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Reloading shotgun slugs

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T
I have a deerslayerll that has been in the cabinet for years. All of my deer hunting is done with black powder. Anyway

I want get out the ole deer slayer and use it but the slugs are so expensive it's prohibitive. The "shotgun" has a rifled barrel. Is it practical to reload slugs for this gun? I have been lookin around a bit and see that Lee makes a slug mold where the slug can be loaded in a AA hull. I have a Lee shotgun press that I have used for shot for years. Anyway can someone help me with this problem?

thanks for the help
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T
Thanks for the reply.

I'm not married to any idea as of now. If somethin works better I'm listening.
I have been loadin for a while both shotshell and pistol ammo but never got into slugs. I really know nothing about reloading slugs.
Can you send me down the right road to learn about loading these things. My "shotgun" is rifled and I have used sabeted slugs in it years ago. Worked pretty well but even then the price was pretty steep.
What mold, hulls and power are you useing? Also how many grains of powder?
thanks agian
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T
thanks guys

I do cast my own black powder balls and bullets. I have a .50 cal bullet mold. I really don't know to much about shotgun stuff but I do know that for the ranges I shoot heavier is better. I am trying to get some info on the Lee slug but as of now I am afraid it may be to light. It would be nice to hear from someone that has used these for a while on deer. My buddies hunt with shotguns but buy their ammo. I do know when hit with my muzzleloader deer stay down. With the shotgun you are more likly to have them get up and run.
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T
Thanks guys. For better or worse I got the Lee mold. There was a good reason for it. There isn't a Lyman anywhere around here. I really wanted to see how reloading slugs would go. How hard is it to get them right and what kind of accuracy could I expect. I spent quite a bit of time this afternoon at Cabelas trying to get a reciepe that would work with what they had. Tried everything nothing worked. If they had the wads they didn't have the powder. If they had the wads and powder I didn't have the hulls. I really didn't want to buy new slugs haveing a ton of AA hulls in the shop.
I figured for 20 bucks it would be worth the try. If it gets to the point I would rather have the Lyman I 'll order one. I'm not saying the Lyman isn't worth every penny but it would cost me near 100 bucks for the mold and the handles and I couldn't get one anyway locally. I had to go to a local shop to find the powder. They didn't have anything else just the powder.
I was suprised how hard it was to find stuff locally. Years ago I could have gotten all this stuff in about a half hour. Times are a changin.:(

Now before I try to reinvent the wheel any hints here? With BP I usually just carbon the mold up with a few matches and start a run. Is there anything else I should do?

thanks guys
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T
I may get the Lyman in the spring. I thought I read the Lee was for rifled barrels?

Anyway I see that Lee says to lube the mold before you use it. Of course I don't have any bullet lube. What are you guys usin? I bought some High Temp silicone this evening. I read that never seize, wd40, candle wax and bees wax works well. What is your exp?

One other thing. I have a mec jr 12 gauge loader. Do you guys just push the slug in the shot cup with your finger the crimp with the loader?
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T
The instructions say to luge the Spur Bushing, "V" ribs and the locating cross pin. Not sure how necessary it is but they seem pretty emphatic about it.
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T
I was just doin some fast readin on the roll crimp. Seems you have to use new hulls for the crimping. Is this true or can you just trim the length of a used folded hull?
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T
I did a search and found a few sites that sell the roll crimp. It sounds to me like you need new hulls. I guess the crimped ones already have a "memory".

When you guys put the slug in the wad do you lube the slug at all to make it easier for the two to seperate, or is it not necessary? Do the slugs seem to seperate pretty well. I will be using Lee slugs.
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T
I was suprised to see the roll crimpers really aren't that expensive. My problem is I have a ton of AA hulls. I'm gonna try them first.

I can't find my lead pot to save my life. Had it for years now looks like I gotta buy another one. Crap..........:mad:
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T
Yea your right about the hot loads. I loaded with 38.5gr of Accurate 5. It was bad with the deerslayer ll but the mossberg 500 has horrible. I am goin to try 35gr next time.
What have you found is a good effective load for deer that won't beat ya up?

Thanke
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T
Are the Winchester WW12R wads discontinued?? I was told they were. If so what is the alternative?
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T
I just loaded a few Lee slugs. I know the 38.5gr of Acc #5 is accurate in the deerslayer. I loaded 5 more just so I had something to hunt with until I could come up with a less punishing load. Talked to Lee about the loads. He said the 38.5gr was max load and would probably do better with 10% less powder. I haven't shot them yet but made a few @ 35gr and a few at 30gr of Acc#5. I plan to shoot them today to see how they go and will let you know what I find, if anything.

What do you guys use that is effective on deer and doesn't punish the shooter?
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T
Yeah that's the problem. I know you only shoot once(hopefully) in a hunting situation but it would be nice to have a bit less recoil.
Anyway I got out to try the new loads this afternoon.

Here are my loads so far.
Winchester AA 12ga hull
Winchester 209 primer
Accurate #5 powder
AA12SL wad
Lee 1oz slug
Crimped hull

The only thing I changed was the grains of powder.
First loads...........38.5grains....accurate but punishing grouped well
Second Load........35 grains......accurate nice recoil grouped very well
Third Load...........30 grains.......not as accurate nice recoil

The second load is what I was looking for. This will be my hunting load. I only shot these loads in the Deerslayer. Next time I will try the same load in the smooth bore imp cyl Mossberg and see what happens.

I was also surprised to see that only 3grains made that much difference. Oh, with the way the slug went through the conveyor belt target and into the embankment there is plenty of power in any of these loads.
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