Lee slugs & Viht powder

[jock308]

Anyone use the Lee 1oz slug (cast) with vihtavouri powder?

I was thinking of using N340 or 3N37 starting with around 26 gr and working up.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Jim

[saddler]

Got both the RCBS slug moulds - one round & one that looks like a skirted airgun pellet

Not done any load dvelopment yet - but I suggest a couple of good reference books specific to shotgun reloading!!

Will post updates once I get some load data sorted

[Mike357]

Anyone use the Lee 1oz slug (cast) with vihtavouri powder?

I was thinking of using N340 or 3N37 starting with around 26 gr and working up.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Jim

Jim, you guys doing PSG at Kirkmichael?

[jock308]

Anyone use the Lee 1oz slug (cast) with vihtavouri powder?

I was thinking of using N340 or 3N37 starting with around 26 gr and working up.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Jim

Jim, you guys doing PSG at Kirkmichael?

Yes we shoot PSG at Kirkmichael, cannot use slugs though as range not passed for them. I have sent you a PM



Jim

[mr smith]

What sort of muzzle velocity/energy do slug put out,similar to .308?

[Sim G]

I'm using the Lee slug wither either accurate No5 or Green Dot.

Right, what dd I learn about different powders? Their choice is critical, but not so much in performance, as they all seemed to give fairly similar results, but, in the volume of the case that the powder takes up. This "powder tower" has to be matched with the wad you are going to use. If the powder tower and the wad are too short, the cripm collapses into the case. Likewise, too long and you can't get the cartridge crimped.

I actually chose my wad first. It's a "Claybuster" brand and is an equivilent of the Winchester WAA12SL. I chose this wad as the powder choices available to use with it, are those that are most available in my local shop.

How much of a problem is the height of the tower? Well, I was give a couple of thousand of Brenneke rifled slugs. The "wad" was actually attached to the slug at the bottom. I tried seven powders that would be suitable to try and get the right length in order to crimp the case. I couldnt get it to work. So, I separated the wads and the slugs, threw the wads away and melted the slugs which were re-cast into Lee!!

Choose your wad to go with the slug, then choose the powder you want to use from those already established. If it means buying new powder, then do so. Trust me, unless you hit really lucky and get a mix right in a very short tme, you will spend hours of frustration trying to make your components work......

[ptheta]

I roll crimp mine to avoid the issue of getting the height correct. I'm using red dot for quite a light load which cycles my Benelli M1 but it's too light for my friend's Fabarm.

We tried a few loaded with green dot but they wouldn't even cycle the Benelli but then I struggled to find load data so had loaded them very much on the light side. Sim, I wonder if you would mind sharing your Green dot and No 5 loads with me as I'm looking for some others to try.

I gave my spare green dot loads to someone with a pump as I couldn't be bothered to tar them all apart and they really liked them. Nice and soft and just perfect for the running man target on Butt zero.

Regards,
Paul.

[Sim G]

Paul,

No problems. But at the risk of teaching you to suck eggs, these loads work in my gun, a Benelli M2 and I'm happy that they are safe in my gun......

Fiochhi cases, WAA12SL equivilent wad, CCI 209 primers, Lee 1oz slug, loaded on a Lee Load All 2, with either 22.5gns of Green Dot or 36.5gns of Accurate #5. Both loads giving around 1350fps and work well out 150yds.

I have gone up to 38.5gns of #5 for 1550fps and they were thumpers!!!!

[ptheta]

Thanks Sim, I appreciate your point about safety. I'd consider your loads as an indication of what I might be able to work up to rather than a starting point.

Did you cook up the green dot loads any further? I loaded 21gr of green dot in mine and that wasn't enough to cycle.I did wonder about going further as they seemed a bit on the light side but in the absence of data haven't done so yet.

I'm trying to be cheap here and maximise the loads per tub of powder. :-)

I was also considering Hodgeson Universal as that has quite a low powder weight and is a listed load on the Lee slug instruction sheet but I'm not sure if I can get hold of that easily.

[Sim G]

No Paul, I didn't go any further with Green Dot as it's a fairly bulky powder, there were problems getting the crimp in place with 23gns and above, with every other component staying the same.

I don't think you'd have any trouble getting Universal. It's a powder regularly in stock on my local shop's shelf.

I know about trying to get the moste economical load as well! LOL! That's why the Green Dot load is the onw I use most....