Which powder for heavy slugs?

[Greg5278]

Some Slow Pistol Powders work well in the Shotgun. The only one that I know personally to never use in 12 ga is H110. It had a Flame out, then reignited and opened the Action on my Gun. Lil Gun is in the same Powder Series as Primex 513, which is excellent. Most of the Big Ammo Companies are using some of the Primex in their Slug, Buck and Steel Loads. As far as Reloaders can get, Lil Gun works well with IMR 4759 being discontinued.
Greg
AKA 12 Bore

[Blood Trail]

I know I interchange my pistol powder (.44 mag) with my 12 (blue dot, unique, 4756, etc) but never thought to use 2400 or lil gun, much less rl17.

That's why I love this place.

I'll start with BlueDot and steel.

Any ideas on charges? I was gonna look at load data for similar payload weight and go from there (unless someone has walk a path similar).

I'll think I'll add 4756 in there for craps and giggles.

[bikerbeans]

.... thinking 33 grs of Longshot and 40 grs of Blue Dot.

What do y'all think? Too low? High?

BT,

I haven't tried longshot for slugs, but I have burnt a lot of Blue dot pushing fullbore slugs. I am thinking 40g of BD is probably at or over max for a 770g slug. If it were me I would start in the lower 30 grain range.

BB

[Blood Trail]

BT,

I haven't tried longshot for slugs, but I have burnt a lot of Blue dot pushing fullbore slugs. I am thinking 40g of BD is probably at or over max for a 770g slug. If it were me I would start in the lower 30 grain range.

BB

Note taken. I remember when I was messing around with the triball load, James called for 28 grs of BD for slightly over 2 oz of lead.

Thanks for the reminder, BB!

I'll start around 28-30 grs of BD.

[Hogtamer]

BT, I recalled a progression table that Turbo worked up (he disappeared but was a fount of knowledge) that showed a relationship of blue dot to steel, among others. It showed that for a given load of blue dot one could safely use that plus 2 grns of Steel. You'll have to search to find it but In working up some of my loads I referenced some steel shot loads in a lyman manual that basically confirmed this. Now someone may have a cautionary note but steel shot shotcups are really a solid column as the wads have no crush section. I have used that theory in several loads to no ill effect. To the point I'm confident that if a load is appropriate for 32 grns blue dot I could safely use 32 grns of Steel powder and in fact can go a couple grns higher. This is of course anecdotal and not pressure tested so do your homework. And the resulting targets show me that the equivalent Steel loads impact 2 - 3" higher @ 100 yds with the same slug. Most recently with 1 1/2 oz. slugs. BTW, and this is totally unrelated, but I'm not sure my PM messages are getting out. I'm going to send you a pm and if you get it please reply. Thx.

[Blood Trail]

BT, I recalled a progression table that Turbo worked up (he disappeared but was a fount of knowledge) that showed a relationship of blue dot to steel, among others. It showed that for a given load of blue dot one could safely use that plus 2 grns of Steel. You'll have to search to find it but In working up some of my loads I referenced some steel shot loads in a lyman manual that basically confirmed this. Now someone may have a cautionary note but steel shot shotcups are really a solid column as the wads have no crush section. I have used that theory in several loads to no ill effect. To the point I'm confident that if a load is appropriate for 32 grns blue dot I could safely use 32 grns of Steel powder and in fact can go a couple grns higher. This is of course anecdotal and not pressure tested so do your homework. And the resulting targets show me that the equivalent Steel loads impact 2 - 3" higher @ 100 yds with the same slug. Most recently with 1 1/2 oz. slugs. BTW, and this is totally unrelated, but I'm not sure my PM messages are getting out. I'm going to send you a pm and if you get it please reply. Thx.

