Originally Posted by
JeepsAndGuns
I seem to remember seeing somewhere online, where someone (or many people) were talking about filling the hollow base of a 12GA home cast (lee key drive or lyman) sabot slug with wax or hot glue. The idea was that it would help keep the wad from getting pushed up into the hollow base of the slug and causing it to stick in the base of the slug, which would then cause bad accuracy.
I have been shooting some slugs I have been casting at home using a russian made slug mold that is a copy of the lyman sabot slug, but the mold came with 4 different inserts for the base to change the size/depth of the hollow base, making the slug different weights. The slugs I have cast weigh 428 gr, 462 gr, 494 gr, and 520 gr. This is with the mix of lead I have that includes old shot, scrap, wheel weights, lino type, pure lead, etc.. It is just a random mix.
Anyways I have been having really good results with all these slugs and am very happy with the mold. However I do find some of the wads on the ground and can see where most of them always show signs of getting push up into the hollow base.
I have used both a WT12 wad (same as a WAA12) and a downrange clone of the older WAA12F114. With the WT12 wads, I just push them in and crimp. With the WAA12F114 being a slightly longer shot cup, I can place a 20GA 1/8in felt under it to get a good crimp.
When I shoot the ones with the felt under the slug, there is slightly less noticeable deforming of the wad into the base of the slug, but it is still present. I have come to prefer the loads using the WAA12F114 wads just for this reason. I can not fit one of the felts in the WT12 wad and get a proper crimp (it is domed)
I feel like if I can stop the wad from pushing into the base (or reduce it), accuracy may improve slightly. Not that these loads/slugs are not accurate(by my standards anyways), I just always seek for better accuracy in everything I shoot.
This takes me back to the original question. Filling the base with either wax or hot glue. Seems like this would give a better more flat area for the wad to push against.
I remember reading that it does not add enough weight to the slugs to make any significance difference in the pressures. When I try to search for this online, all I get is stuff about people making slugs out of wax or glue, but I can not seem to find where people are filling the base of lead slugs with the wax or glue. I have seen a couple thread on here this morning with passing mentions of doing this, but no specific discussions about it.
So who has/does it and what was your results? Do you prefer wax or hot glue, and why?
Thanks.
To answer a couple questions I am sure I will get.
For the 428, 462, and 494 grain slugs, I have been using data for 1-1/8 oz shot. For the 520gr slug, my lyman manual had data for the lyman 525gr slug, but I only have 1 of the powders they list, and accuracy was not great. So I have been using data for 1-1/4 oz shot with some HS6 and longshot and been getting much better results.
I have all but stopped using the lee key drive slug (it is the one ounce version) after I started using the russian copy of the lyman sabot slug.
With the lee, I was using a load made for 1-1/8 shot and a WT12 wad (same as WAA12). I had to add a 1/4 inch felt wad under it to get a crimp that was not dished in, because of how short the slug is. Accuracy was not bad, but not great.
The lyman sabot slug copy, I can use the lighter versions of it with 1-1/8 load data and the same WT12 wad, but there is not enough room to place a felt under it, as it takes up the whole space in the shot cup. However it still has slightly better accuracy than the lee.
I have been using 1-1/4 oz load data with the 520gr slug and been using the downrange WAA12F114 clone wad. On that one I can place a 1/8 felt under the slug and get a perfect crimp. However I still get wads that show that they are getting pushed into the base.
I did just find data in my lyman manual for 1-1/8 field load using longshot and a WAA12F114. I tried that with the 494gr slugs and since it was the longer shot cup wad, I would use a 1/8in felt under it. I got the best accuracy yet with them.
I can not imagine that with as dense and heavy as lead is, and as light and less dense as wax is, that it could add a significant enough amount of weight to effect pressures.