Turning Birdshot into Slugs for Self-Defense

[zeezee]

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/...rdshot-into-slugs-for-self-defense/#more-7456

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[MountainBear]

Doesn't this belong in the Zombie preparation forum?

 

[MarkSBG]

MacGyver would be impressed. I would be afraid of casting the lead to large in diameter and turning my shotgun into a bomb!

 

[komodo_dragon]

Seems like an awful lot of work to make the mold and then unscrew the bolt after every casting when for about $20 you can get one that is pre-made.

<broken link removed>

 

[dirtysteve]

yeah, and if you make your own mold slightly too big, you could take your face off!!!

 

[FlyGuy]

I certainly wouldnt do that. but thanks for the info tho

 

[Silver Fox]

doesn't this belong in the zombie preparation forum?

+ 1

sf-

 

[torpedoman]

just open the end of the shell and pour in melted wax and you have a short range slug.

 

[branchbuster]

When I was in the Army, a guy from Lusiana told me of a trick called "ringing the shot". You cut almost all the way through the shell at about the base of the wad, as a result the case breaks at the cut holding the wad together until it hits the target. Basically a poor man's 12guage glaser slug. The nice thing of this is that it doesn't appear as a slug but just another bird shot while hunting birds, just in case a deer came along.

 

[zeezee]

Seems like an awful lot of work to make the mold and then unscrew the bolt after every casting when for about $20 you can get one that is pre-made.

<broken link removed>

If you would take the time to watch the video you would understand that the country they live in slugs are illegal as is most handloading equipment.

 

[komodo_dragon]

If you would take the time to watch the video you would understand that the country they live in slugs are illegal as is most handloading equipment.

So is the handmade handloading slug mold any less illegal than one smuggled in from the outside? Most likely, no.

Is it any more dangerous than one manufactured under tight tolerances? Most likely, yes.

 

[Wheeler44]

Is it any more dangerous than one manufactured under tight tolerances? Most likely, yes.

I'd say that those slugs look more dangerous than factory......and for that I like 'em...If you don't like 'em don't shoot 'em....

 

[SquatchWorks]

I would make the 1st slug, put it in just the wad and push it by hand through the barrel. If it's tight, good! If it WONT go, DONT shoot it!

Also about the buba slugs, this sounds BAD!!! I just don't think the hull will fit with everything down the tube!

 

[phathom]

You could do it easier if you just picked up a bunch of round chunks of metal (think small, maybe fishing weights), or solid pipe plugs from home depot and loaded them in there and just sealed them with wax. Either way, I would not do this unless it was a last resort (read zombies). Slugs go for about .60-75 a piece, not worth killing yourself over doing it wrong.

 

[Wheeler44]

Seems like an awful lot of work to make the mold and then unscrew the bolt after every casting when for about $20 you can get one that is pre-made.

Slugs go for about .60-75 a piece, not worth killing yourself over doing it wrong.

Knowing how to make slugs when all you have is birdshot......=Priceless

 

[old_heli_logger]

Couldn't you just blast a shot of Elmers glue in the top of the shot?

 

[powersbj]

You could do it easier if you just picked up a bunch of round chunks of metal (think small, maybe fishing weights), or solid pipe plugs from home depot and loaded them in there and just sealed them with wax. Either way, I would not do this unless it was a last resort (read zombies). Slugs go for about .60-75 a piece, not worth killing yourself over doing it wrong.

The beauty here is the weight of the slug is right for the load of the shell with no tools needed, that and knowing how to do something is priceless.

 

[phathom]

The beauty here is the weight of the slug is right for the load of the shell with no tools needed, that and knowing how to do something is priceless.

True, well you do need some tools, but not much. I would definitely do something like this if zombies came and I needed all my birdshot to turn into slugs.

 

[phathom]

When I was in the Army, a guy from Lusiana told me of a trick called "ringing the shot". You cut almost all the way through the shell at about the base of the wad, as a result the case breaks at the cut holding the wad together until it hits the target. Basically a poor man's 12guage glaser slug. The nice thing of this is that it doesn't appear as a slug but just another bird shot while hunting birds, just in case a deer came along.

Last time I was out shooting I tried this. I took out my knife and cut down about a thumbnails length down from the top of the shell, just scoring it where there is only a little bit of the plastic holding the shell together.
I fired about a dozen of them like this.

Was shooting at some boxes and a 3" thick dense foam target. It blew a slug sized hole in the boxes, pretty accurate too at about 30 yards. Also when it hit the foam target, it blew a nice hole in that as well, but the top of the shell that had been scored got lodged in it with the tip of it poking out the back.

I could imagine what would have happened if it hit a person or animal with that. If it went in a person, it would probably go in and break some ribs with the force and definitely knock the person down.

It does not have the balistics to go in and out, so over penetration is not an issue with this. Also if you missed in a house it would probably loose most of it's momentum with some drywall and be nonlethal on the other side.

When doing this, the shell does not eject cleanly by itself. With almost all I shot I had a FTE. It wouldn't eject cleanly, just sit there and you had to pick it out of the chamber. Also I was not able to load any from the magazine, they all had to be loaded into the tube.

Probably not the best defensive choice, but if you want to have some slug shooting fun and not pay $1 each shot, these work great. Also in a pinch where you would need a slug (zombie invasion) I could see this having some benefit.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I think I'll just stick with my slug molds and huge ol pile of lead I already have