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Slugs and bore diameters

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Slugs and bore diameters

Postby The_Dogge » Wed Apr 20, 2011 3:45 pm

Hi,

Further to my Lee slug casting post, I have now got some appropriate wads and powder and was looking forward to assembling some rounds. Before I did I wanted to check that they would fit down the barrel, as the first, random, plastic wads I had would not. The slug+wad went down the barrel of my Optima bore Beretta nicely, great. Then I tried my Benelli, the gun I actually want to use them with, the slug went through the cylinder choke easily, but when it got to the bore, no way, I couldn't get it down the barrel with a cleaning rod at all. Stamped on the barrel is "18.3" which I take it is the bore size in mm, i.e. 0.720" a pretty tight bore I would think.

Is this a problem? I don't really fancy shooting something which may not fit down the barrel, but then I couldn't push a bullet down a rifle barrel with a rod could I?

I used roofing lead, which I thought would be close to pure, am I wrong? apparently one reason to use pure lead as instructed is so the shrinkage is right and you end up with the right diameter.

Any advice appreciated.
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Re: Slugs and bore diameters

Postby flintlok » Wed Apr 20, 2011 4:53 pm

This probably will not help much. I shoot and Benelli M1 Super 90 which is a dedicated slug gun. I really don’t play with slugs all that much when compared to rifle shooting and it's the only slug gun that I’ve ever owned. A friend who is a former police officer and routinely used shotguns owns the same model that I have found the Bernelli to be the most accurate slug gun that he’s ever shot. I've seen the similar comments about its accuracy in the gun press.

I’ve never slugged the Benelli’s barrel as I haven’t had any reason to however I wouldn’t be surprised at all if their dedicated slug guns have "tight" barrels.
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Re: Slugs and bore diameters

Postby The_Dogge » Thu Apr 21, 2011 10:27 am

Thanks, is that a rifled slug barrel? could you check what is stamped on the barrel for me? does it have 18.3 or any other measurement on it? I supose it would have to be a "tightish" fit in a rifled barrel to engage the rifling.

It's probably fine, I'd just feel happier about it if the slug obviously fitted like it does in the beretta.

I measured the slug in the wad, it is 0.724", which I would think is a good diameter for a 12 bore, which should be 0.729" shouldnt it? Benellis really are apparently 0.720", is a 4 thou interference fit going to get me good accuracy or a face full of gun parts?!

There seems to be very little info about using Lee slugs on the web, and almost all of it is of US origin, using dedicated rifled slug barrels, they must be virtually unknown in the UK.
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Re: Slugs and bore diameters

Postby flintlok » Thu Apr 21, 2011 1:42 pm

When I get home this evening I pull the Benelli out and check out the markings. My slug gun is not rifled. To tell you the truth, I believe at shotgun slug ranges (50 to 100 yards), when compared with a good slug smooth bore barrel, rifling doesn't really buy you all that much. I've got a book on Civil War muskets and the author found that accruacy of smooth bore barrels when compare rifled barrels with 100 yards isn't all that much different. That's pretty much what I found with the Benelli.
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Re: Slugs and bore diameters

Postby flintlok » Fri Apr 22, 2011 4:06 am

Yup, I checked the barrel and it's got the same .720 marking on my Benellic M1 Super 90 slug gun. I also miked the muzzle and it 0.720 inches. I shoot 2 and 3/4 and 3 inch slug cartridges from it so I wouldn't worry. It's got a tight bore and i eats what ever I feed it without a bump. :thup: :thup: :thup: :thup:
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Re: Slugs and bore diameters

Postby The_Dogge » Fri Apr 22, 2011 7:05 am

Thanks very much for taking the time to do that! :thup:

That gives me some confidence, I'll load some up, I may shoot a couple in the beretta first, then the first one through the benelli at arms length. :worried:

A magtech forster type slug I cut out of a loaded round is a very loose fit even in the benelli, drops straight through the barrel, so I'm still not sure how tight a fit is normal for commercial ammo.
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Re: Slugs and bore diameters

Postby flintlok » Fri Apr 22, 2011 3:16 pm

I don't know much about Magtech as I typically shoot Winchester, Remington, or Federal slugs and occasionally Brenneke. Most of what I have is Remington. I prefer the 2 and 3/4 inch cartridges. The three inch cartridges rock me when I fire them in a sitting position.
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Re: Slugs and bore diameters

