FRANKEN-SLUGS - Ugly as Sin but SURPRISING Results 

Thanks Jeff for the beautiful slow motion filming of my Excavator Slugs (aka: red-neck hollow point slugs)

Everyone is wondering how I made these Excavator Slugs. So, I’ll give a full description of my method now. I’ve been trying to reply to each comment but it became overwhelming. My plan was to make a 1oz 12-gauge slug that dumped its energy asap. First, I selected pure lead because it was soft and would deform the fastest. Then I went to the hardware store with my caliper to find something to be the jacket. Copper is obvious but the closest diameter is 1/2'’ copper water pipe. They were just lacking in diameter and I rejected it. The female copper connectors were perfect in their outside diameter, so I bought a handful. I then melted pure lead and filled the 1 ½ inch long connector after figuring a way to cap the open bottom end. When the lead cooled, I could get two slugs out of one connector. I cut them in half using my band saw. Hollow points are a proven design for expanding bullets and I wasn’t going try anything different. I got the correct point by using my drill press and first drilling a ¼ inch hole ¾ the way through the slug. Then stepped up to a ½ inch drill bit and drilled ¼ the way through. To finish up I put a ½ inch rasp in my drill and reamed the top of each slug. Then I moved to the belt sander to sand away material making the slug pointed at the top. I had to wear leather gloves because of the heat build-up while sanding. The X on top is designed to open up the hollow point and peel it back relatively evenly from the point of the slug. I had no jig to hold the slug to the band saw table. I know the dangers of what I was doing but I was careful and hand held the slug while sawing through the lead and into the copper. My mind was totally on the cutting and not so much on placement of each cut. I reasoned that the small amount of instability from not having perfect symmetry to be insignificant relative to the total mass of the projectile. I was proven correct. Now that the expandable point was done, I moved onto the weight. A note here: all the while I am perfecting the slug design. I would run to the range to do some testing. For example. The depth to which I will cut these X’s was important for the peeling back of the nose. I would cut a few and load them up to see how well this worked. Eventually I figured to cut them 1/3 the way from tip towards the base. I even factored in the angle at which the copper cut would end at. After cutting the depth of the X. I returned to the band saw holding the slug 45’ to the table. Then added a small cut to taper the wall thickness. This was to allow the copper to rip further if needed. Instead of having the folding copper stop abruptly when it came up against the wall of full thickness connector. Cutting off the base by band saw just above the 1 oz weight, trimming further with the belt sander the slugs were getting close to being finished, but the weight still was not to my tolerances. Chamber pressure is affected by weight, so I drilled small amounts of lead off the base to get them all to be the same. My diameter was spot on using the hulls and shot-cups I had. I can’t tell you what Jeff used but he had some trouble here. Since I was using new 12-gauge ammo I didn’t have to weigh the powder charge. The ammo I used was prepared to push 1 1/8 oz of bird shot and did nicely with my 1 oz slugs. The hulls being already primed, all that was left to do was to put a quick role crimp on and we were done. With a little care anyone could do this in their garage or shop. It was a lot of fun for me, surprised Jeff and got the highest viewer response ever for the channel. (I believe). I spent 25 cents for each copper connector, $25- $30 for the role crimper and $5 for a box of 25 birdshot at Walmart. Big fun at a low price. Anyone with a 12-gauge shotgun that has choke tubes can get a choke tube with riflings. I used a Browning Uplands Game Bird BPS 12-gauge pump shotgun with an Invector rifled choke tube installed. Thanks to Jeff and all the gang at Taofledermaus. I now have slow motion of my slugs on ballistic Jelly. Ron Medcalf @ 72 years young

Wow, that's one heck of a wound cavity in the gel block!

props to the maker of today's batch of launchable Rolos... WAS SO not expecting them to come out of a Rolo pack, totally unexpected 🤣🤣

Impressive slug, ugly round did a beautiful job, Put this one in the future home defense category. Need a couple more of these, lead plate test is a must if you do get more. 😉 As always, it's great seeing you guys. Have a wonderful week.

That’s may have been ugly but that was bad ass round! The ballistic gel showed a devastating energy dump and opened up a hellish of a wound cavity!

I guarantee that each hole and cut is exactly where he wanted it to be. Other than them being slightly oversized to fit a sabot, they're spot on.

