Home Ammo Test Firing 3D-Printed Polycarbonate Shotgun Slugs Designed by Scientists

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Test Firing 3D-Printed Polycarbonate Shotgun Slugs Designed by Scientists

August 31, 2017

It’s about time we brought some real science into these test fire videos.

TAOFLEDERMAUS is pretty surprised by the results of the shotgun slugs designed by scientists and sent to him for the “You Make It, We Shoot It” segment of his YouTube videos.

Is this what you would expect from polycarbonate?

9 COMMENTS

blahpony August 31, 2017 At 17:15

Auto play videos suck ass.
- Zeke August 31, 2017 At 17:49
  
  Yes, they do. Fortunately, for anyone using Firefox, the add-on “FlashStopper” stops them before they ever start, all across the internet:
  
  https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/flashstopper/
  - Geoff PR August 31, 2017 At 23:03
    
    ““FlashStopper” stops them before they ever start…”
    
    Thanks on that, works great!
- tsbhoa.p.jr August 31, 2017 At 20:17
  
  did not view nor read.
  my last comment ever to post on a vid that requires no prompt.
  it is contemptuous.
barnbwt August 31, 2017 At 17:39

“Shape we haven’t seen before” –uh, pellet rifles?

Also, it’s infinitely easier to make these on a lathe, from whatever material, but 3D printing is the new hotness & whatever even though its surface finish is sucky for aerodynamics (unless you’re playing golf or 40mm grenades, I suppose)

ETA: yeah, I also say autoplay vids suck. At least this one had the decency to start with the audio muted
- Geoff PR August 31, 2017 At 23:05
  
  If you use Firefox, Zeke has a suggestion above that works on this end…
Tec's Dad August 31, 2017 At 18:23

Yes, I have to agree the shape is aka a diablo pellet. I also have to say that this would be easy to replicate on a manual lathe or a CNC turning centre…
Dyspeptic Gunsmith August 31, 2017 At 19:49

A small 7×12 ChiCom lathe and a ball turning attachment and you too can crank out stuff like this.

For those who might care to try this with lead, you can buy lead wire or lead rod. Bismuth, too. Or you could cast little rods out of wheel weights.

You can either make a radius turning tool for a lathe (they’re a very popular project on a lathe/mill – and a very handy attachment to have, for this among other purposes), or you could buy a radius turning widget that mounts onto your lathe’s compound.

Alternatively, what you could do is machine two halves of a mold, then machine a tool you mount into the spindle of a mill, and then you use a center-closing vise on a mill to close two halves of an aluminum mold down onto the tool, and you make a mold, just as you would for a bullet. I’d probably put the sprue at the front tip of the slug, so I could cast a skirt onto the slug.

Alternatively, you could just up and buy shotgun slug molds to cast your own slugs. Lyman and others make molds for slugs in 12 and 20, last I looked.

This stuff ain’t rocket surgery, boys and girls. Folks have been casting their own projectiles for hundreds of years.
- Tietonian September 1, 2017 At 01:31
  
  I would like a duology written by Dyspeptic Gunsmith. Vol. I: Lock, Stock, & Barrel, and Vol. II: Bullet, Case, & Powder.
  
  Vol. I about firearms, Vol. II about ammunition. Aimed at an intermediate level, above the 80% lower crowd, but below industrial polymer and CNC machining.