mini balls as slugs

[ActionYobbo]

can I load .690 730 grain (1.166 oz) miniballs as slugs for a rifled shotgun
I have never loaded shotgun ammo before so I need some educating on the finer points

[richbug]

I did this with a 20 gauge and some .575" minie balls in my youth. I just cut the crimp off of some "Remington game loads" and inserted the bullet into the wad. Accuracy was so so, but the balls were somewhat undersized for the bore.

Loading the balls backwards resulted in an air raid siren type of noise when fired. I did manage to shoot a ground hog with one of the backwards loaded rounds, the results were catastrophic.




I suspect you could use the 690 minie balls in a 12 gauge if you can work out the proper wad column, and your chokes and bores aren't too tight.

Search the net for the "12 gauge from hell", by Ed Hubel. I'm sure he has done it.

[Survey Punk]

If you kids are over 12 years old I wouldn't talk about stuff like this too loud.
Hint: WalMart- slugs

Don't hurt yourself. Really.

JB

[lew]

Originally posted by richbug

Search the net for the "12 gauge from hell", by Ed Hubel. I'm sure he has done it.

There's a thread in the General Firearms Discussion on ar15.com. Very interesting.

[ActionYobbo]

I have some brass shells that take standard rifle primers. I was thinking I could just load them like pistol bullets with no wad or any thing. just paper patch the mini ball and stick it on top of a shell full of black powder substitute.

[akajun]

may possibly work. Same nose heavy design as a foster slug, however, unless you already have a mini ball mould, If your going to buy a mould, buy a slug mould.
BTW I have thought about doing this for a .410. I have a .386 185gr rapine mould for my 41 long colt. .410 slugs for reloading are rare as hens teeth and are very light weight.

[ggiilliiee]

things ive run thu shotty ....dont use the citori .....hehe
injector razor blades ...
live 209 primers.(makes a mess)hehe
finish nails
ball bearings
rocksalt
marbles
split shot crimped on a short length of aircraft cable ...verry cool
metal powders ..alum/ mag
and a chunk of spam ....lethal ..hehe
dont do this at home .....

well id say as long as the load weight is the same ..and ya have a encapsulating shot cup ..power piston or the like ....just make sure the choke tube will take it

[ActionYobbo]

just make sure the choke tube will take it

who runs chokes in a rifled barrel


and ya have a encapsulating shot cup ..power piston or the like

if I am loading them like conventional metalic cartridge ammo why do I need wads. I dont have any wads in my 50-90

[Deltaten]

A-Y:
"if I am loading them like conventional metallic cartridge ammo why do I need wads. I don't have any wads in my 50-90"

Wads serve to cushion the shot column from the direct impact of the charge and seal the bore.....gently

But yer 50-90 is proofed for a lot more than a shotty bbl !! It's only a .50 vs a .69-72 or so whatever ga yer using. INcreased area and much lower pressure.

Attempting to load a shot shell like a metallic ctg with a lead bullet is asking for trouble. A bullet like you are suggesting uses the obduration of the base of the bullet to seal the bore.

I believe that attempting this in a shotgun will result in an over-pressure situation and ultimately, disaster.

OR..
It will simply rattle down the bore and serve no purpose other than an experiment ;)

[easttex]

Whatever you do, please be careful.

Your average shotgun barrel isn't rated to run at high pressure and will come apart quickly if you overload it.

As to your question, I don't know...but I don't see why it "couldn't" work.

The thing to do would be to measure the diameter of a couple slugs so as to assertain what diameter mini ball you could use. Then, you'd need to read up on the finer points of slug reloading. I haven't loaded a shotgun shell in 15 years or longer so I honestly can't remember anything about it other than its keeps the pressure low and uses faster burning powder than a rifle.

Good luck.

[ActionYobbo]

thanks for the input. I will have to do alot of research or get a long string on the trigger. I was looking at this as a black powder idea. its a breach loader single shot. if I use a black powder substitute and keep the pressure down at shot gun level with a paper patched .690 in the .729 bore I should be able to have some fun or some pieces to pick up.

[Deltaten]

Similar weight, paper patched to size, felt wad under and low pressure sounds like a plan :D

Hell !! If justa can launch a stack of dimes outta a brass cart; why not?? ;)

[Hebrew Battle Rifle]

SABOT

[ggiilliiee]

you could use a gas check ..but hbr's sabbot would be better .

[ActionYobbo]

I have the mold for the mini balls and about 100 made they are hollow base so a gas check wont work and a sabot wont work either.
I read 12 gauge from hell. thats interesting but a bit extreme for me. I am just trying to get this old african safari rifle back to life

[Deltaten]

Hmmmm?

Now it's a 12 bore Safari rifle!!! :D

Horse of a different color, that. I went back and checked..you *did*say it was a shotgun! ;)

Brass cases, work up a load and go for it !!!! :] Gotta be some ref to loading for one somewheres....mebbe accurate reloading?? they have all sorts of hunting piece's carts listed

[Lockbar]

Not that the guys here have poor info, (not true), but for more shotshell loading information and suggestions try ShotgunWorld.com. They have a specific shotgun shell reloading forum over there.

[richbug]

Originally posted by ActionYobbo
I have the mold for the mini balls and about 100 made they are hollow base so a gas check wont work and a sabot wont work either.
I read 12 gauge from hell. thats interesting but a bit extreme for me. I am just trying to get this old african safari rifle back to life

What about 120 grains of RELODER 25 scares you?

I think Ed is on the verge of being suicidal myself, maybe Clark has some more reasonable load data for you.