Another cool video guys. The gel block slo-mo was extremely impressive. I don't think that I've ever seen a temporary cavity quite that big and violent. Keep it up guys. I love your vids.

At the velocity, those rounds are traveling, and the rotation from the rifling the slight imbalance didn't matter. 1oz of soft lead with a hallow point makes for some major energy transfer.

Fun fact with the premier viewership you can fill just over 5 average sized movie theaters assuming a seating of 250.

I started collecting lead years ago. I got some sheets of lead from demo of a dental clinic that closed down. I am set. I decided to find a used mold and make my own foster slugs. I got a 1 oz Lee mold. They have been working like a champ for many decades. You guys take slug shooting to the outer limits. It is crazy, fun, interesting, and highly entertaining. I always get some great laughter. Thanks. I was feeling down and now not so much.

Would you recommend these for shooting 'Chinese weather balloons' out of the air?

I'm thinking that, those slugs might have looked funky - but might have actually been perfectly balanced : Make a random looking cross shaped groove at the front and the hole in the back is actually precisely carved to adjust, at least to give a perfect axial balance.. Just guessing !

Awesome. Seeing some of these homemade homeruns is inspiring me to make something for yall to mach!! Good stuff, gents!

I believe the drill holes in the back are to take out mass so you can have consistent weight

3:05 Thats the most ironic thing for a police officer to wear. I love it. All the best from Tennessee!

I can't argue with the results. The slug going through and out a couple inches and remaining inside the block of material afterward demonstrated some science that I have never seen before.

I’ve watched you guys test a million projectiles….from epoxy and screws to Pennie’s and giant Diablo pellet designs. These slugs are ridiculously accurate for hack sawed fishing weights. OUTSTANDING JOB by this creator. I’m actually inspired to send you some slugs of my own. What would be an ideal weight and diameter, for easy loading purposes. Ideally, I’d like for you, to be able to load a modified Diablo design, directly on top of a felt wad.

I love the packaging. The results are surprising though.

Super interesting construction , they appear to be made from copper plumbers hot water pipe cut to length filled with molten lead and "machined" for weight consistency as opposed to aesthetic looks , or as You say a strange form of trolling , either way they certainly performed better than they looked . Thanks to Ron for sending them , OG and Yourself for taking the time to create this episode , as always the footage was spot on as was OG's eye with those slugs and the humour had Me chuckling every other sentence . Catch You next episode , Shoot Straight Stay Safe & Stay Well.

Looks like he used 1/2 inch copper end cap from copper plumbing as the base

Another great video Jeff and OG! Those rounds to be so inconsistent in the tooling of them they shot pretty well! Thank you guys for another awesome video!

You guys are the best. Great show as always. Danny would be proud.

Holly crap what a wound cavity. Those things are amazing. Another great video Jeff and Greg. Thanks for the wonderful entertainment. How do I get to your Patreon page?

WOW! The energy dump on the gel block was ridiculous! I thought the same as you, Jeff, when I first saw those rounds. I guess I may have to change my mind about them. I would love to see Ron (?) send you another batch at spec, to see how they do from a sabot. Great video. Thank you.

Some say the best tip to a successful channel is to treat every video as it's someone's first exposure to the topic, so don't be shy with explaining things with each video. So, for the potential new viewers it's a bit of an ongoing joke for OG to say he's aiming at a green triangle when it's really pink circles, as seen in this video 😁 Also, dang those things were surprising! Fun to watch too!

Perfect presentation AS ALWAYS by TAOFLEDERMAUS!

One of my favorite channels! Been watching for years and love every video!

Can't believe I caught this live, freakin awesome! 😎

From the design I expected them to do serous damage, and they did, but I did not expect them to be nearly as accurate. Also even though I expected serious damage, that gel test was one of the biggest booms I have seen from a 12ga round.

Holy smokes, that wound channel is insane, nothing could survive that entering the body.

That dove mug is 100% a gift from OG's mother-in-law. I know that because it's exactly like something my former mother-in-law would have given me😆.

