10 gauge homemade slugs .730" and 730 grains

[6pt-sika]

A friend on castboolits was kind enough to send me some .730" 730 grain hollow base slugs for trial in my 10 gauge guns .



I loaded two in the Remington SP-10 wad but was a little afraid to shoot them thru any of my old 10's since the chokes on most are .760" or less and the slug with the petals of the wad measure about .770" . So I ordered some .003" mylar wrap which arrived today .



Took six of the SP-10 wads and cut the petals off and then put them in followed by the mylar wrap and then inserted the slug inside the wrap . The diameter of the slug and the wrap should be .740" or a hair under .



When I got to the range this afternoon I used my old circa 1884 Parker Grade 2 10 gauge top lever hammer gun that's loosely bored IC/M near as I can figure . Shot all at 25 yards .



Right barrel ,







Left barrel ,







After that I decided to go on and try the two I had loaded in the SP-10 shotcup .







I thought these were actually rather promising !



Also fired a right and a left with 0000 Buck just for the heck of it !



Right barrel at 25 yards ,







Left barrel at 25 yards ,







Think I'm going to try some more of the slugs with the entire shotcup and perhaps a few with 2 mylar wraps and a few with three mylar wraps .

[6pt-sika]

Made it to the range this evening mostly to test drive some home cast slugs in one of my 10 gauge side by sides . But I also carried along my 26 Nosler to resight my Mannlicher Schoenauer MCA 243 . Tried the Hornady 95 SST pushed with 41.5 of IMR4350 .

[M. M. Wright]

Boy 6pt, that little manlicher really shoots doesn't it?

[6pt-sika]

Boy 6pt, that little manlicher really shoots doesn't it?

Yes it's shot the Hornady 95 SST and the Nosler 95 BT very well .

And it seems to have come together since I removed that Mickey Mouse external focus B&L Balvar 2-8 and replaced it with Redfield mounts and an old Redfield 3-9 Traditional from the same time period !

I had originally wanted to get it shooting well with the Speer 105 grain Spitzer that they no longer make . Still have 75 or so of them so perhaps they'll drop on in there as well !

I suspect a lot of the reason that little rifle does as well as it does are the set trigger and the 243's inherrent lack of recoil .

[6pt-sika]

Boy 6pt, that little manlicher really shoots doesn't it?

Now if I could just find another MCA carbine in 270 , 308 or 06 at a reasonable price and shoot as well as this 243 I'd have it made !

[6pt-sika]

Tried the slugs a few minutes ago with a double wrap of .003" Mylar and a triple wrap of .003" as well . The triple wrap is starting to look decent in the tighter barrel . I have some .010" Mylar in order from Midway that should work a bit better I think .


Pics with the 2 and 3 wraps of .003" mylar !

Two layers of mylar .





Three layers of .003" mylar .





And a couple pics of the slug !

[Nath]

Hum finger of a slug!
Every shot so far would of taken a WT!

[6pt-sika]

The gentleman that sent me the slugs told me he would let me borrow the mold . He also told me the alloy is 50/50 WW's and pure lead . Need to see if I can get about 15 pounds of pure lead to mix with 15 pounds of WW's . 30 pounds of the alloy should be enough to keep me in slugs for a good long while .

Once I get the .010" mylar wraps I wanna try them in my two hammerless Parkers and my LC Smith . After I see which combos work best in each gun I would think the remainder of the slugs should last maybe 20 years no more deer then I'll kill with them . Generally one or two deer per gun and I'll move on to the next one .

[AJMD429]

Why Mylar instead of just paper, like paper-patches bullets...?

[6pt-sika]

Why Mylar instead of just paper, like paper-patches bullets...?

Mylar slides better down the barrel . The next step is Teflon wrap which is about triple the cost !

Also paper will tear not so with mylar .

[bmtshooter]

What is the material in the hollow base, and why is it there?

[6pt-sika]

What is the material in the hollow base, and why is it there?

That's hot melt glue . It's there to keep the plastic wad from going up in the hollow base during firing .

