FINALLY...a nice day and I got to work on my lathe and reloading bench.



In the picture...

Tope case...3" Brass RMC...left side - fired 3" Cheddite with a 650 gr brass slug and dark gas blowby...right side - new, unfired 3" Cheddite case and bottom is a 3" fired Cheddite case with a 665 gr slug from my Mountain Molds two cavity .628" as cast wheel weight slug mold.

I made a heater to heat form the plastic around the slugs and that is what holds the slugs in the loaded cases. I also star and roll crimp.

The slugs...left side 620 gr, nose is turned off the 665 gr slugs to lighten...middle slug, I modified one cavity to add weight...tried for 750 gr but missed, it weighs 743 gr. Right slug is the 743 with the nose turned 30° angle and it weighs 658 gr.

So far today after turning down a barrel od, I tested AA2495 with the 658 gr pointy's up to 90 gr ~1530 fs/~9600 psi/3420 ftlbs/~56 ftlbs recoil...pretty much equal to a 338 WM with a 250 gr bullet at ~2800 fs. Not too bad for a low-velo shotgun not much faster than a 22LR.

BC isn't too bad either at ~0.48 so it will hold the velo fairly well. With a 125 yd zero...~2.8" hi at 75 yds and 3" low at 150with 2680 ftlbs remaining energy.

I checked my notes...I worked up a 625 gr slug to slightly over 2000 fs using AA2495 which puts it into the 500 NE ball park...~5600 ftlbs with a bullet that's about 18% larger in dia.

Again...not too bad except for the 125 ft lbs of recoil in an 11# gun.

I take it that you are using a rifled barrel with your rounds. I was real interested until I saw the slugs you had cast because I don't have a rifled barrel and bullets just tumble when they leave the barrel.

I do load a round ball load for my 20 ga. with a wad fastened to the lead ball to stabilize the round ball. I get 1.5 and 2" groups at 100 yards which is much better than the best factory slug loads from my gun. As you can imagine they lose velocity fast with that wad on the back so my shooting is limited to 100 yards or less. My chronograph recorded 1523 fps at 3 yards but the recoil is no different than a heavy field load.

Actually whether a slug "tumbles" or not depends on several factors...slug design, velocity, bore fit, weight, twist rate in the rifled bores, etc...there are a lot of factory slugs that shoot well in smooth bores and harvest game every year.

Many of todays slugs aren't anywhere close to grandpa's yesteryear offerings.

Whether or not a barrel is rifled or smooth and whether or not the slug is "stabilized" depends on all those same factors...you just have to develop a load that works.

I have turned brass slugs to cylinder bore dia for my Mossy's and Rem's with cylinder bore choke tubes. Some designs went into the target slightly to fully sideways and some didn't, at 50 and 100 yds.

Some used with WAA12 and SP12 wads did the same...some went south and some worked great.

The same with my cast and modified slugs...in both rifled and smooth bores

I just picked up a cheap Maverick 12 ga O/U, 28" to play with and installed cylinder bore tubes.

So far with factory Rem "slugger" 1 oz loads, Dixie Tri-balls and Dixie Terminators, Win 00 and 0000 buck and slug and some no longer made police buck and slug, including sabots, most shots go into a 9" pie plate from 50 to 85 yds shooting by just sighting down the barrel and using the front bead sight.

I haven't tried any of my cast slugs in it yet...need to cast some more...the sun came out and so did my Moto Guzzi and my new Umarex "Octane" pellet rifle came yesterday so the shotguns are languishing in obscurity for a few days.

I have a set of Marble front and rear sights headed my way and will install a weaver base for a scope that should help with reducing the pattern, my eyes are just whizz poor for open sights. Recoil is a bit rough with some of those loads in a 7.5 lb gun and lousy factory recoil pad.

Round balls, slugs and heavy field load in the 20 ga are in the 345 gr to ~550 gr range...only the Brenneke 3" 1 oz gets close to 1500 fs in a 3" case...so your load sounds very interesting.


How heavy and what is the dia of your 20 ga round balls???

I've read many threads about shooting round balls, but haven't yet delved into that aspect...always have WAY too many items on my plate and haven't found that "round toit" yet...pun intended...hahahahaha

Nice work ! How do you manage to turn those bullets in your lathe without leaving clamp marks? mine all do. I have been loading some 450 grains bullets with 42 grains of 4227,25 grains of 4756, and 25 grains of blue dot. I have yet to chrono them, but plan to do so soon. I am using magtech brass, and B&P plastic hulls

I use a collet holder and/or clamp lightly in a 3 jaw, then use a fast speed and light cut. I get clamp marks in the 3 jaw if I get ham fisted with the locking tool.

Right now I'm using Quick Load to work out which weight slug gives the highest velocity and energy at 12KPSI for use in a cheap O/U smooth bore for home protection and ~75 yds in hunting in a cylinder bore...500-550 seems to fit best.

I ordered Marble front and rear sights and cylinder choke tubes then found a cheap used Stoeger Condor...both have thin barrels at each end but will handle 12KPSI and I will cut the Stoeger down to 16.5"

The Lyman 525 Sabot fits the bill nicely with reloading info in the Lyman Shotgun manual.

My 666 gr slug modified to 550 gr with a hollow base seems to be the "best" compromise with 1825 fs/4050 ftlbs energy and 61 ftlbs recoil.

