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Shot Shell Conversion

.308
I have quite a number of Winchester shotgun shells, "8 shot", for skeet and trap.

Would I be able to convert them to slug shells by just replacing the shot with a slug, or would I have to add powder to them as well?[:)]
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10 comments

Date Votes
  • 11b6r
    Do not try this. The entire load- primer, hull, powder, wad and shot must be right for each other. Slugs use an overpowder wad, birdshot is probably in a shotcup. Rifled slugs are a size to pass thru most chokes (and cannot remember seeing a source for slugs for reloading- where are you planning to get slugs- or are you planning to relaod with a round ball?)

    Bottom line? Don't.
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  • .308
    quote:Originally posted by 11b6r
    Bottom line? Don't.


    Roger that. That's all I needed to know.

    Thanks.

    My weapon is a Winchester 1300 Home Defender
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  • beantownshootah
    You shouldn't just swap out the shot for slugs and be OK, since you don't know what the loads are, and as mentioned the shot cups are different.

    But in general it is possible to load your own slugs.

    You can cast them yourself using a mold:
    http://leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1193130476.1466=/html/catalog/blackpow.html#shotgun

    This guy goes through the whole reloading process, including casting the slugs from a HOMEMADE mold:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g06a6RWC4A

    Or you can just buy them here:
    http://www.ballisticproducts.com/departments.asp?dept=198

    Also, supposedly, you can use .50 cal blackpowder bullets with a sabot sleeve.
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  • Tailgunner1954
    OR, as it sounds like you want it for home defense, take a look at what the pattern from those #8 loads looks like at 15' (house distances). It won't be much, if any, larger than a slug would be.
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  • beantownshootah
    Another thing, even if its possible to do it, "converting" ordinary shotshells into slugs really isn't going to save you much money.

    Ordinary target loads run about $0.25 each. If you want to buy slugs commercially, they cost roughly $0.50 each and the wads about $0.20 each.

    Compare to about $1-3 each (depending on type) for commerically loaded slugs, and factor in the cost of your time and effort, and you're probably not saving much here, unless you intend to shoot a lot of these.

    If you just want a few slug rounds available "just in case", you're probably best off just buying them and forgetting about it.

    If you really do plan on doing a lot of shooting with slugs, the best way to save costs is cast your own slugs andreload them from spent hulls (which are effectively free). Doing that, and depending on your cost of lead and other components, you might get the cost down to about $0.30 - $0.40 per slug round, give or take a bit.

    It *might* make sense to try and convert rounds from shot to slugs in an emergency/survival sitution if there were no ammo nor reloading supplies available, but that's a sort of special case.

    Lastly, in general, slugs are pretty much an outdoor long-range proposition. They're good for hunting, or trying to connect with targets past ordinary shot distances (ie 30-40 yards), but they blast too easily through walls for safe use indoors, meaning that their use for home or personal defense is pretty limited.

    At indoor-type ranges of ten yards or less, ordinary birdshot is plenty deadly, plus inexpensive and carries reduced risk of overpenetration. To stretch things out a bit, you could go to buckshot, which are not that inexpensive, but are otherwise probably better than slugs.
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  • .308
    Thanks, guys.

    Yeah, just have all these trap and skeet loads and I'm not sure what they're good for, other than trap and skeet. Are they powerful enough for home defense.....(they sure seem to be at the range!)?

    I'll order some slug and 00 buck soon, to have some around for "just in case".
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  • iwannausername
    I've read online (so it must be true!) that you could open the crimp a tad, drip candle wax down onto the shot load, and it would be very sluggish... I wouldn't recommend it!

    As for defense, #8 is better than nothing... but I'd spend the $10-20 for either a few boxes of larger birdshot (#2, BB, - think turkey or goose loads) or buckshot. Shoot one or two rounds to get a feel for 'em, and you are done.

