Adventures in Reloading....

[Dave McC]

While I've done lots of varied shotgunning,I never got around to reloading my own shells. For much of the last quarter century, the Govt bought me ammo and paid me to shoot it,and I had some buddies that reloaded 12 ga and we exchanged field and target loads for my shotguns for the Metallics I loaded, including 30-06,303 Brit, 7X57, and handgun ammo. Lately, the friend and neighbor that has been mentoring me at trap has made me lots of reloads, but I've been imposing on him and it's been time to learn how to do this.

Considering that I'm not mechanically gifted nor experienced, I approached this slowly and carefully. Then, a note went up on the Bulletin Board for the clays range I go to for a used MEC 600, at a good price. A little research, and a query on a trap BB convinced me this was a good deal.

A few dollars later,it was mine.It came with a scale,extra bushings, charge bars,references books, and enough components for a case or two of 3 dr, 1 1/8 oz size 8 trap loads of commensurate quality to the ones made by my friend.

Set up took an hour or so, checking the powder and shot drops took a few minutes, and then slow and careful, I started making ammo.

For those that may not know, the MEC 600 is a single stage press, has been around since the early 60s at least, and will turn out ammo as long as you can.

So as of the moment, I've loaded up about 100 rounds, w/o busting into a sweat, a box as a time. Shot some off and scored my average at trap.

Once I shoot up these components, I'll back off to a light practice round for economy, a 1 oz, 2 3/4 gr load of 8s. At this point, payoff period for this equipment I acquired at a very good price is going to be less than two months.

IOW, by getting lucky on used equipment,I'm set up to make my own ammo and save money for the price of two cases of AAs. I'm shooting about a case a week, so do the math(G)....

Questions, comments, donations?

[Clemson]

There is not much to add, Dave. The MEC 600 is the standard for single stage shotshell loaders. I have used one for years for my 20 ga. guns. The only problem that I ever had was in loading for my 1100's. The 600 does not resize the case head as well as the collet sizers. I bought a separate "Super Sizer," and I use that for sizing the heads. There are certain powder types that seem to want to bind the charge bar. I typically use Green Dot or Unique and avoid the Winchester ball powders. The Alliant stuff seems to work more smoothly. Clemson

[K80Geoff]

OK... so what's your favorite recipe for 1oz loads?

Here's mine, use them for Sporting Clays.

Remington STS hull
Remington 209 Primer
18 grains of 700X
Remington TGT 12 wad (Green fig 8)
1 OZ of Lawrence Magnum shot (#9, 8 or 7.5 )

This load is a little on the hot side, but does the job quite nicely. Don't even feel the recoil in my O/U which weighs almost 9 lbs.

An alternate powder load could be 17.5 grains of Hogdon Clays. But 700 X is cheaper if you buy it in bulk.

I buy the wads in lots of 5000 from a mail order house, cheaper that way in the long run.

Powder, primers and shot also purchased in bulk, but locally. Those 12 lb kegs of 700X last a long time, even when I shoot a lot, but haven't figured how to dispose of them yet (empty of course)


Any war stories out there?

Geoff Ross

[PJR]

The MEC Jr. that I started on is still in use for small batches and experimental loads. It's a great piece of machinery. My progressive 9000G is also good but requires one pay more attention to the process or face an inevitable spill or power and/or shot.

The other necessary pieces of equipment are a powder scale and a loading manual. The Lyman Shotshell Reloading Manual #4 is pretty good but is getting a little dated. It doesn't have recipes for a couple of recently introduced powders. There is a wealth of material on line for shotgun reloaders including downloadable manuals:

http://www.hodgdon.com/
http://www.imrpowder.com/
http://www.alliantpowder.com/

I use whatever combination I can find that patterns well and reaches 1200-1250 fps regardless of shotweight. My own experience is that varying the shot velocity too much results in dropped targets. Having tried most of the major powders I like American Select best followed by Clays although Red Dot and 700X are excellent performers, too.

Paul

[Poodleshooter]

I just shot a round of trap yesterday with my favorite load:

Federal Hi-Power plastic basewad hulls (the Walmart specials are great hulls-they don't fray at the crimp as easily as AA's do)
Winchester 209 primer
Federal 12S3 wads
22.5-23grains of Green Dot
1-1/8oz of #8 Star brand chilled shot.
It patterns beautifully at 25 yds with a modified choke.

