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Making shotgun slugs from range scrap?

headednorth

headednorth

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If I recall correctly, its recommended to cast slugs from pure lead. I have a good amount of range scrap on hand and was wondering if I could use that instead. I have no idea what the BN is. Fwiw, just looking to play around at the range (if and when its open again) with an Norinco 870 clone and Lee 7/8 oz and Lyman 525 grain pellet slugs.
 
headednorth said:
If I recall correctly, its recommended to cast slugs from pure lead. I have a good amount of range scrap on hand and was wondering if I could use that instead. I have no idea what the BN is. Fwiw, just looking to play around at the range (if and when its open again) with an Norinco 870 clone and Lee 7/8 oz and Lyman 525 grain pellet slugs.
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There is a ton of information about this on the castboolits website.
I believe a lot of it has to do with wether you’re using a smoothbore or rifled barrel and of course the fit of the slug and wad combo. Or lack thereof. Some of the slugs are shot with fiber wads or gas seals and no actual shot cup.
I believe BPI has some slug specific manuals

All that being said I think range scrap would work well alloy wise.
 
Maddawg1952 said:
Nice info, I haven't tried casting or loading slugs yet! A new chapter opens !! Load #4 for defense shotshells or #7.5 for trap.
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I’ve loaded some home cast slugs with good results. It was an old Lyman Foster style slug mould a friend has. However it was an undersized version that would slip right into trap wad.
I picked up what I thought was the same mould but low and behold it’s a different style that won’t fit a trap wad and needs to be loaded with a gas seal and or stacks of fiber wads.
Ah well.
 
i have cast and shot a good amount of the lee 1oz slug. I have used pure lead, range scrap , WWs and Zinc< I broke my mold using zinc WWs they did not like to release. They also tumbled 90% of the time when shot??
anyhow range scrap is funny.
if your range scrap comes from 90% jacketed bullets it will be on the soft side. If its 50% cast it will be harder especially if its alot of commercially cast bullets which use a hard alloy.

Both clip on and stick on wheel weights work ok
I usually run my slug casting when smelting
Cant tell you if theres any accuracy gains between alloys but pure lead will drop much closer to actual weight. I run my slugs through a smooth bore slug barrel or my 870 field barrel with MOD choke.
Again no real advatage either way. 8" pie plate hits at 50 yards .
my load is a target load. Clays powder, win gray wad WAA12 iirc. Rem gun club case.
i prep my cases on a Mec 9000 seating the wad until it just moves the wad gauge. I still need to modify the wad guide to seat the slug easier. Pushing the slug in manually sort of sucks. I seat the slug by pushing it in with my fingers and then finish it up on the press with the 12pt crimp.
i have a roll crimper somewhere but never really liked using it, way to much work for my needs.
 
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Oh holey chit there goes another $135.00 out of my ammo budget .......https://leeprecision.com/bullet-casting/bullet-slug-mold.....https://leeprecision.com/00-buckshot-mold.html ++ Screw it might as well go full out crazy I added a pair of handles, …..https://leeprecision.com/commercial-mold-handles.html
 
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Maddawg1952 said:
Oh holey chit there goes another $135.00 out of my ammo budget .......https://leeprecision.com/bullet-casting/bullet-slug-mold.....https://leeprecision.com/00-buckshot-mold.html ++ Screw it might as well go full out crazy I added a pair of handles, …..https://leeprecision.com/commercial-mold-handles.html
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you can save some money by not buying direct from lee. FS reloading and titan reloading have decent prices on lee stuff and shipping is not crazy
i would like to cast some 00 and add it to the stash figure 2 or 3 lbs would last 20 years or so.
 
Lee 1oz, 7/8oz and 00buck molds currently in stock at Amazon but prices are pretty elevated according to camelcamelcamel.com.

eta- I was looking at 3rd party prices, not Amazon. Prices are still a bit higher than average



camelcamelcamel.com

Lee Precision 1oz Slug Mold (B00162Q17W)

Amazon price tracking & price history for Lee Precision 1oz Slug Mold (B00162Q17W)
camelcamelcamel.com camelcamelcamel.com

camelcamelcamel.com

LEE PRECISION No.4 Buck Shot Mold 90005 Handles are Sold Separately (B00640M6D4)

Amazon price tracking & price history for LEE PRECISION No.4 Buck Shot Mold 90005 Handles are Sold Separately (B00640M6D4)
camelcamelcamel.com camelcamelcamel.com
 
Maddawg1952 said:
Thanks , Edit......……………………………………. They're out of stock till June WTF! Oh well. LOL The whole damn world is on Backorder!
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pretty common with lee, they appear to run production in lots. Plus with several new items introduced lately production might have shifted more towards the new products.
probably find them on ebay or amazon if you dont want to wait.
 
