The Single-Barrel, Break-Open Shotgun

[Mortblanc]

For shotgun slugs the rule is the same as for muzzle loading projectiles, you want soft lead.

Wheel weights have a blend of alloys that makes them hard. I use wheel weights for regular rifle and pistol bullets, and I have used them for ML bullets but I prefer softer lead for shotgun slugs/balls. Of course one uses what is necessary in emergencies.

There are devices sold for testing lead hardness but they are not really needed. Press your thumbnail into the lead. If your thumbnail leaves an impression on the lead it is soft enough to make a good slug.

If you can press your fingernail into it and leave a groove it is not going to do any harm to a steel barrel or choke.

Spent .22 bullets from a rifle range is a good source. So are spent pellets from the air rifle trap. Plumbers lead is usually quite soft too. We can buy lead from recycling centers here. I have also scored good lead from hospitals remodeling their X-ray labs and from the lead foil wrappers dentists remove from the x-ray slides for dental work. Through purchase, trade and scrounging I can usually keep a couple of hundred pounds in the shed most of the time.

You are going to need a bunch since you can only get 18 slugs per pound of lead. If course you might not wish to keep several hundred around if you can not keep them loaded. Once you get to casting you might wish to get one of the Lee buckshot molds. You can keep loaded rounds of buckshot on a SGC.

If you have never cast before you need to read up on the process. Temp must be right to get proper fill of the mold and a crisp poured slug. Wrinkles and failure to fill means the lead is too cold. Frosting and smearing of the sprue means the lead is too hot. You will learn soon enough.

Never, ever, ever try to cast bullets on the tailgate of your pickup truck in the rain! In fact, do not allow moisture near the molten lead in any form. A single drop of liquid turns into steam instantly and explosively showering everything around with molten lead. Want to see the scars?

Soft lead is much more forgiving and elastic than folks imagine. I load my muzzle loaders with a greased patch of heavy cotton pillow ticking or denim. The ball is one caliber (.01) smaller than the bore and the fabric is .015" thick. It is a tight fit and the cloth forces the impression of its weave into the lead. Those balls are solid lead spheres and the thin skirts of a shotgun slug can often be squeezed out of shape with finger pressure.

You have gotten me inspired. I am going to fire up the lead pot tomorrow. I need 12ga and 20ga balls since I have fallen behind in my testing of the past two or three modifications I have made on my guns. I will have to do it in the kitchen since it is not supposed to rise above freezing temps tomorrow. This big old MEC press is looking at me from across the room and a heavily modified shotgun is staring from the other corner.

[Talon]

Thank's for that very concise in depth reply.I'll be practising my casting technique this week.

[Midnitemo]

Mort back in the day when most rifles came without a thread for a moderator if you had one cut the barrel had to go and be re-proofed(expensive and time consuming)i've never shortened a barrel so i just wanted to know if tptb would require a reproof...i sometimes wonder if this kind of thing is done to drum up business for the proofhouse , anybody give me a definitive answer on lopping my 27&1/4 barrel down to 24 ...will it need reeproofing to be legal in the uk? just fancy making it a bit more wieldy.....don't care if it renders it unsellable or devalues it...was only £50 to start with.

[Midnitemo]

i figured with propellant detonating behind the slug the skirt would flare on its travel up the bore creating a seal before its exit...figured a loose fit is ok as long as its not rattling around in there.

[Talon]

(24 November 2013, 14:14)Midnitemo Wrote: ,anybody give me a definitive answer on lopping my 27&1/4 barrel down to 24 ...will it need reeproofing to be legal in the uk? just fancy making it a bit more wieldy.....don't care if it renders it unsellable or devalues it...was only £50 to start with.

