Great Balls of 12 Gauge

[Certaindeaf]

Never got into reloading shotshells. Always wanted to, especially slugs and buckshot.
That is, until recently.
Got a 12 gauge Lee Loader here in the classifieds and then ordered a 1 1/8 oz .690 Lee round ball mold from Titan Reloading for $20.35 ($10 shipping) very recently and was ready to go.
Had some cheap 1 1/8 oz dove loads on hand so I opened those by screwing a vicegripped sheetrock screw into the center of the crimp and carefully pulling and whatnot, opened them up, saving the shot to be melted and then cast.
Long story short, I'd say it was a successful and enjoyable endeavor. Some of the 12 gauge hulls were more difficult to open and the new crimp not super pretty (both 6 petal crimp.. 8 petals re-crimp better and are easier to de-shot) but all are uniform, have a strong physical crimp, don't rattle and function/dry cycle through my pump gun. These were raw-dog loaded, no lube.. next batch I might powdercoat them for the fun of it.
I'll let you know how they actually shoot out of both semiautomatic and pump guns, intending to paper plate them at 30 yards.

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[Andy54Hawken]

Hey how did you buy this...if ya didn't click...
Just kidding....
Very cool....looking forward to a range report.
Andy

 

[Certaindeaf]

Well, finally got to test them.
They kick pretty darn hard so that's way better than bloopers that just roll down the tube is what I say.
6 shots offhand, 20 yards.. good enough for me.
If the tube is horribly leaded I'll let you know. Shot 50.

 

[Alexx1401]

Sure looks like they work great to me.

 

[Capn Jack]

Be interesting to see how they would fly with 30 gr, of FFG.

I use a patched glass marble, (no recoil) in both of my .70 cal.

 

[Certaindeaf]

The barrel was very clean. Brushed and swabbed it anyway.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Be interesting to see how they would fly with 30 gr, of FFG.View attachment 1023568

I use a patched glass marble, (no recoil) in both of my .70 cal.

I saved my hulls to make some lighter plinking loads. Need to cipher up some data using Red Dot so wads and primers with that in mind are on the list.

 

[JohnnyMac]

These guys do some crazy chit with shot shell loads. I'm afraid if I started loading shot shells I'd be experimenting with all kinds of stuff myself. Like in Pirates of the Caribbean when they stuffed silverware into the cannons.

https://www.youtube.com/c/taofledermaus

 

[Alexx1401]

The barrel was very clean. Brushed and swabbed it anyway.

I expected you would have no problem. This kind of thing was common long ago when ammo was hard to come by and I never heard of problems. Using lead that was already shot at one time and the lower velocity I expected you would not see leading in the bore from these.

 

[ageingstudent]

I saved my hulls to make some lighter plinking loads. Need to cipher up some data using Red Dot so wads and primers with that in mind are on the list.

If you are going to mess about with 12 hulls, I have found AA Winchester's to be the best. Something about the composition of the plastic. They crimp like a champ and there are a ton of different loads. If you run across some on the ground and they look fresh grab them. I used to get 8-10 loads out of them. I'm guessing you would least get four or five out of a hot Buckshot load.. just a guess.

 

[Nosferatu]

This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time.

I did a quick search, but nothing came up. Does anyone know if there are molds for smaller shot, say #5/6? I see the Lee ones for 00, #4 buck and 000.

 

[Certaindeaf]

This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time.

I did a quick search, but nothing came up. Does anyone know if there are molds for smaller shot, say #5/6? I see the Lee ones for 00, #4 buck and 000.

You need to use a shot tower or something similar to make small shot. There are home built and commercial rigs.. I don't know too much about it save it's persnickety to do and probably a good bit of cash outlay for the gear.

 

[Stomper]

Never got into reloading shotshells. Always wanted to, especially slugs and buckshot.
That is, until recently.
Got a 12 gauge Lee Loader here in the classifieds and then ordered a 1 1/8 oz .690 Lee round ball mold from Titan Reloading for $20.35 ($10 shipping) very recently and was ready to go.
Had some cheap 1 1/8 oz dove loads on hand so I opened those by screwing a vicegripped sheetrock screw into the center of the crimp and carefully pulling and whatnot, opened them up, saving the shot to be melted and then cast.
Long story short, I'd say it was a successful and enjoyable endeavor. Some of the 12 gauge hulls were more difficult to open and the new crimp not super pretty (both 6 petal crimp.. 8 petals re-crimp better and are easier to de-shot) but all are uniform, have a strong physical crimp, don't rattle and function/dry cycle through my pump gun. These were raw-dog loaded, no lube.. next batch I might powdercoat them for the fun of it.
I'll let you know how they actually shoot out of both semiautomatic and pump guns, intending to paper plate them at 30 yards.

View attachment 994453View attachment 994450View attachment 994452View attachment 994451

Raw doggin' the balls!!


Try hospital corners when crimping next time.

 

[Nosferatu]

You need to use a shot tower or something similar to make small shot. There are home built and commercial rigs.. I don't know too much about it save it's persnickety to do and probably a good bit of cash outlay for the gear.

Yeah, I don't doubt to do it efficiently, you'd need a tower. I was hoping there might be some like-minded idiots like me who would pour a half dozen pieces of shot at a time just to say they made their own shot, all the while buying 25lb bags of it still to fill their field loads.

 

[Flopsweat]

Yeah, I don't doubt to do it efficiently, you'd need a tower. I was hoping there might be some like-minded idiots like me who would pour a half dozen pieces of shot at a time just to say they made their own shot, all the while buying 25lb bags of it still to fill their field loads.

Guess you gotta make your own mold too.

 

[Nosferatu]

Guess you gotta make your own mold too.

As a former moldmaker, that had already crossed my mind.

 

[Stomper]

As a former moldmaker, that had already crossed my mind.

We shall now call him….. "Moldy".

 

[Nosferatu]

We shall now call him….. "Moldy".

I prefer the Korean version; Sum Fungai

 

[Stomper]

I prefer the Korean version; Sum Fungai

 

[ditchtiger]

slingshot lead balls ammo molds

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