Reloading shotgun Slugs

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msg.drew

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I have a quite rare remington 870 laminated thumbhole shotgun, infact I have never seen another one like it. I use for deer hunting its a really nice rig has a leupold 2*8*33 very accurate normally it will shoot three shot groups with all the slugs touching each other.

I reload rifle and handgun ammo right now I know they make presses for reloading skeet and shotshells... but is there anything on the market that will let me make my own sabots?

I like the winchester premier gold 385 grain shells but there 15 bucks for 5. I would like to shoot this gun more but if I spend 100 bucks on shells i would get about thirty

I know its possible all you would have to do is instead of droping in shot replace it with a 54 cal sabot and sleve and find a way to roll the shell edge over so its like factory.
 
Loading slugs on most presses can be tedious. It is not as easy as reloading shot. Slugs most be individually placed, seated firmly on powder charge with the use of appropriate dowel, 40 lb wad pressure, etc, etc. Factory slugs are highly refined with respect to performance, and most reloaders will be unable to duplicate their performance. Seldom will the necessary 6 inch group be obtained with a reloaded slugs at any range past 45-50 yards.
 
Shotgun slugs can be reloaded by hand(without machine) with a few inexpensive hand tools hand crafted, a punch to knock out the old primer, wooden dowel(around 11/16") used w/a hammer on flat hard surface to prime, throw powder charge from a powder measure, cast slugs(or moulds) can be bought, some use regular shotshell wads, some don't use a wad, I use a 12 ga. round ball, card and felt wads, crimping is done with a drill or a drill press and a roll crimping tool, avail. from Lyman, Ballistic Products, or the guy in Alberta that handles Ballistic Products. I loaded many diff. gauge shotshells with shot or ball or slug, smokeless or Black Powder and never had a problem!
 
interesting information... so lets say I go down to walmart and buy a 100 pack of 7.5 trap loads... and open them up and remove the shot... weigh the shot and replace it with a slug of the same weight would it work or blow up my gun?

I am mainly looking to shoot them out of a combat shotgun at max 20 yards but if it works I would like to taylor loads for my hunting gun.

If you used the same powders and projectiles as factory slugs why would the not produce the same results. I am shooting 100 to 200 yards with my slug gun and getting rifle results... of course the bullet holes are three times bigger but the groups are still tight.

where would I find reloading data for slugs ?
 
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Lee makes a slug mould so you can cast your own out of soft, pure lead and load in place of shot in a shotcup/wad. Use appropriate load data only. DO NOT just "replace" a shot charge in a factory load with any old slug that weighs the same. A blow-up could happen!
 
Shotgun slugs

msg.drew,

I regularly shoot home rolled Lee "Drive-Key" slugs.

Like you I was appalled at the cost of factory slugs. So, after a lot of research I decided to make my own.

First, let's get one thing straight. You can take or leave anything I say, I won't be offended. What I do works (very well) for me but I can't make any promises that you will have the same success.

One of the best sources of info on the net is "Shotgun World" and the handiest book is Lyman's Reloading for Shotgunners.

I have used round balls and Lyman slugs. I settled on the Lee Drive-Keys as they are by far the easiest to load.

I cast my slugs from wheel weights (WW). It does say in the directions that come with the mould to only use pure lead but that is simply because that is the only alloy that the manufacturer can promise will work as intended.

WW work just fine. I am not worried about expansion as I am only shooting target, not game. Also, as the slug is encased by the wad it never touched the barrel so there are no concerns about leading.

I started loading with an old Lee 12 gauge hand kit that I purchased off eBay. I then moved on to a MEC Steelmaster, which is basically a supped-up MEC 600.

Loading could hardly be more simple. Once the wad is inserted in the wad guide and rammed down into the shell to compress the powder I remove the shell from the press and insert the slug. I simply press it down with my thumb. Than I finish off with a normal crimp.

After 1200 rounds I have had one failure, a blooper, that was entirely my fault for getting distracted during a reloading session and forgetting to put the powder in the shell! Of course that blooper showed up right in the middle of the long course during an IPSC three-gun match!

I gave up on the Lyman slugs and the round balls as the need for felt wads, under-shot and over-shot cards etc became a real pain-in-the-backside, and just added to the expense. Using a regular plastic wad and the Drive-Key slug is so much easier than trying to get a good roll crimp.

Shooting my home-rolled slugs through Mossberg 590A1 with a cylinder bore barrel I can regularly drop IPSC plates and poppers at 100 yards. As long as the front sight is where it needs to be when I pull the trigger of course! ;)

If you have any questions feel free to ask.
 
Get yourself Lyman Shotshell Reloading Handbook 4th Edition.
There you will find recipes for their 525 gr. sabot slug.
The slug looks like giant air rifle pellet and for sabot you use regular
shot cup but the best part is that it uses a fold crimp.
Tried them in rifled 870 and they worked great.
 
I was looking more for jacketed 54cal 385 grain simmilar to what I would find in my hunting slugs for 870 thumbhole and for my shorty shotgun a round ball would be fine its not as much fun when your shooting 7.5 shot at a target.
 
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I'm new here but i'm a fan of the lyman slug. Using the data out of the lyman book and very happy with the loads in my 870 ( ic barrel)

525g at 1350 plus fps ( fold crimp ) and different colour hulls marked on out side
 
My slug load is a .690 round ball in a std. shot cup. I have also used a Lyman slug and the Lee slugs. I cast them and my friend loads them for me. I am presently setting up to load them with a Lee load all.
I do not remember the load but I do know that the round balls shoot very well from a smooth bore and my rifled bbl.
257 Roberts
 
msg.drew said:
interesting information... so lets say I go down to walmart and buy a 100 pack of 7.5 trap loads... and open them up and remove the shot... weigh the shot and replace it with a slug of the same weight would it work or blow up my gun?

I am mainly looking to shoot them out of a combat shotgun at max 20 yards but if it works I would like to taylor loads for my hunting gun.

If you used the same powders and projectiles as factory slugs why would the not produce the same results. I am shooting 100 to 200 yards with my slug gun and getting rifle results... of course the bullet holes are three times bigger but the groups are still tight.

where would I find reloading data for slugs ?
Click to expand...

Doing the first paragraph would make you a candidate for the Darwin award. This was asked a couple of months ago and use the search for my answer.

As for the rest, I use Lyman slugs cast from wheelweights.

I load them on a Mec700 VersaMec. The only difference is the when it's time to install the ejecta, you remove the wadded hull (press set for 30lbs wad pressure, as this gives me the correct crimp) and insert the slug by hand, re insert the hull onto the press and finish crimping.

By the way, get the Lyman Shotshell Reloading manual, the only downside of it is that it only lists the Lyman Forster and Sabot slugs. The 4th edition had both Lyman, Brenneke, Buckmaster and Vitt-Boos slugs listed. I have all 5 editions, plus I have downloaded the Lee info from their web site.
 
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