Reloading Steel Shot

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Beretta687EELL

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I looked in the reloading section and all I saw was metallic cartridges, so, I posted my question in the shotgun section ....

Regarding steel reloads here's what I'm looking for ...
Hull - 2 3/4" AA 12 gauge
Shot size - 2
Wt - 1 1/8 oz
With max published speed
Cheddite primers

Any suggestions?

Thanks
 
Have no idea what they are talking about but that is not a recipe for a steel reload that I have ever seen
What type of powder?? how much, what type of wad, rare to reload steel in tapered wall hulls like aa. Cheddite primers in hunting loads not for me etc etc
or are you wanting a tested recipe close to this
Cheers
 
3macs1 said:
Have no idea what they are talking about but that is not a recipe for a steel reload that I have ever seen
What type of powder?? how much, what type of wad, rare to reload steel in tapered wall hulls like aa. Cheddite primers in hunting loads not for me etc etc
or are you wanting a tested recipe close to this
Cheers
Click to expand...

A tested recipe close to these components. Trying to work with what is readily available.
 
I have realoaded a few boxes of steel with great results. slow going as I weigh powder and shot to have best load I can make.

Hull- fed gold medal
Primer- fed 209
Wad- Rsi split
Powder- alliant steel
Shot- Rsi

If you want to load steel order a Rsi manual and find that load you like. I load the slow stuff after reading a bit on how the faster you push a ball the faster it slows down and engery the shot has at distance. Also I found durning testing that the fast hot loads don't pattern nearly as good.

Justin
 
Beretta687EELL said:
A tested recipe close to these components. Trying to work with what is readily available.
Click to expand...

Justin gives you the best advice when he said
If you want to load steel order a Rsi manual and find that load you like.

Me I will not use tapered wall compression formed hulls nor cheap cheddite primers in steel reloads and like Justin despite the fact I own two MEC steel masters do every one by hand weighing the powder and shot. Steel powder and sam1 wads for me
Been doing it since the 90's in 10ga and 12 ga with now excellent results but it will take a lot of paper tuning and playing with chokes to get the pattern where you want it for high speed
Fix the link and they will mail the manual from the US to you but that is about it
http://ww w.reloadingspecialtiesinc.com/Reloading_Specialties_Inc/Reloading_Specialties.html
Cheers
 
total disaster said:
I have realoaded a few boxes of steel with great results. slow going as I weigh powder and shot to have best load I can make.

Hull- fed gold medal
Primer- fed 209
Wad- Rsi split
Powder- alliant steel
Shot- Rsi

If you want to load steel order a Rsi manual and find that load you like. I load the slow stuff after reading a bit on how the faster you push a ball the faster it slows down and engery the shot has at distance. Also I found durning testing that the fast hot loads don't pattern nearly as good.

Justin
Click to expand...

You can get the hot fast loads to work well but it takes a hell of a lot of paper shooting with the different rsi recipies and many different chokes
I have tried every offering in the 10ga in the manual as an example and over the years now down to just three for my brownings and the IM briley choke works well with them all
Also love the duplex loads
Cheers
 
I loaded a few boxes of steel but gave up on that. The powder and shot has to be checked on a scale and loaded individually. To time consuming. Almost like loading metallic casings. Now I buy my waterfowl shells.
 
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oldskeeter said:
I loaded a few boxes of steel but gave up on that. The powder and shot has to be checked on a scale and loaded individually. To time consuming. Almost like loading metallic casings. Now I buy my waterfowl shells.
Click to expand...

I've never reloaded for shotgun, only pistol/rifle. Is this a pretty universal truth? Or is it only for the cheap setups like a Lee Loadall?

The MEC progressive outfits look like the bee's knees, but not if they can't be used for reliable and consistent steel shot loads.
 
Claven2 said:
I've never reloaded for shotgun, only pistol/rifle. Is this a pretty universal truth? Or is it only for the cheap setups like a Lee Loadall?

The MEC progressive outfits look like the bee's knees, but not if they can't be used for reliable and consistent steel shot loads.
Click to expand...

NO it is not IMO. I can reload steel for at least 1/2 of what it would cost me for factory and with the RSI manual better loads than factory so for me who cares if it takes some time
It is not about time spent or how many per hour you produce. Try to find duplex steel loads for example BBB over BB not unless you reload and they pattern and hit unreal
For the few box a year shooters like 7-10 buy factory IMO unless you like reloading if you shoot more best reload especially when one starts talking 10ga
Me I don't trust any machine when reloading steel due to the higher pressures so do them one at a time but many just use the MEC steelmaster machines for the entire process and are fine
Don't know any progressive MECs set up for steel and why would one need one . Who has to reload 500 steel shells a hour like I can do with my lead target reloads on a 9000g
Cheers
 
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I also have a lot of MEC machines, but when loading for waterfowl I tend to do the measuring by hand instead of using the universal charge bars.
I also use straight walled cases instead of tapered cases.
Pretty sure gave some data though, let me check.
Sorry, don't have an for 2 3/4 1 1/8oz of 2's wit an AAhull.
Cat
 
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I really hope to OP doesn't mind a minor hijack, but I'm curious about this now.

