. I like big bore and big 'ol round balls or slugs. If I get a rifled gun I will get a Paradox type slug mould because I just have to have one. Launching those babies down range will be hard on the lead supply for sure. Now those in zinc might be an idea 'eh Hogtamer?

It's all fun!

Longbow

[Hogtamer]

I got a bunch of lee 1 oz loaded in 3" hulls with Steel powder to try. Only loaded them in 2 3/4" in the past. This will be the magic combo!! yea, right....

[longbow]

Could be! You'll be eliminating that jump from hull to forcing cone so it can't hurt anyway.I've got some 3" hull saved up for some test work. In fact the next batch of Zlugs may be launched from 3" hulls.Longbow

[usmc1963]

400 federal 3inch hulls what to load in them the boss at work gave them to me he don't reload shot shells any good ideals on slug an buck shot loads

[lar45]

The flier with the Lee 1oz slug shows BlueDot pushing them to 1670fps!
I tried them from my 20" 1887 and got 1479, and 1623 from a 28" bbl.
BPI's slug manual shows loads for the 7/8oz LBC Sabot Slug around 2000fps from a 3" shell and 2150 from a 3 1/2" shell.


These are air cooled WW fired into wet clay


I was trying some different powders with the 1oz Lee slug and the front bead launched into orbit, lol.
Guess I need to get a barrel band front sight and maybe some type of Peep for the rear. Any suggestions for a good set of sights?

[Hogtamer]

I have had no success with accuracy and the Lee 1 oz slug in every combo I can come up with - 3" hulls being the last experiment. Big smiles with the 7/8 oz though, in 2 3/4" hulls, smoothbore (imp cyl) or rifled barrel. But a big pile of red and green hulls on the ground is kinda Christmassy though!

[gwpercle]

I have had no success with accuracy and the Lee 1 oz slug in every combo I can come up with - 3" hulls being the last experiment. Big smiles with the 7/8 oz though, in 2 3/4" hulls, smoothbore (imp cyl) or rifled barrel. But a big pile of red and green hulls on the ground is kinda Christmassy though!

That's interesting ! 1 oz. is a stinker and 7/8 oz. a winner....another mystery of life !

[OnHoPr]

That's interesting ! 1 oz. is a stinker and 7/8 oz. a winner....another mystery of life !

If you notice the design of the Lee 1 oz and the 7/8 oz you will notice that the taper of the 1 oz is much more pronounced than the 7/8 oz. IMO some shotguns forcing cone, lead, or whatever you want to call it comes into big play with the more pronounced version of the 1 oz. Even with the NC under the slug at ignition the cup wants to be pushed up into the taper around the circumference which bungies up the very connections of the wad pedals at their base connection. When the slug/wad cup comes out of the hull and travels that short distance of the lead/forcing cone before it actually gets into the barrel is where a lot of gunners IMO are getting their problems, especially with the petals being rip apart whether inconsistently or consistently. The softer the wad the more prone to damage. Opposite, the tougher the wad the more consistent it will be in certain shotties. Soft wads like the Claybusters and the WAA 12R and as well with a number of wads will be prone to damage. The 7/8 oz has much less taper which hinders the wad wanting to be pushed up into and around the slug making it more consistent with less damage. Back about 4 years ago a discussion came up about this scenario and a guy on here made a sizer for the Lee 1 oz squeezing the taper out of it. One of these days possibly I would like to get a sizer for the Lee 1 oz and then put it in something from BPI like the CDS wad cups which are tough for steel shot and range all the way up to .045 thickness, maybe more. If it is not sized it will bulge the hull and will not chamber with the heavy duty wads. Though, I suppose there isn't a whole lot of difference between the 1 oz and the 7/8 oz when it comes to hitting a deer in the ribs. Both have the tough Drive Key design to prevent squatting like a pancake if a raking shot was needed to get good penetration. The BCs are probably similar, but you should be able to get the 7/8 oz going a little faster which would help on those 10 mph crosswinds @ 100 yds.

[Hogtamer]

BTW, my most recent testing with 1 oz was with some perfect slugs cast by OnHoPr so the problem was not the slugs! New 3" Win 3" hulls, correct components and the wads could have been used again. Shot out of both IC smoothbore and USH rifled. One target for 7/8 (some old stock 2 3/4" loads) and one for the 1 oz. Alternated shots @ each target @ 50 yds, 10 shots each. 2 of the 7/8 flew a little but still a 6" group counting them. The other 8 made a big ragged 4" hole. The 1 oz made at best a 12" spread with a couple off paper. The smoothbore was open sights. tHis is not ny first sxs comparison, just the latest. One thing that stands out to me is how front heavy the 7/8 slugs are. Lay it down on it's side and it flips up to stand on it's nose. This old traditional archer knows that forward weighting = good flight, everything else being in order. Shoot an arrow with no point (weight evenly distributed length of shaft) and see what happens. Shoot one properly tuned to bow with weight 12% forward and no fletch necessary. That's the best I can come up with after shooting thousands of these things.

[OnHoPr]

One thing I forgot to mention, those slugs were cast 50/50 50% lead on one side and 50% tin on the other side to make them wobble properly out of my crooked barrel shotty, to correct flight behaviors.

