anyone loading .410?

migrant hunter

migrant hunter

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I want to get a .410 but ammo is expensive.(i had a few .410's years ago)
Is anyone loading thier own? what are you using for a press? I don't think the lee loader is available in .410.
 
I started loading 410 just a few weeks ago. I'm reloading for shooting skeet. Winchester AAHS hulls, Win209 primer, 16.7 grains of 296, Claybuster wad, and 230 grains of hard #9's. I'm reloading on an old Pacific 366 with the auto advance is disconnected.

So far so good. I found a 3 second pause at the end of the down stroke helped air escape from under the wad. The uniformity in the wad seating helped with uniformity in the crimp.

What are you reloading in your 410?
 
R&R Rancher said:
I started loading 410 just a few weeks ago. I'm reloading for shooting skeet. Winchester AAHS hulls, Win209 primer, 16.7 grains of 296, Claybuster wad, and 230 grains of hard #9's. I'm reloading on an old Pacific 366 with the auto advance is disconnected.

So far so good. I found a 3 second pause at the end of the down stroke helped air escape from under the wad. The uniformity in the wad seating helped with uniformity in the crimp.

What are you reloading in your 410?
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I am pretty well the same as you just a bit lighter on the 296 with a sizemaster for hunting loads and a 9000g for the skeet.:) The old AA hulls I use the orange downrange wads.
 
I have a MEC 600 ( or 650, not in front of me) and have been loading .410 since the mid 1980s. It costs about 12 -15 cents to reload per shell, but the most expensive shell to buy. I use only the Winchester red 3 inch magnum hulls. It works fine for other shells but its a bunch of BS to re-adjust your press each time and damage fresh hulls in doing so. I've simply stuck with the Winchesters exclusively, and circulate new boxes into the mix each year. 296 powder works the best for me, and as long as you don't go heavy on your shot size, all the tubes on your press will feed well.

Its best to simply pick up two or three flats ( 250) of preloads then cycle your hulls when they are empty. I have some hulls that were marked as many as 15 times before I stopped marking them. Some make it longer but they deteriorate from many times shooting. The brass or plastic can split, the hull becomes oversized, and the crimps become mushed and no longer seal well.
 
What's a press going to cost me? I load a lot of rifle ammo, but never loaded shotgun. I don't expect to use a lot of shells, but man are they expensive.
The only press I have saw so far was at Bass Pro for $600(MEC, I think)
I did load a few .410 years ago with a roll turnover tool. I was thinking of going that way again and maybe making a sizing die out of a .303 die.
 
I looked at my loading press today, its a 650jr. i think it works fine as a single stage press as long as you use small shot. The feed tubes are very narrow for .410 and can jam up when using shot much larger than #6. It will still work, but gets tedious and slows down the process.

I load maybe 300 or 400 in the average year and have huge savings at 17 bucks per box. I bought my girlfriend a little .410 last year for her birthday and she's had alot of fun shooting chickens last fall. I suspect my consumption may increase, but as said, keep introducing one or two hundred new hulls into the mix every year and you will always be in good standing with loadable hulls.


Back to the 296 powder, I think i'm only using 13.5 grains of powder. If i recall, the hotter loads just wore out and damaged the cases a bit prematurely without making it pattern better. I cut it back as there was no benefit to using the extra powder.
 
fiddler said:
I looked at my loading press today, its a 650jr. i think it works fine as a single stage press as long as you use small shot. The feed tubes are very narrow for .410 and can jam up when using shot much larger than #6. It will still work, but gets tedious and slows down the process.

I load maybe 300 or 400 in the average year and have huge savings at 17 bucks per box. I bought my girlfriend a little .410 last year for her birthday and she's had alot of fun shooting chickens last fall. I suspect my consumption may increase, but as said, keep introducing one or two hundred new hulls into the mix every year and you will always be in good standing with loadable hulls.


Back to the 296 powder, I think i'm only using 13.5 grains of powder. If i recall, the hotter loads just wore out and damaged the cases a bit prematurely without making it pattern better. I cut it back as there was no benefit to using the extra powder.
Click to expand...

That is better on the powder. I am around 13.5 also. The 650 is a good machine only issue with it is no ability to resize which pending what you shoot for a gun may or maynot be a problem. I run a few 1000 410 a year normally on the 9000g
 
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