12 gauge reloading

Gibbs505

Gibbs505

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Thinking of getting into this now that I have a shotgun to play with.

How expensive is it and are the components readily available?

I have seen the Lee press which seems inexpensive, but how does it stand up to use?

Cheers and thanks in advance.
 
First get out your calculator, look at some recipes online and figure out your cost to reload a box. Now compare it to what it costs to buy that box. Unless you are loading something special like slugs, buckshot, extra light loads, 28 gauge or 410, your reloads will probably cost more. Now factor in finding the powder. You'll quickly see why not many are reloading for shotgun any more.
 
Reloading in sub-gauge is worthwhile. 12g is... probably not. I do reload 12g, but I do so more to load lighter loads and play around with speeds because I like to tinker. Based on my last component buy (after tax) I am about $6/box for 1oz loads and $5.70 for 7/8oz. Saving $1 per box over factory is hard to justify, but I do it anyway. Many people think I am strange- and it is hard to argue. If you want to give it a go it is rewarding, but you won't save money reloading 12g target loads.
 
Thanks, I just picked up a value box of 100 Winchester 12gauge #4 rounds for $45.00. That works out to 45cents per round or $11.25 a box of 25 rounds.
I will have to look closer at this.
 
You can get flats of Federal Top Gun, Estate Target, Score Target, or Challenger Target loads for $60-80 flat and they are better made than the Winchester value ammo you bought. When I can find powder, I load 12ga target loads, however I will admit, I don't save any money. I load all of my hunting loads, simply because one can get 1oz #6 upland loads in paper hulls anymore.
 
cartwheel said:
Reloading in sub-gauge is worthwhile. 12g is... probably not. I do reload 12g, but I do so more to load lighter loads and play around with speeds because I like to tinker. Based on my last component buy (after tax) I am about $6/box for 1oz loads and $5.70 for 7/8oz. Saving $1 per box over factory is hard to justify, but I do it anyway. Many people think I am strange- and it is hard to argue. If you want to give it a go it is rewarding, but you won't save money reloading 12g target loads.
Click to expand...

I reload 12 ga. and 20 ga. for the same reasons as above. The other key for me is that I'm always on the look-out for components at something other than retail prices. For example, just 2 weeks ago I was in a contractor's garage when out of the corner of my eye I spotted a dust covered MEC Jr. high up on a shelf in a dark corner. I didn't need the loader, but I went home with a bag of No. 7.5 and a box of WAA12's for $20. I've managed to accumulate quite a supply of shot, powder and primers in such ways.
 
Look for a good used MEC 600 Jr. loader with a primer feeder. which generally sell for about $90 around here. They are a great machine to start loading lower volumes of shells on.

Find the component costs in your area.

Here is a link to some reloading cost calculators ...
http://www.trapshooters.com/pages/calculators/

That exercise will tell you if it is cost effective for you.

There is a powder shortage currently, but I hear that the powder pipeline is starting to fill back up in the US, which means we will start to see more here. Our current Canadian dollar value against the US dollar will make US supplied components more costly. 700X, which a very popular 12 gauge powder is currently selling for $185 for 8 lbs., if you can find it here in South Western Ontario.

The folks that I know that still reload 12 gauge, like to do it and they like their reloads over available factory shells. The cost advantage of reloading over buying new shells is much greater with the sub-gauge shells (28 gauge and .410).

Over time the advantage (cost wise) of reloading vs. buying new shells will flip back and forth.
 
Maritime Storm said:
You can get flats of Federal Top Gun, Estate Target, Score Target, or Challenger Target loads for $60-80 flat and they are better made than the Winchester value ammo you bought. When I can find powder, I load 12ga target loads, however I will admit, I don't save any money. I load all of my hunting loads, simply because one can get 1oz #6 upland loads in paper hulls anymore.
Click to expand...

Not in northern BC!!!!
 