Like I have said a number of times I think it has something to do with the individual shotties. I have shot those into 1 - 1.5" groups at 50 yd, just not consistently. The actual weight of the 1 oz slug may ponderingly be the culprit with the wad failures. Whereas the 7/8 is lighter and may not be as drastic on ignition to the wad. One other thing to think about is how the taper is designed being narrower at the base. If the wad column collapse on a cant, which many do, on ignition the slug will tip in the barrel under pressure. So that the side of one linear point of the slug will have more pressure on it to the inside of the barrel than the other side. IMO whether rifled or smooth when it comes out of the barrel it may stabilized more quickly with the smoothbore because of the weight forward design, but with the rifled barrel when this happens the slug's tail end will make it wobble in flight, being hard to correct even with the weight forward design because of the rotation. Like fishtailing while driving in the snow. Junior1492, my condolences, as well as a few others have got minute of deer groups with the 1 oz @ 100 yds with the published data loads. Why do not all shotguns perform with the simple Gold Medal hull, Blue dot, AA wad and the slug with a crimp, it is because all shotguns are different internally. I use to hunt with a ole good ole boy retired Kantuckian back 30 years ago. He mentioned one very important statement that has proven to be true. BARRELS, shotgun barrels, they are all different whether they are MOD, IMP, FULL, or rifled. That is why whether you are using it for grouse, turkey, squirrel, duck, or deer you should always pattern your shotgun.

[longbow]

Strangely, one of the most accurate slugs, if not the most accurate, I have shot form my smoothbores was a TC design from a mould I made to Greg Sappington's spec's for use in thick petal steel shot wads. I converted a solid TC base pour mould to a hollow base nose pour mould with straight sidewalls at about 0.654" diameter then paper patched up to a loose slide fit to bore. Slug weight was 525 grs. and accuracy ran around 3" at 50 yards ~ as good or better than my round ball loads. This seemed at the time to be repeatable and I shot many good groups after discovering something.

When I first tried there was deep snow and accuracy was not too good and somewhat inconsistent. In the spring I recovered slugs shot into about 4' deep of soft snow so undamaged. All showed a bell shape to the skirt ~ being flared out at the base.

I oven heat treated another batch and all of a sudden I had consistent good accuracy. Why didn't I pursue that you ask? Well, mostly, I didn't want to have to heat treat all my slugs and thought a thicker skirt would solve that. However, now after years of messing about with this stuff I am thinking that maybe I will revisit that slug design and heat treat some more to see if I get repeat good performance.

On the subject of fit, contrary to what Ajay used to say about a snug push through the barrel I have found that a loose push through has done better in my guns. My suspicion is that if the fit of slug/wad/barrel is too tight the wad petals lose the battle. If a slip fit then there is some room for the slug to expand/obturate a little without crushing petals. That also fits in with the heat treated slugs performing better ~ no petal squish.

Still that is assumptions and guessing on my part. I have to get back to testing and hope to later this winter. I am out of work now so will have time... no money but time.

Longbow

[lar45]

I've been playing with the Lee 1oz in my 1887 Norinco copy with 20" bbl
This is the Lee load of 49gns BlueDot. They shot fairly well at 25 yds offhand with only a bead on the front to aim with.


My last round of testing with Longshot launched the front bead into orbit.
So now I'm looking at options of putting a regular ramp front sight and a peep in the rear.
Brownells has some good looking options, but I'm going to have to guess at the profile of the action to hopefully matchup with something else.

This shorty front ramp should work great.


A Williams rear peep sight looks like it would work great except I'm going to have to guess at which action profile will come close to the 1887.

[rsrocket1]

I found that sticking with just a moderate load behind the Lee 1 oz slug gives very decent accuracy. I have no desire to knock my shoulder off with these loads and am used to shooting 100-150 shots while skeet shooting using 3/4 oz 12 gauge loads. 12-1400 fps is enough for me to plink with. Since this is my skeet gun, I can only sight down the edge of the vent rib because it only has 1 bead in the front.



I'm now working on a load using Titegroup with a Claybuster Lightning (CB-4100-12B) wad. The 1 ounce slug fits perfectly in that wad without fillers or bulging and allows for a perfect crimp. I'm getting right around 1200 fps with 18g and a crisp light recoil and clean burn.

[victorfox]

Man that 24gr of unique is a winner to me hands down...

[jmort]

.68"caliber 430 grain +/- slug at 1,200 fps is a small freight train. That it has little recoil is a big bonus.

[Retumbo]

I'm now working on a load using Titegroup with a Claybuster Lightning (CB-4100-12B) wad. The 1 ounce slug fits perfectly in that wad without fillers or bulging and allows for a perfect crimp. I'm getting right around 1200 fps with 18g and a crisp light recoil and clean burn.

I am just getting all my stuff together. I am planning on using AA hulls, CB-4100-12B wad and some HS6. Going to have to dig out my chrono tomorrow.

[mac1911]

I got into taking all my mystery lead and zinc to make 1oz Lee slugs. Mine are powder puffs with 16.5 grains of clays. I have enough accuracy to hit 6" plates out to 50 yards with out much effort.