Lee 7/8 slug data help...

[AlaskanGuy]

Well guys, I really went and done it now.... Wednesday is my sons 17th birthday, and got a old jc higgins 12 ga that my father gave me when i was a teen, and i re groomed it and set it all up for him, added some lead to the stock to make the gun deal with slug recoil better and such.. Also cut the choke off... Re-did the stock, you nave it.... Ordered the lighter lee 7/8 slug mold and it finally arrived..... So I cast up a bunch this morning, and sat down to start reloading, and whammmmmmmm no data for the powders I have on hand..... I live remote so there aint no place to run down to get some different powder....

I have about every type of hull and wad known to man pretty much, and can make was colums with the best of them, but it seems i dont have the right powder for these smaller slugs....

Powders I have on hand that could work are:

Herco
Unique
2400
800x
Alliant 410

Any ideas guys??? I guess I could just load the shells up with pyrodex and go to town.... I have shot bp 12g shells pleanty in single shot guns, but his is not a single shot...

Helpppppppp birthday is on the 19th....

AG

[AlaskanGuy]

I also have imr sr 7625 if that helps....

[RBHarter]

I've read......... free advise and all.......

Choose your prefered wad,case,primer and powder . Unique is never a bad choice,800x will probably be a little slow for 7/8oz. I've read but not applied that charge weight may be applied to slug weight . Start low work up. Be aware of what the gun and cases are telling you.

Balistic Products is an excelent source for data books and specialized componets for shotgunning.
I will also suggest the powder company data.

[Ranch Dog]

Been running a little shy on forum time so I haven't seen this. What is the general acceptable practice is using data for heavier loads if you cannot find anything for your load. In other words, if you can find anything with your powders for 1 or 1 & 1/8 oz loads, you are good to go.

Just punching around on the Alliant Powder website, it looks like

Herco runs the following with 1 & 1/8 ounce loads:
25-grains in the low 9,000 PSI
28-grains in the high 10,000 PSI

On the same site there is a huge amount of Unique data. Again using the 1 & 1/8 loads it runs from 21 to 24-grains. I realize wads make a difference but the only difference they are making is in how they compress the powder.

Lee realizes that their slug data is lacking and have commissioned work on new data using modern components. I've started the same on my own with my pressure trace equipment and but the sole end I'm working towards is developing 3" hull data for the latest generation of slug guns with these chambers.

If you have MS Excel, you can use my VMD Calculator to determine the card wad (the wad between the wad/sabot and powder) height to make your component/powder column work out.



Just enter the data in the green colored cells, select your powder and charge and it will give you the card wad height for a perfectly fitted column.

[Ranch Dog]

Oh, forgot to add... great work on the slug gun! Please tell your son "Happy Birthday" from a Texan and our forum members as well. Load development should make a great father/son venture!

[62chevy]

Yes! Tell you son Happy Birthday from all of us.



I have that shotgun but didn't have much of a chock in it but at 50 yrds always hit what it was pointed at. My Dad gave it to me over 30 years ago. As a teen I used it in my Uncles back field to hunt pheasants.