That being said I have an ideal to get even more performance out of your 12 gauge:

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6688/878/1600/SHOTSHELL.jpg

From here:

http://freedomguide.blogspot.com/2005/07/long-range-shotshell-idea.html

Did you just not read the intro, the linked article or the comments, or did you just look at the pretty pictures?

Where exactly does one purchase molds and slugs (for next to nothing) for about $17 USD in Nigeria?

On the detail of ‘deposits left in barrel’ it matters whether the binding substance makes contact with the inner surface of the barrel.

Using Elmers glue, plain white schoolroom variety, and applying CONSISTENT amounts to the pellets CONTAINED IN A SHOT CUP, with care not to overfill..is about as safe as you can get doing this field expedient modification. It’s very very important not to blow your gun up and die, you’ld never live down the embarassment. Another useable binder is dop wax, jewelers high temp wax for holding stones temporarily while cleaning or polishing.

Elmers glue can be thinned slightly if necessary and applied directly to pellets, but the dop wax is harder to use. It needs melting and careful application to get it deep enough in the shotcup to bind the lead together. I’d not worry about blowing the gun up as long as all applied binders are TOTALLY contained inside the cup.

And fwiw, skeet or hunting loads of FINE shot are ideal candidates for some stickum. They’re the cheapest, and the most useless for predators. Add half a gram of Elmers or wax, and you’ll have non-survivable SD ammo or close range hunting ammo. Your method produces better results and more accurate ones, but mine is cheap, fast, and intended as *last* resort. Here, 1 oz. shotgun slugs are still findable under 60c each (walmart 15 rd value pk) and 00 Buckshot @ about 70c.

I’d strongly recommend that anyone attempting to modify ammo respects all safety precautions that can be feasibly maintained..and don’t blow your gun up OR die.

Using existing bird shot is certainly simple, and another idea is to use linotype or wheel weights instead of the bird shot — linotype is often hard to find these days, but was a preferred metal for target shooters who cast their own bullets. Wheel weights are easy to get, though require more prep to ‘purify’ and melt down (hint: melt the metal and toss in some borax as flux to get the impurities to rise to the surface to be spooned off), I think they are a bit harder than pure lead, too, but not too hard!
I suggest this in case the shells are lead-free, which is gaining ground.
good luck!

This incredible idea of yours is going to save me an incredible amount of cash.

I actually have looked around for the cheapest place to sell slugs to practice with BUT now I got hold of this info I can simply keep purchasing #7 1/2 shot in 500rnd.cases

Firearms certificate.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the concern. I DON’T live in the British Isles: I live in a former colony of Britain: Nigeria. Our laws are quite vague on the issue of slugs, and like I said above: a shotgun catridge (which is legal) is a shotgun catridge… By the way, what’s the full meaning of FAC?

Cornstarch paste. It “hardens” under pressure, surely you’ve seen the footage of someone stomping across a tub of cornstarch in water, then stopping at the end and sinking to their waist.

It’s better than just that though…. the “glom” of shot and corstarch hit their target and expend energy. At that point, there’s no pressure, so the cornstarch goo begins to flow and “leak” away, and even better yet, dissolve in flowing blood. After a few minutes you’ve got a pile of birdshot in the wound with nothing holding it together.

There’s bugger all angry creatures you couldn’t stop with a few of those bad boys so I imagine you would feel a lot safer having access to such ammunition if you ever needed it. (I sincerely hope you don’t)

I tell you, I am going through the pains of trying to pick the right mould for good hunting slugs for my smoothbore 12 and your achievements make me wonder whether I and so many others like me have been carried away by all the options available to us, rather than just perservering and making what we have work.

Congratulations and well done.

Luke, Cairns, Australia

The bolts at the bottom are bigger too: instead of the 10mm of the old mold, this is 12mm. So this leaves a bigger hollow cavity in the Slug.

