Reloading Shotshell

[Kuffaar]

Does anyone reload for their shotgun? I'm looking at ordering me a few things to get started. I have some brass hulls coming in Monday.

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[MPHymel]

Does anyone reload for their shotgun? I'm looking at ordering me a few things to get started. I have some brass hulls coming in Monday.

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It has been quite a while. If you dont have a reloader,, Mayville Engineering "MEC" was the Cadillac back when we were doing it. Steel shot was a pain to reload though, it bridges up in the tube easily.

 

[Kuffaar]

It has been quite a while. If you dont have a reloader,, Mayville Engineering "MEC" was the Cadillac back when we were doing it. Steel shot was a pain to reload though, it bridges up in the tube easily.

I'm going to look into that. Does it resize and have crimper?

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[DBMJR1]

I'm going to look into that. Does it resize and have crimper?

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I reload .410 on a MEC Junior.

It will de-prime / re-size on the first station. Prime on the second. Throw a powder charge, add a shot cup and throw the shot charge on the third. Start a crimp on the fourth and finish the crimp in the fifth station.

Easy. I really enjoy loading for .410. I'll be shooting a bunch tomorrow.


.410 is easily THE most cost effective gauge, (caliber), to reload. It uses half the components as 12 ga, and costs twice as much at the store.

28ga and 16ga are cost effective.

12 and 20 aren't as economically productive in normal times unless you load in bulk. However there are still advantages to having custom handloads.

I was looking for equipment to load shot shell last night for a buddy. Good luck. The pandemic has made those presses hard to get.

 

[Kuffaar]

I reload .410 on a MEC Junior.

It will de-prime / re-size on the first station. Prime on the second. Throw a powder charge, add a shot cup and throw the shot charge on the third. Start a crimp on the fourth and finish the crimp in the fifth station.

Easy. I really enjoy loading for .410. I'll be shooting a bunch tomorrow.


.410 is easily THE most cost effective gauge, (caliber), to reload. It uses half the components as 12 ga, and costs twice as much at the store.

28ga and 16ga are cost effective.

12 and 20 aren't as economically productive in normal times unless you load in bulk. However there are still advantages to having custom handloads.

I was looking for equipment to load shot shell last night for a buddy. Good luck. The pandemic has made those presses hard to get.

Yeah it has. Thanks for your info! I'm currently searching ebay. Its about the only option right now. I have a press for my pistol rifle rounds. Was thinking of casting some slugs also.

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[tallguy606]

Used to reload

Yeah it has. Thanks for your info! I'm currently searching ebay. Its about the only option right now. I have a press for my pistol rifle rounds. Was thinking of casting some slugs also.

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I used to reload for 12 ga years ago. Then the price of shot got so high, if you figured out the cost of primers, powder, wads, and shot, you could buy cheap target loads at big box store for the same money. So why go to all the work? Maybe now if shells are hard to find it might make a little more sense.

 

[Kuffaar]

I used to reload for 12 ga years ago. Then the price of shot got so high, if you figured out the cost of primers, powder, wads, and shot, you could buy cheap target loads at big box store for the same money. So why go to all the work? Maybe now if shells are hard to find it might make a little more sense.

Thats exactly what I was thinking. Its hard to find most hunting loads across the board. 22lr - 12gauge

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[Bmash]

I use a MEC 9000 in 12 ga. It is a progressive press. Works well. I haven’t loaded steel or slugs but I believe they take some different components. A friend asked about getting one recently and I told him I probably wouldn’t bother now that lead is so high. I have enough lead to last for a while that I bought at $20/25#. I’ll probably still load with expensive lead since I already have powder, wads, hulls, and primers.

 

[Hoot]

Reloading brass shot shells is different from paper or plastic. If you're going to use black powder, there's lots of information. Not so much for smokeless. I'm just starting, so I don't have any personal knowledge to give you, but here are some links that I've found interesting.

https://www.americanhunter.org/articles/2011/10/6/loading-brass-shotshells/

https://forums.sassnet.com/index.php?/topic/264435-solid-brass-shotgun-shells-with-smokeless-powder/

https://forums.sassnet.com/index.ph...ho-loads-all-brass-shotshells-with-smokeless/

 

[MPHymel]

My dad might be willing to sell his MEC, I'd have to ask him

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[LaBelle]

I used to reload brass hulls while at the range!
Circle Fly is a company with lots of good info and products: over shot cards, fiber wads, card stamps, cutters, etc.