[6pt-sika]

Miracles never cease !



I found a 20-25 pound brick of pure lead in the loading room that a friend gave me a couple years ago !



Mix some or all of this with the same amount of WW's and I am set for casting the .730" 730 grain slugs !

[Nath]

Why not glue the wad to the slug, so it acts as a flight or Fletch.
Worked for me.

N.

[6pt-sika]

Why not glue the wad to the slug, so it acts as a flight or Fletch.
Worked for me.

N.

Not saying it doesn't help but I'd rather the wad dropped off as soon as possible .

Granted I shoot the old style and new style Brenneke's that have a wad of sorts attached and they do okay .

[Canuck Bob]

.730 and 730 grains

That must be some serious thump at both ends!

[6pt-sika]

.730 and 730 grains

That must be some serious thump at both ends!

Actually in those heavy doubles it's not bad at all . Well I've only so far shot if in my Parker hammer double and that one weighs about nine pounds .

[6pt-sika]

Well I received the borrowed mold for these slugs this morning so I cast 110 of them . I also took six of them and ran them thru my home made .720" sizier die . I made a sort of top punch that is loosely the same contour as the hollow base . Chucked my die in the jaws of the lathe , took the movable center and moved it closer , started my slug in the sizer , stuck the piece of dowel in the base cavity and used the crank on the movable center to ease them on thru . I lubed them with gear grease to get thru the sizer and I gotta say they came thru it looking pretty decent .

I wanna make another sizer die with some relief holes and maybe a little closer to .712" or so . Also tall enough that I can push the dowel thru a little easier .

Box with 100 or so of the slugs cast from 50/50 alloy of pure lead and wheelweights .



And the six I sized with my homemade sizer die . Used a piece of Remington 11/87 12 gauge varrel to make it !



Once I got home I loaded the six sized slugs . Used the REM SP-10 wad with the petals attached , pushed with 30 grains or SR7625 .
Also loaded six of the unsized except I removed the petals from the wads and added a single wrap of Mylar .010" .

[Grizz]

are those able to penetrate stuff, or do they go 'splat flat' ?

They look like serious business.

[6pt-sika]

are those able to penetrate stuff, or do they go 'splat flat' ?

They look like serious business.

Being 50/50 WW's to pure lead I would say they should be able to penetrate any animal I shoot them at just fine . But then that would only be a deer or black bear . Now as to them going thru doors or cinder block or something to that effect I dunno . But I'm not doing this for self protection .

[Rusty]

I don't think I've heard of 10 ga slugs since back in the 70's when there was a semi auto shotgun made by Ithica, I think. They called it "the Roadblocker."

[6pt-sika]

I don't think I've heard of 10 ga slugs since back in the 70's when there was a semi auto shotgun made by Ithica, I think. They called it "the Roadblocker."

That was the Ithaca MAG-10 with a short barrel . I've shot Federal factory loaded 3 1/2" 10 gauge slugs from a Remington SP-10 a couple Ithaca MAG-10's and a Browning BPS .

What I'm messing with now are all OLD and 2 7/8" 10 gauge stuff .

[6pt-sika]

Just got back from the range this AM , even though there was a slight rain I wanted to try 6 slugs wrapped with .010" mylar and six slugs sized to .720" in the SP-10 shotcup .

The results were very positive !

The right more open barrel with the sized .720" slug in the full shotcup at 25 yards !




The left tighter barrel with the sized slug in the full shotcup again at 25 yards .




The rights barrel with the unsized .730" slug a wrap of .010" mylar and no petals on the wad at 25 yards
.





The left barrel with the unsized .730" slug a wrap of .010" mylar and the petals removed from the SP-10 at 25 yards .




Shot all of these in my 1884 Parker top lever hammer gun . I reckon I'll try them next in my Parker #3 frame hammerless .

[Nath]

Getting there!

[6pt-sika]

Getting there!

This gun I've been using so far is a bit more open then the two hammerless Parkers I wanna try next .

