Sounds to me like you've gotten yourself into a world of PITA, but, hey, who am I to stop you having fun - these two posts are pretty old, but then, so is shooting slugs out of a 12g -
(Date Posted:02/07/2005 16:21:04)
I've made up quite a few of these over the years. I don't use a lot of brass cases anymore as they are not readily available. The last Brass case rounds I made up used 82 grains of Fg black and a base and a cushion wad with a Paradox 750 grain bullet from a 10 gauge sized down to 710 diameter. These were for a friend and were to be shot in an open choke heavy 12 for a bear load. At 50 yards the loads would group into about 4" and had a rather stout recoil. My cowboy slug loads are a 710 round ball in a trimmed Federal dove load case. 70 grains of FFg and a Base and a short cushion wad and a top card wad all roll crimped. These are fairly pleasant to shoot and are deadly on deer at 50 yards or under. They will shoot into 3" or so at 50 yards and shoot best from a bbl with no more than a I/C choke. A modified or full choke tends to throw them off some. My very best SLUG load for a 12 gague is a 16 gauge ball in a trimmed plastic wad seated over 70 grains of FFg and with a base and a lubed cushion wad. The plastic wad is trimmed so you just use the wad to center the ball no cushion on the plastic wad and no excess sticking up over the ball. The little bit of bore contact with the plastic is negated by the lubed cushion wad. Since the ball is undersized and the plastic compresses these shoot good in just about any choke and are easy on the gun. They still have the oomph to drop big game at close range. I have one that went through a buffalo and another friend used them for bear. If you use brass cases you will need a steel roll crimper and lube the case mouth before applying a light roll crimp to the shells. This takes some FEEL and you may ruin a case or two learning.
usertype:3 tt= 0
curator11
Actions Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo 3#
Rank:none
Score:9
Posts:9
Registered:01/12/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
(Date Posted:02/08/2005 04:28:35)
I have loaded both round ball (.715, .662, and .690) and Lyman Foster slugs in Alcan All Brass cases with black powder. I began doing it to get better performance than $tore-bought slug loads which gave lousy accuracy. I used the .662 ball inside a trimed plastic shot column (Win AA-I think) kind of like a sabot. This was loaded on top of .125 Card wad and 3/8 fiber wad and 2 3/4 drams of FFg. I got good accuracy (significantly better than factory stuff) and serious knock down power. I was casting the balls out of wheel weight alloy as that was all I had. They went right through deer at 75 yards! When I ran out of 11 guage wads (what you need with brass 12 gauge shells) and couldn't get more, I tried every possible combination including cloth patching both .690 and .715 round balls. A tightly patched .715 round ball over 3 1/4 drams of Fg black powder doesn't need a wad. Recoil is stout but accuracy is good for three or four shots without cleaning.
It occured to me the trick to getting accuracy is the ball fitting the bore (Duh!) not the wad column. I tried the Lyman 1Oz. Hollow Base slug (measures .690) both as cast and paper patched to .725 diameter (3 wraps with 16 Lb. Craft paper) over loads of 2 3/4 to 3 1/2 drams Fg and the paper patch slug nearly matched the tight round ball accuracy. Instead of wads I used a filler of Cream of Wheat to bring the slug up to the case mouth. Recoil was stouter yet, but the cream of wheat scurbbed to bore nicely and appeared to prevent blow-by, as well as forcing the slug up to bore diameter. I have also loaded .410 Alcan Brass shells with 3/4 case full (about 55 grains) of FFFg black powder and two (!) cloth-patched .41 caliber round balls with considerable success on feral dogs out to 75 yards.
The two problems with black powder loads in brass shells: cleaning the darn cases, and the huge cloud of smoke which obsucres your target when you pull the trigger! Oh yes, I shot all of these in my Savage single shot 12 gauge with a cylinder bore. Since then I have moved up to a Rem870 with Hastings rifle barrel, and shot sabot slugs.
To me it sounds like a whole lot more trouble than it's worth, but you're the one doing the shooting. I'm sure that somebody will comment on my comment, but my DGAF o'meter stopped working long ago, but you seem to belong to a very strange range there. NO nitro shotgun, but they're happy with a 12g slug?
tac