Number 4 buckshot ? Wheel weight lead ok? I have 2-5 gallon pails full of it . I still need to sort and cut the clips off of them. If not I have ingots of better quality already smelted. Now if I can find a use for all the scrap copper I'm sitting on I'd be GOLDEN. I was waiting till Spring when the price usually heads up with more demand.
 
mac1911 said:
Good to know, Im never down that way. Can you program Iphone map to alert you when close to shops? I used to have that on my old garmin dash unit and loved it.
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I think you can. At least you can set it up so that it will show you shops along a route.
IMHO the top shop in the state. Especially considering their wide variety of items and the very rarely seem full stock of casting supplies.
Maddawg1952 said:
^5 Shooting Supply had them and was less than anyone else, had the handles too , Both are on their way THANKS Michael!!!!!!!!! Amazon was a miss and I hadn't found any at a price I was willing to pay on Ebay yet.
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Love it!
Maddawg1952 said:
Number 4 buckshot ? Wheel weight lead ok? I have 2-5 gallon pails full of it . I still need to sort and cut the clips off of them. If not I have ingots of better quality already smelted. Now if I can find a use for all the scrap copper I'm sitting on I'd be GOLDEN. I was waiting till Spring when the price usually heads up with more demand.
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Buckshot likes to be harder. Just like smaller shot. It will deform less and pattern better.
If you water drop wheel weights you will have plenty of hardness for your needs. Even air cooled will be fine.
I load the 00 with 3 stacks of 3 in a AA hull and a WAA12 wad. I haven’t patterned them with anything but an 18.5” 870 cylinder bore. At 30 yards they all stay on a silhouette target. I’m sure with some fiddling around and a choke they would perform really well.
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
I think you can. At least you can set it up so that it will show you shops along a route.
IMHO the top shop in the state. Especially considering their wide variety of items and the very rarely seem full stock of casting supplies.
Love it!

Buckshot likes to be harder. Just like smaller shot. It will deform less and pattern better.
If you water drop wheel weights you will have plenty of hardness for your needs. Even air cooled will be fine.
I load the 00 with 3 stacks of 3 in a AA hull and a WAA12 wad. I haven’t patterned them with anything but an 18.5” 870 cylinder bore. At 30 yards they all stay on a silhouette target. I’m sure with some fiddling around and a choke they would perform really well.
Click to expand...
I grew up with modified choke for everything! Never shot enough buck shot to bother testing. Only had the 870 and the 1 mod choke it came with for a long Time.
For casting buck shot I would gather anything will work.
The slugs. I can tell you from trying.
The harder the alloy the harder it is to get the slugs to drop from the mold. Came across some soft lead cleaning up basement. So instead if bringing it out to the lead licker Im just goimg to cast 10# worth of alloy
 
<<< on my post pandemic to-do-list Stop in at Shooting Supply. It's a haul for me (72 miles) but it sounds like a worthwhile trip On a free day. Even Shooters Outpost is a haul I buy my local stuff from Glenn and what I have to shop online , now Shooting Supply is online my credit card might get slide burnt!
 
Maddawg1952 said:
<<< on my post pandemic to-do-list Stop in at Shooter Supply. It's a haul for me but it sounds like a worthwhile trip On a free day. Even Shooters Outpost is a haul I buy my local stuff from Glenn and what I have to shop online , now Shooting Supply is online my credit card might get slide burnt!
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I'm north shore and it is a good ride down there but they have a great shop. Tons of reloading stuff
 
Maddawg1952 said:
NICE! I have lots of Winchester AA Red Hulls, WAA12 wads, CCI Primers, Clays from Hodgdon and later this week I'll make some #4 shot so I'm all set No choke on my 870 will have to see how it patterns.
Click to expand...
I’m not sure with #4 buck but 00 Worked beautiful with 1 1/8oz trap data.
I would have to look up the #4 buck to see how it stacks in a wad. I would really like a #1 buck mould.
 
Maddawg1952 said:
I'll try it when I make some later this week, I also have some Tyvek shot cards to hold #8 in a misaligned crimp that I can use to help with it till I get all of it figured out . I load mostly 1 1/8" data already so I probably have the right bushing already in the press.
Click to expand...
Perfect. I think I use a #31 MEC bushing with red dot. It’s a nice light shooting load that you can shoot all day.
 

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