12 ga slug moulds

curseyou

curseyou

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Best I can find on the intertubes for 12 ga shotgun slugs is the Lyman 525 giant pellet. I hear the lee key CAN work in specific circumstances but is finnicky. While the webs say this is the more consistent choice.

ht tp://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/bullet-casting/mould-details-shotgun.php?entryID=86

Is this the best on the market? Pros/cons point me in a better direction? I'm New to shotgun reloading so advice is most welcome.
 
I just bought the lee one ounce. A lot of issues are when the wad embeds itself in the slug base. A 16 gauge over shot card between the wad and the slug helps

Still putting together components but took a break over Christmas so my stuff would not get lost in the mail :)
 
Most agree that the Lee 7/8 ounce slug is better than the 1 ouncer in smoothbores. Keep an eye on 314299 Shooting Channel on Youtube. He's recently bought a Lyman 525 gn mold and has been busy casting slugs. He'll be reporting on his results as soon as he has results to report on.
 
I've found the Lee 1oz to be less finicky and easier to get to shoot well than the 7/8oz ones. This was in two different 870's (18.5" and 24" smooth bores) so not too much variety in shotguns. I remember trying some in a Hatsan semi a couple years ago but didn't pursue it too much and have since sold that shotgun.
 
I have played around,
I found the Lee 7/8 slug to be a great all around slug.
The mould comes with handles and is under 30$cdn. You can buy the mould and all the right sized components from Henry at Budget Shooter.
The 7/8 slugs are nice and nose heavy, they can make some reasonable groupings, out performing foster slugs. They are easy to cast and you can pump them out with a little practice. You just have to get it all dialed in.
The Lee 7/8 is a great place to start.

The Lyman 525gr slug is very different. At 90$usd without handles, it is more of an investment. The slug is 20% heavier which has its pros and cons. Felt recoil is huge, and your lead supply will dry up much faster.
One the other side, accuracy is no better, but the energy on impact must be much, much higher.
I have been working on keeping the wad from driving itself into the back of the slug.
They are a little more cumbersome to cast, but who is rushing?
Fewer folks are reloading with this mould so there is much more load development and component sourcing necessary.
I am sure there are ten guys with Lee moulds for every Lyman 525.

Both are great and rewarding to play with.
 
I really want to try the heavy lyman slugs to I just got a bunch of full length brass hulls to load them in just having a hard time finding reloading data for the brass hulls and smokeless powder
 
I agree that lee makes great inexpensive molds. Im only not pleased with the results from various you tube channels. Every video I saw showed groups cut in half with the lyman 525.

This will be used in an 870 with smooth and rifled barrels. They will see mostly target with the more critical application of hunting on the rare occasion. so accuracy is my prime concern. I also dont mind recoil because I have the mesa leo grip with enidine recoil absorbing buffer tube. I can shoot slugs all day long :D.

also, recomended books?
 
My groups were cut in half with the Lee slugs by using a 20g .125" fibre wad under the slug inside the shotcup.
Without the fibre wad, the plastic wads I recovered were pretty brutally wrecked. The wad had an uneven imprint of the base of the slug, often 1/4" deep, and pedals were pinched off. That stopped with the 20ga fibre wads.
 
LUTNIT said:
My groups were cut in half with the Lee slugs by using a 20g .125" fibre wad under the slug inside the shotcup.
Without the fibre wad, the plastic wads I recovered were pretty brutally wrecked. The wad had an uneven imprint of the base of the slug, often 1/4" deep, and pedals were pinched off. That stopped with the 20ga fibre wads.
Click to expand...

what kinda groups do you get at 50 and 100y with the lee?
 
I have been casting the Lee 7/8 Oz as well, I've been loading it in a 1 1/8 Oz winchester AA wad with two wads of a thin rubber flooring material I had on hand, and punched out under the slug, on top of a heavy load of titegroup. Seems to fit the bill. It shoots more accurately than I do through my rifled choke 870 with ghost ring sights. It also went through the 10 inch cedar tree I tried it out on, and the recoil is alot less than factory slugs.
 
I have and uses the Lee 7/8 and 1 oz. I uses the 1oz more , shoots better, easy to make up loads.I wouldn't buy anything else. I have a Mossberg with a rifled barrel. Very accurate. The big pellets I've never used, look at some utube videos before buying the Lee molds.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8mM8eaTSFODu1QpedvpInA
Before you buy , take a look at this guys utube channel, he has a section on shotgun molds.
Cheers
Brian
 
I found the most accurate slug to be the Lyman 525 out of a rifled barrel. I need to do more testing with the Lee slugs to find a load worth mass producing. Lee's biggest downfall is very little load data for its slugs. Wish I had the time to play more with the 7/8 ounce slug as I want to like it the most because it isn't too hard on my lead supplies. The Lyman 525 is a beast - the hardest kicking gun I own is my shotgun shooting these pellets.
 
and so it starts...


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I bought the lee 1oz just because it was available. I will definitely try the Lyman. Man those groups are outrageous. The deer will know me by name if I can get loads like that.
 
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