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Rollin' my own...

Razzle

Razzle

.410
Since I've finally gotten my Shockwave, I've been wanting to shoot minishells. I bought a few boxes of Aguila slugs, but couldn't find any buckshot - because they're apparently made of pure unobtanium. So I decided (with the help of a YouTube video) to make a few of my own.

To do this, I picked up a few boxes of 12 gauge #8 shot and cut them down. I replaced the shot with #4 buckshot. I left the powder in place, so I would be using the same reduced recoil field shot. I also had to cut down the shot cup. Not too much of a problem.

At first, I made them too long...so I cut them down. Then they were almost right. The problem was that they were not crimped flatly - and that caused a feeding problem. Once I solved this problem, the shells began cycling properly and the recoil was very light. The original shells that I cut were 1 1/8 load, but I found that I couldn't get enough #4 buckshot into the shell. So I put fewer into them, and they worked just fine.

I haven't patterned the shells, as I'm still trying to perfect them. But as I get better at this, I'll update this thread for those who are considering doing the same.

A final thought: Shooting the homemade loads was a lot of fun. The light recoil and noticeable accuracy put a big goofy grin on my face. Eventually, I'll go with primered hulls and packaged powder (when they're readily available. But for now, I'm having a lot of fun rollin' my own with the Shockwave.
 
Yeah, there was a thread here many years ago about using the cheap bulk shells to load slugs with that worked well during one of the previous shortages.

I don't recall ever cutting them down though. Are you using a spacer of some such in the mossberg receiver? I've seen them having to be used before with the aguila shells.

I picked up one of the roll crimpers from ballistics products which does well for crimping shells if you don't mind using either a cardboard shot cover or the clear plastic overshot cards that ballistics products also sells.
 
I'm using the OpSol adapter. I bought a 25lb bag of #4 buckshot to replace the field loads in the shells. I haven't patterned them yet, as I'm just learning. But so far it's been a lot of fun. I put the Shockwave right up there with my Taurus Judge in terms of being fun to shoot.
 
I bought a box of steel #3 ought ball bearings from amazon a while back. I don't remember exactly but I think they were around $18.00 and there were supposed to be around 1500 pellets in the bag. I bought them because at the time, it was impossible to buy buckshot so I got what I could find.

https://www.amazon.com/1500-Pieces-PGN-Slingshot-Precision/dp/B08C462ZNY/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=1500pcs 5/16inch Steel Ball Slingshot Ammo 7.938mm Precision Steel Bearing Balls&qid=1624327954&s=industrial&sr=1-5

Steel being lighter than lead won't have the penetration especially at longer ranges, but you won't find anyone to volunteer to test penetration or bone breakage at the distances that I would use them anyway.

http://mossbergowners.com/forum/index.php?threads/thinking-outside-the-box.20261/
 
John A. said:
I bought a box of steel #3 ought ball bearings from amazon a while back. I don't remember exactly but I think they were around $18.00 and there were supposed to be around 1500 pellets in the bag. I bought them because at the time, it was impossible to buy buckshot so I got what I could find.
Click to expand...

That's not a bad idea. I might try it before I shell out the $$$ for another 25# bag of #4 buckshot. The only thing is that the bag I bought might just last forever. I've only made 50 rounds of the minishells and haven't put a noticeable dent in my supply.
 
Last weekend I completed my second round of reloading (rebuilding?). This time I bought a couple boxes of Remington Nitro 27 Target Loads for $8/box. I noticed that my technique is getting better...probably because I cut a couple pieces of PVC that were just a bit longer, and that gave me more room for crimping. These cycled through quite a bit better, but still not perfectly (like the Aguila Minishells). Like the Winchesters that I converted earlier, there was little recoil and lots of fun. I'll probably pick up a couple boxes every time I go to Walmart...as long as they have them on the shelves.

I look forward to testing my "custom" shells against the Techrim loads that I just picked up. Hopefully I will get to report good news.
 
I did some shooting this weekend. I found that my homebrew #4 min buckshot held a reasonably tight pattern. At about 60 feet, they produced (roughly) a 4-foot pattern. I doubt I'll ever need to shoot this kind of distance - maybe half that, at most (which would mean a tighter pattern). For me, that's acceptable home defense performance.
 
