What are those bulk skeet shells good for?

Well, I should probably start with a disclaimer before I go any farther. No one is responsible for anything you do except you. If you do not fully understand the consequences, or do attempt to try anything discussed from this sentence on, you should know that it is not endorsed by anyone here, or any manufacturer, or industry representative and is possible that you could lose life or limb in doing so.

It is not implied as being safe, and there is no accredited data accepting any of this information. If anything, is prohibited. And with reason so don't do it.

OK, with that said, as you probably know by now, ammo is hard to find. And shotgun shells are no exception.

Since well before the election, I have tried to buy a box or two as I could. And of that, I was concentrating on the bulk pack 100 round boxes.



Mostly to be able to cover a wide spectrum of my hunting needs.

And even a close friend of mine tried to question my thought process of why I would buy a couple of the big boxes of low brass 8 shot.

So I had to cut him off real quick and explain to him that I'd rather have low brass than no brass.

Well, the conversation went on for a while and then he was still trying to convince me that 8 shot isn't good for HD/SD, and only good for small game and birds and skeet, which ordinarily I would agree with him, but he was still missing a point that many others fail to get too.

That same 1-1/8 ounce 8 shot he was frowning on is fairly available, and it is good for small game (which was my main reason for buying it when I could) but that same 8 shot pellets doesn't have to stay 8 shot size pellets.

Going back for generations, a lot of people would take the shot out of a store bought shell and "re load" them with something else. Rocks, salt, nails, whatever they could find that they thought would work good for what they were hunting. I think that was a carry over from black powder muskets.

And in my case, I am going to melt the emptied 8 shot down and pour it in a 1 ounce slug mold, which would in effect offer me the ability to hunt big game, or for self defense from those same cheap bullets that many people reach around and move to get to a little box of 5 round slugs for $1 a shot.

After MANY discussions with Oli700 and help and advice from him about doing this and the tools needed and after more research into it, I decided to buy the tools and gadgets and get to work.

Surprisingly, even certain reloading and casting equipment that is almost always available is scarce right now, so I was fortunate to find what I was needing in stock after a couple days of looking for everything.

So, after looking around online, I found several tools that were like a guillotine that would perform that step neatly, I really hated to pay more than $20 for something like that, so I look around the shop and find something that would work just as good that I already had because I'm cheap.

I took a piece of schedule 40, 3/4" PVC and cut it to 2.153". This allows me to remove the crimp with a razor and make a straight cut for the roll crimp later.



And for the sake of knowing I did, I weighed the shot load just to make sure that the load I was going to be putting back in the shot cup when I'm through wasn't heavier than what the factory charged it for so it wouldn't cause over pressure problems. Once again, Federal didn't disappoint because the shot load was spot on what it was supposed to be.

So far so good, the melting pot should be here later this week so hopefully this weekend I'll get a chance to start casting some slugs to put back in there.

And probably early next week, the roll crimp tool and clear overshot cards should be here so I can finish these.

Even though the cost of the tools and the melting pot and such was a little more than $100, I think I made the right decision by getting them. I am more self sufficient for it, and will no longer be held hostage by high prices and lack of availablity.

Quick edit to add some photos

After making some slugs, the wads are little longer than needs to be.



So, I trim them along where they need to be.



Now that I have the clear overshot cards, here is a quick snapshot of them



And they go in place over the slug to help keep contaminents out and to help things stay where they're supposed to once the hulls are roll crimped.





And after they're together and ready to go.

I like where this thread is going! :geek:

,,,,,,ya got my attention,,,,,

Thanks guys.

I am late to the game, but at least I'm not on the bench anymore

Mingaa, i don't have any plans to do buckshot at this time, although as Oli mentioned, is more than possible to reload anything you want with the right tools and setup.

But for now, I am just getting my feet wet and am easing into it by changing the loaded birdshot shells into slugs as needed so I can buy the less expensive shells to serve more than one role.

Another benefit of me doing this with the low brass shells should be equivelant to the low recoil and managed recoil slugs and won't have as much of a kick. To me, that has several advantages. Staying on target better, and not being kicked around as bad.

And as you guys have noticed, the price per slug is going to be what? Between .20 and .25 cents a piece at the current going price?

Sure, it could be argued that the low brass (less powder) is not going to be as strong and probably won't penetrate as deep, I still think it'll be strong enough to penetrate a rack of ribs at the distance I hunt.

Oli, one of these days, I may take you up on the Jefferson State Widow Makers :mrgreen: That sounds just like my kinda party

But at least you're in play, I'm just leaving the house. LOL

anyone can tell me what a decent low end 12ga set up goes for?

I've loaded many 1000's of rounds with that exact press. Match it with a good scale and you're good to go.

You "can" get by without the scale as they do provide pretty accurate charts that tell you what each bushing will drop but I like to know for sure.

thank you Oli. i saw that one in a video and i couldn't believe how easy shot gun shells were to load. it said something about an extra part for the primers, is this necessary?

p.s. nice avatar

I was thinking about this the other day. Thanx for confirming it John.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa8fYtLxxLA

here ya go Oli.

thank you. one other question. can the same loader switch to 20ga?

thank you.