The hollow cavities are gauged to be deeper now, so I now have a longer slug: the old slugs were about 17mm long: these new slugs are 22mm long. (No need for the felt wads anymore.) The slugs seat properly in the shot-cup now, and seal very well against the roll-crimp. A few dabs of clear nail varnish to water-proof: and good to go.

The larger hollow cavities are now about 2/3 of the length of the entire slug: slug is 22mm long, hollow cavity extends into it as much as 16mm. This really puts the slugs point-first even after leaving the muzzle: no tumbling at all. Accuracy is even more phenomenal…

Thanks guys!

I think some experimentation may be necessary to see if fold-crimped birdshot can be turned into roll-crimped slugs.

Though, in reality: I had my own DEEP interest in all of these; for example, I learnt by myself to strip and assemble the FN SLR blindfolded and I remember my best time was 3 minutes ! (I was tiny 13-year old then, I had to cock the rifle with both hands!)

I appreciate the kind words.

@ Firehand;

Thanks: thats another good idea. Only that: what happens when the thread wears out? I would still have to weld a nut there….

@ NoneMoreBlack:

To be honest: very FEW people know about slugs here. A shotgun catridge (As we call them here…) is a shotgun catridge, and it contains many pellets, (Or “bullets”, as most people say here: so you hear of someone having 24 “bullets” extracted from his leg after an unfortunate robbery…) A shotgun catridge is “red” with a “yellow band”. “It is for hunting.”

It is mainly “camouflage” and “perception”: I bought 100 shotgun catridges legally, and I still have 76 shotgun catridges “legally” in my possession. Simple.

@ Whatever;

The ones I have started with: the thread of the bolt actually is surrounded by molten lead. You have to “unscrew” that out of the slug. You have given me a better idea: a smooth, tapered bolt, with threading near the head. This can be used as you suggested. Thanks.

@ Mu and Carl:

I assure you in all my testing and experimentation (Based on much research and the principle of “Safety FIRST…”) I tied that shotgun to many a tree, and used many lengths of string to pull the trigger from a very safe distance!

@ Gerry N.
Aluminium in blocks is not available cheaply: by coincidence I just discovered I could get nice, thick blocks of Aluminium from the cooling thingy of discarded PCs: you know the thick aluminium grills that the cooling fans clamp to, then the whole thing clamps directly on top of the processor? Nice thick aluminium blocks once you cut off the cooling fins…

If I may ask: what other name for “Water glass/ Sodium Silicate”? Another thing I have used is clear nail varnish: but that runs and doesn’t solidify quickly. I actually use Emery all purpose glue. It seems to settle well into the small crevices, but doesn’t run down into the shell. It also “cures” properly.

@ Henry Bowman;
NIGERIA. If you see Steve’s intro to my guest-blog: he mentions some previous posts on some of my stuff. It clearly is titled: “A Nigerian’s Shotgun”…

Sorry to sound defensive: we aren’t all fraudsters here: we have a lot of creative, imaginative, intelligent, law-abiding, hard-working people here too.

Many thanks all.

Tallow, crisco, or paraffin wax poured into a shotshell will bind loose shot, making it in effect a short range slug. Pry open the shell, pour in your binding agent, and recrimp. Water Glass, AKA sodium silicate is a far better sealing agent for shotshells than epoxy, find it at the drugstore. An el-cheapo hot glue gun works amazingly well, too.

Yes, it works. Sometimes more effectively than others, but nothing is perfect.

Gerry N.

Suggestion for next project: AP rounds. Perhaps a steel slug or some subcaliber sabot thingy. Just be careful when trying out new things. I mean, if something goes wrong it could perhaps blow up in your face. I think I’d set up some kind of remote firing rig if I was doing this.

If you could keep it from leaking out of the shot cup, you could pour some epoxy into the shot to bind it together; would add very little weight, but I think it would also break up after impact.

I’d say put a patent on that thing, and make some dough, but you’d probably get in trouble with the A.T.F.

YOU ARE A GENIOUS!!!
and don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.

Always a fan.

Damian Sebastian.