buying shot ?
- Thread starter Blue-fish
- Start date
Hummanson manufacturing in Ancaster. Made right there.
Depending on the price of lead (if it is high) you might find that there isn't a lot of savings reloading shotgun shells. Unless you are looking for a load that isn't available commercially.
Depending on the price of lead (if it is high) you might find that there isn't a lot of savings reloading shotgun shells. Unless you are looking for a load that isn't available commercially.
I save bundles reloading buckshot and slugs and have tweaked them to get factory ammo performance.
The math for reloading target load comes out more expensive when reloading. If you are looking for Olympic skeet/trap regulation loads then you pretty much have to reload yourself. Other than that though there is no savings vs. buying factory ammo by the case.
The cheapest I have found lead shot is $32/25lbs and most of the time it runs $50/25lbs. Some old timers said a few years ago it was up to nearly $70/25lbs.
The math for reloading target load comes out more expensive when reloading. If you are looking for Olympic skeet/trap regulation loads then you pretty much have to reload yourself. Other than that though there is no savings vs. buying factory ammo by the case.
The cheapest I have found lead shot is $32/25lbs and most of the time it runs $50/25lbs. Some old timers said a few years ago it was up to nearly $70/25lbs.
I cast my own. I use the Lee 1oz slug mould. I'm up to around 500-600 slugs cast and the centre part that makes the hollow base is having a hard time lining up now. When it was new I was getting ~97/100 slugs being good. Now the key (that locks into the wad to prevent spin) in the hollow is cracked or warped in maybe 1/10 of the slugs I cast. If it gets much worse I may pick up a Lyman mould. I'm already going to have to do that for 20ga since I'm picking up a Savage 20ga bolt action slug gun and want to develop an accurate handload for it (Lee only makes 12ga slug moulds.)
With my mould my guess is that the centre part that locks into the mould blocks twists sometimes when the blocks are pulled apart so it cracks or warps the still hot and very soft lead. Externally they are fine but I'm not sure how well they will shoot with a cracked or warped key drive. It will throw the balance off for sure but I'm not sure by how much. It may work fine in a smooth bore still but I wonder if it will have an effect (more frequent flyers?) in a rifled barrel.
If I could go back with the knowledge I have now I would have just bought a Lyman mould to start with. It doesn't have the "key drive" but from what I've read not having it isn't much of a handicap.
For your information I've loaded some pretty fugly looking lee 7/8oz slugs. Wrinkles and waves and chunked out rims. They shot in the same grouping as my perfect cast ones. I can't match factory ammo accuracy though so I use factory for hunting. I've only used hs6 and 700x powders tho
If I start getting more and more miscast slugs I may try a few to see how they group.
For powder I am loading them pretty hot with 40 grains of Bluedot and CCI magnum primers. I've got them about as accurate as factory slugs but more muzzle energy. I haven't done tests in a rifled barrel since I'm pretty sure factory sabot slugs will win out but out of a smooth bore two of my friends and I cannot tell the difference between factory and my loads in terms of accuracy.
I've had to buy bags of shot twice now for melting down to cast slugs and buckshot. It seems every tire centre I go to has a contract with a certain scrap metal dealer and/or requires whoever takes them to be "green certified" by the province to ensure they will be disposed of in an eco friendly manner. I have a friend at my local Costco tire centre who has stashed away 20 boxes (~25lbs each) of wheel weights behind a shelving unit for me but last time I picked some up one of his coworkers reported him to the manager and he got in crap. Also the last boxes I got from there had maybe 5lbs' of lead per 25lbs box of wheel weights.
I looked into buying ingots of lead or alloys but they all run $4-10/lbs where bags of lead shot locally are ~$2/lbs.
For powder I am loading them pretty hot with 40 grains of Bluedot and CCI magnum primers. I've got them about as accurate as factory slugs but more muzzle energy. I haven't done tests in a rifled barrel since I'm pretty sure factory sabot slugs will win out but out of a smooth bore two of my friends and I cannot tell the difference between factory and my loads in terms of accuracy.
I've had to buy bags of shot twice now for melting down to cast slugs and buckshot. It seems every tire centre I go to has a contract with a certain scrap metal dealer and/or requires whoever takes them to be "green certified" by the province to ensure they will be disposed of in an eco friendly manner. I have a friend at my local Costco tire centre who has stashed away 20 boxes (~25lbs each) of wheel weights behind a shelving unit for me but last time I picked some up one of his coworkers reported him to the manager and he got in crap. Also the last boxes I got from there had maybe 5lbs' of lead per 25lbs box of wheel weights.