I do some 12 ga reloading and find that it can be worthwhile if you are shooting a lot. I can reload 1 oz #8 or #9 shot for about $5.50 a box or $55 a flat. A flat of 10 boxes for cheap target loads varies from $70 to $90 at retail. You MIGHT be able to score some a bit cheaper.

Basically a 25 lb bag of shot cost about $45 and yields 400 rounds of 1 oz loads. A pound of powder ($25 to 35 / pound) also yields around 400 rounds. Primers are about 4 cents a pop and the wads are also about the same. Assuming you have fired hulls, it is about 11 cents for lead, 4 cents for primer, 6 cents for powder and 4 cents for a wad for a total of roughly 25 cents a round or 6 dollars a box at the outside. You can probably do a bit better.

So, if you time is worth nothing (like mine) then it makes modest sense if you are doing a lot of practice of 2 flats or more a week.
 
Still the cost of getting anything here!
Even the owner of the local gunshop tells me he has not reloaded in 20 years except for some special loads!
 
Indeed the cost of getting stuff to a remote location is the kicker. Most of the posters talking about shot at $45/bag live in Ontario. Check out what a 25 pound bag of shot delivered to your door is. Best bet is to stock up on flats of shells if you make it to a major urban center a few times a year.
 
You won't pay much less than 90.00 a case for target loads in northern BC. 83.00 a case plus tax at the Smithers CTire. Terrace is probably the same. PG Wholesale Sports same same. I'm in Vernon now and I'll hit Del Selins and see if he has any deals.
 
Yes, reloading does save you money if you are cheap with your loading. I have 3 Lee Load All II presses, 12, 16, and 20 gauge, all have loaded a fair few shells, the 12 is at about 6000 rounds right now and the 20ga is not far behind.
Using the cheapest components available I was loading 12ga for about 5$ a box ish. Thats using Alliant Promo Powder, Hummason Shot, Claybuster Wads and Federal 209A primers all packed into Remington gun club hulls. I only use 7/8oz. in a Lightning wad, lead is hella expensive nowadays
Cheddite primers are cheaper by about 2$ per 1000 box now. Promo was i think 95$ when I bought it. Good luck finding any Alliant Powder now though.
I just bought some factory Top Gun shells the other day, holy hell they are up to 67$ a case:sok2
 
'What THEY said' I was into reloading a few yrs ago for trap shooting. i found NO SAVINGS AT ALL. The only benefit was that i could load light 7/8oz loads and shoot ten boxes in a day. Easier on the shoulder.
if you buy a used MEC reloader you wont lose money reselling it.

I later purchased an expensive Beretta double and worried about double-charging a load and blowing up a barrel, so I sold my setup.
Although I loaded thousands I never had any hiccups.
 
As for turret presses I've had 3 of them over the years.
I've had a Ponsess Warren, a MEC Hydraulic Press and a Pacific/Hornady press.

I will say that hands down my favourite was the Pacific/Hornady and for good reason.

The Ponsess Warren would occasionally make mushroom caps out of my ammo and to get them out of the sleeve, I'd have to cut the case and that would dump pellets all over the place. It was fast when it was dialled it, but god help ya if anything was off kilter.

The MEC was the worst of them. I know they are popular but not cheap enough dollar wise for the cheapness of design.

Many of the problems with the MEC and the Ponsess Warren where that it would de-prime while in the turret. Sometimes if a primer was a bit crusty it would take extra force and that would shake everything up. That shaking would move primers, powder and shot around and cause feed or measuring issues that would translate to other issues like a bad crimp later on. I'd start to feel like I'm chasing my tail trying to figure out what caused the occasional birth defect.

The Hornady/Pacific had a dedicated de-prime station that was outside the turret. This made it practical to just deprime all your cases before you loaded them. Then loading was real smooth. I made the best looking shells with this one and with the least aggravation when something went south.

You could always get a single stage press to deprime and then load on the turret press later. That "might" eliminate "some" of the problems I've had.
 
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