Hand Loading 12 ga sabot slugs

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Well the is some but not much information on the actuall loading of sabot slugs. A lot of info on the Foster style. I am taking the off season to work on my reloading and shootig and one thing I am doing is makig my own sabots for the 12 guage. What I am shooting now can run between 13-18 bucks a box and that just plain sucks.

I am going to use this thread to keep you all updated on the progress and I hope the accuracy can be what I think it can. If it all works out instead of 3 bucks a shell I will be at about 1.50 a shell and that is because of the cost of the Remington .50 caliber coerlokt bullet I sellected to start.

The goals.

An accurate shell for slug hunting. want 3" group at 100 yards

$1.50 a round or less using premium components

Muzzle velocity at between 1800 and 2100 fps.

2-3/4" shells

The order is placed for all the components and will be in next week.

[Doc]

Are there special dies available for slugs. I don't have anything that will do anything other than a star crimp. I know years ago, my brother-in-law started to look at building his own slugs, but he never really got anywhere with it and gave up. I will really be interested in your experiences. One of the advantages to any bullet re-loading is that you have the option to create some super accurate ammo. I have to wonder if that same opportunity exists with hand-loaded shotgun slugs.

[HUNT6246]

As a suggestion, you might try going to ShotgunWorld.com under their forums section they have a specific topic for slug guns and slug shooting. Lots of good intormation there. Pertains not only to loading slugs but to guns that shoot them most accurately.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Doc. I am going to roll crook the shells. I bought a special thing a ma jig to do that. The rest of it can pretty much be done without fancy tools or dies for ut I think there are dies out there from RIBS.

I have checked a lot of forums including the one you mentioned. There has been some success with foster style but they seem to feel their results are substandard. It is going to be an expensive experiment if it doesn't work. Order gets here on Thursday

[Larry]

One thing you should consider before reloading a slug to 1800 to 2100 is the rate of twist of your barrel. Most 12ga barrels have a rate of 1:33 or a 1:35 they are made to stabilize a slug with muzzle velocity up to 1600. You will need a barrel with a 1:28 twist rate to get optimum accuracy at that speed.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I have shot the Federals that are around the 1500-1600 range and the Remingtons that are around the 2000 range. both shot well for me. The Federals actually shot better. In all likelyhodd it may end up in the 1600-1800 range to start and then see where the journey takes me.

The components all arrived today. I am already kicking myself. I wish I got the 22mm high brass. The clear hulls should be nice so I can actually see how the components are lining up in the load.

Can I make a general statement that I can be quoted on....screw the metric system...lol.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

First loading. components fit well. crimp rolled over very well. It is kind of neat having the clear hulls so you can see the guts.

Edited April 12, 2012 by Culvercreek hunt club

[WNYBuckHunter]

Looks great!

[phade]

Looks awesome...hope they shoot great for you.

[Pygmy]

Looks like you're getting the hang of that reloading stuff, Culver Ol'Boy...

I'm looking forward to seeing some pictures of some nice tight groups that you shoot with them.

Don't get too hung up trying to wring every last FPS of velocity from them..Anything over 1500 FPS that is accurate should do the trick..

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I figured I would set my sites high and see what happens. The federals I shot so well were 1500 fps. The Remingthons were 1900 and they shot well too. (at least that is what they published)

"The 12 gauge Core-Lokt Ultra sabot bullet is a .50 caliber, 385 grain HP semi-spitzer. The catalog MV is 1900 fps and the 100 yard velocity is 1648 fps. The ME is given as 3086 ft. lbs. and the remaining energy at 100 yards is 2325 ft. lbs. The trajectory of that load looks like this: +1.8" at 50 yards, +2.4" at 100 yards, and +/- 0" at 150 yards."

http://www.remington.com/products/ammunition/shotshells/slugs/premier-core-lokt-ultra-bonded-sabot-slugs.aspx

This is what I am trying to mimmick and is the bullet i am using.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Well I made a trip to the range yesterday to test fire 5 of the sabots I loaded up. This was actually trip #2 Trip one results were dismal at best.

Trip #1

My fathers shotgun would not hold zero even with the factory ammo, so that cut into my field trials. I noticed on the shots that reloaded sabots had the bottoms punctured by the bullet. (this also happened on about half of the factory ammo)This made me think that the bullet may not be releasing well from the sabot. I would assume this would effect accuracy and based on our up close paper testing there was small tears on one side of every hole. Kind of like the bullet was wobbling. Took five shots and all five had the same results.

