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Lee 1oz. Slugs

oli700

12g
Supporter
"Philanthropist"
Starting to mold slugs. The mold is a Lee 1 ounce drive key. It is a cross between a foster and a sabot and is refered to as a wad slug. It can work in a rifled or smooth bore. The key in the base is supposed to engage riflings. People have good results through smooth bore because it is a foster as well, nose heavy hollow expandable base. I need to get out and shoot them but here is the start. I will be putting these in AA huls at 1580 fps and in Remington Gun Club/STS/Nitro hulls at 1450 fps.

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Wow, those are just beautiful! I'm not volunteering to see how the feel or anything, but defiantly looking forward to the range report. Good job oli. +1 rep for you!
 
Those look awesome! I've tried other cast slugs without satisfactory results, so I'll be very inhterested to hear more about how these shoot thru a smoothbore!

Are you smelting almost pure lead? Do you have to add any tin?

Does Lee recommend any particular wad with these? I imagine you need 1-1/8 oz wads, don't you?

I know, lots of questions but your project really has me intrigued!!!!!

Wow, those would sure eat thru my lead pile in a hurry, and I thought 230-gr LRNs were bad. ;)
 
Thanks guys.

They are pure lead, there might be just a touch of tin from the thin layer of lead/tin I use for buckshot that I leave in my pot. Lee recommends pure lead.
Lee provides load data. I am running into a small problem as it dosent all seem to fit in the hull.
One of the recipies Lee gives is
Win AA hull
36 grains of Herco
WAA12 wad
Win 209 primer

I ordered wads and had everything else. Put it all together and they don’t quite crimp right IMO. I might be too picky but the crimp isn’t closing and I can see the slug through a hole left in the middle of the crimp. One of the tricks to the Key slug is to put a 1/8th nitro card under the slug so the wad doesn’t get pushed into the bottom of the slug when fires from a smooth bore. With a card the crimp really sucks. If I put 50lbs of pressure to the wad when seating it with the press the crimp looks better but I think I am just crushing the wad leg down and I don’t really want to do that too much….the Alliant Herco is taking up a ton of room in the hull. I have made a couple with reduced charge to see how they shoot, they crimp better.
I am going to try a recipe with Accurate #5 next.
I have about 4000 rounds worth of pure lead and another 50 lbs of lead tin mix so It should last me a long time….finding it hard to get out and shoot the last couple of weeks and tomorrow I am getting my puppy so I'll be extra busy for the next few weeks.
 
Is that supposed to read "... 4000 pounds of lead..."?

I'm envious. No. Wait, that's one of the Seven Deadly Sins...

I'm jealous. But I like your style!
 
Sorry, It is 4000 rounds, 1 ounce slugs-16 slugs per pound…about 250 pounds of pure lead……4000 pounds would be cool though. All in all I have around 310 pounds of lead/tin at this point….all gathered hear and there for free!
 
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Oli wrote: "Put it all together and they don’t quite crimp right IMO. I might be too picky but the crimp isn’t closing and I can see the slug through a hole left in the middle of the crimp."

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Most of the slugs I have seen have the slug showing through the top of the shell...No ?!

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Yeah you are right and I need to quit being so anal.....I always strive for perfection. I just need to start shooting them and go from there.....thanks for the reassurance Shooter
 
Wow and Holy Smokes!!! I've been looking forward to these for awhile!

I cant wait to hear how they shoot and handle/accuracy n such. That 1580, WOW! I know there are many loads firing at 1600 fps... I may have become accostumedd to the low recoil stuff! :lol:
 
Went out today with 8 different loads to try. I found the lowest grain of Herco and the highest grain of Accurate #5 to be the best grouping. I shot 5 of each totaling 40 rounds theses were the best groups. Just went 25 yards for the testing.

5 shot groups

Shot from a Mossberg 500 with a Vang Comp barrel 20” smoothbore

30 grains Herco, WAA12R 1/4” card 1 oz lee slug, AA hull
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38.5 grains Accurate #5, WAA12SL no card 1 oz slug, Rem. Premier hull

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They all shot well and I had 32, 34, 36, gr Herco with different card thicknesses. Accurate #5 in 36, 34 and 32 gr. The 38.5 gr Accurate #5 loads felt about like a 300 win mag in recoil….bear loads. The 30 gr Herco loads were stout but felt mild compared to the rest. After I shot the groups at 25 yards I started going for the 100 yard gong and was hitting more time than not so I am thrilled.
 
:shock: You. Are. A. Genius.

You could make smiley faces with those man! Punch holes for the eyes, and then a chain for the smile, draw a circle around it all and underneath write $#!t Happens!

Great work Oli!!!
 
Thanks, I am glad for the Knoxx today because all but the 30 Gr Herco loads felt like 3 1/2 inch mags....no kidding. The 38.5 Gr Accurate #5 felt like a 10 ga.....these have to be pushing the pressure limit of the gun.

Brad, when you send those AA hulls I'll work up some lower recoil slugs to send back to you.I am also looking for Federal Gold Medals for 00 Buck. I made a nice low recoil load for 00 that patterns decent. Also looking for Remington Nitro 27/Primer.
 
AA's no problem! I look for the Gold Medal Match stuff and almost never see it. I'll have about 50 of the AA's in the silver/grey hull for you!
 
I'll send you back a couple tube fulls to test. 9 at 30 grains and 9 at maybe 25 or so.
 
Just some updates on what I have been learning. Here is how the Lee slug engages the wad. The idea is the wad catches rifling and the key of the slug digs into the wad there for imparting spin on the entire payload like a sabot. The slug and wad separate and the slug flies off spinning.
Here is a recovered wad showing how the bottom of the slug engages the wad
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The Lee slug is more interesting than you would think at first glance. You can see how one could think it is a sabot….but it is not. It is a nose heavy foster slug. Why? This is the genius of the design….you can get good results using it in a rifled or a smooth bore. It is called a wad slug.
One of the tricks to accuracy out of a smooth bore is a clean separation of the slug from the wad….enter the nitro card. The card is very hard and will not dig into the slug or the wad. So you are just using the wad to transport the slug through the bore and take up room as the slug is only .69 cal.
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Smoothbore set up
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The trick to adding the card is that you have to make room in the hull by either a shorter wad or less powder. I have been playing with this and had good results doing both. This plays with pressures but ultimately cutting down on charge is safe and shorter wads are working for me as they weigh less than the wad called for in the recipe…..one could nitpick this to death though.

One of the advantages I am finding is no leading of my barrel like I had using full bore size foster slugs
 
Oh sweet, Thats cool how that works Oli!

I continue to appreciate you putting time into detailing all this!
 
oli~

This is a WAY cool thread! You have me wanting to buy a mould like that. Would you guess that wheel-weight lead would be just as good as pure lead since the base doesn't have to obturate to the bore? You rock!

Where are you getting the cards? Local? Online?
 
I have read about people using wheel weights. The problem I have read about is getting the slug to release from the center pin. I don’t think there would be a problem with chokes because it is .69 and a full bore rifled slug is like .73. You could get one and try it....only 20 something bucks. If no good with WW then just sell it or keep it till you get pure.

Can’t you melt WW at the lowest possible temp and scrape the tin off the to that has a higher melting point than lead....end up with pure ?

And with WW the slug would be lighter right ?

Getting all my internal components online with the exception of powder and primers.
 
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