Good 12 Ga Slug-Wad Combos 

y0tubie-Thanks for the good word and for the + (I still don't know exactly what that does-just got my comments straightened out yesterday) Have a great day!!

Rot05 - Great questions, I'm going to have to do a VR on this one....please stay tuned...

Mark Bedworth Congratulations on the inheritance and the bounty of stuff. The figure 8 wads are great with those gun club hulls (those are the Remington Unibody one piece hulls - great hulls for reloading shot or slugs). The fig 8 wads may not be good for slugs as the compression zone is not tough enough. It would be a shame to melt down #6 shot - if you plan on hunting upland game or rabbits, squirrel with the shotgun, I'd save the shot as is for future use. You really do want pure lead or nearly pure lead for slugs (roofing flash, old lead water pipes, scuba weights, dental lead foil, old fishing sinkers = good sources of pure lead). Lead wheel weights and range scrap are best for making bullets. Linotype or SuperHard alloy for hardening lead alloys available from RotoMetals. Melted shot would be harder than we want for slugs. There are recipes for shooting slugs with Unique in some of my other videos. Problem is that every shotgun is a different creature - what shoots well in one gun may not shoot well in another. So when you are ready with your own cast slugs, you'll have to test for yourself - however, the slug/wad combos and powder charges that are workable will be a good place to start. A great wad to start with is the Winchester AA12 (not the Claybuster AA12 sub) or the Downrange AA12 substitute XL Blue or the Federal 12S3 or 12S0 (7/8 oz Lee slug wads. When you get your wads and slugs together, please contact me for the Unique load most appropriate. Lyman makes molds for two 12 gauge slug designs and Lee has the 1 oz and 7/8 oz slug molds.... Best to ya

Mark Bedworth Addendum reply - I have videos on those Gun Club hulls also. You might want to check out my playlist on Shotgun Slugs - lots there about slug/wad safety - push the combo through the barrel with a wooden dowel - if the combo pushes through your cylinder or IC barrel with some light resistance, you are in business. Best Regards

Aaron Morrison - Thanks for your comments and question. I have two great sources for shotshell data - the Lyman Shotshell Handbook and the BPI manuals. This video was all about the wad/slug combos...my favorite hulls for slugs are once fired factory slug hulls - then use the recipes in the LSH. But I've also used the other hulls in the Handbook - the Winchester AAs and Rem STS or Unibodies. Good reloadin' to ya, FC

Rooster - When comments come in, they are supposed to go into the inbox automatically by Google, but something happens to some of them for unexplained reasons. We need those slugs like the factories use - the Winchester Fosters have an enlarged skirt that compresses on the bore, that the rest of the slug rides the barrel = works great with the nitro wads, over powder obturator wads. The closest thing we have are the Lyman Fosters, but they don't fit the barrel as well as factory Fosters. Good shootin' to ya, FC

Yep, I noticed they are way too small. I might have to have a custom "PRS Slug" mould made-up.

Rooster - Thank you for your comments. It is obvious to me that you have some serious understanding of the slug situations that we have to put up with... Best Regards to ya, FC

average joe - That is indeed what you want - but if a wooden dowel on the floor with the shotgun barrel put over it - used to push the slug/wad through - if you can push it through without severe pressure, the combo will shoot through the barrel without shearing the petal (s) off and losing accuracy. The 690 ball is actually a hair on the big side...our wad petals tend to be .015" thick (x2 = .030) if thicker, will be tight in the cylinder bore 12. But I don't know your barrel. If you need thinner wad petals, the Lightning and Windjammer wads are thinner. Best to ya, FC

Soulman1282 - Yes, this is a common problem...cause is the column height of the payload was just a hair too great. The crimp closed, but compression of the powder and/or the wads occurred that the crimp was able to still close. But just a bit of time and the compressed contents opened up the crimp...you have to reduce the column height. Removing the nitro card wad under the slug can certainly help that, but the purpose of that was to prevent the wad from nestling into the base of the slug - you will lose that. That gray hull has a tall compression zone, you might want to switch to the regular AA12 wad while still using the nitro card under the slug. Another solution would be to switch to a slightly taller hull or to a hull that has a bit more internal volumn (shorter base wad like your Cheddites). Reducing the powder charge will also get you a stable crimp, but you might want the extra power. Easy answer is to stay with the Cheddite hulls (available at BPI). Good shootin' to ya, FC Steve

While slugs are more accurate, they are quite a bit more difficult to make than .69 cal ball. I love woods-walking and plinking with a Shockwave loaded with a roundball ammo.

