Rifled barrel slug accuracy
- Thread starter GcG166
- Start date
Rifled slug barrels are very ammo sensitive ..... your rifled barrel might like one particular sabot/slug .... and not another.
With that being said, it all depends if your barrel gets along with your Lee slugs ..... and there is only one way to find out ....
You can expect something in the range of 3 inches to 10 inches groups at 100 meters.
If you get a 2" groups .... that would be very good!
With that being said, it all depends if your barrel gets along with your Lee slugs ..... and there is only one way to find out ....
You can expect something in the range of 3 inches to 10 inches groups at 100 meters.
If you get a 2" groups .... that would be very good!
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I use the Lyman 12 ga slug. First three shots are always three inches or under. The barrel starts to heat up after three shots , the next two shots always enlarge the group to about 4 1/2 inches. If I fire any more with the barrel being hot the group increases to about eight inches. When I did my slug testing I always let the barrel cool before I fired another three shot group. Five deer so far 40 to 90 meters. Four spine shots and one head shot. Try different combinations of wads, cases and powder. The Lyman manual has a lot of recipes for the Lyman slug. I don’t know how many options for published loads for the Lee slugs as I haven’t used it.
If you want to try sabots .... Hornady SST Sabot Slugs or Remington AccuTips have a reputation to shoot well out of many different barrels/rifled shotguns.
With respect to your cast Lee slugs .... those slugs are not full bore .... they are undersized ... and in your gun/barrel ... and how you load them ... they might not engage the rifling correctly.
1.) You can try to reduce the powder load ... and that might help to gain some accuracy.
2.) You can try a thicker wad ... or a Teflon wrap within the shot cup ... or even a paper wrap around the slug (but within the shotcup) ... and to increase the diameter .... and so that the wad/slug engages the rifling better.
Also, try to find a wad that was shot with one of those Lee slugs .... the wad will tell you what is happening ...
But to be honest .... those Lee slugs are not known for stellar accuracy ..... they are more known as a cheap plinking solution ...
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I'm now to loading slugs. The slug in the wad is tight in the barrel. I wasn't sure if that was what it was supposed to like. I camt see the rifling making much contact with the slug through the wad. I can try adding something to make it a little tighter in the barrel and try that.
The wad is definitely being grabbed by the rifling. I found quite a few
From what I saw online they seemed to be good for accuracy. I got a good deal on the mold so if they dont shoot amazing it's no big deal
The slug inside the wad will grip the rifling. The two biggest issues I had was over heating the barrel during testing and trying a different recipe until I found one that worked well. Think of your shotgun as a 12 ga rifle. Develope a load for it. Try a different load and groups will get smaller. I tried about eight different loads before I settled on one. My slugs are cast out of pure lead with sorting for imperfections. I found two loads that gave excellent accuracy but one load shot fourteen inches low. Do some experiments and see what your gun likes best.
GcG166, if you feel like tinkering with that load ... and if the wads pedals are not shorn off ... and if the the wads indicate that the projectile engages the rifling correctly ... here is what I would try:
1.) Add a 20ga nitro card in the shotcup and underneath the Lee slug ....or even better two if possible ...
2.) Reduce the powder load .... test ... reduce more ... test ... etc.
3.) Paper wrap the slug and inside the shot cup
Hope this helps ....
I guess it was last year that I encountered a delighted old gentleman at the club who had been given a rather large number of factory made 12G sabot slugs and was completely delighted with how accurate they were in his rifled barrel. If sheer shooting happiness in another shooter is any gauge, I would certainly give them a try- if I had a shotgun with a rifled barrel.
- Location
- Southern Vancouver Island
The sabot slugs from Slus-R-Us are great performers on game inside 100 yds. These 1.25 oz, wide meplat beasties shoot well from many of the rifled 12 ga guns
out there. Ye don't gotta push 'em much past 1400 fps to get the job done on fat critters up close either. They ship these in packs of 20 to Canada.
out there. Ye don't gotta push 'em much past 1400 fps to get the job done on fat critters up close either. They ship these in packs of 20 to Canada.
