Oh Boy, Gonna Get Busy With the Lee Slugs

[Ranch Dog]

Would a hollow base slug obturate and give better stabilization. Something similar to the Minnie bullet.

I think so. I think this is were the Lee key hurts. Still using pB, so if anything, you end up with an out of round slug, supported key vs hollow portion of base.

[Ranch Dog]

I just confirmed, my "rifle" is at the SAAMI spec bore and groove (.719" & .727"). The Lee Slug is .681", Lee sent me their drawings, and my slugs drop at that. The wad column petals are .024" thick so that .729" sabot diameter which is .002" over the groove. I'm scratching my head as to why the petals are torn/worn unevenly.

I just read this:
"...the Lightfield Hybred Exp sabot is designed to adjust to diameter, while maintaining proper RPM’S for stabilization, because of its patent key-on sabot design."

So, my thoughts above about the Lee key are probably wrong and unfounded.

I did notice that on the Ballistic Products website's Lee Slug product page, they recommend their 078 Lighting Wad. Another one to add to the cart. I do like how the petals are joined at the top and at the midpoint.



I'm not giving up on this but I doubt the Lee will be ready to hunt. I've got about four weeks to work on this and a lot of fall farming in between. My neck and shoulder are stiff from that shooting today. Probably about 10 shots is the limit for me with the load work.

[GasGuzzler]

Some day when times allows I'd like to know why the dang things need so many parts inside. I'd rather read it here than someone else's site or book.

[Ranch Dog]

Some day when times allows I'd like to know why the dang things need so many parts inside. I'd rather read it here than someone else's site or book.

The because is that the stack of components must fill 100% of the fixed interior length of the hull. With less than that everything rattles around in the hull or you are not able to close it. Neither support efficient combustion. Shotgun reloaders don't do much load work but instead follow the tested recipes. Max pressures are low 10 to 11K, shotgun powders are volatile, better not to wander too far off the recipe card.

You can get away with some minor variations in hull overall length but every trimmer I've bought and both the Lee Loader and Load-All II deal with fixed lengths. I bought the BPI roll crimper, my idea was to somehow trim the hull to what I needed with the minimum amount of filler components in the case and then use the roll crimp to close it. The crimp can use a drill but a drill press is better to get a consistent roll on each and every hull and just like metallic case reloading, the small stuff matters. That tool didn't work out as it bottoms out on the nose of the Lee slug. Okay, I tried a card wad on top to tighten it down and the stack was once again out of whack. Each adjustment of a component you make has an equal and opposite reaction somewhere inside the hull. For instance, if I wanted the traditional type of metallic "load work", I would need to adjust all the other components within the hull to make the adjustment to 100% fill. So 36, 37, 38, 39, and 40 grains would require different "fillers" for each round of testing.

The whole time I've spent on slugs, I have been working on a calculator for considering the stack. It's getting closer but it is complicated. The fellow that writes the TMT software is doing the same with his reloading software. Shotgun reloading software is simply a database of components used, but TMT hopes to make his a tool to solve problems like I'm experiencing.

[mr surveyor]

How does the depth of rifling in a slug barrel compare to the depth of rifling in a metallic cartridge rifle barrel? And, how does the depth of the rifling in the above examples compare, proportionately, to the diameter of the respective projectiles?

It just seems to me to be all tied up in the physics/ballistics of two different platforms - one of which is designed mainly for one thing, the other for something else.


jd

[Ranch Dog]

Take a look at the SAAMI drawing above, a slug gun's chamber features are little different than any straight wall metallic cartridge. I just finished taking some hull specs like I would with a metallic cartridge; interior depth, H2O capacity, wall thickness. Surprisingly, they are much more uniform than metallic cartridges. I wouldn't have thought that.

Also did some research, 40% of the whitetail hunters in the US hunt with slug guns. I don't think we think about it much in Texas and I'm sure that it is like my hunt, driven by regulation.

[GasGuzzler]

Also did some research, 40% of the whitetail hunters in the US hunt with slug guns.

WHOA!

[Ranch Dog]

I've been rereading some of the online stuff that I bookmarked years ago, especially given my memory, and found some information that seems to address the damage I've experienced with the column wad petals. I need to ensure that only the nose up to the ogive of the slug is opening the star crimp. If not then the petals are being folded back as they enter the chamber's leade.

That does make some sense. That single hole, 5-shot group shot at 25-yards did have the petals trimmed back .25".

[Ranch Dog]

II need to ensure that only the nose up to the ogive of the slug is opening the star crimp. If not then the petals are being folded back as they enter the chamber's leade.

That does make some sense. That single hole, 5-shot group shot at 25-yards did have the petals trimmed back .25".

I ended up trimming the petals of the 12S3 back .30". Will shoot them sometime today.

[horseman]

I'd like to see that lightfield load sent out to 100. The 50yd group is pretty impressive to me. Also waiting to see the results of the trimmed wad loading with the Lee. I did read elsewhere that the petals shouldn't extend beyond (or a little less) than the ogive of the slug. Also some type card wad under the Key Slug. Looking at the results some have had with the Foster 525 slugs was pretty impressive also. Some commercial loads using a 525gr slug at near 2,000fps (I don't remember barrel length mentioned) would be "brutal" to shoot IMO.. I loaded a few 12 gauge 1 1/8 oz loads with #6 lead in Federal hulls using Longshot powder that were supposed to be in excess of 1500fps, (close to 1600) still have some left...