Fantastic as always gentlemen .I finished casting some slugs .Have a few more to make and will send you some

Lineen paper and use that as the sabot. Wet it, wrap around the projectiles leaving the overlap going over the base, and twist it 3 or 4 wraps and let dry. Known as a paper patch. I used this technique to fire 7 mm bullets in a 30/06 after reading Ross Seyfried write about it long ago. It worked

It'd be nice to have an explanation from the creator. Possibly, the point was to show that absolute precision is overrated and unnecessary when it comes to slugs???

Hmm, 1/2" copper pipe has a nominal OD of .625", that is likely what he used then filled with melted tire weights etc.

As always listening to your and OG’s banter is more fun than seeing the slug’s performance. I’m still hoping to see one of the amazing machinists out there send y’all an honest to Rheinmetall APFSDS slug. It’s got to be possible even if the engineering is rocket surgery level.

The power behind a 12 gauge slug is crazy. As we call them, "pumpkins" slugs. So glad I'm not a deer. Rock on guys 🤘😎

I saw that truck traveling behind ya and thought, "Who the hell would be entering a gun range from the burm end"?

Every episode I'm continually blown away at the fact that Jeff takes the time to charge up, oil, load the tapes in and transport O.G all the way out to the range and has kept that old machine *near flawlessly spitting out jokes that would make a sailor blush all this time.

"If you have Kevlar covered turds you live in a bad neighborhood." Officer Greg is hilarious as always.

Nice going Ron, welcome to the brotherhood of bullets

It dawned on me during this video, that OG's shirt says Nobody is coming, it is up to you, which I take to mean that law enforcement is not coming when you call, so you are on your own. So, since OG is a law enforcement officer, when Jeff calls him to come do a video, is he surprised when OG actually shows up? Inquiring minds want to know

So far this is the best slug you've shot (aside from that Welsh "71").

Paper patching works well too. I do it for my Martini Henry and Snider rifle

This goofy viewer thanks you 2 goofy guys for the great job y'all done absolutely love these videos keep up the great work. GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILYS.

You guys may have already done this idea, but, maybe some fishing sinkers of the correct diameter might work. Thanks for the great content as usual!

That's a nasty slug. The gel test was extraordinary.

Ugly as sin but surprising results. reminds me of a certain firearm made in Ohio. i was not ready for that Gel block slo-mo. you'd think it was going to tear itself apart. dang Ron made one hell of a slug. makes me wonder what his Knives are like.

Green triangles and pigeon mugs. Sweet stuff guys.

How come no one doing these gel block shots uses a scale stick beside the block stage? It could be black and white or whatever color suits you. Even a ruler taped to the table would be something. I enjoy these myth and legends kinda things. Keep it up.

Frankenstein never won any beauty contests, but it sure does a good job winning fights with one blow.

Nice, ugly but effective... Very effective. Great video Jeff.

great video, wonerful camera work Jeff, and superb interaction with OG. cant wait for the next one!!!

An excellent video proving (once again) that *rifling* makes *EVERYTHING* better. Because *SCIENCE* !!!

Wow! Can't think of anything else to say! Thanks Ron!!!!!!!!!

Holy Canoli! I caught another TFM live stream that is like getting hit by lightning bugs twice! God bless us everyone

Slugs from the bowchette guy! By golly, it works!

I'm curious what .70 caliber slug he cut into two or three pieces? Being that it was a copper jacketed, something, I highly doubt he made super thin copper shells and then filled them full of lead. It's possible, but doubtful.

Me thinks Ron has been making these for himself for quite some time. That energy transfer was tremendous.

These are short rounds. You could mimic an Aguila 1.75" shell. Those typically have a lighter charge, but I would love to see some with something more akin to a full sized round and charge... then load 25 into a Kel-Tec KSG for some fun.

OG's shenanigans never cease to crack me up.

I don’t know why but that jazzy piano works so well with the high speed camera replays.

Thank u Ron 4 sending those slugs. Officer Greg did a awesome job shooting an Jeff has his camera skills on high. U guys rocked this video. 10/10 on it. Sorry I'm late again no notification from RU-vid. But boy oh boy them slugs hit with authority big time authority! Thank u guy's 4 making this an always doing a great job.

Very nice homemade slug, pour molten lead into copper tubing of proper size, cut them to wanted length and they shoot fine!

Got a notification and an advert this time. Those slugs show that they don’t need to be perfect to be accurate 👍

I would definitely look into the possibility that the metal tape you applied could affect consistency!