    If you don't think you'll be shooting any trap/skeet, then maybe post a for-sale ad for the shells you have at a local range or list 'em on the auction side.
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  • beantownshootah
    quote:Originally posted by iwannausername
    I've read online (so it must be true!) that you could open the crimp a tad, drip candle wax down onto the shot load, and it would be very sluggish... I wouldn't recommend it!
    I'd recommend against it as well.

    The problem with this is that even if the shot held together (which is doubtful since the shot-wax clump would be spinning from uneven air resistance) your string of lead balls glued together with wax would be about as aerodynamic as a thrown rock.

    At close distances, sure, you'd get a slug-like effect, but you'd also get a slug-like effect from *ANY* load at close distances because the shot string is barely opened up.

    The whole point of slugs is to shoot them at LONG distances. In the case of this wax monstrosity, at best you could expect limited range and absolutely lousy accuracy from the bad aerodynamics. At worst, the wildly spinning shot-and-wax glob would break apart in flight, leading to inconsistent and unpredictable patterning and trajectories.

    quote:As for defense, #8 is better than nothing... but I'd spend the $10-20 for either a few boxes of larger birdshot (#2, BB, - think turkey or goose loads) or buckshot. Shoot one or two rounds to get a feel for 'em, and you are done.
    I mostly agree there as well. My suggestion is that; if you want to use the shotgun for defense, just spend a few bucks on shells specifically intended for that purpose. (IE, if you're not hunting geese, skip the goose rounds).

    As a suggestion, many authorities recommend #4 buckshot for defensive use as a good compromise between energy retention/ penetration at short-to-medium ranges, and patterning. These rounds aren't too hard to find, are not too expensive, and each contains 27 lead pellets. Many police agencies have gone away from the traditional OO buck to these rounds now, mainly because they retain good wounding potential, but are less likely to penetrate walls and such:

    http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/10-rds-Nobel-Sport-12-ga-2-3-4-No-4-Buckshot.aspx?a=368798&kwtid=254459

    http://www.securityprousa.com/4bushtaenga.html

    That said, ordinary 9-ball OO buckshot is also widely available at just about any Walmart or sporting goods store for only a couple of bucks a box, and those are pretty tried-and-true.

    While I agree in general that larger shot is better for defense, the differences are much more important at distances exceeding 10-15 yards than at typical point-blank in-house distances.

    The biggest advantage of larger shot is energy retention at DISTANCE. Light shot pellets have proportionately greater surface area per unit weight compared to larger pellets, and therefore slow down quickly and yield less penetration.

    At a distance, that's a big disadvantage, because small pellets rapidly lose effectiveness against larger targets. On the other hand, it may well be an advantage indoors, because you have to consider what might happen to pellets that MISS the target.

    But at short distances of only a few yards, pretty much ANY shotgun load will create a devastating wound, likely exceeding damage by any pistol round.

    Consider that even an inexpensive #7.5 or #8 clay target load is putting out a full ounce (about 440 grains) of lead shot at 1300+ feet per second. That's roughly the kinetic energy of three-.357 magnum rounds fired at once.

    At typical inside-a-room distances of 5-10 yards, the pellets will barely open up at all, creating an effect not that dissimilar to a solid projectile. Sure, you'd probably still get a little more penetration from bigger shot, but I think in practice, whatever/whomever you shot at only a few yards wouldn't know the difference.
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  • .308
    Outstanding replies, all of you.

    Thank you!

    Beantownshootah, five stars!

    My next paycheck, I'll send for some of the suggested, and take the remaining trap loads to the range.

    Nothing like a little fun in the sun.
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  • rhmc24
    I think I'll try my own recipe. As follows: empty out shot, swab inside shot area with paste floor wax, put shot back in, fill with clear epoxy, allow to set up, test fire in my old cut off Win 97.

    That should keep close to the same weight of projectile, like a slug. Probably a good idea the make one, break it down and check it out for diameter, etc for more info before firing.
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