shotshell reloading.

I posted a couple of months back my cost for each of the components. In the end it was $4.60 per box to reload with my own hulls. Off the top of my head it was $45 for 1000 Win209 primers, $27 for a 25lb bag of 7.5 shot, $20 per 1000 claybuster hulls and $17 per pound for Red Dot powder. I use 1 1/8 oz of shot with about 16 grains of powder in Win AA hulls. Good accurate load and is 2/3 the price of factory econo ammo.

Pretty good agreement with what I have found. Your powder and shot are quite a bit cheaper than what I can find out here coreyd. Don't forget the gd taxes either. They amount to 13% here.
 
"thats an aya, a fine piece of spanish craftsmanship i must say."

Aha...you're a SxS guy. :)

I thought that's what they were but wasn't sure.

Very nice.

"little skeeters are aluminum are they not?"

No. A magnet takes right to them. And they were harder to file than aluminum when I modified mine. So they're some sort of steel.
 
if they are steel then i would much rather have someone make me a set of brass ones..... and not only am i sxs guy im also a 2 trigger kinda guy. many people hate them, but i sir love them.
 
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Yes shot and powder are the main expense. 25lbs of hard #8's are $28.50+Tax and Promo Powder is $100+Tax for 8 lbs.

If you go to a trap range and chat it up with the regulars you'll find out that there are always at least one or two shooters that have the shot making equipment in their back yard. they usally make enough that they sell it to others. It helps to pay for their primers,wads and powder. The guy at my club sells his #8 shot for $25.00 for 25 lbs. The most expensive part of my reloading is the primers.
 
"if they are steel then i would much rather have someone make me a set of brass ones"

If you can get someone to make you some brass ones they'll work.

But I wouldn't worry about the Skeeters being steel if you wanted to use them. They're no different than simply dropping a 12 gauge shell into your chambers...they won't hurt anything.
 
well, the woman just planned we are going to watertown ny, to visit some friends on dec.26. i can wait the 1 month and 9 days to see what i can pick up there. i know a nice gun shop in syracuse ive been itching to go to. so there i will wait till then to buy my wads, shot and powder.
and the price of primers is not a problem. i have about 15000 federal 209's i picked up a while back. and a 5 gallon bucket of winchester AA tubes i collected from the range a while back. i have decided to stick with using the 12 gauge and loading a very light load, for skeets, i just got a text back from my bud, and said it would be 15 bucks for the brass, factor in then that he will do it for free but then i owe him a favour... then i also have to buy a 28 gauge lee loader, and i already have a lee loader for a 12.
 
That's why I use Chedite's They are cheaper than WW and are $10-$15 less a 1000. :)

Actually I just bought my first case of these! I heard all kinds of horror stories about how they didn't fit well in common hulls and how the firing pin will punch holes in them and corrode away. I have not found any of these issues yet. It just goes to show that every body has their own opinion. You can take it and still make up your own mind.
 
Actually I just bought my first case of these! I heard all kinds of horror stories about how they didn't fit well in common hulls and how the firing pin will punch holes in them and corrode away. I have not found any of these issues yet. It just goes to show that every body has their own opinion. You can take it and still make up your own mind.
While I use Winchester 209 primers more out of habit than anything else I've loaded many thousands of Cheddites without a problem.

Horror stories can be funny things. I know guys who curse Cheddite but happily shoot factory Kent and Challenger which both use Cheddite primers.
 
While I use Winchester 209 primers more out of habit than anything else I've loaded many thousands of Cheddites without a problem.

Horror stories can be funny things. I know guys who curse Cheddite but happily shoot factory Kent and Challenger which both use Cheddite primers.

Thank-you, I told a guy this and he looked at me like I was a two headed trouser snake!
 
While I use Winchester 209 primers more out of habit than anything else I've loaded many thousands of Cheddites without a problem.

Horror stories can be funny things. I know guys who curse Cheddite but happily shoot factory Kent and Challenger which both use Cheddite primers.

