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Old May 3, 2007, 07:01 AM   #10
SShooterZ
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Join Date: January 17, 2005
Location: McHenry, IL
Posts: 22
Do yourself a favor and get a MEC. Either a Grabber or a 9000GN. Much better construction and better capabilities than the Lee LoadAll. If you want to stay with singe stage, get a 600 JR. They're all over eBay for decent prices or you can typically find them onsale at one of the many outdoor stores.

Also, unless you can get boxes of shells somewhere for $2.50 - $3.00 a box, you will save money reloading. That being said, the least amount of savings to be had are on the 12 gauge as there are so many promo loads available at many of the big stores. For reloading 28 Gauge or .410, you can't beat the price savings.

Buy components in BULK. 5000 wads, 5000 primers and 8lbs jugs of powder at the same time. Try to find a place locally with good prices. Shipping of powder and/or primers typically incures a $20 HazMat fee.

Scrounge good hulls or buy a few flats of good hulls and then reload the hell out of them. Remington Gun Club, STS and Winchester AA are all hulls that you can probably get 10+ reloads out of.

Reduce your shot charge from 1 1/8 oz to 1 oz. Doesn't sound like much but your shoulder will thank you, you'll bust just as many birds and your cost savings will increase.

Try this link to see how much your reloads will actually cost you: http://www.trapshooters.com/rlcalcadv.htm

Don't forget things like a scale either. Its imperative that you weigh your powder drops to ensure that you're not exceeding max pressures. Getting a hold of Lyman's 5th Edition Shotshell Reloading Manual would be a huge help too.

FWIW, I typically load 1 oz of #8s, a Green Duster wad and use ~ 18.0 grains of Alliant Promo with a Fiocchi 616 primer for my reloads. Crushes clays and costs me about $2.75 a box for what I feel is a premium level reload.

The key is finding cheap lead shot too. Reclaimed, chilled, whatever. For shooting Skeet and 16 yard Trap, you will see less than a 5% difference in performance from going to Chilled shot from Magnum. Find the cheapest stuff you can find and reload away!

Good Luck!
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