Trip #2 (yesterday) I rethought the components and substituted the type of gas check and added two hard shot cards under the sabot. I also reduced the powder to 34 grains of Longshot from 39. (Is this the spot I should put in some type of disclaimer about me not being responsible should anyone attempt to reproduce my efforts..lol) When I loaded these rounds I pre-opened the petals of the sabot and stressed the plastic. Loaded the rounds as beofre, compressed the column and roll crimped. The sabots dropped anywheres from 10 to 25 yards in front of the muzzle. All were intact with perfect petal opening and looked like very good rifling engagement. the hole on the paper at 50 yards were much more uniform and crisp (cut cleanly).They still had a pattern out of my buddys 1100 of 4" and that is NOT what I was looking for. But His Winchester Surpremes shot a pattern of 5-1/2 inches. . Conclusion----I have to get my scope mounted on my slug gun...lol. I know what that one is capable of. Might have to buy an H&R single as a test gun.

For the next round I think I am going to start varying powder loads since the components seem to be working well. I will get some pics up tomorrow of the sabots. I forgot to take pics of the targets.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Hey Culver, if you want, you can try a pattern out of my 870. Hornady SSTs were putting a less than 2 1/2" pattern at 50 yards out of that gun.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Might be worth a run through on it. It sure is nice shooting them in the Lead sled too. Even at 34 gr they sure do make the sled jump even with 65 pounds in it...lol.

If it shoots well I am going to have to get a chronon to run them through. you busy tomorrow evening?

[WNYBuckHunter]

Yeah I have my daughter. Going to look at a house Wednesday. Could do Thursday though.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Trip #1 pictures of sabots

The Blue sabots are the ones I am using and you can see how the bullet pushed back through the sabot.

The white sabots are from commercial sabots ans on one of them it did the same thing.

I had a very cushioned gas seal under the sabot for this load. Didn't work as I had wished.

Edited May 1, 2012 by Culvercreek hunt club

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Trip # 2

All sabots opened as i would have expected. Now to work on the load and the grouping and find a friend with a chronon to check the velocity

No signs of any pressure related issues. Going to work up to the 39 gr of Longshot

Edited May 1, 2012 by Culvercreek hunt club

[IowaLee]

Can I ask what slug you used for this load? We're you able to get the group and velocity you were targeting? 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Can I ask what slug you used for this load? We're you able to get the group and velocity you were targeting? 

It was the Remington and they don’t make it anymore. The problem I was having was getting good separation. Velocity was perfect but the sabots were too soft even using warriors over shot cards and buffers. When they didn’t come out clean the POI was effected. The bullets on occasion would push back into the sabot base and not come off clean. Been looking for a harder sabot and was going to try a lighter bullet. Just haven’t gotten to it.

[sbuff]

A modern inline would meet all your goals too if you desired. Bullets and sabots are cheap when bought separately.

Very interested in your progression 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

A modern inline would meet all your goals too if you desired. Bullets and sabots are cheap when bought separately.
Very interested in your progression 

I’ve got an Encore. But I hunt with guys that like the ability to have multiple rounds available. Loaded sabot Ammo is highway robbery.

[IowaLee]

31 minutes ago, sbuff said:

A modern inline would meet all your goals too if you desired. Bullets and sabots are cheap when bought separately.

Very interested in your progression 

Would inline components (bullet) be compatible with shotgun use?

[airedale]

If anyone is interested "Ballistic Products" is one of if not the best outfit for shotshell loading components for both shot and slugs. They have everything one needs and specific manuals for any kind of loads imaginable, I have been buying from them for sometime getting non toxic shot, they have treated me right and the prices are not out of line.

Al

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/default.asp

Edited January 25, 2018 by airedale

[Culvercreek hunt club]

34 minutes ago, airedale said:

If anyone is interested "Ballistic Products" is one of if not the best outfit for shotshell loading components for both shot and slugs. They have everything one needs and specific manuals for any kind of loads imaginable, I have been buying from them for sometime getting non toxic shot, they have treated me right and the prices are not out of line.

Al

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/default.asp

That is where I bought my sabots and overshot cards and cushions.

 

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/RSS-12-Rigid-Structure-Sabot-only-12ga-50_bag/productinfo/322RSS/

 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Would inline components (bullet) be compatible with shotgun use?

Could be. It is a game of thousandths. Not a tight enough fit and it can not get the correct spin from the Rifling. Too big and loading in the sabots and hulls can be a bear and effect how the crimp releases. It is a game of all the components together. Really more moving parts that loading brass cartridges. There is some good info on shotgun world.