Bullet casting

[kyratshooter]

The temp just dropped below 85 and the sun is down. Out to the shop I go for some more bullet casting.

For the past two nights the concentration has been on shotgun slugs and we are abut to reach the required quota for the series of tests I need to run.

I am about to take my Tuperware picture of iced tea out there and make like Uncle Si and cast another hundred.

It is truly amazing how fast the lead pot empties when you are dumping shotgun slugs!

[Bishop]

I cast a lot for my slingshot I have a 12 ga pumpkin ball mould that I cast for my deer slingshot ammo that's what I call it because one day I am going to take a deer with a top of the head shot with it.

[DSJohnson]

How heavy a slug are you casting Kyrats? Using pretty much "pure" lead?(thumbnail soft?)

[kyratshooter]

I am casting the Lee 7/8 oz slugs at this time.

I got into testing one of my Mossberg barrels with the 7/8 oz, 1 oz and pumpkin ball loads.

I was running them through the barrel with an IC choke and then with the rifled slug choke and I got schooled real quick!

IC choke in that barrel would not group anything better than 12" @ 50 yards. A couple of the pumpkin balls would not stay on the 18"x 18" target backer.

I changed to the rifled choke tube and closed the groups to 3" @ 50 with the 7/8 oz slug but did not tighten up the 1oz. or the pumpkin ball.

I am going to run these loads through everything I own and pray my shoulder holds out. I am not recoil sensitive but bench shooting a 12 ga puts everything right back into your arm and I am talking about a 100 shot test to check out 3 Mossberg barrels, 1 H&R SS barrel I have that is threaded for chokes, 2 barrels on the 870/Pardner Pump and 2 on the HK/Benelli clone. I want to check the results with Modified and IC chokes as well as the rifled choke tubes.

I have scope capabilities on several barrels and good Iron sights on several others so I will have some pretty valid results rather than just standing on my hind legs and using just the front bead to aim.

I want to see which does best in each platform and how much improvement I get when changing to the rifled tube, if any.

I may wind up buying a fully rifled barrel for either the 870 or the Mossberg eventually just as a reference.

I will post it when I get done and hopefully there will not be any powder burns on the paper plate!

[crashdive123]

Or wad holes in the target. Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

[hunter63]

I cast the Lee 7/8 o slug as well.....but with 2 ice cream buckets full that I can't can't pick up by the bail any longer....I'm good.
BTW.... wheel weights is material.....that shoot about 4 " @ 100 in the 12 ga in the H&R slug barrel barrel.

870 ..had a rifled slug barrel with cantilevered scope mount...w/ 2x7 Tasco....could shoot 3" consistently.

Go to slug gun is the 20 ga H&R rifled bull barrel....supposed to use sabots....and they are a 4" group as well.
Now same barrel,.... with el-cheapo lead rifled foster slugs...have shot several toughing hole groups at 100 yds....

These lead up the rifling something terrible....but OMG, do they shoot good...Like a rifle.

I figure I'll have all the time in the world, to clean the barrels when the deer is in the freezer.

[kyratshooter]

I am mostly trying to discover how much advantage the screw-in rifled choke tubes show over the screw-in IC and/or modified choke tubes.

I am also wanting to discover the differences in performance between the long and short barrels equipped with the same devices.

If the trend continues as seen on the Mossberg barrel the cost of the rifled choke tube, usually around $50, is going to prove well worth the money or putting food in the freezer for the "one gun" shooter if it will consistently render 3" groups at 50 yards and stay on the deer K-zone at 100.

Of course these one gun shooters will not usually be shooting Lee 7/8 oz slugs, but I am not buying $500 worth of commercial sabot slugs for this test!

I have seen the results from the fully rifled barrels, but not everyone will justify the cost of the fully rifled tube. They are running about $150-$250 even on E-bay.

[hunter63]

I sorry I sold mine....but hadn't used it in a year.
Wisconsin has gone to rifle statewide.....so slug guns are everywhere.

If I was to only use a shotgun for slugs it would be a fully rifled tube again.
As it is.... the H&R 20ga and 12 ga satisfy my needs for now....

[kyratshooter]

KY has always allowed rifles but IN and OH have been shotgun only for a century and have just recently introduced some rather strange rifle laws, straight wall cases and that sort of thing, keeping the allowed rifles not much better than good shotguns can do.

I am not much more than 10 miles from either state and have friends that invite me over to hunt occasionally.

That and I am bored. Its summer and I need to be outside playing.

Shooting is a morning activity around here. About 11am you have to head for the AC and iced tea, start cranking out reloaded ammo for the next day.

Anyone know anyone that has ever opened up a Lee .620 round ball mold to bullet base? I am wondering if a solid base slug out of the twenty gauge would work efficiently.

[hunter63]

Gotcha.....How about a conical so it expands the skirt to the grooves?

[kyratshooter]

Slug molds for the 20 gauge are expensive. Lyman and RCBS charge a fortune.

Lee has not seen fit to bless us with a 20 gauge slug mold at their traditional $20-$30 price. When they do I will be first in line.

I was thinking about opening up a Lee 20 ga round ball mold to a straight wall bullet with round nose and flat base as a cheap experiment. I bet it would tumble like crazy out of a soothbore barrel.

[Bishop]

You can make a mould out of a socket​ that will work

[hunter63]

You can make a mould out of a sock that will work

If you say so....my feet are bigger than a 20ga....and I don't have that many socks.
You can make a 20ga out of a 5/8 hole in a board ......

[Bishop]

That was supposed to be socket

[hunter63]

That was supposed to be socket

LOL.......Yeah well....LOL

[kyratshooter]

I was staying out of the conversation until someone cleared that sock thing up.

I might just try drilling some slightly smaller than 5/8 holes in a board and running a batch of 20 gauge slugs just to see how they work. A cheap spade bit ground down a little to allow for the extra diameter of the burn might work and be pretty uniform.

I did have the experience of watching some native type people whittle a stick to bore diameter and poke holes in the sand to cast slugs once.

They were very effective but the range they were being used was about 10 feet so accuracy was not an issue.

[hunter63]

I have seen a sock full of dirt and sod in a cannon....for something to make it go "Boom" against ....instead a "Fhoooomp" (rags)

[Wildthang]

This conversation has gone down hill in a hand basket! Just shoot a hole in all of your socks and get it over with

[kyratshooter]

Do you take the foot out of the sock before or after you do the hole or do you shoot the hole in the other guys sock?

If you shoot the hole in the other guys sock I get to shoot first!

[Bishop]

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