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What are those bulk skeet shells good for?

Glad to see you hard at work OA. ;)

I think we all went through the wrinkles with the Lee slugs and the right heat range.
Looking good OA. Any idea what shell you are going to put them in?
 
old mossy said:
Glad to see you hard at work OA. ;)

I think we all went through the wrinkles with the Lee slugs and the right heat range.
Looking good OA. Any idea what shell you are going to put them in?

Right now just the Federal bulk target shells. I have a few of them. :D Stocked up for 3 gun then started 5 stand. Just need to take the shells apart and trim them. Going to use a roll crimper. Then I'll see how they work.
 
I would load and shoot every one of those and be effective. There is one in there that would be my limit because it looks like its losing weight, I can adjust for that with powder charge......but with what you guys are doing you need to stay close since you not messing with powder and different primers. The weight of slugs effects accuracy a bit if the charge remains the same

too cold, not casting fast enough is wrinkles
Too hot is frosty, I like that and doesn't have any repercussions in slug loading as far as my testing,
blue sheen only happens to pure lead or near pure......my slugs these days have a bit of tin for hard alloy slugs, if you do this smoke the mold good and run it hot......they may be a tick lighter then pure and not drop from the center pin well
 
Good info, Oli. I ran another batch today. The appearance bounced between shiny to frosty. No wrinkling. Turned the heat up a bit...7 on a Lee 10# pot (thanks, John). Again heated the two molds with my propane torch then started pouring. Ran a 50 count batch...pretty quickly I might add.

How long do you leave each pour in the mold?

I'm using stick on wheel weights and the 50 shells I opened up and took the shoot out of. One thing I forgot to get was some spacers for the slugs. First couple are loose after I roll crimped them. Also, I pushed too far with the first one on our drill press and damaged the top of the slug. No biggie as I'll either shoot it or take it apart and try again.

Fun stuff...
 
Sounds like you hooked too. Did you make yourself a cutting jig.? 3/4" piece of pvc pipe. Cut to a length that lets you cut off just what you need at the end of the shell. I made a few different for each brand shell I tried. I think John A. shows it in the thread. That is one way I tightened up the roll crimp.
Great idea.
 
Yes, I made that little tool out of an extra piece of pvc. Works well. Needed to ad a couple pieces of electrical tape to the bottom to keep the shells from spinning. Just need to figure out how much of the hull to trim before rolling it closed.
 
OhioArcher said:
Again heated the two molds with my propane torch then started pouring.
if you don't want to waist your propane you can just set the mold on the edge of the pot , I actually set it so the corner of the mold is submerged in the molten led and it gets plenty hot. Torches and hot plates are for heating iron molds, lee aluminum mold doesn't take much to get to temp, the 00 buck mold is tough because its so big

OhioArcher said:
How long do you leave each pour in the mold?
the second the sprew solidifies its out of there, when its super hot I slow it down some because the sprew cut gets a bubbly void look in the cut


you can use most anything for filler of space as long as you don't add significant weight, its best just to buy nitro cards to put under the slugs, 20 gauge nitro cards fit into most 12 gauge shot cups, if you get thick ones you can modify the height by peeling layers off of the card with your thumb nail
 
If the slugs sit a little below the roll crimp and are loose, I remedied that by using these on top of the slug before you crimp them.

Plus, I kinda like them in other ways too. They'll keep some dust and other things off of everything and I know at a glance that they're one of my loads.

There are cardboard overshot cards too that are a couple dollars cheaper per 500 too. But I like the clear plastic ones really well.

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/12ga-C ... nfo/COS12/
 
Guys I am the new kid on the block, and have followed this thing from beginning to end. I have been reloading for more years than I care to think about, and I have to say I have found some very intriguing ideas here. NOW I have a question, that I have not been able to answer for years though I know it has been done. Dad use to shoot a Remington .58 cal rifle. And the mini ball is I think 575 gr, round ball is 280 I think. So has any one ever loaded a .58 cal ball or mini ball in to a 20ga?? I have seen them in 12 but not 20 and that's what Im interested in. OK guy lets have it
 
haven't even reloaded a 20.....I know people do .69 round ball in 12 gauges all the time and they are said to be the best penetrators and just plain mean in general. Its on my slate to try but all my attention has gone to metallic reloading as of late, no guns to put them in is my only problem lol
 
I'm glad that you have enjoyed the topic skeets.

