I bought a Lee 7/8 oz slug mold a few months ago to play around with. My goal is to work up a light load that I can use to hit a 6" pie plate at 50 yards consistently. I am using wheel weight lead because that is what I have. My shotgun is a Beretta 1301 Competition model. No sights just a bead and it is not rifled. I have a light mod and skeet choke for it. I have been using my light mod as I found it to give me better accuracy. But I will try the skeet again once I find a decent load.
I have scoured the internet to gain as much information I can on slug loads. But there really isn't much out there. I am using light trap load data for two reasons. I want the reduced recoil and have read that slugs produce less pressure than the same shot load. So my loads should be safe. Velocities should be around 1200 fops.
Sourcing components for any shotgun reloading is difficult. Especially wads. I trim the wad height and use a 5/8" gasket punch to make cardboard fillers for wads when required. I may try different material if I can come up with anything else. I have 3 Powders to work with. 700x, Clays and Universal Clays. Today I headed to the range with 12 different loads. I fired 3 shots each while seated but no rest. I am consistently getting one flyer in the groups about 10-12".
Best loads were: (all loaded with Lee 7/8 oz slugs)
Win AA hull, 16.0 Clays, Fed 209A primer, Fed 12SO wad, 2 shots touching 1 - 8" out
WinAA, 17.1 Clays, Win 209, Fed 12SO, 2 - 3" apart, 1 -10" out
Federal Gold Medal hull, 18.0 Clays, Chedite 209 primer, Fed 12S3, 2 - 4" apart 1 - 12" out
FGM, 23.0 Universal Clays, Fed 209A, Fed 12S3, 2 - 4" apart 1 - 10" out
I will try the top two loads again. I may try using hot glue to fill the base. I read somewhere this may help. Although it was for the Lyman slug mold not the Lee. But with a try.
Always looking for additional information, suggestions or thoughts.....
I have scoured the internet to gain as much information I can on slug loads. But there really isn't much out there. I am using light trap load data for two reasons. I want the reduced recoil and have read that slugs produce less pressure than the same shot load. So my loads should be safe. Velocities should be around 1200 fops.
Sourcing components for any shotgun reloading is difficult. Especially wads. I trim the wad height and use a 5/8" gasket punch to make cardboard fillers for wads when required. I may try different material if I can come up with anything else. I have 3 Powders to work with. 700x, Clays and Universal Clays. Today I headed to the range with 12 different loads. I fired 3 shots each while seated but no rest. I am consistently getting one flyer in the groups about 10-12".
Best loads were: (all loaded with Lee 7/8 oz slugs)
Win AA hull, 16.0 Clays, Fed 209A primer, Fed 12SO wad, 2 shots touching 1 - 8" out
WinAA, 17.1 Clays, Win 209, Fed 12SO, 2 - 3" apart, 1 -10" out
Federal Gold Medal hull, 18.0 Clays, Chedite 209 primer, Fed 12S3, 2 - 4" apart 1 - 12" out
FGM, 23.0 Universal Clays, Fed 209A, Fed 12S3, 2 - 4" apart 1 - 10" out
I will try the top two loads again. I may try using hot glue to fill the base. I read somewhere this may help. Although it was for the Lyman slug mold not the Lee. But with a try.
Always looking for additional information, suggestions or thoughts.....
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