Shotgun Slugs

[mtbeer]

Okay, this might be a dumb idea but my brain won't seem to let go of it.

Why can't you have a sabot slug but with a sheath that resembles a Foster style slug. The rifling on the sheath would inpart enough spin even in a smooth bore to shed the sheath upon exiting the barrel and provide stability for the projectile.

This would essentially let you shoot sabots in a smooth bore.

I doubt you would be able to match the results of a rifled barrel but it should be better than a Foster slug and with a flatter tragectory.

What do you think?

 

[PerversPépère]

Rifling

I do not believe a rifling pattern merely imprinted on a slug can make it spin while traveling in a barrel: there isn't anything to give it traction and impart a torque on the slug.
The only way way to stabilize a smooth bore projectile is to equip it with a fletching (such as the Sauvestre fléchette rounds) or give a self-stabilizing shape to the projectile such as the Lyman mould design for casting shotgun slugs: they resemble big airgun diabolo pellets with a hollow rear skirt. http://www.lymanproducts.com/lymanproducts/casting.htm (scroll about halfway down the page).
Brenneke Slugs or similar ones have a stabilizing wad screwed at the base that also does the job.
PP.

 

[mtbeer]

Are you saying that a foster slug doesn't start to spin until it leaves the barrel?

I have trouble believing that.

Does anybody know how fast a typical Foster is rotating when it leaves the barrel?

 

[poweredbybeer]

The so-called "rifling" on smoothbore foster slugs has very little rifling effect, certainly not enough to spin the slug fast enough to stabilize it. Read this; http://www.chuckhawks.com/shotgun_slugs.htm

Your idea isn't dumb, but it has probably been tried before. Keep in mind that single projectile smoothbore firearms have been around for a long loooooong LONG time, and any improvements in the engineering of the projectile would have happened years ago. Not that there's no room left for improvement, feel free to experiment, but don't try to reinvent the wheel

All smoothbore slugs (except roundballs) rely on the "rock in a sock" effect for accuracy, kinda like a badminton shuttle. The center of gravity of the projectile is at the business end, while the light "skirt" stabilizes the tail end of the projectile and keeps the heavy end pointed more or less straight ahead That's why I like this design;

It's like a giant air rifle pellet, and it fits inside a standard trap wad, which protects your barrel from leading. I've read that they can be even more accurate if fired through a rifled choke tube.

If you're interested in slug design and possibly reloading your own slugs, try w ww.ballisticproducts.com, they're an american outlet but they've got a distributor in alberta.

Edit; The slug pictured above is exactly the slug that PP was talking about in his post The link he provided is the link to Lyman's product page, but you can also buy the mold through Ballistic Products.