I plan on maching another sizer , but before I decide on the size I wanna size a dozen more on my piece of 12 gauge barrel for the two hammerless guns .

[6pt-sika]

I just finished loading a dozen of the unsized slugs with the petal less SP-10 base and a .010" mylar wrap I also trimmed the mylar so it wasn't as tall in the case . The ones I shot yesterday were sometimes pushing the wad base further down in the case .



Gonna shoot three in each barrel of my 1889 Parker EH on the #2 frame and my 1899 Parker EH on the #3 frame . Both these guns are a smidge tighter in the choke then my Grade 2 top lever hammer gun .



When I get to the shop tomorrow after going to the range I want to cast another 100 or so of the slugs and maybe size two dozen or so of them !

[6pt-sika]

Got out to the range this morning at 8AM took my 1889 Parker EH #2 frame 10 gauge and my 1899 Parker EH #3 frame 10 gauge . Both are choked a bit tight .

Shot the #3 frame first and I mismarked them the right barrel target is actually marked left and the left barrel target is actually marked right .

This is actually the right barrel of the #3 frame gun !




This is actually the left barrel of the #3 frame gun .



Now the targets for my 1889 #2 frame gun are correct .






Granted the chokes are tighter in these two guns than in my 1884 top lever hammer gun , I think these two with the .010" Mylar wrap and the petals removed from the SP-10 wad work pretty well . In these I also trimmed the mylar wrap so it wasn't as tall as that I used in the hammer gun. Trimmed them to the same height as the thinner .003" Mylar .

I just finished casting 200 more of the slugs as well as sizing a dozen for trial hopefully this afternoon or in the morning .

Quite frankly for my needs the .010" mylar wrap seems to the ticket in the two tight choked guns . But I still wanna see how the sized stuff does . May also try the slugs in my old 1890 LC Smith . Anyway thats where I'm at , at the moment !

Have my pot still heated up and am about to make another 15-20 pounds of alloy and that should make me enough slugs to keep me in buisness as long as I wish to fool with this project !

[6pt-sika]

Well I ended up making approx 35 pounds of 50/50 alloy !

[6pt-sika]

Just finished loading 24 of the slugs with the Mylar .010" wrap and the petals removed from the SP-10 . Wanna try my LC Smith at 25 and 50 yards and wanna try the two Parker EH guns at 50 yards .



Also loaded a couple shells with 0000 Buck to try in the Smith as well .

[Nath]

They are a good load bud, certainly game getters.

You done well to get them good through chokes so well!

N.

[6pt-sika]

I may later try them in my yet older Parker lifter 10 gauge and in the Ithaca NID fluid steel barrel gun . But my W&C Scott will have to sit this one out with calipers the bores on the Scott measure less then .700 at the muzzle . Hence most likely the reason the underside of the barrels are stamped "shot only no ball" .

[6pt-sika]

Just in from the range this AM !

Started off with my circa 1890 LC Smith Quality 2 10 gauge 30" M/M at 25 yards .

3 slugs at 25 from the right barrel ,



3 slugs at 25 from the left barrel ,



0000 Buckshot at 25 yards from each barrel ,







LC Smith 10 gauge at 50 yards ,






Parker EH #3 frame 10 gauge at 50 yards ,






Parker EH #2 frame at 50 yards ,






I think I wanna try the two Parkers again at 50 yards .

[Nath]

Your all but done there.
50 yards is a good way!

N.

[6pt-sika]

Your all but done there.
50 yards is a good way!

N.

I seriousely doubt if I'd fire at a deer with one of the 10 gauge guns at 0ver 35ish yards but it's not a bad idea to know where they hit at that distance . Although my LC Smith seems a good bit lethal at 50 yards !

[6pt-sika]

I had wanted to get a Parker hammerless 10 gauge set of barrels that had been cut to fit a #2 or #3 frame to shoot buck and slugs . But in thinking after looking at what I got group wise already the extra barrels might not be necessary . Although an EH or NH grade Parker 10 with cut barrels for the right price still wouldn't be bad to have !