28ga reloading start up costs?

Mount Sweetness

Mount Sweetness

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Southern Ontario
I've saved several hundred 28ga hulls.
I reload for rifle cartridges but have never gotten into shotgun reloading.

What products should I be looking to buy?
I only shoot 200 to 400 rounds a year and I like the 1oz loads.
Is it worth the bother?
 
My pricing would be several years old, so probably irrelevant. Unlike rifle and pistols, there is NO pressure testing process for home hand loader in shotgun shells - you need to find a published load and use the exact same components - same brand of hull, same brand of wad, same primer, same weight and type of powder. I notice most recipes only list weight of shot load, so it seems the exact size of shot is not critical. So people do mix R-P, W-W and Fed brass to load a rifle cartridge, or interchange CCI, Fed or W-W primers - everything I read and was told says that a shot shell reloader can NOT mix and match - must use exact components - so actually spend a lot of time looking for recipes for the stuff you might already have on hand. Sometimes discover that one brand of hull is actually also used and sold under another brand name, so those two hulls (different brands, but same maker) seem to be interchangeable.

I used the Lyman Shot Shell Handbook to find a recipe. There are other published sources - BPI seems to have a lot - using mostly BPI brand wads, but not always. Then got a bunch of the specified hulls, then the primers, then the wads and the powder. I bought an MEC loading machine from now defunct WholeSale Sports - already set up for 28 gauge - with fuss and extra components can be re- configured for other gauges - I have never tried. The one change I made was to remove the fixed shot and powder bar, and replaced with a "universal" one - probably not needed - using my reloading scale I set the powder chamber to the recipe and the shot chamber to the recipe and have never changed it. Have never changed components either - I think only shot size was "changed" - #6, #7 1/2 and #8 have been used. Probably could have found or made appropriate fixed chambers.

Kind of misleading to read about "flexibility", etc. Sort of not what I found is needed. You will find a recipe. You will stock up on the specified components. And then you want to repeat exactly the same over and over. So once everything is set, I pretty much have had no reason to change anything. So, "fixed" (if I could get the correct one) is as good for me, as it turns out, as the "universal" is...
 
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Hodgdons website has a lot of load data for shot shells. 28 ga is one of the most expensive to buy factory ammo for, with .410 not far behind. They are also two of the cheapest to load for ( as far as the amount of powder and shot required goes) .With the volume you are shooting, it would not take long to make up for the cost of a press like a MEC 600. IE about $300 for the press new.

Jim
 
Find a used MEC 600 JR in 28ga and bulk claybuster wads for Win AA and Win AA /HS depending on your hulls you've squirrelled away. Win 800X is a good standard powder lots of free data from power makers on line.
 
Never realized the hull brand can't be mixed and matched...?
I have towards 500 spent shells but they are a mix of Federal, Winchester, Fiocchi and Challenger.

I've been contemplating this for many years now.
.....maybe I'll just sell these hulls, idk
 
Can a person load a box of 25 rounds, 28ga 1oz loads for under $10 per box?
With materials factored in, primer, powder, wad and shot.

Also, how much does the mix and matching of hulls matter for weekend bird hunting? Does it totally change the pattern and the safety of the load?
 
Mount Sweetness said:
Also, how much does the mix and matching of hulls matter for weekend bird hunting? Does it totally change the pattern and the safety of the load?
Click to expand...

From what I have read, what matters is about whether the load is safe to fire - what you shoot at - birds, clay pigeons - do not matter. Look at most shot gun data - they are talking 8,000 psi to 12,000 psi as safe pressures. Common rifle cartridges are 50,000 psi - many up into mid-60,000 psi. So, unless you can find something written and published in book, you are much better off to "follow the rules" when loading for shot gun. Not the same game as loading for rifles!
 
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Mount Sweetness said:
Never realized the hull brand can't be mixed and matched...?
I have towards 500 spent shells but they are a mix of Federal, Winchester, Fiocchi and Challenger.

I've been contemplating this for many years now.
.....maybe I'll just sell these hulls, idk
Click to expand...