I was hanging on a thread for the gell block. Thanks guys.

"See if I can talk Greg into shooting these things"... Jeff, like you even had to ASK him. You probably just said "Hey Greg, I got a new slu..." *Greg packing up the truck for the range sounds*

Finally I know what clay pigeon shooting looks like. I always enjoy Greg's incorrect target descriptions, it's a fun part of the show! Ignore the complainers, I always enjoy your videos. 👍

Don't know if Americans are aware but it's tradition to give your last Rolo to the one you love. Sure do love the gel block.

This cavity is impressive, as is the deformation of the gel. What a shock wave!

It's almost like this self defense round combined strengths from different rounds. There will be the higher velocity of a slug, but, the cuts force it to mushroom out faster like a hollow point, and/or break and frag out like the contents of buckshot.

Perhaps the knifemaker guy was making a statement about precision.

I thought they weren't going to be that accurate...Ty to the fella that sent these ...We enjoyed this one immensely friend. Appreciate your efforts and quality content! and Cheers to continued success !🙂✌🏼 Luv&Peace.

Just wow! Thank you guys!

The water bottle pallets at Costco have thin sheets of card stock between the layers. They will let you take those home with you if you ask. I have 20 or so for laying out when I work on a car or something. Use them instead of tarps or washing the gel block. They're free and they're biodegradable.

Franken-slugs sounds like the techno reggae metal banjo quartet OG lead in the mid 80's.

BEST gel shot slo mo of all time on Ytube

Props to OG for pulling on his big boy pants & using 24 hour clock on his watch...it should be everywhere. 24 hours are in a day; 12 has nothing to do with anything! 😎

I think he took a copper tube and filled it with molten lead. What an idea man. Even if he hadn't made those cuts it would expand and fragment for sure. The soft lead got squished on impact and then the copper tube expanded. Beautiful job. Thank you Jeff $ OG. 👌

Excellent. I enjoy how any and everything sent to you get a fair shot at testing. Makes me believe I could scrap out the crud behind the stove and pack it tight and you guys would blow the nubb’ns off a gummy bear.

Did ya see that pigeon doing the matrix spin to avoid the projectile. That’s one talented bird!

Put a tarp down on the ground so clear gelatin block has a clean surface to land on when it inevitably jumps off the table.

OMG you shot down that red and white striped structure down range!

I've seen you do welds to ball bearings, but have you tried a caltrop projectile? Like a flechette with an extremely shortened tip and different wing pattern. The grouping in the load would be tight so a duck choke may help. Just an idea.

Rugby Bat. For the humor impared. 🤣

The gummy bear looks surreal dancing around in slow motion! Cool video!

That jell block shot was INSANE.. ..W O W That Definitely do some Major Damage

That pigeon shot was like watching Teds Holdover

Always great to see you and Gregg out on the field!

Odd lookin, but good performance... and the slugs were not too bad either :) Thanks guys!

I need the design a slug. Not sure if I should print it out of nylon or make a mould and cast them. That expansion in the gel was absolutely brutal.

"Are you high?" Not yet, thank you for your concern tho! And thanks for doing the gel block. Like seeing those shots.

I just picked up some aluminum tape to see how my rifled choke tubes do. Just got 1/2in copper endcaps. Drove 16mm steel ball bearings into them for a 7/8oz slug. Reasonably accurate from a smmothbore at 10 yards, bulked the diameter with blue painter's tape for first batch. Will make up some with aluminum tape now and put scope on one of the guns with rifled choke. Shotguns are so much fun.

14 inches... Isn't that what John Holmes was supposed to be? Pretty cool slow motion of the ballistic gel. Amazing energy dump with just the tip trying to make it out the other side! 🤣🤣 Thanks for the upload guys! 🔫🎯🧨💥🎆

So many gems. “He used some kind of precision instrument” “Sure, like a butter knife” “Everything needs spin these days. Get it in your news get it in your slugs” “Planning to stop Patreon.” “What? Are you high!?” 😂😂😂 Dying

Don't let OG fool you, Safety Burm Police was his Country and Western Police cover band when he was in rookie school. Tey did a really sad version of every breath you take.

Those are devastating slugs. Wow.

Awesome video graphics! Gotta love that slow-mow footage. Thanks again Jeff& Greg.