4 foot pattern at 20 yards?

I'm not meaning to sound condescending, but that's pretty bad.
 
Razzle said:
I did some shooting this weekend. I found that my homebrew #4 min buckshot held a reasonably tight pattern. At about 60 feet, they produced (roughly) a 4-foot pattern. I doubt I'll ever need to shoot this kind of distance - maybe half that, at most (which would mean a tighter pattern). For me, that's acceptable home defense performance.
Click to expand...

Yeah, ten yards is still really loooooong for home defense. But I see your point, like maybe outdoors or something?
 
John A. said:
Yeah, there was a thread here many years ago about using the cheap bulk shells to load slugs with that worked well during one of the previous shortages.

I don't recall ever cutting them down though. Are you using a spacer of some such in the mossberg receiver? I've seen them having to be used before with the aguila shells.

I picked up one of the roll crimpers from ballistics products which does well for crimping shells if you don't mind using either a cardboard shot cover or the clear plastic overshot cards that ballistics products also sells.
Click to expand...


Here is the thread John was talking about. http://mossbergowners.com/forum/index.php?threads/what-are-those-bulk-skeet-shells-good-for.7475/
 
John A. said:
4 foot pattern at 20 yards?

I'm not meaning to sound condescending, but that's pretty bad.
Click to expand...

I didn't take it that way at all. I just look at it differently. If 20 yards (60 feet) produces a 4-foot pattern, then a shot from 10 yards (30 feet) would produce roughly a 2-foot pattern. That's about the absolute longest shot I'd have to take inside my house. Personally, I want that kind of spread if I had to take a shot in a dark room, at a moving target, just after waking to an intruder in the house. Heat-of-the-moment accuracy would probably be poor in that situation, and the spread would compensate for that lack of accuracy.
 
Again, I'm not being condescending, but a 2' pattern at 10 yards, is still not good. It's OK if we have a difference of opinion. We're all entitled to that.

But at just 10 steps away from the target, you should be able to cover a pattern of buckshot with a paper plate (and that's still being very conservative).
 
I tested again this last weekend. At 10 yards, my patterns ranged from 14" at the widest to 10.5" at the narrowest. I'm not sure what brought about the difference, but I suspect that it was the wads...or the shot placement.

For the widest shots, I used the wads supplied in the shells that I cut down. The newest results came from some Claybuster Windjammer wads. I don't know if they had anything at all to do with the patterning, but I paid close attention to the placement of the buckshot and I got much better results. Hopefully, I've found the home defense solution.
 
Good job. Now that's a much more acceptable pattern. When you said you were getting such a big spread before, I would've been doing you a disservice if I had not mentioned it.

But, now I wouldn't hesitate using that for myself.

I also have some windjammer wads. They do well.
 
I'm glad you did mention it. I'm always trying to improve what I'm doing with these shells. I don't know exactly what made the difference, but I'm happy with it.

Funny thing...my dad (a Vietnam Navy vet - and extremely adverse to trying anything new), who thought the Shockwave was ridiculous until he saw how the TL-Racker and Laser Saddle worked on an intruding opossum at night, now wants to "borrow the shotgun." He's got a Remington 870 Tactical, so he can outfit it with the same options, but I think he likes the lighter option of the Shockwave.
 
I thought it was time to update this thread.

I recently rolled my 700th minishell, and I've made a lot of progress in streamlining my workflow and in achieving better results. I'm getting much better looking shells and surprisingly good accuracy (8-10" at 20 feet).

I've discovered that Federal Field & Target #8 shot has consistently produced the best minishell rounds. This is a really good thing, because a box of 100 currently goes for $30 around here - and they're always available. Windjammer wads and clear overshot cards are relatively inexpensive, so I can continue to enjoy my hobby without breaking the bank.

I've also bought a Lee Production Pot and a #4 mold from Marty's Arms. I plan to begin casting shot (from the #8 pellets) this summer.

If all goes well, I'll update this thread later with my results.
 
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