Seemingly Dangerous - Swapping in slugs or 00 for birdshot

@James Fischer
You might want to read this,,,,,,,,http://mossbergowners.com/forum/index.php?threads/what-are-those-bulk-skeet-shells-good-for.7475/

If you're referring to the topic above that old mossy linked to, if you noticed, I didn't go over the starting weight of the payload to begin with. The shells were loaded with 1-1/8 oz of birdshot. And I used a 1 ounce slug. So, I actually decreased the pressures that the shell was loaded for to begin with because the 1 oz slug was lighter.

In that case, the pressure actually DROPS below what it would be for the original factory shell. And velocity would actually increase (ever so slightly) due to not having to push as much weight out of the barrel.

It's when you increase the payload weight where pressures increase and velocity decreases if nothing else changes (wads, etc).

In terms of pressure, the powder or the shell or the barrel doesn't know the difference between birdshot or slugs or buckshot. All it knows is the weight and the pressure it takes to push it down the bore.

General rule of thumb, if you are going to start swapping payloads in the method detailed above, swap with something a little lighter than what you started with.

Now, if you're talking about legitimately reloading your own shells, powder, wads, shot cards, the whole 9 yards, there are various recipes that you will need to stick pretty closely too. And swapping out components and powders, or even primer brands, can change the pressures enough to be dangerous.

There are generally starting and max loads as a reference.

I could write a small book about reloading shells using load data so I'm not going to get into all of that at the moment until I can find out what you're wanting to do. But most powder manufacturers will have some load data on their websites that go into what shells and powders and primers and wads and stuff you can use for their recommendations.

You are correct that when a commercial/manufacturer has a specific recipe, they will warn you to not deviate or change anything they have written down. Because even one small change that you may think is insignificant could cause a pressure spike and become dangerous and slightly ovepressure enough to cause problems.

Changing from one brand wad to another. Changing which brand hull you are using even due to how the insides of the various hulls are made will change the pressures.

If you're legitimately reloading, I recommend buying, or searching online for load manuals. And don't do anything until you know the material and understand more about what you're doing.

If you're just swapping out the material in the wad, that isn't exactly reloading shotshells.

And I also added the caveat in the other topic that I will add here as well:

The cheaper shell loader is the Lee Load-all 2.

The better quality steel is the MEC brand.

Either works well. There are people already commenting in the thread that I know owns both styles. I have the cheaper Lee. It loads shells just fine.

You can find reloading recipes at Hogdons website. https://shop.hodgdon.com/reloading-data-center

It covers a lot of different powders and loads. The main powders that I personally use are Longshot, clays, titegroup. Depending on whether I want mild/handicap/low brass shells or the longshot is slower burning and can build more pressure and make higher fps for hunting slugs.

Some of the easier loads mimick factory shells. If you have Remington shells (my favorite), use a remington figure 8 wad. Basically if you're using remington, use remington style wads. If you are using federal, use federal style wads. If you are using winchester (yuck) use winchester style wads.

It's easier finding loads that mimick factory loads than trying to get cute and make custom loads using hornady wads and remington hulls for instance. Though it can be done, but I'm trying to make things easier for you starting out.

The hard part is going to be getting 209 shotgun primers and powders.

Ballistics products is one of the go to places for finding shotgun related reloading components.

Oh, while I'm thinking about it. You can load your own minishells, but you'll have to get creative to do it. There are no "off the shelf" components for them.

But you can cut down wads and stuff. But you'll mostly be wildcatting where the pressures are concerned. You may be able to find some data to make your own. Maybe not.

There's plenty of 2-3/4 to 3 1/2" data for regular shells though.

There are a few 2" Remington hull recipes on hogdons load data page that I linked earlier. While not specifically a "mini shell" that's as close as I know for starters. It uses Universal Clays powder and Ballistics Products BP Ultra Short Euro wad.