After my round, the guys I shot with let me keep all of their hulls Cha-ching!
I love these Federal hulls. The other guys at the range use AA's, but those cost money. These Federals are free for the moment!
My next project is to find a good Green Dot load with the same hulls, and primer but with a 1 oz wad. I'm going to try and cut my costs down a bit. I load on a Lee load-allII and am happy as a clam with it's performance.

[K80Geoff]

Well... my MEC 9000g doesn't like federal hulls. Never can get a good crimp with them.

I personally will not use a hull with a separate basewad for reloading. Too easy for the wad to shoot loose and cause problems. Although a lot of shooters use them and never have problems. Just don't use them too many times.

I never pay for hulls. I simply buy a case or two of remington shells per year and use the hulls for reloading. That way I know where the hulls came from and how many times they have been reloaded. I used to shoot in competitions that required factory hulls, so I had to buy them anyway.

The federal shells are great shells for the price, I find no difference in performance when compared to remington STS. Every once in a while I get lazy and buy some of the federals, I particularly like the 7.5 loads for medium range sporting targets and the occasional Trap round I am coaxed into shooting.

Happy Reloading Dave, and soon I bet you will be looking at a 9000g.


Geoff Ross

[dick w. holliday]

Since this thread is titles adventures in reloading i'll relate an adventure at a cowboy match i had this weekend...in general if i find a bunch of any kind of hull in the trash i'll snag them and then reload to shoot at places that i generally don't get my hulls back such as a cowboy match. The hulls i used this weekend were the winchester target hull you get at walmart ect..a cheap soft sided hull....Anyway i loaded then with a claybuster AA clone and put some old 473AA powder in them that i wanted to get rid of..Several times during the shotgun stages the powder failed to totally ignite and really sounded like bloopers...The funny part is that i was prabably shooting from 20 feet or so maybe less at steel in the shape of whiskey bottles and it still knocked them over but if i hadn't seen the wad i would be looking in the barrel for it. i think the only reason it was not in the barrel after firing is the fact that the gun was a cylinder bore 20" win 97. i had about 25 or so left so i took them trap shooting sunday to get rid of them and had the same type squibs but in a full choked trap gun the wad would not clear the barrel....Just an advwenture i thought i'd relate.>>>Dick

[PJR]

You don't do yourself any favors by using cheap hulls. I agree with Geoff about the two-piece hulls and load either Remington STS or Winchester AA. I suspect my Winchester days will be coming to an end because the new AA are two-piece.

Stick with the loads in the manuals. There is enough selection there and experimentation and substituting components is just asking for trouble.

I haven't had any adventures in reloading other than some spilled lead and shot. That's as much of an adventure as I want. I always wear safety glasses while reloading and insist that the family leave me alone until I'm done. Great way to relax actually.

Paul

[Dave McC]

Thanks, folks."Adventures" was a little sarcastic,reloading is far from exciting to me.

I know lots of shooters out there who would greatly benefit from shooting more often, Reloading means one can, and the effort and expertise required to reload is not hard to acquire.

Geoff, et all, my current load is:

AA Hull
Win 209 primer
17.3gr of Clays(Bushing listed at 17.5)
WAA12 wad
1 1/8 oz of cheap Olin shot(8s).

Once these components are shot up, I'll be switching to a 1 oz load for economy. That recipe will be similiar to the above, but a Claybuster WAA12SL clone wad will be substituted. Clays powder is the cleanest burning powder I've seen,BTW.

Got maybe 500 AA hulls,about 250 STS hulls, and my mentor says I can hit him up for more hulls as needed.

And my style of loading is kinda low key. The equipment's set up in a room we do not use that much, and I go and load up a box, then do something else. Later, I load another, later still another. It takes 15-20 minutes to load one box,including the time to weigh out and check the throws. I could do this lots faster, but moving slowly and deliberately avoids mistakes. And, I've the time. Loaded 100 rounds yesterday, and I doubt Wonderful Wife noted I was gone from my usual spot on the couch(G)...

[K80Geoff]

Being the lazy type, I have learned to color code my hulls. Gold Nitro 27 hulls for #7.5 shot. Green STS for #8 shot. And the older Remingron light green or winchester AA hulls for #9. That way when I reach into my vest I know what I am loading without having to work my brain cells too hard.

I also mark the primers with a magic marker, first to remind me that I am shooting reloads, and second to designate shot loads. Red for 1 oz and blue for 1 1/8 oz.
Have to find another color for 7/8 oz loads

That way when I give someone a shell to shoot I can remember what is in the thing, and not look like a complete dufus.

