Interested in reloading shotgun rounds.

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Burnov

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Can anyone give me some ideas as to what books I should buy on the subject? What supplies I may need and the inherent difficulty of reloading shotshells (versus bullets?)

I'm somewhat interested in the idea as a winter project for my .410 so I'll have some nice efficient gopher destroyers to load up this summer.

That, and I'm somewhat dismayed at the overall cost of .410 ammunition as a whole. I'm wondering if I could with invested time cut down slightly on the cost of .410 ammo by making my own at the expense of my personal time. Especially slugs, or something similar to it. Perhaps just larger shot, or something...

I paid roughly 2 dollars a shot for my .410 slugs, and that's just... :eek:

I know .410 is kind of a specialty round and such, but really. A 12 gauge is no fun on gophers, in spite of the fact that it's considerably more economical.

Well... maybe for the first few shots... As it stands. I was using 7 shot .410 and you might as well have been firing sand out of the gun.
 
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I've started to reload shotshells for the same reason as you're considering it. Turkey loads and sabot slug loads cost $ 3.00 per shell. I bought two manuals. After reading them completely I bought a Lee Load All II for about $ 47.00. Still having trouble sourcing some components, but I imagine once I get into this I'll find enough sources.

Question; why wouldn't you use a .22 LR for gophers?
 
I do. And .17 HMR. For decidedly longer range shots...

However sometimes, you're walking about and you see a gopher pop up really near by. A decent .410 load would be perfect for taking care of those ones.

Tell me how your reloading experience goes, I'd be interested to hear how it works out.
 
You should be able to pick up a used MEC Jr. in the neighborhood of $50-$75. It is a pretty easy process.

Deprime, reprime, drop the powder, insert a wad, drop your payload, pre crimp, final crimp.

The MEC JR is a single stage loader with a station for each of the above. With a little practice you should be able to comfortably crank out 100 rounds/hour.

Brad.
 
A friend with MEC loader set up for 12ga bought the 410 dies and had me install them for him. He then produced a bag full of mixed brand hulls and insisted that I come up with a load for them all.

I cross sectioned some of the hulls I deemed to be of lesser use in an attempt to explain that shotgun loading is very component sensitive.

As he had more Winchester short hulls than any other I set the press up for a standard field load using all winchester components based on a factory equivelent load given in their handbook.

A few days later he complained the ammo was no good. On pressuring him it turned out that after I left he loaded the none winchester hulls but in some cases he had extra room so he trickled in more pellets and in others he had to dump some out in order to get the loads to 'crimp' (those he had left weren't pretty).

I don't bother trying to reload shotgun shells unless I have a large quantity of hulls of the same brand, type and length. I prefer the winchester double A's because they are plentiful, often free, are meant for reloading and because winchester supplies loading information which when followed produces perfect shells in my MEC loaders.

You may be justified on settling on another brand and that is fine if it works for you.

I suggest you consider, as your main interest seems to be slugs, number one where are you going to get the slugs (cast your own?), what is your most plentiful hull, is there loading info available for these hulls using readily available wads?

I encourage you to load your own slugs but decide what path you are going to follow before you start buying stuff.
 
Hi Rich,

I agree completely. I've been reloading rifle cartridges pretty avidly for a few years now. So, my first step was to buy two complete shot shell reloading manuals and read them cover to cover. Both went to great lengths to explain how component sensitive shot shells are. I am very careful with all my reloading. I can't stop thinking about the cartrigde position relative to my eye when the gun is fired....

Anyway, I did sort all my hulls, found a source for cast lyman sabot slugs and a two references for a reload receipe including powder, wads and crimp. I'm still struggling to get the crimp right since my press is really meant for 2-3/4" shells not 3". Now I think I have a source for jacketed sabot slugs and sabots but I need a roll crimper.

With turkey season coming, I'll be starting to look for sources for components to build 3" #4 Hevi-shot loads.....
 
Thanks for the info guys. I really appreciate it. I'm going to buy some reading material in the near future here and once I'm fairly certain I know what's going on. I'll have a better idea of what I need for my specific reloading goals.

If I can save just a bit of money on .410 rounds it'll be worth it. I'm not really going for super high quality (so long as "quality" doesn't preclude "not blowing up in your face" more the performance of the round after it's left the barrel... safely), just a cheaper method of making some rounds for my shotty when I go gophering this spring.
 
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