[ggiilliiee]

ohhh welll.....ya didnt tell us it was a 45-40-ought50 ought 40..hehe ..what i was tryin to say in the first post was BP is forgiving ..90 gr load ...120 gr load ...as long as the "thing" will fit down the tube ....it wont much matter from my BP shooting over the years ...it will come out ....:devil:

[Gazz]

Hollow base slugs are prone to poor accuracy when used with hot charges. I have a .54 cal TC rifle and found that hollow base slugs were quite accurate with low powder charges, I think around 60 grains. But I wanted knock down power and when I increased charges, the groups opened way up - the hollow bases get blown apart with heavy charges. I now shoot the maxi balls (solid base) with 100 grains and get very good accuracy as well as power. I think that foster type shotgun slugs get away with it because of the wad.
I used to think about thermo forming 12 gauge hulls to have 20g necks - a bottle neck plastic case. Loaded with a heavy slug with a 20g rifle bore
Good luck to your experiments but play safe!

[doubletap]

I've done exactly what you propose. I used some .690 minie's in a Marlin 120 pump slug gun. I miked the choke diameter and ended up paperpatching the slug to be a light push fit through the choke. Just because I could find no loading data for a 730 gr. slug, I decided to use 4Fg black powder.
Using 3" cases, I was able to get about 5 drams of powder in, a base wad from a shot cup (which my old shooting buddy at the time called a "supercharger"), then roll crimped the case with out the slug in it. Then seated the slug into the roll crimped case. I presented a mighty appearance.
I first tried remote firing, tying the pump gun to a 40 lb. bundle of newspapers, using a long cord, and stashing my priceless body behind a trap house. At the boom, and yes it was a LOUD boom, the gun flipped the 40 lb. bundle over, and our friend inertia self shucked the case out of the gun. After doing this 3 times it was now time to do it off the shoulder.
I fired into a frozen clay bank (it was late March in western Wisconsin) and let rip. The first sensation you get is the huge cloud in front of you with this 8 foot long tongue of bright orange flame through the middle of it. Then the gun began to rise. It was hopeless to try and control recoil so I let it ride.
A hole about 1 1/2" appeared in the bank. I wanted to dig it out and ended up finally getting the slug 30 1/2" later. It was expanded to about an 1 1/4". Tests on target confirmed it was tumbling after about 25 yards. Accuracy beyond that point was hopeless. Maybe in a rifled bore you could paperpatch it up to a good tight fit and make this work. I did a bit of further testing before the gun club banned this particular combo, and found I could get 6 drams into a case with a light wad column. Not sure of velocity but it should be well over 1200 fps, maybe up towards the 1500 fps range, which would be fairly powerful stuff.
BTW, if you do any of this don't blame me if things happen that you don't want to happen.

Doubletap

[ActionYobbo]

so I go an get a mossberg 500 barrel and now I find the barrel is 2 piece.
any one know what the thread size is for the barrel extension?

[ggiilliiee]

got thread guage ??..bolts of known TPI layed/mated on the threads can be used too ...

[STGThndr]

OK here's one.. years ago I picked up a .69 cal round ball mould for a muzzle load flinter I have. Now im wondering how a round ball might function in some ad hoc reloads.... don't have a rifled bbl for any of my mossies or 870's but have some open choked ghost sighted bbls that shoot very well with slugs... just wonderin. I do know from experience that if one replaces the shot load with somethin else the somethin else needs to be same weight... or else.

[ActionYobbo]

ggiilliiee

got thread guage ??..bolts of known TPI layed/mated on the threads can be used too ...

sounds easy but how do I see through the barrel extension. I dont want to cut it off and ruin the value on the item

[bookertbab]

Originally posted by richbug


What about 120 grains of RELODER 25 scares you?

I think Ed is on the verge of being suicidal myself, maybe Clark has some more reasonable load data for you.

Going to Clark for reasonable loading data is scary.

[ggiilliiee]

maybe looky here ....i cant run the java crapa.but it looks like it may have what ya need ...

yabby if your talkin mag tube end i can measure the remmy ...for rough tpi if that helps ....if thats what your talkin about ..two piece bbl is throwing me ..hehe

ive shot BP for quite a few years and have found and been told by pioneer shooters here that the differance between 90 grns and 150 grns really makes no difference in my hawken (.495 ball.../.oo2 per side patch of oiled linen ..FFF) ..its not like modernd powders ..if the projo isnt to big for the hole ....it will come out ...hehe

http://www.goexpowder.com/load-chart.html

[richbug]

Originally posted by STGThndr
OK here's one.. years ago I picked up a .69 cal round ball mould for a muzzle load flinter I have. Now im wondering how a round ball might function in some ad hoc reloads.... don't have a rifled bbl for any of my mossies or 870's but have some open choked ghost sighted bbls that shoot very well with slugs... just wonderin. I do know from experience that if one replaces the shot load with somethin else the somethin else needs to be same weight... or else.

Round balls dropped into a shot cup usually shoot very well out to 50 yards or so.

[Story]

Originally posted by STGThndr
OK here's one.. years ago I picked up a .69 cal round ball mould for a muzzle load flinter I have.

Buck-and-ball : stopped Armistead and his boys cold at the High Water Mark. :wink:
http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/catalog1/product_info.php/products_id/3835

[Story]

Originally posted by ActionYobbo I am just trying to get this old african safari rifle back to life [/B]

This wouldn't be a 98 Mauser action with a shotgun barrel, would it? :confused: