Anyone reloading foster slugs?

[savageT]

Is there material and equipment available to reload 12 or 20ga. foster slugs?  What about the new sabot types for rifled barrels?
savageT

[Gun142]

"Is there material and equipment available to reload 12 or 20ga. foster slugs?"

Yes, Lyman makes foster slug molds for both 12 and 20 ga.
Lee makes a mold for 12 ga only (that I found) but they make it in two sizes.

Lyman also makes a slug mold that's shaped like a big airgun pellet. I make and load this type. From what I understand, both types of slugs can be loaded in a regular shot wad. This makes them a sabot since they are under sized and the wad is what hits the barrel\rifling.

I have a rifled barrel and a smooth bore. The only real difference I noticed was the smooth bore hits about 2" low at 100 yards and 4' low at 200 yards, whereas the rifled barrel hits 10" low at 100 and a little over 3' low at 200 when sighted in at 50yards.
I prefer the smooth bore, it's just dead on and shoots flatter out to 100 yards.

I guess a good book for slugs is the Lyman shotshell #4. I can't testify to that until Santa stops by - hopefully.

You can make real sabot ammo without using regular shotshell wads, but it will be more expensive. There should be stuff for that at
http://www.ballisticproducts.com/BPHome/bpihomepage.htm

I made a friend sick at the range last week; he was shooting some slugs that cost almost $12 for a box of 5. You can shoot a 50cal for that price!
He was a little quiet after he realized my slug ammo was working better in his gun, with half the recoil, and I only paid $7 per 100 rounds!

[Bob_K]

Hey Gunner142...

What loads have worked best for the Lyman wadcutter slug?  I gotten good groups at 50 yards, but nothing at 100.  I've been using Bluedot in Win AA hulls, but have also tried Federal hulls.  SR4756 did not seem to group as good.  I carry some of my slug loads for a Coup de Grace (if necessary), but use Federal BRI-style factory as my primary hunting slug since it groups well out to 100 yards in my 12 ga Rem 1100/Hasting fully rifled barrel/Leupold 4X.

Another slug I've had good success with is a Fiocchi 1oz slug.  The slug looks identical to the Dangerous Game slug Ballistic Products sells, but the ammo on sale loaded was cheaper (by half) than assembling the load with the prices BP wants.  I get 1.5" at 50 yards, but nothing worthwhile at 100.  I have not checked its grouping at 75 yet.

[Gun142]

"What loads have worked best for the Lyman wadcutter slug?"

I'm not sure if the load I make is in any book, got the info from a trusted friend.

Take this at your own risk and Graybeard can certainly pull this post as needed.

I pick up 12gauge 2 3/4" Remington Slugger hulls from the range, check to make sure the base inside the hull is intact/present, then trim to 2.70". (only takes 30 seconds per hull)

Federal 209A primer
mec #33 bushing with Hodgdon Clays powder
Federal 12S3 wad (I use Claybuster)
6 point crimp


Using Slugger hulls seemed stupid to me at first but some of the others I tried didn't make nice crimps. Since I planned on trimming the hulls, and there were hundreds of Sluggers (free) sitting at the range after sight-ins for deer season, it was a no-brainer. They are what my friend uses but he doesn't trim them for length.
Trust me, you want to trim them.

I'm hoping to get the Lyman shotshell book soon. Sounds like it's about the only book having several options for slugs. I emailed Lyman about some data, they mailed a few photocopied loads and told me to get their book.

I have another friend who likes to shoot slugs. He's going to try some things and we'll see if we can find a hotter load that's more accurate. What I'm making now is plenty for deer up to 100 yards but I think a little more speed wouldn't hurt.

The Clays powder is nice because it's clean and hardly kicks at all. I can shoot 50 rounds and the gun is barely dirty. Plastic fouling is always worse. I'd like to read some data on slugs and try to find a little bit of a slower powder that may still be tame for recoil but give better velocity.

Winchester Super Field (WSF) is supposed to be good with these slugs. Don't know much about this powder but it sounds like it could be a winner.

You have to have a little fun with these slugs; turn a couple upside down when you load them. That big hollow point is hell in mud. If I had more to make right now, I'd like to see how they'd do on paper between 50 and 100 yards. They seemed to do OK on the bank at 55 yards but it was kinda hard to tell    :grin:  

Some people have told me to make slug ammo using shotshell data. My slugs are about 15 grains heavier than 1 1/8 ounce of shot. That's not a huge difference when you're talking about 500+- grains, but I don't believe it's a wise idea to substitute the data.