RELOADING SHOTSHELLS LEE LOAD-All SHOTGUN CARTRIDGE
- Thread starter DHonovich
- Start date
The hobby of reloading shot shells is very inexpensive to get in to, compared to reloading metallic cartridges, and any investment made will come back to you very quickly in the form of savings. A Lee Load All shot shell reloader is very inexpensive and work great, last forever and pretty much idiot proof. Get one of these, a can of the right powder, a bag of the right wads, a box of the right primers, an old table or work bench and a comfortable work chair, read the handbook that comes with the Load All and you're in business loading your favorite shot shell load. All this will probably run you less than $150. A Load All will handle all of the average shot gun hunters needs and last forever. Mine is over 30 years old and has seen thousands of loads and still looks and works like it did when it was brand new. I also have a high dollar progressive rig for loading trap and skeet loads by the thousands, but this is a whole different ball of wax. I use the Load All for field loads because it just takes a few seconds to change out powder and shot bushings when I want to change loads for different kinds of shot guning. Loading shot shells is easy and fun. It also will pay for itself in savings. This means you can shoot more for the same dollar and everyone needs as much trigger time as they can afford!
Loading and working up metallic cartridges loads gets substantially more complicated and scientific with much higher start up costs. The savings are still there in the long run, especially if you are a high volume shooter, but the true joy is in producing better ammo than factory fodder that is custom tuned for your individual firearm.
Loading and working up metallic cartridges loads gets substantially more complicated and scientific with much higher start up costs. The savings are still there in the long run, especially if you are a high volume shooter, but the true joy is in producing better ammo than factory fodder that is custom tuned for your individual firearm.
I've been doin some hard lookin at these, the machine itself is only like 20 bucks.
We do shoot enough to justify it, especially when my daughter and I are lookin to go shooting and we dont have ammo and my wife isnt havin any of it! Each time we go out, we bring back a hundred spent shells, the .410 especially is a little more costly. The Walmart price of $21 or so for 100 rounds of birdshot isnt bad, but I dont always wanna shoot a bunch of #8 bird shot. The buck shot is what I'd like to reproduce, and I cant always find it for .70 cents a round. I know I can get the Federal stuff, the wads and powder, primers are cheap, and Hornady sells buck shot 5 lbs at a time if need be.
Good find on the vid! Thanks!
We do shoot enough to justify it, especially when my daughter and I are lookin to go shooting and we dont have ammo and my wife isnt havin any of it! Each time we go out, we bring back a hundred spent shells, the .410 especially is a little more costly. The Walmart price of $21 or so for 100 rounds of birdshot isnt bad, but I dont always wanna shoot a bunch of #8 bird shot. The buck shot is what I'd like to reproduce, and I cant always find it for .70 cents a round. I know I can get the Federal stuff, the wads and powder, primers are cheap, and Hornady sells buck shot 5 lbs at a time if need be.
Good find on the vid! Thanks!
In theory, with reloading, I should be able to mix different types of shot in one hull, like BB’s & double ought (00) Buck. But how do you work up the recipe? And what type of wad would you use? From all the reading I’ve done, (mostly about the presses) all buck shot has to be loaded manually regardless of the press used. The reason for wondering about mixed shot was to work up a home load that won’t go through too many walls but remain lethal. But that may just be a moot point. Also with reloading, could you load a ‘flechette’ rounds, providing you could find them?
yes it can. the only thing is you have to stack the shot in the hull yourself as the loaders wont meter out the .33 cal pellets. viewtopic.php?f=103&t=1870
If you are really wanting to do this buy the Lyman Shotshell Handbook 5th edition and start there. Figure out what you want to reload, what hulls you have available and find some recipes in the handbook that will work. Ballistic Products, Graf and sons, Natchez Shooting, Midway are a few places for components.
VTX said:
I probably wouldn’t do it either but I have accumulated 320 pounds of lead for free that I am going to cast into 00, slugs and bullets so that is a huge savings in money and an awesome feeling of accomplishment.
20 bucks for the book I suggested to you and you will have no more confusion. Save those "range load" shells because you can load them with 00 and slugs.
