HCH Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 I have been loading my own slugs for awhile and have had great luck, so I thought I'd share. I cast a 7/8 Lee slug from the same alloy that I make pistol billets. This slug is then loaded in a WAA12 wad over 18.5 grains of Titewad. The result is a very accurate, cheap, low recoiling slug. My cost is about 25 cents a shell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPatton Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 Hull? Primer? Roll or Fold Crimp? How do they group at 50 / 100 yards? Just curious because I've been rolling my own Lyman 525 gr sabot slugs for a long time and have shot some sub 3" groups at 50 yards with my recipe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgj3 Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 This seems like a handy way to never have to worry ab slugs. What are the tricks to loading accurate and reliable slug rounds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HCH Posted November 29, 2015 Author Share Posted November 29, 2015 Hull? Primer? Roll or Fold Crimp? How do they group at 50 / 100 yards? Just curious because I've been rolling my own Lyman 525 gr sabot slugs for a long time and have shot some sub 3" groups at 50 yards with my recipe. Hull: AA Primer: whatever I have at hand. Crimp: fold I've got 4" groups at 50 with a bad rest, and bead sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HCH Posted November 29, 2015 Author Share Posted November 29, 2015 This seems like a handy way to never have to worry ab slugs. What are the tricks to loading accurate and reliable slug rounds? I lucked into the accuracy, but the reliability, like all ammo, comes from consistency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokecloud Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 50 yards is where most slugs stop grouping well. You really need to stretch them out to see how they really perform. I like tinkering with rolling my own slugs and have spent quite a bit of time getting my 525 Lymans to shoot well. My current problem is that I have a good combo going with them, but they are labor intensive to make, but they shoot about 6" groups at 90 yards out of a smoothbore shotgun with a rifled choke tube, but at a price, they are running 1350fps, which still kicks a fair bit. If you are doing a slug heavy 3gun match, your shoulder might not be the same color at the end. I have considered trying my luck with the Lyman .678 round ball at around 900-1000fps for matches that have close targets. The round ball is about the easiest to cast and put together. I have done some work with the 1oz Lee, but I never tried the 7/8oz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPatton Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 My Lyman 525s are downloaded and running about 1100FPS from a 21" Benelli and a Light Mod choke. One thing that seems to improve accuracy is filling the base with hot glue and then cutting it off so the base is flat. Adds more to the process but seems to pay off downrange. One stage at the last Remington VersaMax Challenge match had a stage with 15 buckshot followed by 15 slug shots which ran from about 60 out to about 110 yards (I think) and after running about 30/40 yards I still managed to go one for one on the slugs. I'm sure no luck was involved. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokecloud Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 (edited) I had discovered the hotglue trick and that really was a turning point, well that and finally getting a good quality wad under it. Originally I had slugs keyholing at all velocities from 980 up to 1450fps. Drove me crazy and I simply gave up on it for about a year. Finally was able to get something other than claybuster wads and took another look at the recovered slugs, the skirts were giving way under pressure, so I started water quenching them, which cured the crumpling, but it was still shredding the wads, I tried nitro cards, and improved the results, but not completely and was running out of room inside my stack, so I tried my luck with the glue filled base, then razor blade off the excess. Once I got a winner, I loaded about 500 of them. I wanted a stockpile that would last the summer. Most matches are 5-10 slugs, but I have shot in the Ironman a couple of years and its pretty easy to shoot 150-200 slugs in 3 days, probably less since I installed adjustable turkey sights. The majority of the plates were out between 60-90 yards. I didn't shoot it last year, so I still have my stockpile and haven't had time to play with more slug development. I will try reducing my loads in the future. I was going to shoot for 1200fps if they are still stable at 90 and providing accuracy. From memory, I think I was running 28 gr of Longshot, a trimmed Federal S4 wad in a Gray AA hull. If your still getting good accuracy and stability at 1100fps, would you mind sharing your data. Edited February 1, 2016 by Smokecloud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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