One thing I like about Remington and Winchester hulls is that if you hold them up to a light you can see if they have all the components in the proper place, helps to cut down on squib loads.

I vacuumed the floor in my reloading room in the basement, picked up over a pound of shot in various nooks and under things

Ever forget to insert the wad during the reloading process, here's an easy way to separate shot from powder. Use one of those flour sifters, you know , the can with a screen and wire thingy on a handle that you turn to break uf lumped flour. Sifts the powder but retains the shot. Works like a charm, but I suggest buying your wife a new one and using her old one for this

I also use an adjustable powder/ shot bar in my MECs. Allows me to get more precise measurements than those bushings that never give what they say they do in the charts.

I also use a piece of laundry anti static cloth in the powder conatiner to cut down on static electricity that makes powder stick to the sides of the bottle and hulls. Makes reloading easier and the powder drop more consistent.

Geoff Ross

I've never even considered reloading shotgun rounds. I always figured it would be harder to save money reloading SG than rifle/HG. Can you beat, let's say, $4/25 by enough margin to justify the trouble?

You can probably save more, reloading the more expensive loads, but if you're like me, you don't shoot those in enough volume to warrant it.

[PJR]

Jeff:

You don't save as much per box but you do save on quantity. A typical weekend for me will see 6 to 8 boxes go downrange. Over the course of a year my savings at about $1.50 a box do add up.

Money though isn't the issue though. I get the loads I want that pattern best without having to depend on what the big companies decide will sell well. Try and find a 12 gauge, 7/8's ounce load at 1250fps on the shelf anywhere.

K80Geoff:

I sort my hulls too. My gold STS are 1-1/8 ounce #7-1/2, the green are 1-1/8 ounce #8. The Winchester reds are 1 ounce #8 and the silvers are the 7/8's ounce #8 that I use in my game gun. I use the claybuster wads for the 1 ounce, the Winchester grays for the 7/8 and Remington Fig.8 for the 1-1/8.

[Dave McC]

Jeff, a box of AAs runs $5.29 locally. My mentor in this figures he(and now,I) can run a box for $2.50. Shooting a case a week or more, it adds up.

Going to a 1 oz load will increase the savings. I'll be getting another 50 shells from each bag of shot.

I had bought a case of STS's a little while back. When they need reloading I may reserve them for 1 1/8 oz of 7 1/2s, 3 dr, as a useful all around load.

[Dave McC]

An update for Gary H....

Since first posting this a few months ago, a few things have changed in my reloading. Here's the changes, none major...

First, still using the old MEC, and loving it. While I can see someone less patient getting frustrated with the slower rate vs a progressive press, it does everything I want it to. I'd rate the MEC 600 as the best buy for an entry level press and equipment.

BTW, mine came with the Auto primer feed. This does speed things up a mite. A box of reloads is about 10 minutes, I don't hurry at this...

Second, I switched to a 1 oz load and see no difference in performance out there. I do see a difference when I buy components. Each bag of shot gives another 2 boxes of shells, a popular move with the Permanent Head of the Budget Committee. I've run 25 straight 3 times, and all were with a 1 oz load.

I'm using East Coast Magnum shot, an extra hard shot in 8 1/2.FYI, I doubt there'd be much difference in using 7 1/2,8,8 1/2 or 9s at 16 yard trap, just go with what pleases you.I could use softer shot and add a few inches to my pattern, but this works.

Third, I've learned to batch my hulls. I start with either red AA or STS once fireds, and set aside 2-300 at a time. I shoot and reload those until I start seeing a fair number of used up cases, then I load up the batch one last time and trash them after firing.

The STS cases last longer than the AAs. I got 7 reloads from the STSs before they started looking rough. These AAs might make 5, tho I was sorting out a couple that split the crimp area as factory loads. Supposedly, the newest ones are better.

I also scavenged 100 Silver Handicap AAs. Since the color is different, I may load these with 1 1/8 oz of hard 7 1/2 shot for dove and upland work. These Silvers are supposed to last like the STS hulls, will advise when the season starts.

As for collecting once fired hulls other than the ones we buy as factory loads, there's a couple of ways.

Other trapshooters sell off hulls they do not need. So do trappers, oft at 3-4 cents each.

My friend gives me once fired AAs, he likes the factory load for Sporting Clays but is way ahead on empty hulls, he guesses he has 5000 in the house now. I can get more when I want, which should lower the price of reloads a bit more.

Finally, as near as I can determine, a box of high quality reloads runs me $2.56.

HTH....