Shotgun Reloaders for cheap?

Crazy.kayaker

Crazy.kayaker

Regular
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
11   0   0
Location
Edmonton, Alberta
I know I posted about this here or HBC but I'm unable to get the search to give me more then an error message so.....

Well my mossberg is SPF and I'm looking at getting a shotgun re-loader to make loads that my old 12 Gauge, Full Choke Single can digest in Non-toxic. I'm only looking to spend what I make off of the gun for one. I've seen the Lee loader for $49.98 at SIR and the one accessory for the primers for $8.99 and that all fits my overall budget. Is it worth getting? I have a lee anniversary reloading kit and all my accessories are lee and have only had one problem that they fixed no questions asked. Are there any other cheap ones available. I'm not gonna be pumping out thousands of rounds maybe 100-200 a year unless I become addicted to reloading shotguns too and I unlike most have the time to waste that is needed for loading rounds for my guns. Best thing is I can easily convert it to either 16 or 20 gauge for when I get one.

I know some of you will say 12 gauge isn't worth reloading but it is if you only have FULL CHOKE 12 gauges and want to shoot waterfowl and can't afford to get a new shotgun that can feed steel.

Thanks C.K
 
Last edited:
I have an older MEC and the adjustable charge bar accessory and the ten gauge converter kit. It large, it's heavy, it's made of steel, it could double as a boat anchor. I need it because I also load ten gauge, and I got it cheap off the EE.

I've used the Lee press at my buddies and it works well too, but it was 80 bucks at my local and didn't do ten gauge.

I guess I'm of the MTV generation because I don't yell at kids to get off my lawn and I don't particulary care if my tools are made of steel or pot metal or plastic as long as they do the job, and I can afford to buy them (university student), and I can find them when I need them.
 
Bobby Ironsights I'm in a similar if not worse financial boat as I'm on disability and most people don't seem to understand the difference between CHEAP and moderately priced till you have no money to spend. It took me just over 5 months to save enough to get a cheap Ithaca 37. So a $150 dollar shot gun press will take me a good 4-6 months to save up for. Well 2-3 as I'll have about 80 from my gun sale but the lee comes with Twenty-four shot and powder bushings. If you can tell me what all I'll need to start reloading I'd like the help. Can you reuse fired factory loaded shot shells?
 
Crazy, hang out on the trap range and find out if you can load on someone elses press for a while until you can save enough money to set yourself up. Lots of guys are willing to help you out, especially if reloading shot shells is totally new to you.

The lee press is all you really need, single stage and slow but for the number of rounds your talking it would be more then sufficient but first thing is to buy a shot reloading manual so you can figure out your loads and the different components your going to need, also as far as I can remember you need to shoot steel for migratory in BC now regardless if your over water or land.
 
According to my synopsis it only says "possession or use of shot other then non-toxic shot is prohibited, except for pigeons or doves" so I can use tungsten or bismuth shot for the migratory birds which is what I want to load as it doesn't say steel only.

Our shooting ranges trap launcher has been locked up all year as the key was lost and no one could get their act together to remove and replace it with a new one. That was back in October when I last asked as I wanted to try trap before in September with some friends and found out about the lost key and I since then I doubt anyone has bothered in this weather, but I'll start doing that next year if it gets cut open and working. I'll look for a shot shell manual next time I'm up at WSS.
 
yes your right, bismuth and tunsten is legal, I should have stated that lead was not legal for migratory. Put an add in the EE for a manual as well as watch ebay for a manual, they do come up as well from time to time.
 
As someone that has just recently gotten into this, consider you will need more than just the loader.

E.g., you need a decent scale as well for weighing both powder AND shot, especially since you intend to load lead substitutes, ideally a scale that goes up to 1000 grains for hunting loads. You cannot trust shot and powder metering by volume. Safety dictates checking your powder and shot throws by weight. A decent loading manual would be a good idea to help you get going.