I used an antique handloader that would prime and deprime, but would use a nail and wood "whacker" to deprime, saving wear and tear on the antique loader.

I had a short piece of 2x4 with a dime-sized hole cut in it, placed the empty hull over hole, punched out the spent primer, pressed in new primer with same tool, measured out and poured in the black powder, slipped in a fiber wad, put in shot load then topped the shot with a thin card. A wood dowel that was slightly smaller in diameter than the hull was used to compress the powder/shot column slightly.

Then I used a thin bead of Elmer's white glue around the wad edge, or clear fingernail polish to seal. Let it dry for 5-8 mins and shoot again!

The brass hulls I have use pistol primers, not shotgun primers.

 

[Kuffaar]

I used to reload brass hulls while at the range!
Circle Fly is a company with lots of good info and products: over shot cards, fiber wads, card stamps, cutters, etc.

I used an antique handloader that would prime and deprime, but would use a nail and wood "whacker" to deprime, saving wear and tear on the antique loader.

I had a short piece of 2x4 with a dime-sized hole cut in it, placed the empty hull over hole, punched out the spent primer, pressed in new primer with same tool, measured out and poured in the black powder, slipped in a fiber wad, put in shot load then topped the shot with a thin card. A wood dowel that was slightly smaller in diameter than the hull was used to compress the powder/shot column slightly.

Then I used a thin bead of Elmer's white glue around the wad edge, or clear fingernail polish to seal. Let it dry for 5-8 mins and shoot again!

The brass hulls I have use pistol primers, not shotgun primers.

That's awesome! I just picked up a fresh pound of powder just for these hulls. Mine take large pistol primers. I'm pretty excited to start loading them. I'm about to cast some copper slugs this weekend and test them out. I'm sizing them to the wads I have. I would like to try out some black powder. I'm going to keep an eye out for some. Was also thinking of getting into primitive hunting being not sure when my rifle rounds are going to surface again.

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[Gator 45/70]

That's awesome! I just picked up a fresh pound of powder just for these hulls. Mine take large pistol primers. I'm pretty excited to start loading them. I'm about to cast some copper slugs this weekend and test them out. I'm sizing them to the wads I have. I would like to try out some black powder. I'm going to keep an eye out for some. Was also thinking of getting into primitive hunting being not sure when my rifle rounds are going to surface again.

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Mag-tech ?

 

[Kuffaar]

Mag-tech ?

Yes. Took me about a year to finally find some in stock.

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[Hoot]

Magtech is what I got. Midway has 12 and 28 gauge in stock. Can't wait to find some black and get started!

 

[Gator 45/70]

Magtech is what I got. Midway has 12 and 28 gauge in stock. Can't wait to find some black and get started!

12 gauge you say? I have the 410's I'ma gonna check that out TKS

 

[brknight]

Lee Load-alls a good choice

I have loaded probably a few thou shotgun shells in 20 and 12 ga. Never went high tech or high $. I've had 3 Lee Load-alls. My first one was bought back in the late 70s and had the aluminum base-20ga. The later ones are plastic but don't ever think they can't do the job. I stay with Win AA hulls. I also cast slugs with the Lee 7/8 oz. mould and use the Lee press. I use a shotcup with the petals trimmed back to the flat side of the slug. I never heard of anyone casting copper slugs. Sounds pretty wicked.

 

[Kuffaar]

I have loaded probably a few thou shotgun shells in 20 and 12 ga. Never went high tech or high $. I've had 3 Lee Load-alls. My first one was bought back in the late 70s and had the aluminum base-20ga. The later ones are plastic but don't ever think they can't do the job. I stay with Win AA hulls. I also cast slugs with the Lee 7/8 oz. mould and use the Lee press. I use a shotcup with the petals trimmed back to the flat side of the slug. I never heard of anyone casting copper slugs. Sounds pretty wicked.

This one measured out to 3/4 ounce. I used my 3d printer to make the ones I wanted to cast. Then made a plaster mold and burned out the plastic. Then while hot I poured a 90 copper 10 aluminum mix. My mold did fail so only 2 survived this round. Next time I'm going to pour about 2 dozen. I did 6 this time as a test.

This is a target skeet loaded (cheap stuff) I printed a cutter to cur the top remove the 1 ounce of lead. Stuffed the slug in and called it good. Now to test the load to see what it does.

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[Kuffaar]

I also got 50 of these bad boys ready to go. Just need to find or make some 10gauge wads.

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[brknight]

Good luck on your slug test. Be careful. If you have access to machinery maybe you could cut some like Lehigh does.