So MEC sells the Steelmaster, which seems to be the only unit they sell geared toward steel shot reloading. What makes this unit more suited to steel than any other model? It's not clear on their website and google hasn't answered my question.

Also, if MEC is selling this unit for steel shot, why do you guys not trust the reloads it produces, citing pressure dangers? Would MEC still be selling it (read: liability) if it produced dangerous loads when used as per the instructions?

I shoot a lot of BB 3" and 3.5" shells per season, like a couple flats, which for steel shot being used live birds, is a lot. (Yes, I know it's not a lot for a skeet shooter firing lead target rounds). With this in mind, maybe I should be looking at reloading. But there's no way I want to individually weigh every charge for Canada Goose loads. My time is simply worth more to me than that.

Anyone able to help with my edumacation on this?
 
You can get by with the loader to make steel reloads I have with good luck BUT if the idea is to get a top notch shell I prefer to do the extra and weigh it patteren it and produce the best I can. If your only shooting a couple cases it's not worth it imo if it's not already a hobby. we hunt divers 2 months straight weather permitting so we shoot a lot lol
 
The components used for steel shot loads do not lend themselves well to loaders. The most popular powder Alliant's STEEL has poor metering qualities and large steel shot like BB and BBB tend to have bad flow characteristics (bridging in the drop tube) also. For precise safe loads I follow the hand assembled rule when loading steel. Two cases of 3 1/2" loads a season would be a store purchase for me. Not worth the time and effort to hand load them at home. I live in a remote area so my decisions are based on mail order or courier shipped EVERYTHING so my costs to reload are nuts. Every time I get out to a big town I buy ammo and lots of it. Mecs loader does not make dangerous loads it is just the issues I mentioned earlier in this post that make it a little picky to work with.

Darryl
 
madtrapper143 said:
The components used for steel shot loads do not lend themselves well to loaders. The most popular powder Alliant's STEEL has poor metering qualities and large steel shot like BB and BBB tend to have bad flow characteristics (bridging in the drop tube) also. For precise safe loads I follow the hand assembled rule when loading steel. Two cases of 3 1/2" loads a season would be a store purchase for me. Not worth the time and effort to hand load them at home. I live in a remote area so my decisions are based on mail order or courier shipped EVERYTHING so my costs to reload are nuts. Every time I get out to a big town I buy ammo and lots of it. Mecs loader does not make dangerous loads it is just the issues I mentioned earlier in this post that make it a little picky to work with.

Darryl
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Thanks for the advice - seems sound. If I shot lot of lead, I'm thinking this would be a good idea, but my steel consumption is higher than my lead use. Sadly.

Of course, if I reloaded, maybe I would use more bismuth or Tungsten ;)
 
Claven2 said:
I really hope to OP doesn't mind a minor hijack, but I'm curious about this now.

So MEC sells the Steelmaster, which seems to be the only unit they sell geared toward steel shot reloading. What makes this unit more suited to steel than any other model? It's not clear on their website and google hasn't answered my question.

Also, if MEC is selling this unit for steel shot, why do you guys not trust the reloads it produces, citing pressure dangers? Would MEC still be selling it (read: liability) if it produced dangerous loads when used as per the instructions?

I shoot a lot of BB 3" and 3.5" shells per season, like a couple flats, which for steel shot being used live birds, is a lot. (Yes, I know it's not a lot for a skeet shooter firing lead target rounds). With this in mind, maybe I should be looking at reloading. But there's no way I want to individually weigh every charge for Canada Goose loads. My time is simply worth more to me than that.

Anyone able to help with my edumacation on this?
Click to expand...
I found that I can reload steel my Steel Masters, but get more consistent results if weigh the powder and shot.
The charge bars on the Steel Master are a it different and think the drop tube may be a bit bigger diameter, I will have to check.
When you change shot size you have to check the charge bar because different sized shot will throw a different eight wit the same bar.

Cat
 
catnthehatt said:
I found that I can reload steel my Steel Masters, but get more consistent results if weigh the powder and shot.
The charge bars on the Steel Master are a it different and think the drop tube may be a bit bigger diameter, I will have to check.
When you change shot size you have to check the charge bar because different sized shot will throw a different eight wit the same bar.

Cat
Click to expand...

That would not be such a big deal for me, I really only ever shoot BB as I generally hunt Canada Geese over decoys. For the few times I stalk ducks, I could just buy pre-rolled.

Anyone know if the 2,3/4" steel master can be set up to load 3.5" shells? There's a guy selling a used one locally, but it doesn't seem to be a great deal. $300, no ideal if it would be missing anything or hat charge bar it comes with. Seems steep when new ones are what? $350 or so?
 
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