;) Heard the same stories, but happily load Cheddites and shoot a fair bit of factory Kents & Gamebores (mostly) and Challengers (occassionally). Reloading is all with "old style" AA's.

I'm at last calculation, for 1-ouncers, $ 47.80 / flat, tax in ... but do buy in bulk. Primers and wads 5000 at a time. Powder 8 lb. kegs.
 
I think I'd be pretty hard pressed to find anyone at all at my Club who uses something other than Cheddite primers.

Gone through probably at least 50K - 60K of them myself so far.

Have yet to hear any complaints from anyone at my Club about them.
 
I use AA hulls (Rem.when I can find them) Cheddite primers, DRXL1 wads, 17.7 gr of Reddot powder, and 1oz of #8 lead. this gives me a nice little load that matches the Winchester target velocities with a lighter recoil that you can shoot all day! What do you guys use?
 
i don't know how people say you can't save money reloading if you can load a box of shells for less than $6. the average price per box for good ammo around here is $12 and up unless you buy the Federal or Winchester value packs and then it's about $10 a box after tax. if i can load quality shotshells for less than $6 per box, i'd be laughing. i gotta get out and get myself a loader!

of course, i can see how i wouldn't save money since i'd actually be shooting more. but that's not the point. if i'm saving money per box, but shooting more, i'm still saving money. if i were to shoot more at current prices, i would be spending more money than i would by shooting more at reloaded prices. so i'm actually saving money. :p :D
 
If you go to a trap range and chat it up with the regulars you'll find out that there are always at least one or two shooters that have the shot making equipment in their back yard. they usally make enough that they sell it to others. It helps to pay for their primers,wads and powder. The guy at my club sells his #8 shot for $25.00 for 25 lbs. The most expensive part of my reloading is the primers.
I talked to the guy that I usaually buy the shot from...He said he isn't gonna sell his shot anymore. He said he is having a hard time getting wheel weights.
 
The debate on reloading is relitive to the amount of shooting one does. Some people are casual in their shooting and although they may go through a lot of ammo (depending on what the climate is where they live) they will have an off season. So when you add it up, reloading may not be for them... hence, they will probably not save a whole lot reloading.


I shoot between 100 to 150 rounds/week of practice and about 3000 a year (I would do more if I didn't have a job) of competition. I'm looking at 8000 (+/-) rounds a year. For me, reloading my own translates to a cost savings over factory loads (I'm using a factory load price of $60/flat) of about $700.00! I save about $22/flat. I don't talk per box.

I don't factor my time to load because I don't have cable tv or buy coffee at Tims. Instead I reload shells as I need them. Everyone has something in their life that they could cut out to offset time or money. I don't factor the cost of my reloader because I have had it for 25 years... yep its manual and yep time for me to get an automatic.
I am proud to say (knock on wood) that I have never had a misfire! Believe it.

I use nothing but Cheddie Primers - I buy them by the 1000's.
I like to use Clay Buster wads - cause I load primarily Winchester hulls and Remington when I can find them.
I used to use Dupont powder, but now I like 8lb jug of Promo loading at 19g.
#8 Shot load at 1 1/8oz - never used anything other than Humason - don't even know another brand.

Another thing I do is reload Winchester Supertarge hulls. Just about everyone shoots factory Supertargets and throws them away. So, because they are in such abundance I never seem to run out. Oh, and I only load them once and eject them to the ground.

Anyway - Its obvous that if you shoot a lot (as my coach says, "with purpose") you can save money by reloading. The argument made that if someone reloads "they will shoot more" is irrelivent because that is the whole purpose! Everyone wants to shoot more! Further, the argument about your time investment is irrelivent because it is a non-tangible monitarily. You are not going to take time off work to reload shells, you are going to do it on your off time - the same time some people use to surf the internet, watch there favourite tv show... etc. Infact, if you compare the time invested in watching tv vs. reloading shells you could make the argument that reloading shells pays you... you pay to watch tv in many more ways than just your time.

Happy shooting everyone!
 
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