Thanks for your comments GG, I appreciate them. Whether I hunt with the Lee's are not, I will continue with the one ounce Lee slug until I can find some acceptable accuracy with it.
I believe there is a single factor with the success of the Lee slug; you must do whatever it takes to stop wad petal loss. When searching through posts on other forums, those that understand this win and those who don't, give up. You can expand the search out further to the Lyman Foster; Lee is a Foster with a key and Lyman Shuttlecock designs, and it is the same thing. The petals must remain on the wad and not be torn or eroded. The simple solution is to trim them, but they must uniform. Through my work, it seems like some wads can be compromised when trimmed. I probably need to record more details with the trimming as I think this can be related to thickness, the total diameter of the slug and wad petals still must be .001" to .002" over bore diameter.[hr]Mr. Fritz of Tar-Hunt was correct, both lengths of the Lightfield Hybred Elites shot to the same POI after just a few shots each. I haven't gone out beyond 50-yards yet, but the accuracy at this range is next to impossible to score an MOA with as you are left with a single large hole after a few shots. The lesson here is that when I start in again with the Lee is to send at least six-shots down range before I judge the load, let the barrel condition to the components being sent down it.[hr]Mr. Fritz also said to ease into roll crimping the hulls for magazine fit as the roll will increase shot pressure. I decided to shoot the 2.675" rolled shells from the chair and Caldwell Steady Pod that I use in my popup. Holy crap, despite having a hefty grip on the rifle, this big guy took a hell of a hit. This morning, some 18-hours later, my neck and shoulder still hurt! The slug did pass exactly through the bullseye at 50-yards. I moved over to the Stable Table and Lead Sled and fired the other two, and they touched the first hole. The brass on the base on these hulls had lightly imprinted the features of the bolt face. Hmm.
I had three rounds that I had rolled to 2.655" so I sent the first downrange. It passed through the same hole as the others had but the recoil was significant even with the Lead Sled. Mr. Fritz said that with the roll crimping there would be a point where outside diameter of the roll would increase, but as long as the shell chambered, the Marlin would be good. He did say that the Marlin would not be safe for use if I had to force the shell into the chamber. All the shells dropped straight into the chamber without resistance.
After the first shot of the shorter cartridge, I knew I wasn't going to shoot the other two. When I opened the bolt, the hull did not extract, and I could easily see all the bolt face features pressed into the hull base. I walked down and to the shop, brought back a dowel, and knocked the hull out. I intended to shoot the 2¾ Hybred Elites out to 100-yards as I think that is the ammo I will use, but as I was handling the rifle, I felt a shift in something. Investigating, I found the forward screw lose that secures the base to the mount. Looking at it closer, the threads in the aluminum base hole were gone. A steel screw in an aluminum base, the screw was over torqued.
That's on me. I had not gone back through the base to mount screws with the torque screwdriver since I bought the rifle. Thought about it with when I switched the scope out the other day, but I was pushing time to get some shooting done.
MidwayUSA had both a new base and mount, so they are on the way with two-day shipping. I'm going to replace it all and be done with it.
So, there you have it for this installment of the Ranch Dog Marlin 512 Slugmaster saga! The weird thing is all that took place within an hour![hr]Oh, so I end up with two of the short rolled 3" shells. After shooting that final shot, I threw $5 worth of ammo in my lake.