12 ga. .690 Round Ball

[IvW]

@ChrisG how do you get the slugs to sit in the front of the case when I load mine they are quite far down in the case?

 

[ChrisG]

Non rifled but I am thinking to get a lighter mold and then add the felt rear sectionsame as Brenneke...contrary to popular belief the "rifling" on a brenneke does not induce spin....

Right. The fin in the back drag stabilizes it. Accurate molds does sell a mold you can have a hollow base pin cut for. Then figure out a way to glue the cushion part of a shotwad about 3cm long onto the base with a post that you can glue into the hollow cavity. Thats really all that brenneke did. You just need to drag stabilize them somehow.

 

[ChrisG]

@ChrisG how do you get the slugs to sit in the front of the case when I load mine they are quite far down in the case?

There is a gas seal on top of the powder, a 0.25" hard spacer on top of that, a 0.5" fiber cushion wad on that, then another 0.25" hard spacer and then the bullet is pressed into it. They make up a compressed column in the case. Your cases might need more or less wadding. Mine are 2.5" long. When the bullet is squished into the case, the neck tension holds it securely against the column.

 

[IvW]

Ok but theoretically this all ads up to "bullet" weight?

 

[Round Ball]

Ok but theoretically this all ads up to "bullet" weight?

Not theoretical, but in fact it does!

 

[IvW]

So you better off with a deep seated bullet only?

 

[Round Ball]

.690 Round Ball energy, with an average muzzle velocity of 1,600 fps..

Muzzle: 2,743 ft. lbs.

50 yards: 2,255 ft. lbs.

100 yards: 1855 ft. lbs.

It's no wonder I have never recovered a Round Ball from a deer!

Round Ball

 

[IvW]

Understood but round balls on leopard and bushpig may not be the best option for my application anyway..they are not exactly deer...impale I can shoot all day long with round balls or any local slugs but my application requires a bit more

 

[Round Ball]

So you better off with a deep seated bullet only?

By going with a deep seated bullet, the bullet itself remains "clean" and the bullet is less likely to upset as is leaves the case. Meaning that it will remain closely centered with the bore.

If your chamber is short throated, then the slug could be set to touch the lands and theoretically, it should improve the overall accuracy potential of the gun

Round Ball

 

[Round Ball]

Understood but round balls on leopard and bushpig may not be the best option for my application anyway..they are not exactly deer...impale I can shoot all day long with round balls or any local slugs but my application requires a bit more

Understood.

 

[IvW]

By going with a deep seated bullet, the bullet itself remains "clean" and the bullet is less likely to upset as is leaves the case. Meaning that it will remain closely centered with the bore.

If your chamber is short throated, then the slug could be set to touch the lands and theoretically, it should improve the overall accuracy potential of the gun

Round Ball

I also presume that doing this means one can up the velocity? As you only use the total weight of whatever is ahead of the powder charge so to speak?

 

[IvW]

My poor mans double 12ga 24 inch is on a very strong sidelock action and my combo is on a 28 inch setup

 

[ChrisG]

Ok, so... lots of stuff here. You're technically correct that the wad column does add some weight, but realistically it is probably less that 10 grains and that amounts to not a whole lot. What does matter a whole lot more is the amount of cushion wadding in the shell and the type of wadding. Cushion wadding acts more or less like empty space in the shell when fired. The more cushion wads you have, the lower the pressure. Fiber wads produce less pressure than plastic wads as the polyethylene has a much higher coefficient of friction at those pressures and is harder to force down the barrel. As to @Round Ball s point about the shell being misaligned, you can overcome this a little by using the longest shells that will chamber in your gun. If it is a 2-3/4 gun, use 2-3/4 shells. If it is a 3" gun, load the slugs in 3" hulls. Seat the slug as far forward in the shell as you can and still hold it securely. This keeps the slug as close to the throat as possible for maximum accuracy.

Using no cushion wadding or ramming the slugs deep in the case will increase the pressure, but unless you have pressure testing equipment, you won't know when you are over pressure. There are no "pressure signs" when you are loading shotshells. The guns just gets damaged or blown to bits at a point. 12 gauge max pressure is like 12,000 psi. Even thin hulls don't show pressure signs until you are twice that. If you just ram the bullet down onto the powder with nothing but a rigid wad between it and combustion, you will be running pressures up quickly. I also got a lot better accuracy by playing with how many wads I used and the configuration above produced good results for me.

 

[IvW]

So I can safely screw a fibre wad into the back of the slug as Renneke does and work up from there?

 

[ChrisG]

So I can safely screw a fibre wad into the back of the slug as Renneke does and work up from there?

I would definitely add a gas seal.you won't get much pressure without it. Then put at least a hard fiber wad directly under the bullet. Or better yet, cut the petals off one of these, add a hard fiber wad to the top of it then screw/glue it to the base of the bullet. It already has a gas seal bult into it.

 

[Round Ball]

Also, make sure there is NO air space between the gas seal and the powder.

Round Ball

 

[ChrisG]

Also, make sure there is NO air space between the gas seal and the powder.

Round Ball

Agreed!

 

[Challer]

I never have tried a round ball. These are my 12 bore loads. Though I only have one coyote to claim with them so far. The bullet dwarfs a 9mm round.View attachment 414389View attachment 414390

They are 775 grain wadcutters cast from an accurate arms mold, loaded to about 1,150 fps... and a little overkill for a coyote.

I'm glad I am not the only one who enjoys loading and shooting some heavy, slow chunks of lead!

Those look awesome. Are you using the RCBS brass 12G dies are something else?

 

[ChrisG]

If there was a way @IvW that I could send you some slugs I would happily do it for just the cost of shipping. However, I am pretty sure it is not only illegal, but from what I hear of the SA postal system, they would likely never get to you anyway.

 

[Challer]

If there was a way @IvW that I could send you some slugs I would happily do it for just the cost of shipping. However, I am pretty sure it is not only illegal, but from what I hear of the SA postal system, they would likely never get to you anyway.

I pretty sure they are ITAR