I looked into buying ingots of lead or alloys but they all run $4-10/lbs where bags of lead shot locally are ~$2/lbs.
I use almost pure lead. My rifled barrel puts rio challengers and brenneke slugs in tight groups but my reloads I get 2-3" groups with my drive key slugs. 3-4" for my smooth bores. I used to work at a tire shop so I can get lead there easily but I'm stock piling all that for my 4570
@Blue-fish
My last batch (around 80lbs) was about 20% lead by weight and the rest steel, zinc, aluminum, and zinc alloys. For smelting I just use an old aluminum pot I found in a parking lot with a pour spout hammered into one side to avoid spills when pouring into ingot moulds. I bought a $20 single element electric burner from Canadian Tire and run it out in my garage on max heat. You can only melt about a 1" thick layer at a time or else the steel clips from the melted weights cause the stuff above to just sit on top and not actually touch the molten lead.
@brybenn
I can usually get 4-5" at 50 yards with Lee Drive Key slugs out of my 870 with a smooth bore and about the same with factory rifled slugs. Out of my rifled barrel I can do about 2" on irons with factory sabot slugs but haven't tried my handloads in it.
I have been considering putting a scope on my 870 for the rifled barrel but have fallen in love with a friends Savage bolt action 20ga slug gun and will be getting one soon. After I pick that up any slug hunting I do will be with the Savage and 12ga slugs will be relegated to plinking, destroying broken electronics/small appliances, and just-in-case stuff.
My last batch (around 80lbs) was about 20% lead by weight and the rest steel, zinc, aluminum, and zinc alloys. For smelting I just use an old aluminum pot I found in a parking lot with a pour spout hammered into one side to avoid spills when pouring into ingot moulds. I bought a $20 single element electric burner from Canadian Tire and run it out in my garage on max heat. You can only melt about a 1" thick layer at a time or else the steel clips from the melted weights cause the stuff above to just sit on top and not actually touch the molten lead.
@brybenn
I can usually get 4-5" at 50 yards with Lee Drive Key slugs out of my 870 with a smooth bore and about the same with factory rifled slugs. Out of my rifled barrel I can do about 2" on irons with factory sabot slugs but haven't tried my handloads in it.
I have been considering putting a scope on my 870 for the rifled barrel but have fallen in love with a friends Savage bolt action 20ga slug gun and will be getting one soon. After I pick that up any slug hunting I do will be with the Savage and 12ga slugs will be relegated to plinking, destroying broken electronics/small appliances, and just-in-case stuff.
I use a lee lead pot furnace. It has a bottom spout and holds about 10lbs. Works amazing. Those savage slug guns are nice but way to rich for my blood. My mossberg 535 rifled barrel is a tack driver with almost all factory brands. Hornady sst sabots and winchester gold partitions shoot 8" high at 50 yards though. Rio challenger and brenneke gold slugs print right on the X at 50 yards. I broke 2 cheap scopes and a red dot so went back to open sights. I replaced the brass bead with a fine red fiber optic sight. Should have gone green tho
I saw a video on youtube of a guy that just buys target load shells and takes them apart and uses the shot to make the slug then puts the slug back with a new wad. Looks like a good way to start with out getting a press. And a good way to get a stock of used shell for when I do get a press.
Target load shells have really weak powder charges so they aren't useful for much other than plinking. I converted some Federal target loads to slugs and didn't need to replace the wad. I never got a chrony result but the recoil was practically non-existent. Felt even lower than regular target loads but I can't verify that with any numbers. My dad fired one into a poplar tree stump as a test and it only penetrated about 1.5".
If you bought heavy game loads (usually with high brass) you may have better effect. You can still buy turkey shells with lead shot (since they aren't waterfowl) so perhaps that is a good starting point.
If you bought heavy game loads (usually with high brass) you may have better effect. You can still buy turkey shells with lead shot (since they aren't waterfowl) so perhaps that is a good starting point.
if someone knows, they wont tell. not enough to go around
I cast the 1 oz slug and reload with ~34 gr HS6. Powerful little round thorough the smoothbore.
I also tried the slug replacement method, works fine for blasting stuff at the range but dont expect to hunt with it
