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Old November 6, 2012, 08:24 PM   #1
300magman
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Reloading 3.5" Heavy Turkey & Buckshot Loads, & Non-Toxic

I've been reloading rifle cartridges for a while; and now I'm thinking of getting into shotgun shells, but I'm not sure what I would like to do is possible (or practical)

I shoot some skeet, but not enough to care about reloading light 2 3/4" loads, instead I'm looking at the loads that are costing me over $4 per shot!!!

Has anyone had any luck reloading heavy turkey loads? or do unique factory rounds such as Federal's "Flight Control" have an advantage over anything I could assemble myself?

Buckshot, has anyone tried making some seriously heavy, long range buckshot? I would be curious to see what results could be had with 9 - 12 pellets of 0000 buck. Or perhaps Six 0.45" pellets (estimating here).
I'm just thinking it might be fun, and perhaps effective to look for a long range deer load between the factory 18 ball 00 buck loads and the Dixie Tri-Ball. (Mostly because I don't think the Dixie Tri-Ball is legal for use in many areas here...because of its label as "ball" rather than "buckshot)

Lastly, I just don't like steel shot for waterfowl and its often fairly pricey. I might reload heavy steel loads, but can anyone direct me to a source of "heavier than steel" non-toxic shot?? That doesn't cost more than $1 an ounce?
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Old November 6, 2012, 09:56 PM   #2
rg1
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The foremost company that has components and individual shotshell manuals is BPI, Ballistic Products Inc., They have individual manuals for buckshot, heavy shot, slugs etc. Be prepared to buy your components from them because most all the data in their individual manuals use components that they sell. They still have more data available than other good shotshell manuals such as Lyman's 5th Shotshell manual. Lyman has some loads for buckshot, a section on heavy shot and steel sections as well as a lot of lead data. Take a look at BPI and compute how much it'd cost you to load versus buy your specialty expensive shotshells. http://www.ballisticproducts.com/
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Old November 8, 2012, 11:33 AM   #3
snuffy
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http://www.ballisticproducts.com/Hevi-Shot/products/67/

That's the page for heavy shot. You will see that a 7 pound bag will cost you $229.50!!!!!!!!

By the time you get the reloader, and all the components, you'll have a bunch of money invested. BUT, you WILL end up saving money compared to buying factory loaded shells. The rub is it will take a long time to realize those savings, they have to be spread out over a long time.

The only loader that I know of that will load the 3.5 inch 12 is the mec steelmaster;

http://www.mecreloaders.com/ProductLine/SteelMaster.asp

And that's ALL it will load,(3.5"). Another press would be required for 2-¾ loads and another for 3".

As for the buckshot, it too can be loaded with the press you buy. BPI also sells buckshot pellets. But buck loads are very specialized loads, most use a wad "stack" of separate wads, fiber cushion fillers and over-powder gas seals. You CAN star crimp buck loads, or roll crimp them.

The press is designed to load steel, but will also load heavy-shot and lead. And the heavy-shot wads can also be used for steel.
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Old November 9, 2012, 11:33 AM   #4
300magman
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I was looking at this the other night and doing a bit of math. There really isn't any savings to be had (at all) as far as I can see, when it comes to the hevi shot.

I've been trying to find somewhere that has better prices on the heavier than lead alternatives, but so far I haven't had much luck. The tungsten-iron (or similar) generically named shot is halfway in weight between steel and "hevi-shot" and it can be had much cheaper (but still much more expensive than lead or steel).

I have not yet looked at the cost of factory loads that use that substance to see if reloads would be cheaper or not, but reloads are probably still in the range of $2.50 to $2.80 and still don't measure up to the performance of lead...so I'm not thrilled about them.
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Old November 9, 2012, 11:40 AM   #5
300magman
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On the bright side, it seems pretty cheap to experiment with heavy turkey loads or heavy buckshot loads. There is no reason I couldn't save over $1 per shot by reloading those
At least that is what a quick glance at the price of the shot itself tells me. I have not yet looked at the price of "wads, fiber cushion fillers and over-powder gas seals"

My real question was about the effectiveness of those reloads verses the factory ammo with thier specially designed shot cups and such. It seems that IF (big if there) the factory "flight control" products work as they claim, that it would be nearly impossible to get close to the same performance with a reload using a generic shot cup.

I wondered if anyone had an oppinion on that.
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Old November 9, 2012, 11:53 AM   #6
jmortimer
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You will save $$$ when you compare premium ammunition to your own hand-loaded ammunition. The Dixie Tri-Ball is in a league of its own. Consider the fact that 00 buckshot will go about 8" in wet newspaper and the Tri-Ball will go 27" - the Dixie loads will smoke anything on earth.
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