My quest for accuracy at 100 yards plus has eluded me so far with the traditional slugs bought from various manufacturers as reloading components. The most accurate loads in my rifled barrell have been factory Winchester sabots. I am getting about 3" groups with these. Has anybody here had much experience in reloading sabots in shotgun shells? I am looking for something in 2 3/4" chamber. Any observations and loading data would be appreciated. Most of my shooting will be at small deer and hogs so I don't need any real crushers. Thanks in advance. Pistolpete

I purchased the Lee slug mold several years ago and have had outstanding luck with it to date. I load them in winchester AA hulls with a regular crimp. Real tight groups at 100 yards and excellent knock down power!

look at this old post http://shootersforum.com/showthread.htm?t=8752
i have had real good performance from the hammerhead slugs.There web page is at wwwshotgunslugs.com

Riflemen10x

Stupid ?, but whats the differnce between a roll crimp and a star crimp, i mean i know they LOOK differnt, but what the the advantages/disadvantages of each?

Roll crimp gives you more capacity, that's a big difference.

Riflemen 10x, I just ordered some hammerhead slugs based upon your previous thread. Do you have any loading data that you found to work good such as powder, hull, grains of powder, primers, etc. I will be using Fiochi (sp?) 2 3/4 unskived hulls with their primers and a roll crimp. Do you think these slugs are tough enough to use on big hogs? It will primarily be a deer round but might get the ocassional call on the hogs. Thanks. Pistolpete

Try CCS slugs, they are available as a reloading component from Ballistic products. I use them in my custom rifled 12 gauge, and have taken 21 deer with them. Most of the deer have dropped in their tracks with 1 shot to the shoulders. I have fired groups of 3 shots in less than 1 inch at 100 yds from my gun. It has a barrel, cut rifled and fitted my the inventor of the sabots, Chris Young. I use the load with the 325 grain barnes X bullet, it moves at 1580 fps.My farthest shoy was a doe at a laser measured 141 yards with 1 round through the spine, and into the shoulder. I still have the recovered slug, in a perfect mushroom. He has a faster load at 1920 FPS with the same bullet, but I like the original load. I would try his factory loads, before getting into reloading. Try contacting Gun Servicing at 609-261-7373 for more info. Chris is in the hospital right now, so bear with him for a reply. Greg Sappington

Hi there Pistolpete,

I used the loading data that came with the slugs and the hulls.I purchased the 24 pack that all you had to do was add the powder and roll crimp.Powder was Blue Dot,I don`t recall the charge but it was rated at 1500 fps.The hulls were the same ones that Lightfeld uses so i picked up a bunch off the ground at the local range last year so I can just buy the 200 in bulk and save even more money.My shotgun has a fixed barrel and is made to throw slugs.It isn`t pickey about the ammo much, it shoots just about everything really good.You will have to experiment with the load that works best for your gun.Try the load data that comes with the slugs and work from there.One thing you can try to do to get better accuracy is try to adjust the mag cap presure on the barrel.My beretta likes it tight and my old winchester likes it loose.This seems to make a big difference in group size.From my experience these slugs hit like thors hammer and should be just what your looking for.I hope this helps and keep us informed.Try this link for more reloading data http://webferret.search.com/click?wf,sabot+slug+reloading,,precisionreloading. com%2Fnewarrivals.htm,,aol

Riflemen10x

PS,I also plan on looking into the sabots that greg5278 shoots.I will post my results when i get the time to order some up.

The sabots from Gun servicing are available from Ballistic products. Gun servicing can give you a better price though. If you wantn some loaded ammo i will see if I can help. Email me if you need me to try and get some ammo for you. The magnum load is about $11 per 5 pack when loaded with the 325 grain barnes expander 50 caliber bullet. It is an excellent load. He also loads Hornady XTP bullets, but I do not like their performance. Greg

Hi greg5278,

Does ballistic products have a web sight or do you just have to call chris?

Riflemen10x

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/

Bye
Jack

BPI has the reloading components for the CCS slugs, I don't know if they still carry his loaded ammo. His slugs shoot best in a 1-28 twist barrel. 1-26 and 1-34 twists will also work, but not as well. greg

WOW thats more reloading components for slug shooters that i have been able to find in the last two years.Thanks guys now I just have to find the time and the money to tinker with all of this new found stuff.The CCS sabots look like a real winner and im going to have to give them a try.

There still pritty expensive compared to the hammerheads but I bet they will Increase the effective range quite a bit.I like to practice and don`t like to spend the 12 bucks a box for the partitions but love the performance.These CCS should be pritty close to the Winchesters and more like the hornady H2K sabots that i think were discontinued

Let us know how the hammerheads work out for you pistopete

It has been over 2 weeks since I ordered my hammerhead slugs and they still haven't got here so I am in the process of trying to find out where they are at. Those CCS slugs look very promising and I am tempted to try those out also. We used the factory Winchester sabot slugs in Iowa several years back and they did a great job. The longest shot was at 80 yards on a nice 8 point and it put it down in its tracks. The wound channel was good and the "flat" shooting nature of those slugs was appreciated in some of the open cornfields. The big drawback was the expense of those rounds and I am sure many of you are like me in that you like to take game with something you have loaded yourself. The CCS slugs look very similar in nature to the Winchester factory load and I was wondering if CCS provided loading data with their slugs? This has been a fun project and the tip on checking your magazine cap was a new one on me so I will try that. If I could just get this Texas wind to die down for one day so I could get some range results in that would be nice also. Appreciate all the responses so far to my original question and I will try to post some results on the hammerheads if and when they get here. Pistolpete

Chris young was the first to use the one pece sabot with the collet tpe fingers. The sabot locks the bullet in tight, and will not release it until it exits the bore. Sabots usually end up 25-40 yards from the muzzle. My farthest shot with the 325 grain copper bullet was a laser measured 141 yards. I have taken several deer over 100 yards with it. I only had one problem, and it was range estimation on long shots, hence the range finder purchase. The slug penetrates completely through both shoulders 90% of the time. I have used th 300 grain XTP load, but had trouble with the bullets fragmenting, and ricocheting internally. The jackets would shed, and the core would fragment. I don't think Hornady makes a good hunting bullet. the barnes X bullet has never let me down. Try his loaded ammo first before you buy all of the reloading components. Forget the takedown tpe shotguns, they are too complicated for slugs. Buy an Ithaca or a high Staandard that is threaded,and float the barrel. The non-floated guns are finicky about how you rest them, and cannot be fired with a sling. Greg

I finally got my slugs in and loaded them in Fiocchi unskivved hulls with 42 gr Bluedot and roll crimped them. I was shooting them out of a Remington 1100 with a 4x scope at 100 yards and the barrel is not fixed which I am sure makes a difference. There was a variable breeze up to 10 mph. I was able to get a 5 inch group and I think I could have trimmed that down if I had a little more time. I was getting about 3.5" group with the factory Winchester Partitions so I was pretty happy with the results with these hammerheads and I think they will be keepers. I was getting some keyholes with the BP dangerous game slugs at 100 yards but I did not notice that with the Hammerhead slugs. Thanks to Riflemen10x and the others who contributed to this thread and I think I have found some keepers in this hammerhead slug. Pistolpete