Postby The_Dogge » Tue Apr 26, 2011 9:57 pm

I don't suppose you know what the diameter of those slugs are flintlok? (I'm not asking you to cut open any ammo, but if you were curious anyway.... :grin: )

A friend reminded me of another option, I could submit a sample of my ammunition to the proof house for testing, I may have to give them a call as detail is a bit scarce on their website http://www.gunproof.com/Proofing/proofing.html (at the bottom of a long page) has anyone ever done this?
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Re: Slugs and bore diameters

Postby flintlok » Tue Apr 26, 2011 10:44 pm

The_Dogge wrote:I don't suppose you know what the diameter of those slugs are flintlok? (I'm not asking you to cut open any ammo, but if you were curious anyway.... :grin: )

A friend reminded me of another option, I could submit a sample of my ammunition to the proof house for testing, I may have to give them a call as detail is a bit scarce on their website http://www.gunproof.com/Proofing/proofing.html (at the bottom of a long page) has anyone ever done this?


I may have some literature on slug diameters, I'll have to look. Short of that it's cuting open slugs.
Last edited by flintlok on Wed Apr 27, 2011 2:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Slugs and bore diameters

Postby flintlok » Wed Apr 27, 2011 2:57 am

Ok, so you peak my curiosity so I decide to cut up some shells and measure the slug diameters. I chopped a Federal, a Breneke, a Remington, and a Winchester slug loads, all 12 ¾’s inch and all 1 ounce loads. The Winchester load came out my bandolier and is somewhat tarnished. Note to self, don’t store slugs in bandoliers.

Image

Left to Right Federal, Breneke, Remington, Winchester

Image

All measurement are in inches. It’s difficult to take an exact measurement as all of the slugs have ribs. I measured the high spots. When I was looking at shotguns bore diameters in the literature I found that they vary quite a bit as some shotguns are over bored as much as 0.020 inches from a nominal bore diameter of 0.725 as described in my Lyman shot shell reloading manual. That indicates that the Benelli slug gun bore is tight and helps explain its accuracy.

As I said before the my Benelli will accept 3 inch magnum shells with a bore diameter of 0.720 and I have never had a problem with any factory slug loads.
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Re: Slugs and bore diameters

Postby The_Dogge » Wed Apr 27, 2011 10:00 am

Wow, thanks again, that really is going "above and beyond", fantastic information that AFAIK is not available anywhere else on the web :thup: :thup:

Looks like I should stop being a pussy and just shoot! Though the vanes on commercial slugs will make them compress more easily than the Lee slug.... I'll let you know how it goes, if I never respond then it went badly :worried:
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Re: Slugs and bore diameters

Postby The_Dogge » Tue May 03, 2011 9:53 pm

Well I fired a few off, they seemed to perform well, I didn't have a paper target up due to time pressure, and I didnt have sights on the shotgun, but the splash in the sand was where I was pointing at 50yd (and an impressive splash it was too!)

However I have so far chickened out of trying one in the benelli, I was waiting on an email response from Lee customer support, their reply was not very encouraging:
The general rule for metallic cartridges is if a cartridge will chamber freely it can be fired regardless of the size of the bullet. The bullet will be resized by the barrel. I don't know if this also applies to shotgun slugs, because shotguns do not have the same built-in safety factor as do rifles and pistols.


So basically "I don't know", I'm still on my own.
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Re: Slugs and bore diameters

Postby flintlok » Tue May 03, 2011 10:49 pm

Shoot it, please, they will work just fine and if they don't it's SidebySide's fault. :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:

:hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:

Do you think the Navy Seals use a slug gun for the Osama head shot? They do have slug guns that work great in close. :? :? :? :? ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)
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" when an American comes on the forum .....and then gets a bit upperty ..."

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Re: Slugs and bore diameters

Postby flintlok » Tue May 03, 2011 10:49 pm

Shoot it, please, they will work just fine and if they don't it's SidebySide's fault. :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:

:hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:

Do you think the Navy Seals use a slug gun for the Osama head shot? They do have slug guns that work great in close. :? :? :? :? ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)
The faster I go, the older I get.

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" when an American comes on the forum .....and then gets a bit upperty ..."

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Re: Slugs and bore diameters

Postby The_Dogge » Wed May 04, 2011 11:30 am

I will, I will! but I'll wait until the range is empty so nobody else is potentially endangered. I'm sure it will be fine, but even in the barrel they fit down easily it took me about 40 mins to scrub out the plastic fouling from 3 shots! In a tight barrel i might have to put the brush in a drill, is that a good idea?
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