I don't know the answer to that either. I don't own a 20 gauge and am just not up on the particulars.
 
I just might sell my MEC 600-Jr 20-Ga loader that is "almost" LNIB to someone who wants to load 20-ga ammo.
 
John A. said:
If the slugs sit a little below the roll crimp and are loose, I remedied that by using these on top of the slug before you crimp them.

Plus, I kinda like them in other ways too. They'll keep some dust and other things off of everything and I know at a glance that they're one of my loads.

There are cardboard overshot cards too that are a couple dollars cheaper per 500 too. But I like the clear plastic ones really well.

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/12ga-C ... nfo/COS12/
oli700 said:
OhioArcher said:
Again heated the two molds with my propane torch then started pouring.
if you don't want to waist your propane you can just set the mold on the edge of the pot , I actually set it so the corner of the mold is submerged in the molten led and it gets plenty hot. Torches and hot plates are for heating iron molds, lee aluminum mold doesn't take much to get to temp, the 00 buck mold is tough because its so big

OhioArcher said:
How long do you leave each pour in the mold?
the second the sprew solidifies its out of there, when its super hot I slow it down some because the sprew cut gets a bubbly void look in the cut


you can use most anything for filler of space as long as you don't add significant weight, its best just to buy nitro cards to put under the slugs, 20 gauge nitro cards fit into most 12 gauge shot cups, if you get thick ones you can modify the height by peeling layers off of the card with your thumb nail

Great info, guys. I was dropping them almost as fast as I was pouring them. Hot lil' buggers, though. :lol:

Today I got inventive. Found an old take-off front fork dampener tube and cut off the end. Used a step drill bit to drill a bevel in the end. It turned out to be the correct size to cut wafers from a cardboard back of a used legal pad. Fits a 12 ga almost perfectly...

Dug out the old drill press at home tonight but the chuck was missing so no roll crimping tonight (was doing it at work).

This is some fun stuff and I have all the other shop guys asking about it...
 
I took advantage of some of the sunshine we have been blessed with this evening.

Weatherman is calling for 9-12 more inches of snow in a few days if nothing changes between now and then, but compared to the temps we have been having lately, feels like a warm front coming through LOL

So.... I used a camp stove and hand held torch to melt about 12 pounds of lead outside of the basement that I have been sitting on for a while and poured them in my cupcake pan so I can reduce the size of the chunks so they'll fit in my pot better.

This will make it a lot more convenient and less time consuming when I do get to sit down and start producing slugs again.
 

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Those are sum good good lookin' cup cakes. :D I've got a few chunks to get ready also.
 
I was able to sit down with a good friend and made up a bunch of slugs today.

A few of which, I was able to try to experiment some with an idea that I had and they worked better than expected at 20 yards. Size of the exit is almost an inch in diameter. :cool:

redneckfury002_zpsea455b04.jpg


redneckfury007_zpsc858c24a.jpg
 
Nice John. Those were the ones loaded upside down? How far were you shooting?
Have you tried filling in the slug with some bird shot? ;)
 
PM inbound

The target above was the exit side.

You can see how much larger the 12 gauge exit was compared to 9mm and 223, which are also present on the back of the target if you look around, although rusty now. :cool:
 
good golly miss holli 031.JPG

Also saw this one in there, but it doesn't really look like lead. Anyone else recognize it?

good golly miss holli 032.JPG
 
That last one looks like a CL 6 "QuickStik" adhesive weight.

Mfg specs show them to be uncoated lead. The discoloration may just be from the adhesive or whatever is stuck to it...
 
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