Perhaps get that Lyman Shotshell Reloading Handbook first. There is exactly one 1 oz. "magnum" load listed for 28 gauge. Federal Plastic cases with paper base wad and fold crimp - using one 28 gauge 1/2" fiber under shot wad and two 28 gauge .125 cards, with Blue Dot powder and Fed 209A primer. That produces 1,125 fps, and 10,600 psi.

There are at least a dozen loads, with various hulls, for 7/8 ounce loads - called "Heavy Field Loads". It appears "standard" for 28 gauge target and field loads are 3/4 ounce - at least one of them is at 1,285 fps and produces 11,700 psi.

All the above was from the section for "lead shot".

The very highest pressure that I see, for any 28 gauge load, is one combination producing 11,900 psi.
 
Mount Sweetness said:
Never realized the hull brand can't be mixed and matched...?
I have towards 500 spent shells but they are a mix of Federal, Winchester, Fiocchi and Challenger.

I've been contemplating this for many years now.
.....maybe I'll just sell these hulls, idk
Click to expand...


I had bought a pile of 1,200 x once fired Challenger 28 gauge hulls. My notes say that those hulls are actually Cheddite hulls, so can use Cheddite hull data from Hogdgdon site. (I did not write down where I got that information from - would be glad to be corrected if that is an error) So the recipe that I use is: Hodgdon Universal Powder - 14.5 grains; Cheddite 209 primers; Federal 28S1 wad; for 3/4 ounce of lead shot. 11,000 psi; 1,200 fps - that is printed off from the Hodgdon website.

I also printed out data from that site for 7/8 ounce lead shot - only 4 loads listed with Cheddite hulls - all with Lil'Gun powder, some use Cheddite 209 primer; some use Fiocchi 616 primer. All use a wad called "BP SG28 II". Pressures from 9,300 psi to 10,200 psi. Velocities from 1,225 (two) and 1,275 (two)
 
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mbogo3 said:
Find a used MEC 600 JR in 28ga and bulk claybuster wads for Win AA and Win AA /HS depending on your hulls you've squirrelled away. Win 800X is a good standard powder lots of free data from power makers on line.
Click to expand...


Yes - that is the machine that I bought - found the booklet - an MEC 600 JR. Mark 5 in 28 gauge. Has a note that the unit will also load steel shot but needs an accessory kit #8433 and a "special steel shot charge bar" to do so. Specifically states "Do not use charge bars designed for lead shot when loading with steel shot shells."
 
Killer long range pheasant load BPI data.........Cheddite hull/win 209-CCI 209 or Cheddite 209 may be used/30gr H-110/7/8 oz lead shot /8340 PSI/1320fps/overshot card then fold crimp.HV28 magnum wad 2 3/4" shells
 
OP asked about cost for 25 rounds - can not answer because no idea what you will pay for components - I am in rural Manitoba so mail cost to me are big - you might be short drive away from Higginsons or Lawry's and go there and get everything that you need. For every round need a primer - but usually sold by tray of 100 - 10 cents or 11 cents apiece???. Wad - after you have researched your "recipe" - what can you find - often in bags of 100 or 250 - no clue what they cost these days - 10 cents to 12 cents?. Powder: 7000 grains in a pound. Most powder sold in one pound containers - so @15 grains per load have 465-ish rounds in a pound - $50-ish? so 11 cents per round? Shot - no clue - often sold in 10Kg (22 pound) bag? 7/8 ounce load = about 400 x 7/8 ounce loads in 22 pounds. Fill in your prices and should be able to come up with your cost for consumables per load or per 25 rounds. That MEC machine is sort of $300-ish - do not know how you would amortize that cost per round? The machine lasts for 1,000's of rounds unless you break something and have to replace or repair it.
 
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Lead shot went from $1 /lb to $3/lb I had a couple hundred lbs stored from back in the cheap days as well as $75-$125 used presses in 4 gauges.1000 l of wads and primers. MECS are pretty much bullet proof.
 
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