roland brewer Yes on the gun club hulls (excellent), no on the PT1205s although I need to contact BPI and get some of those to try; and yes on Unique - no on american select. I've stopped using Unique for my slug loads although it's a great powder for slugs - can't find any more Unique and I'm saving what little I have left for handgun loading. Same with Blue Dot, but I'm out of BD. I have used Red Dot or Promo and it works well for reduced velocity slugs. Good shootin' to ya

joshua monk - I have not noticed any difference in thickness amongst the AA12 wads I have used over the last 35 years, but then again, I haven't been able to buy any for two years now and counting. If any changes have occurred since then, I am not aware of it. Easy to just mike the wads for thickness. The 690 RB is actually a bit big for a lot of our wads - If you switch to the Windjammer or Lightning wads, they have thinner petals - should work for you. Best Regards.

FortuneCookie45LC thank you

floyd shaman - Sorry for the late reply, but Google did not post your comment in my inbox for me to see. Stumbled onto your comment just now. Fortunately, the Win AA12 wads have come back in availability. We have them again!! I have been using the Federal 12S0, 12S3, and 12S4 wads in the meantime, and they work OK. I've gotten good (not great) accuracy from the AA12 wads in the past. Good shootin' to ya, FC

FortuneCookie45LC so the 12s4 wads will work okay for the 7/8oz lee slug?

Amor patriae nostra lex - The Winchester AA12 wad is a very good wad for slugs. Also Ballistic Products has a whole line of wads for slug reloaders. They also have a very useful slug reloading handbook for a nominal cost. Good reloadin' to ya, FC Steve

FortuneCookie45LC Thank you for the advice!

Kyle Fraga - Load data available - I'll do a video and give you some of that data...just did a video on shotgun powders over on the 3 Circles. I'll get that data up here before Thanksgiving, and Happy Thanksgiving to ya, Steve

Steven Schultz - I like that .690 round ball...Sometimes I wished that it was a 685 round ball though because it would fit more of the wads without bulging the cases. But the Lightning and Windjammer wads work fine if petal thickness needs to be thinner. The standard AA12 or Federal 12S0 or 12S3 might work fine for you otherwise. Best to ya, FC

+ocean374 -- The downrange blue wad is a substitute for the Winchester AA12 wad designed for 1 1/8 oz shot charges. But the DR - XL wad fits our slugs nicely, unlike Claybusters that have a ridge inside the petals that causes the petals to bulge out when slugs are placed. However, the AA12 wad shoots better for me with slugs than the DR blue...Problem is that the Win AA12 wads have been in very short supply - as scarce as Unique powder... Best Regards to ya, FC

Thomas Strawser - Absolutely, in fact, all these wads were originally designed to be used for shot. The 1 oz shot wads do fit 1 oz slugs although sometimes the 7/8 oz slug fits the 1 oz wads better. The fact that these wads were never designed to be used for slugs is one of the reasons it is so difficult to get consistent accuracy across the board with these systems...factory slugs use wads that are designed from ground zero to be mated with their appropriate slugs for accuracy and performance. And, unlike metallic ammo, they don't sell the slugs or those wads to reloaders. We're left with jerryrig systems. Exception is the BPI slug / wads which are near factory and priced accordingly - but the factories don't use BPI slug / wads. Have a great day, FC

Thank you.

iwantosavemoney - Saving money is why we make these slugs - our reload slugs cost around 15 cents a round compared to $1.50 for factory slugs = 1/10th the cost. As for accuracy, that depends a lot on a particular barrel...If you have a shotgun barrel that shoots any of our slug/wad combos well (2" at 50 yards), never ever sell that barrel. My barrels only shoot into 4-5" at 50 yards - fine for hunting but only out to 50. Happy Holidays to ya, FC Steve

FortuneCookie45LC yeah i started looking into reloading after buying a few slugs i like shooting them but not paying for them. i wanted to buy a bulk buy and have a small stock pile of them but it was not cost effective on the bouble 00 or the slugs so needless to say i have not started my stock pile of shot gun shells yet but am learning how i can get it done i think i secured a 55 gallon barrel of lead shot for a a couple of hundred dollars i was pretty pumped about that but i dont know what it weighs but I may have to unload it to get it home. lol

iwantosavemoney - Pure lead is the recommendation for our cast slugs. Lead shot has 3-4% antimony (it's called antimonial lead) and BHN around 11-12 perfect for standard velocity target and CAS bullets - not for slugs. However, some casters do use it against the recommendations - If you do cast with antimonial lead, at least be sure to only shoot them through cylinder bores. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, FC Steve