I'd look for a single stage MEC too for working up hunting loads. Parts are widely available, and big IMO, the Lee stuff is pretty hit and miss. Look around, you can find excellent loading gear second hand and there just isn't much to go wrong with a single stage press.
 
I know I need more then just the press as I learned that from getting all the stuff I needed to reload my .308. Spent nearly as much on the other equipment as on the press kit. I'll put up an EE ad, but I've had poor luck finding stuff I need on the EE.
 
Actually, CK, I know exactly what it's like on disability, besides being a univ. student I'm a paraplegic.

Also, you don't really need much more than the press, as long as you load very middle of the road, and are patient. I used the lee powder measure kit, less than 20 bucks with the included powder chart for almost a year before I got a lee safety powder scale off the EE for dirt cheap.

I don't load very hot or very cold and I don't have any problems. I make sure to only use powders that are on the lee chart, and get my loads off the hogdon website loading tool, loading right in the middle of the suggested loads.

Easy peasy.
 
You do know what poor is I see. I want my loads to kill my target(s) but not explode them so I`ll be making medium loads for sure at first. I`d rather a little too much at first and work down then not have enough power and have to deal with injured animals.

What components and supplies will I need to start reloading my own loads besides powder, primers, shot and wads.
 
Another option , which would cost roughly the same, would be to have the choke and forcing cone opened on the old shotgun.

This would let you use steel in the old girl. 12 ga reloading is not nearly as cost effective as it once was, unless bored or in need of specialty loads.

Otherwise, buy a LoadAll, some manuals and fill your boots. If you want a fancier press, fill your boots with it instead.
 
Don't bother buying manuals since you're online, hogdon's website will give you all the recipe's you could ever need.

Other than what you've named, you'll need hulls, pick em up, or use cheapo clays hulls you've already been shooting. I do both.

Shot can be a problem, It turns out that you don't save a helluva lot making the cheapest target loads in 2.75 inch but you are buying hevi-shot, and hunting with it right?

I reload mostly slugs in 12 gauge, roundballs which I cast from scrap lead got from the scrapyard. I know you can scrounge it, but I'm in a wheelchair, so that's not going to happen. I use a ladle and old pot on a hotplate on the balcony, and little bits of birthday candle wax for flux. Works like a charm, and since I'm five floors up there's always a good breeze.

I get my family doctor to test me for lead in the spring and fall, and somehow it went down slightly, even with my open pot setup. Sweet.

10 gauge 31/2 inch magnums I reload with shot for shooting clay pigeons. Factory shot is all steel in ten gauge because the ten gauge shells have room to spare, very potent, and very expensive, and mostly BB size. For that I've been using a couple bags of shot I picked up cheap. He'd transferred it a couple times and it got rice in it somehow. It doesn't affect my patterns as far as I can tell, but I don't want to use all the paper on the roll in the clubhouse patterning my rice-a-roni shot loads.

When I run out of that I'll proabably cobble together a shotdripper, like the littleton, but homemade. Alot of people have made single nozzle drippers with good results. It's not rocket science, just a lot of fiddling.

Pardon my babble, not much of this applies as you're a hunter, not a paper puncher/clay buster like me.

Make sure you source all of your materials before you buy anything so you can put a recipe together. Finding hevi-shot in bags could be an issue in canada, and you might be suprised what a bag will cost you, but remember just how many shells five pounds of shot makes. I might ask over at shotgun world. They're really helpful.


Good luck,
Bobby,.

P.S. I found gunsmithing textbooks for the penn school of gunsmithing at a used bookstore, they were written by the folks of gun digest. The shotgun one was particularly enlightening. Did you know that unlike rifles, there really is no "one true measurement" for a twelve gauge? Different manufacturers make different barrels. Shotguns aren't exactly precision instruments.

Opening the choke is very simple, and I could scan the pages for you, if you wanted to go that way. You use a choke reamer. Think of it as a big drill bit that very slightly tapers larger as you get toward the handle. You measure your choke, smear oil inside, stick the cutter in until it stops, twist forcefully a few times, take it out, measure it, stick it in, twist forcefully...etc..etc.. until you get the size you want. It's that simple.

