Reloading shells worth it?

jcenten

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In your experiences, it is worthwhile to start reloading your own shells? At what point does it come to be worth it? I'm looking primarily for skeet/trap shooting for 2 3/4 inch shells.

Thanks for your input and experiences.
 
In a word, yes, it's worth it. Since you can get those crappy Winchester shotshells at Walmart for 20$/100rnds, it's not so good for shotgun, but rifle and pistol will save you about 50% and you get a far better round.
Have at it!
 
with the price increase of lead shot, and the fact you can get the valuebox at walmart/canadian tire for 20 cents a round, it just isnt worth it. (in my opinion) ((unless you are shooting rare size shotshells such as 10 guage,16 guage, 28 guage which are hard to find, or competing in competition clays then maybe to control the quality etc))
I reload rifle rounds, and thats getting expensive too, but you get a better round tailor-made for your individual rifle at somewhat less money. If you want to use cheap bullets it can be alot less expensive.
 
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with the price increase of lead shot, and the fact you can get the valuebox at walmart/canadian tire for 20 cents a round, it just isnt worth it. (in my opinion) ((unless you are shooting rare size shotshells such as 10 guage,16 guage, 28 guage which are hard to find, or competing in competition clays then maybe to control the quality etc))
I reload rifle rounds, and thats getting expensive too, but you get a better round tailor-made for your individual rifle at somewhat less money. If you want to use cheap bullets it can be alot less expensive.

The price of shot has gone down, to under $33 a 25lb. bag. So if you shoot a lot it is definately worth it.
 
Reloading shot shells isn't about saving money any more than reloading anything else. It's about using the best possible ammo.
 
The price of shot has gone down, to under $33 a 25lb. bag.

The last bag of shot I saw in stock was still $49.95. Where are you seeing it for that price?

To answer the question, I would load for waterfowl, odd guages, super low recoil, buckshot or slugs. I would not load for standard 32g, 1200fps 12-gauge target loads. Not even if I was shooting in the Olympics.

Mind you, if I came upon a home shot making machine that worked well and I had a steady supply of nearly free wheel weights, my tune might change.
 
I generally reload because I like to do things myself and I enjoy reloading. With casting you pretty much have to and with rifle target shooting, you pretty much have to as well. It's hard to beat factory with hunting rounds today I find. It can be done, but you have to work at it. With Skeet right now I am loading spreader wads until I get my skeet chokes and with trap I am reloading for 16 yard line using cheap shot I managed to get a bargain on just before things went screwy. Thing is I found that the Wally World and Crappy Tire 3 Dram Equivalent specials patterned better than my reloads with the cheap shot when shooting from the 27 yard line. So, I use store bought Winchesters or Federals there. Maybe someday there will be a decent price for good hard shot and I'll review this. Cheers! Fred
 
If you're looking to save money on 12 gauge, no. Unless your time isn't worth anything at all.

If you are shooting something less available like 16 or 28, then yes for sure.

Or if you want to really tune things like fancy wads etc. for the best patterns for your shotgun games, then it's a worthwhile passtime.
 
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