HT,

I got your PM. It's work my way. Wished I'd checked this msg before I started but I got a 4 month old and gotta fit it in when I can. Lol. This is what I loaded up of the following:

Reloading Slug Data
Group A:
-28.4 gr Blue Dot
-x12x gas seal
-1/2" hard card wad
-1/4 felt wad
Group B:
-28.4 gr Blue Dot
-flex seal
-1/2" hard card wad
-1/4" felt wad
Group C:
-33 grs of Steel
-x12x
-1/2" hard wax card
-1/4" felt wad
Group D:
-33 gr of Steel
-flex seal
-1/2" hard wax card
-1/4" felt wad

My hulls are 3" Rio and Fiocchi. I labeled the brass A-D to keep track of the components.

I loaded 6 a piece of each group. I plan on checking groups thru my USH and 835 (3 each). I'll chrono each load.

The only thing I changed besides the powder, was the gas seals. I went with an x12x and a mirror load with the flex seals.

The shells with the x12x have very deep roll crimp. The flex seal was a little shallow on the roll crimp than the x12x, but still really nice, deep crimps.


Here is a see-thru on the loads:



Difference in roll crimps:

[bikerbeans]

Time to make some noise!

BB

[cpileri]

what did you lube them with?
C-

[Greg5278]

Looks like NRA or 50/50 Lube to Me.
CRC Marine Corrosion Inhibitor works as a Trail Spray on Alox for those not wanting to Dip Lube.
It's not quite as good as Pan Lubing, but does give a fairly hard coat after a few Applications.
G
AKA 12 Bore

[Blood Trail]

what did you lube them with?
C-

1 lb of bee's wax
10 oz of Vaseline
Couple tablespoons of STP oil treatment
A little paraffin as well

Note to Mod:
I again submitted a post for inappropriate content by mistake AGAIN! I think Tapatalk changed some function keys around. Sorry.

[duckey]

Had good results with Green dot. I put together some slug loads using 50 cal .370 gn maxi balls in a Blue BPI sabot cup over the RS12 (I think?) gas seal. decent group at 50 yards.

[Blood Trail]

Had good results with Green dot. I put together some slug loads using 50 cal .370 gn maxi balls in a Blue BPI sabot cup over the RS12 (I think?) gas seal. decent group at 50 yards.

I load RS12 blue sabots too. However, this is a whole different ball game.

[bikerbeans]

For rifled shotgun barrels I tumble lube fullbore slugs with 75% JPW and 25% lee liquid alox. For my smooth bore "Tens" I usually don't lube the FB slugs.

BB

[cpileri]

Cool BT thanks for the recipe.

After trying the CRC corrosion inhibitor, I noticed it looks exactly (when dried) as AMSOIL's Heavy Duty Metal Protector. So I tried it as well. Spray, let dry in the sun, spray again maybe.
Seems to work well.

also, been powdering the corrosion inhibitor-lubed slugs with a coat of hBN just to see.

Not sure I have any good comparative data to share since they all seem to work for leading.

Maybe that can be another future project for me: accuracy w identical loads but differing lube concotions.

beans, you do NOT lube your 10ga smoothebore slugs?

C-

[bikerbeans]

-C,

I forgeo to lube the 10ga slugs once and didn't notice leading. Being a lazy fellow I just keep "forgetting" to lube them.

BB

[Blood Trail]

Just got back from the range. Will post results shortly b


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[More_Slugs]

Just got back from the range. Will post results shortly b


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey BT, what were your results?

I'm trying to put together the same. I have a custom mold made replicating the Dixie IXL-DGS slug @ 1.75oz, before any components are added.

I too only have B-Dot, Steel, and Longshot. I'd prefer to use Longshot since I have significantly more, it's easy for me to get and costs less than the other 2.

Thanks!

[lawdog941]

46 grains of Lil Gun will get you around 1299fps for a 1.75oz, 3 in load. Just have to work on your column height.

[More_Slugs]

46 grains of Lil Gun will get you around 1299fps for a 1.75oz, 3 in load. Just have to work on your column height.

I appreciate the information!

[pipehand]

800X is my best Lyman 525 wad slug powder. I had heard it was discontinued. Anything heavier, Blue Dot has been my go to powder, up to 945 grain payload.
I haven't ever tried Steel or Longshot.