Be sure to cover your chrono with a 3/8 - 1/2" thick plywood faceplate to keep the wads from ruining your day.

I wiped out the front sky screen on my Oehler 33 by being a dum-bass...all it took was the first shot...I use 1/8" wood dowels now instead of the wire stays now and made a plywood deflector that fits both my Oehler and Beta chrony.

Ed Hubel on the 12ga from hell thread has this subject covered well. I use lots of his information to decide which course to take for my requirements.

Yep have blown my chrony silly too but with my .600, there is just too much muzzle blast, or maybe I was closer than I should have been, I am currently making some baffles to deflect the blast a bit, and going to make the sky covers out of heavier aluminum, and the plastic one just blow off. I have followed some of Eds stuff, but frankly, he scares the heck out of me with his loads, and none of them ate in doubles, or at least not that I know of.

With large bore, high gas volume rifles you have to get back 20-30 yds sometimes...I've had the same problem. Using lighter materials such as wood stays and venetian blind, opaque diffusers, will save your sky screen "eye" if you hit a stay...heavier stuff just turns into a piece of shrapnel.

I've clipped off a 1/8" wooden stay more than once when the hiccups happen at the wrong time and haven't lost anything more than the dowel or a diffuser. Cheap and easy to replace...I have several stays and a few diffusers already made up just in case.

No, Eds' loads are for relatively specific rifles like the NEF USH, Savage bolt shotguns, R #1's, Mossy's, Rem 870's. He gives pressure data and the rifles it can be used in, usually.

A healthy dose of safety concerns and horse sense has to accompany ANY experimental stuff. I've shot a lot of his and RIP's loads without having any pressure problems...other than getting the dog sh** knocked out of me by pressure on the shoulder.

I've pretty much work out half a dozen loads, one or two each for various shooters that I can survive.

The whole thing is what you can develop on the bench and what is actually useful in the field are two completely different things.

I can tie down or use a lead sled to develop a god-awful load but if I can't recover quickly from the recoil in the field the point becomes moot. You basically get one shot...if something goes amiss then you're SOL...all of my loads for the 12 and 20 are in the 60-80 ftlbs recoil which I have no problem handling...no more than any of my large bores or heavy shotgun loads.

The "home protection" loads are designed for close in stuff...1 to 5 yds, two or 4 legged and will be maximized with a BIG FLAT NOSE, heavier than normal slug weight and fairly low recoil and high impact so recoil recovery/reloading is not hampered by a gun jumping up and smacking me in the face or out of my hands.

Be mindful and careful.

quote:

Originally posted by NONAGONAGIN:
Round balls, slugs and heavy field load in the 20 ga are in the 345 gr to ~550 gr range...only the Brenneke 3" 1 oz gets close to 1500 fs in a 3" case...so your load sounds very interesting.


How heavy and what is the dia of your 20 ga round balls???

I've read many threads about shooting round balls, but haven't yet delved into that aspect...always have WAY too many items on my plate and haven't found that "round toit" yet...pun intended...hahahahaha

For my 20 ga. I use a 300 grain soft lead round ball - I believe it is .590 diameter but I would have to check to be sure.
The load was developed in Federal Plastic target cases using 24.0 gr of SR4756 with a Remington SP20 wad and a Federal 209 primer.

That sounds about right for the ball size...and a very nice load to shoot...0.590" OD for the ball plus the thickness of the petals running about 0.023" each side makes for a nice snug barrel fit...accuracy should be good also....Is it????

The extractor on my 20 snapped off right at the bend junction and locked up the rifle...had to strip it completely down to get it apart, the straight piece had been pushed by spring pressure back under the latch and stopped by the hammer...about 3/4"...half in and half out so to speak. I had to replace the latch and the opening lever as the small bumps on both sheared/broke off at the same time.

I've had both pieces break at different times on different receivers so I ordered 5 each several years ago when parts were hard come-by...now the pieces and parts are available through Brownells.

Don't know what caused the lash up as the case almost fell out while I was mucking around getting it apart. The bend had a frosted appearance dark appearance like it had been cracked for a while...glad it happened when I was load testing NOT when a P.O.'ed sage rat was attacking.

The Handi is definitely NOT a DGR by any stretch of the imagination and I compound that by mucking about with them constantly. Left stock with stock calibers it is relatively reliable, tho'. They are just so easy to mess with, I can't keep from doing it.

quote:

Originally posted by NONAGONAGIN:
That sounds about right for the ball size...and a very nice load to shoot...0.590" OD for the ball plus the thickness of the petals running about 0.023" each side makes for a nice snug barrel fit...accuracy should be good also....Is it????

The ball is accurate but it slows down faster than I would like with the plastic base attached. At 100 yards it shoots five into a 1 3/4" group. It might do better with a scope as my eyes are old and just having a front bead to work with is hard to get a consistent sight picture. the load was worked up and fired in a cheap "Pride of Brazil" break open single but I am going to try it in my old Wards model 16M bolt action 20 ga. when I can find a better "tail" to attach. I would like to find a cup designed for a muzzle loader with an "H" cross section that I can cut the top of the "H" off and still have it seat in a pocket to eliminate most of the drag. It stabilizes on the "shuttle-cock" principle and does not spin.

I am glad to hear that there are others who plan ahead with spare parts - I have spare parts for guns I have sold!?? but they might still be useful.