Reloading Question - Shotgun, 12 ga

[dsan54]

My plan is to start reloading Shotgun Shells 12 ga. I would like to know wich is the best Powder and Primers to use. I shoot Semi-Automatic Shotguns.
I'll be shooting Skeet, Trap and Sporting Clays. Any Input would be appreciated.

[Bud Helms]

Well. We do have a reloading forum. Let's try there.

[rg1]

I highly recommend Lyman's Shotshell Reloading Handbook. As far as target load powders, Red Dot, Clays, 700X, Win Super Target WST, International Clays, Green Dot, Universal Clays, Unique, and SR 7625 are often recommended. The most popular and probably best hulls to load are now Remington Premier, STS type hulls. Primers most used are Winchester 209 and Remington 209 Premier.
I don't shoot trap or skeet but I occasionally load 12 and 20 ga. shotshells. To keep things simple I use WST Winchester Super Target for target and light field 1 1/8 oz. loads and WSF Winchester Super Field for field loads up to 1 1/4 oz. for 12 ga. shotshells.
Don't get the "Clays" type powders mixed up. Use the EXACT data from data sources. Use the hull, wad, and primer recommended and don't substitute.
New Winchester hulls are not as good as they once were. With a 25 lb. bag of shot at $45.00 and up and powder and primers at an all time high, a lot of shotshell loaders just buy their shotgun ammo now. I still like to load mine with the shot I have on hand but I'm not buying any more shot until it comes down in price, if ever it does.

[GE-Minigun]

...I'll be shooting Skeet, Trap and Sporting Clays. Any Input would be appreciated.

As others have said, get a reloading manual. With that said I use Claybuster WAA-12 wads for 1oz. load over Green Dot powder and Rio 209 primers. Some advise and you get what you pay for it…IMO you are better off purchasing ammo from Wal-Mart or similarly priced place instead of reloading. With the price of the components and the time you put into it you’ll be even or in the hole a little with the 12 and 20 gauge, where the savings come into play is the other gauges (28 and 410). I stopped reloading 12’s couple years ago for this very reason and shoot either the 28 or 410 in skeet. I don’t shoot trap nor sporting clays that often so it’s not worth wasting my time nor shot reloading the bigger gauges...I’ve shot sporting with the 28 and didn’t do as bad as I thought I would and had a lot more fun doing it. As mentioned this is all my opinion and YMMV

[amamnn]

If you've already got the equipment to begin reloading then I would suggest using Remington STS target hulls, figure 8 wads, and primers. When I was shooting a lot of trap I used Red Dot, a lot of other shooters liked that for target loads too. I've not used Clays, but a lot of people swear by that powder. Be sure to measure and record the powder density of each bottle you buy, as flake powders can vary considerably in density from lot to lot. I found Alliant powders to be quite variable.

If you are shooting an auto loader, you'll want a shell catcher, your local trap club should be selling them along with all the above mentioned components. Also when reloading hulls for autoloaders, it's important to ensure that your press does a complete job of resizing the brass portion of the hull.

If you have not already spent the money on press, and scales and etc... and are starting from scratch having no reloading equipment at all, then I would agree with the poster above who rightly pointed out the very cheap price of shells these days. You're going to have to load and shoot a LOT (thousandS)of shells to come out ahead moneywise, and since you say you'll be shooting 3 different events with an autoloader, you're not going to see any significant difference in accuracy between handloads and something like Federal target shells you can get from WalMart really cheap.