A choke reamer is going to run you about 50 bucks plus shipping and taxes, and you could probably sell it here after you use it for about 50 bucks plus shipping, costing you 15 or 20 dollars to open up your choke.
 
Last edited:
Bobby Ironsights said:
Don't bother buying manuals since you're online, hogdon's website will give you all the recipe's you could ever need.
Click to expand...

The Hodgdon website is good, as are the little manufacturer's blurbs one comes across from time to time. But one good reason to buy a manual is the knowledge one can gain concerning the reloading process from reading one. There are sections on hulls, powders, primers, etc. as well as the loading process. Worth the money imho. Fred
 
Bobby Ironsights, the shot dripper idea is good, only thing is time. I haven't been on cast boolits for a while, but it's discussed there. If I can find someone local dropping good shot, I would to check it out. It would be better for me to bring them my lead, help them run it, and give them a share of the shot, than trying to build one and run it enough to make good shot.(I have enough projects I didn't finish:eek:)
 
I have nothing but time so I'll probably start to cast my own lead shot for my shotguns. As for bismuth or tungsten I'll only need a bag of one or the other for 2 or 3 shot sizes and as they will only be used for game I need non-toxic it will last me a long time. I also have a shot shell Manual coming to me that was offered to me from my WTB it's a Lyman or Lee's they forgot which one (thanks again).

I plan on getting a shot dipper to help me measure out my loads I have a scale from my Lee Kit and plan on getting a digital scale once I have the money though I have some kitchen type scales too so that should help with load weights (a friend needs some help and a digital scale will be what I ask from my friend for my help).
I'm starting with a 12 gauge to make non toxic but plan on getting a 16 or 20 maybe even both eventually so it will become very price effective for me to reload.

I don't want to ream my chokes as I plan on using them for turkey's this April and May and in the fall season too. Even geese when the season opens up for 10 days at the beginning of March.

I have a about 175 loads of trap and half that in hunting loads and I plan on saving all my hulls I shoot from this moment onwards.

C.K
 
BCFred said:
The Hodgdon website is good, as are the little manufacturer's blurbs one comes across from time to time. But one good reason to buy a manual is the knowledge one can gain concerning the reloading process from reading one. There are sections on hulls, powders, primers, etc. as well as the loading process. Worth the money imho. Fred
Click to expand...

Yah, but if money is tight....

As for me, I bought the LEE book, the ABC's of reloading while waiting for my gun licence, and read it three or four times through. It does give a very good overview for total newbs, (yours truly), the reviews on Amazon steered me right.

As for casting lead shot CK, you only cast the largest sizes, like buckshot, if you were trying to cast #8 shot in a mould you'd be there till the end of time. You use this thing called a shotdripper to make the smaller sizes. It's a pot with a small nozzle in the side, that the lead drips out of onto a short (4 or 5 inches) little slide (metal plate at an ange covered in powdered graphite), then rolls down it and falls into a 5 gallon pail of coolant.

The coolant can be Automatic transmission fluid, or liquid dishsoap (cheap industrial stuff from the bulk store) or cooking oil.... a number of things. After you've got ten or twenty pounds of shot, you pour it through a seive, to separate the shot from the coolant, wash it off, and then "screen it" to seperate the malformed shot, and to get only the sizes you need, and put the bad shot or wrong size back into the pot to remelt.

It sounds simple and it is really, but it's fiddly getting the right nozzle size and the right temperature of lead, and the right
temperature of coolant to get nice round shot of the exact size you want. If your setup is running cold you get flattened shot, if too hot you get teardrop shaped or they clump up.

Alot of people think using a shotdripper is too much of a hassle, or doesn't give shot that's quite as nice as what comes from the factory, but alot of people drive porche's and shoot $20,000 perazzi shotguns too, but I don't live in their neighborhood.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom