reloading sabot slugs

[JEB]

I have been shooting factory 12 gauge slugs up to this point but im just sick of the cost. i have been reloading for all my rifles and pistols with good results so i figured, why not shotgun? ultimatly what i want to do is make my own sabot slugs using pistol bullets (think of the hornady sst).

the problem is that im just not having any luck with finding what to use for the sabot or even how to load them. what kind of a press would be needed for something like this? i have been kicking around the idea of getting a lee load all but i honestly have no idea if this will do what i want to do.

thoughts?

 

[FROGO207]

A lot of the components for slug loading and the data is not out/available for us as reloaders. There are some neat slug/wad combo thingamajigs I have seen around. Also Lee makes a mold for their DriveKey slugs and provides data that I have been investigating. You will not be able to use a rifle/pistol bullet in a smooth bore as it will not stabilize any. It needs to be front heavy and longish to do that (think arrow), or round, so that it goes straight. I do read a lot and am digesting what there is out there for some time and come to the conclusion that the Lee slug (that uses a standard wad BTW) is the way I would go if I move away from BuckShot. There may be others that have had better luck and they will weigh in I hope. The slug thingies are available from Balistic Products IIRC.

 

[JEB]

You will not be able to use a rifle/pistol bullet in a smooth bore as it will not stabilize any.

should have mentioned in the OP; my shotgun has a fully rifled barrel so stabilization shouldnt be a problem.

 

[NCsmitty]

You need to have a rifled barrel if you are using a true sabot/w pistol bullet. Yup, I see that you knew that

Take a look at GARDNERS CACHE' as they have both types, for rifled barrels and smooth bore kits.
Maybe you can get some ideas from it.

http://gardnerscache.com/index.html


NCsmitty

 

[FROGO207]

Thanks for the link. I now have more to digest. Trouble is the 20 GA is for rifled barrel only. I will still load the 000 Buck for now I think. I was looking for slugs for the 410 and 20 GA smooth bores myself.

 

[JEB]

so is there anyone who sells a thicker walled sabot that would enable the use of .45 cal bullets? also i dont know how the crimp would work. all the slugs ive seen have the edges rolled in (dont know the right term) but from what i can tell, all the shotgun loaders do the star type crimp. thoughts?

 

[FROGO207]

Balistic Products also sells a roll crimping tool for use in your drill. You use a paper overshot wad and roll crimp it with the correct wad for your application. Finding a wad that will work will be your biggest problem I am afraid. Email and ask BP, they will send you a free catalog with all the products they have.

 

[JEB]

now THIS is excactly what im talking about! thanks for suggesting balistic products FROGO207.

now how would i go about loading these? would you just insert the bullet/sabot in place of the shot/wad and star crimp as normal?

 

[snuffy]

now how would i go about loading these? would you just insert the bullet/sabot in place of the shot/wad and star crimp as normal?

No. That is simply a sabot, it has no means of sealing the powder gases, for that you need some sort of gas seal.

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/12ga-Flex-Seal-Wad-250_bag/productinfo/072FS12/

That could be used all by itself under the sabot. However, to get a good crimp, you'll need filler wads. What you'll be doing is building a composite column or wad stack. Additional cushion wads between the gas seal and the sabot are a good idea, and raise the sabot/bullet combo to get a clean, flat crimp.

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/Fiber-Filler-Wads/products/117/

Any combination of the fiber wads on that page can be used to "fill up" the space in your wad column.

As for a loader, I'd shy away from the lee loader. Get a mec 600 jr. mark 5 and be done with it. If you end up not doing many loads, you can sell it used for darn near what you paid for it.

Roll crimpers have to be used on new shells. Not ones that have been star crimped, then fired. One method is to trim off the crimp section of a 3" empty, then roll crimp that as a 2¾ inch shell. Or buy new hulls, BP has many to choose from. Best I've found is the fiocchi clear plastic hulls.

Here's the BP hull vise on a harbor freight drill press. For roll crimping.

 

[JEB]

wow, thanks for the excellent write up snuffy!

i have been doing a bunch of reading up on balistic product's RSS-12 Rigid Structure Sabot. it seems to be the replacement to the one you show in your pics. from what i can gather, the best accuracy with these sabots has been with bullets that were slightly oversize (in the area of .510-.512). do you happen to have any experience with the RSS-12 to be able to confirm or deny this? also, i do not have a drill press. would a regular star crimp be sufficient?