Yes you can. I've already researched this.You can cut your own barrel as long as you don't go under 24"" (but leave it a half inch longer just to be sure).
If it's a sidexside/over/under/single barrel you can legally saw down the stock as well as all that is stated is the barrel must be a minimum of 24"".I don't recommend you do that though as it would take some explaining the next time the FLO visits

.If it's a pump/semi auto then it has to be 42"" minimum overall length and still have a 24"" minimum barrel length

It's not illegal for you to cut your barrel,but if you come to sell it you should technically send it to be re proofed (though no one does this).

Use a wood dowel,push it down the barrel until it hits the breach then mark the dowel,this will give you the true length.Then make sure when you cut it and file the muzzle square that you have slightly over 24"" as the FlO may feel like getting his tape measure out.

[Mortblanc]

(24 November 2013, 16:00)Midnitemo Wrote: i figured with propellant detonating behind the slug the skirt would flare on its travel up the bore creating a seal before its exit...figured a loose fit is ok as long as its not rattling around in there.

Sometimes it will flare and sometimes not. That is one of the reasons slug accuracy is a variable.

It has proven difficult for testers to measure the bases of slugs since they are usually damaged when recovered. I suppose recovery from water might provide measureable projectiles. I have never tried it since all the folks I know that own swimming pools would object.

One thing we do know is that in the old days of fiber wads there would often be a plug of the fiber wad inside the base of the slug. That t4ended to give inconsistent accuracy. Occasionally I would find a box or two of the good German Berndeke slugs with the wad base screwed to the solid slug they used. Those were acceptably accurate at 50 yards, which used to be accepted slug range.

I find that the loads I make using a plastic shot cup get around much of the inconsistency. They function much like the patch on a muzzle loading rifle. They seal the bore, hold the slug in consistent position inside the bore and compress with the lead as they pass the choke.

As I stated earlier, we have several states over here that do not allow rifles for big game and there has been a great deal of work done to improve shotgun and slug accuracy. We have available barrels with slow twist shallow groove rifling. When used with saboted slugs they are as accurate as any rifle out to 100M. The slugs are shaped like a large 500 grain air-gun pellet but encased in a thick plastic sabot that does all the sealing, expanding, and transferring of the rifling torque to the projectile.

The rifled shotgun bores with specialized slugs consistently provide 1-2" groups at 100m.

I took the cheap way out and purchased a rifled choke tube for my interchangeable choke system. The fully rifled barrel for my shotgun runs $200 U.S. and I did not wish to spend that much. The choke tube is only $40.

It works much like the old Paradox system and provides 3 inches of rifling at the end of the bore. I am not finished with my testing on that device at the moment. Naturally, it would be on your prohibited list.

All the material I have found gives its performance between the fully rifled barrel and the better shooting smoothbores; 3-4" @ 10M. When the weather warms I will let you know more. I want to test it with both slugs and round ball before making any recommendations on its worth.

My real goal is to do some research that you fellows might not be able to easily accomplish due to your restrictions. I can then hand the KNOWLEDGE over to you for use in an emergency. If you chose to use that information SHTF that is up to you.

My basic plan was to test various projectiles and shell modifications that would turn the run of the mill single, double or pump shotgun into a weapon capable of putting down an assailant at 75 yards with absolute certainty every time one pulled the trigger.

I also wanted to be able to preform the modifications to weapon and/or ammo within an hour or two, and do nothing to the gun that could not be reversed or that would make it illegal.

I have been working with two pump guns, both of which are heavily tricked out beyond what your regulations allow. I am about to convert one back to stock form and see what it is capable of with less modification. In this case converting back to stock form means changing back to the 28"vent rib barrel and testing with every choke tube in the kit.

Having the interchangeable choke tubes removes all the variables from testing except for the performance of specific choke restrictions on the projectile.

I also have some plain Jane singles and doubles to work with that might inspire more confidence in using whatever one might pick up from the cabinet, though I realize some of you have pumps.

Right now the weather if fighting me. It is well below freezing and a 20 mph wind is whipping snowflakes along at a horizontal angle. Of course that would probably be the exact conditions of use in a SHTF situation anywhere but on a tropical island, and they have to worry about typhoons, hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes.