• Mossberg Owners is in the process of upgrading the software. Please bear with us while we transition to the new look and new upgraded software.

What are those bulk skeet shells good for?

old mossy said:
is that the norm to loose that much of the hull roll crimping? how do you make that up on the inside? different wads?

I cut the wad almost at the level of top LEE bullet.The idea is to make a sabot type slug for using it in 12 ga. rifled barrels and 12 ga.cylinder barrel(18.5).
The first time I shooted it,in my 695 12 ga.bolt action rifled barrel,I found small pieces of powder without burning inside barrel.Good recoil and good groups.Sorry,I did not take pictures.
Probably ,it could be better to reduce a little the powder charge,increase bullet weight and also to eliminate the minimun gap inside shells.
I also have another prototype only for use in rifled bullets made with a blue sabot and a 320 grain (.50 cal)REAL bullet.Oli,I hope a good name for it after posting pictures. :lol:
Sorry,I have to make some pictures to post here ASAP.
John,thanks to you for pictures.
 
The roll crimp is simple with the tool.

slugmakin001_zps452c25fd.jpg


There is still just a little bit of space between the top of the slug and the roll crimp, but it's plenty close enough to hold it in place with barely a jiggle if you shake the shell.

With the clear plastic over shot cards, eliminated all gap and jiggle, but was harder to do for some reason.

clearovershotcards001_zps9d7be2ea.jpg


For giggles to follow in selous photo's, I took a photo of the slugs next to a factory bird shot shell for size reference

slugmakin002_zpsfea47001.jpg


And I also noticed the old winchester now holds 11+1 :twisted:

And cycles with no problems.
 
^^^^^ :D :D :D yup.


hey John,,what'er getting for a box of those Kentucky Executioners ?

(just kidding)
 
,,,ok besides having fun and lovin what you are doing,,,,,whats the final cost of 5 slug shells? just the price of the 5 skeet shells?
 
I paid $64 for the melting pot, although that could be done over a fire with a skillet and ladle.

The slug mold itself was $25 and a tube of bees wax to lube the mold was $6

The overshot cards were $12 for 500 I think, although as has been said before, could be done with a few drops of candle wax

And the roll crimp tool was $24, which again, could be done with a few drops of candle wax.

That totals out to about $125 for the initial tools and shipping (about the same cost as 25 five round boxes of slugs--or a half case of slugs), but now that I own the tools, it's just going to cost whatever the shells cost and the mold should likely cast thousands of rounds in its' service life.

I will save money in the long haul. But as I said earlier, this was done to not be held hostage by lack of ammo availablity.

Now I can concentrate on buying/stocking the cheaper and more available shot/game loads to not only save money, but to give me the best of both worlds where a shotgun is concerned.

Using the shot shells straight out of the box for small game, or melt some down into slugs for everything else.

Or buy a bucket for my local garage to throw old wheel weights into so I can smelt them down and pour into a muffin pan ingots for later
 
that is OUTSTANDING!!! i think i like the idea behind it most of all.
i truly thank you for sharing. now i need to save up a few bucks. :)
 
Nitesite, your recommendation to pay more attention to the heat were spot on.

The second batch turned out a lot better than the first after I knew more what to watch for.

Thank you.

secondbatch001_zps385578d4.jpg


I also used the clear plastic overshot cards on this whole batch.
 
I like seeing the improvement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad you are becoming more and more pleased with your casting results. For real. I'm real proud of you! No raisins, no wrinkles, no frosty looking slugs, nice smooth outer surface. You were in the ZONE, man!

There looks to be a couple of "nose dimples" that look like the maybe the "suck-in" right after pouring maybe didn't have quite enough molten lead pour to accomodate for the shrinkage. That's OK. Really. The only outcome of being under is a nice tiny little hollow-point-like nose dimple.

But the clean/shiny sprue cut-off slices look amazing. For a relative newcomer you are getting the timing and the temperature of the lead in the pot and the temp of the mould and the seconds needed to hold then drop correct after very little practice.

I effin LOVE THIS THREAD.............................
 
please excuse the probie question,,,,is this technique possible to make your own 00 buck?
 
Thanks nitesite. I was glad to see the improvement as well. And why I wanted to thank you for the advice.

I was real careful about the suck in this time around too.

I intentionally poured a good size chunk over full and waited close to probably 20 seconds before cutting it off. I don't know why I'm still getting a little suck in, but it isn't near as much as it was the first time I tried it.

But, as minor as it is now, I can live with 'em.

old mossy said:
please excuse the probie question,,,,is this technique possible to make your own 00 buck?


I just don't know OM.

If you could get a short shot cup and use the roll crimp and overshot cards, probably could, but I have no idea how many pellets they would hold.

Probably not many.

I think I'm going to stick with just doing the slugs.
 
casting buck is way harder.....the slugs are super easy , and you can just pump them out .....Lee 18 cavity 00 buck mold is tough.
IMG_0394.jpg



They will also take up more room than the slug.
Also since they are going into a wad they won’t fit 9 pellets stacked 3x3x3.....they do stack 2x2 and a lot of data is for 10 or 8 pellet loads because of this. To get true size 00 (.33") buck in a shell you either have to run just a cushion and no cup or do like the factory does and use slightly smaller pellets to fit the 3x3x3 stack in a wad. .......Flight Control is not 33 cal , they are more close to 30 cal......
I have cut the shells and measured them , and I used to run calipers in a gun manufacturing shop so I know what I am doing.....I only say that because people who think that FC is the end all be all of Buck will argue this to no end…..but it’s a fact that any caster knows about constructing 00 buck shells
 
oli700 said:
casting buck is way harder.....the slugs are super easy , and you can just pump them out .....Lee 18 cavity 00 buck mold is tough.
IMG_0394.jpg



They will also take up more room than the slug.
Also since they are going into a wad they won’t fit 9 pellets stacked 3x3x3.....they do stack 2x2 and a lot of data is for 10 or 8 pellet loads because of this. To get true size 00 (.33") buck in a shell you either have to run just a cushion and no cup or do like the factory does and use slightly smaller pellets to fit the 3x3x3 stack in a wad. .......Flight Control is not 33 cal , they are more close to 30 cal......
I have cut the shells and measured them , and I used to run calipers in a gun manufacturing shop so I know what I am doing.....I only say that because people who think that FC is the end all be all of Buck will argue this to no end…..but it’s a fact that any caster knows about constructing 00 buck shells

And to think I threw all those ball bearings from repaired bikes away...
 
Dammit! lol,
Steel actually sucks because the low weight doesn’t allow for the greatest penetration and it drops energy faster over distance. The up side to steel is that it doesn’t deform on the trip through the barrel so it will retain a tighter pattern than softer lead.... :geek:
 
old lead sinkers,,,i see a lot around at garage sales. i gotta tell the mrs. to grab 'em up. (she's a garage and yard sale addict.) :)
 
I am glad to see that your progress has come to such success! :D I am only jealous I haven't bit the bullet and followed suite earlier :lol: One day... I know Oli has seen that at least 100 times now :D

Do you think this project's required items would be something to register as wedding gifts??????? :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Back
Top