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best low budget buckshot?

G

grumpyerik

.410
And by best budget priced buckshot I mean best patterning for the dollar spent. I have a small stash of Winchester silver box buckshot, but it spreads really quickly, which can be good and bad. I have heard many people are having pretty good luck with Rio for the money spent. I have not heard a thing about S&B or Wolf.

So, what are you guys shooting when you simply want to sling a bunch of lead down range? I think I will buy a case, but will not until I get some feedback. For home defense I am using TAP buckshot, but it is a bit pricy to be fooling around too much with.

All the Best,

Erik
 
before I was casting and reloading it was Rio for me. Average spread up close but dont expect much after 15 yards it starts to get wild..... Then Remington after that, little better than Rio at 15 yards due to a harder pellet and buffer.
 
First thing if you are going ot use it for home defence, measure out the longest distance you would need to shoot down, and make patterning choices from there. I use Remmington bulk packs from Wally world. Those work just fine for what I have to deal with.

You would be amazed how quickly buying a box a week adds up over time.
 
Reloading, why didn't I think of that?

I do have the means to cast lead and could buy a .32 caliber gang mould and cast wheel weights quenched in water.

The only thing is I don't have a shotshell reloader, but I could pick up a Load All II and give it the old college try. I know they aren't the best loader in the world, but for an experiment.... it might just be the ticket.
 
Ripsnortr, this ammo is just for shooting up targets, practice, and the odd possum or raccoon in the trash.
For HD duty I am currently using TAP, but need to try the Federal loads everyone raves about. The longest distance I would ever need to shoot in my home is about 7-8 yards.
 
Check out the reloading section here at MO, I have some experience with it you might find helpful, from raw lead to patterning from my gun. If you are only going 8 yards for your HD distance then your own reloads will do fine. I take my gun on all my outdoor adventures so I try to have a 20 yard standard, after that it is slugs for me...
 
Yeah....for short range don't waste your time on Flite Control.
It might even be too tight of a pattern.

Buckshot all seems to have a point where it REALLY falls apart.
The spread is gradual to a point.
 
If you can reload, go for it! The guys here have been putting together a ton of info!!!

If you wanna buy stuff, we've got you covered with a few different loads. Check out the ammo review sticky at the top of this section!

For 7 yards, Winchester Super X is decent.I was seein a single hole at 5 yards and an acceptable sized pattern at 10 yards. Beyond that its too wild for me to be comfortable with. FliteControl is still a single hole at 10 yards, for me anyway. I've had 4" patterns at 25 yards from FC, not every single shot, but generally right around there.

But if you just wanna target shoot... well, thats what I buy the Winchester for. I knowit can be reloaded for less though! ;)
 
Cheaper Than Dirt has Rio Royal low recoil buck for $93 a case. I wonder how good those hulls are? I guess I should just start collecting AA hulls and not mess with the Rio stuff.

This is what I figure it will cost me to get a start in shotshell reloading:

Lee Load All II $50
Lee 18 cavity 00 buck mold $45
Lee slug mold $21
Bag of 500 wads $15
Powder $20
Primers $45

total $196

So basically for slightly more than the cost of 2 cases of cheap buckshot I can load my own slugs and buckshot. Then after the initial purchases it becomes cheaper still. Hell, I am sold. As an added bonus I can keep my 12 gauge hunting guns fed as well. I literally have 250 pounds of pure lead and can get wheel weights from the local tire shop for free.

oli700 I did check out the reloading page and must say I am impressed with your results with buckshot, but really impressed with those Lee Slugs.

Have you tried loading those slugs in 3" hulls? It might help with space and pressures. I know for defense you want more capacity, but for hunting I bet you could make some really fast slugs with a 3" hull. What are your thoughts?
 
I haven’t tried 3 inchers yet. You could make some smoking hot slugs with 3 inch hulls.
It would help with the spacing but pressure is a weird thing and stuff you think would be positive can turn out negative.
It is best to stick to the published data as much as you can and if you deviate it’s always less and should never be more. With a shotgun there are very thin chamber walls as compared to center fire cartridge so it really won’t put up with much over pressure before it just goes. Shells really show signs of over pressure so it’s hard to tell when you are reaching the tolerance before it just ruptures the chamber…..
The first thing you should do is buy a copy of the Lyman shotshells reloading manual 5th edition. A lot of recipes and info in there that can explain it better than me but sometimes as much as a primer substitution can end badly. The absolute best part of the Lyman manual is the hull identification section.
 
Ok, I will have to add that to my list of things to get when I start buying my equipment. I have heard of what can happen when reloading goes bad, one can't be too careful with that stuff.
 
Yeah, you can’t take it back that’s for sure, and I meant to say shotgun shells rarely show signs of over pressure not really show signs…
 
Regarding the Rio Royal shells - They aren't crimped, so that may make a difference when trying to reload them. They have a thin clear plastic disk on the end, under a lip.
 
CrackerKen said:
Regarding the Rio Royal shells - They aren't crimped, so that may make a difference when trying to reload them. They have a thin clear plastic disk on the end, under a lip.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they are roll crimped onto an over shot card. Roll crimping is no problem. They are a European hull and that’s fine but you need to find the data and then buy the right size stuff because all the euro stuff is slightly different like the primers and such.
 
oli700 said:
CrackerKen said:
Regarding the Rio Royal shells - They aren't crimped, so that may make a difference when trying to reload them. They have a thin clear plastic disk on the end, under a lip.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they are roll crimped onto an over shot card. Roll crimping is no problem. They are a European hull and that’s fine but you need to find the data and then buy the right size stuff because all the euro stuff is slightly different like the primers and such.
Click to expand...


Nah, I am not going to mess with Rio shells, I will just use AA hulls that are cheap, plentiful, and use standard components. My days of messing with things trying to make them work are over. I want simplicity when ever possible these days.
 
Yeah, also start collecting the Remington Gun Club hulls(green). They are cheap and plentiful as well and the data interchanges with Remington Sport Load, Remington Nitro 27 and Remington STS. They all have the same internal construction, crimp nice and each hull reloads about 7 or 8 times before the folds start to crack. The nicest hulls out there are the Remington.
Currently I am using AA, Rem for slugs and Fed Gold Medal for Buck. The Gold Medals are hard to come by....I have scrounged most of my hulls from the woods and a local gun club.
 
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