Here is a little something, Buy a Lee production pot and a Lee slug mold. Get some Federal Top Gun's 1oz load or 1 1/8th load. Cut the top off the shell just enough to pour the shot into the pot and melt it. Pour the molten lead into slugs. Put the slugs back into the wad. Most of the time they are a good fit and wont fall out but you can drip some wax on to make sure. Now you just took $.15 round and turned it into a $1 round.
S
SHOOTER13
Guest
Damn...just wrote a book on this subject then hit the wrong button to grab a link and lost it all...
Anyway VTX...Google is our friend:
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http://www.chuckhawks.com/reloading_shotshell.htm
http://www.loaddata.com/members/Shotgun-Gauges.cfm
http://www.chuckhawks.com/shotshell_reloading_data.htm
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My advice to anyone starting out is don't chintz...buy a well made name brand who has some kind of customer service and doesn't abandon you once they got yer $$. Read-up about that brand before hand...read as much free info ( inter-webs ) about what you want to do as possible...then jump in with both feet. Treat it as a hobby...not as a job.
And by all means...have fun !!
Anyway VTX...Google is our friend:
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http://www.chuckhawks.com/reloading_shotshell.htm
http://www.loaddata.com/members/Shotgun-Gauges.cfm
http://www.chuckhawks.com/shotshell_reloading_data.htm
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My advice to anyone starting out is don't chintz...buy a well made name brand who has some kind of customer service and doesn't abandon you once they got yer $$. Read-up about that brand before hand...read as much free info ( inter-webs ) about what you want to do as possible...then jump in with both feet. Treat it as a hobby...not as a job.
And by all means...have fun !!
Bobster
.30-06
BCowan said:
Even though FL is a "firearm happy" state, one of the few restrictive laws on the books regards flechettes and bolo rounds, etc. It would be one of the rare cases you could get in trouble practicing "castle doctrine"...
http://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2010/790.31
S
SHOOTER13
Guest
In Pennsylvania...at gun shows... I see them all the time.
While you would not, as Bobster said, want to use them in a self defense situation ( lawyer would have a field day )...I've seen them sold both loose and pre-loaded in 12 gauge rounds. ( I own ten rounds myself...)
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A flechette is a pointed steel projectile with a vaned tail for stable flight. The name comes from the French word fléchette meaning "little arrow" or "dart".
During the Vietnam War the United States Military employed 12 gauge combat shotguns that used flechette loads that consisted of 20 flechettes per shell...but the idea was first employed in special artillery shells called "beehive" rounds ( named for the very distinctive whistling buzz made by thousands of flechettes flying downrange at supersonic speeds) and intended for use against troops in the open. It was a ballistic shell packed with flechettes that when fired and set off by a mechanical time fuse, would scatter flechettes in an expanding cone. They were used in the Vietnam War by 105mm howitzer batteries and tanks (90mm guns) to defend themselves against massed infantry attacks. There was also a flechette round for the 106mm recoil-less rifle.
Also... back in the 1950s there was a concept for Direct Injection Antipersonnel Chemical Biological Agent (DIACBA) where flechettes were grooved, hollow pointed, or otherwise milled to retain a quantity of chemical biological warfare agent to deliver through a ballistic wound. The initial work was with VX, but it was found that it had to be thickened for the flechette to deliver a reliable dose.
Devious...eh?!
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While you would not, as Bobster said, want to use them in a self defense situation ( lawyer would have a field day )...I've seen them sold both loose and pre-loaded in 12 gauge rounds. ( I own ten rounds myself...)
==========================================
A flechette is a pointed steel projectile with a vaned tail for stable flight. The name comes from the French word fléchette meaning "little arrow" or "dart".
During the Vietnam War the United States Military employed 12 gauge combat shotguns that used flechette loads that consisted of 20 flechettes per shell...but the idea was first employed in special artillery shells called "beehive" rounds ( named for the very distinctive whistling buzz made by thousands of flechettes flying downrange at supersonic speeds) and intended for use against troops in the open. It was a ballistic shell packed with flechettes that when fired and set off by a mechanical time fuse, would scatter flechettes in an expanding cone. They were used in the Vietnam War by 105mm howitzer batteries and tanks (90mm guns) to defend themselves against massed infantry attacks. There was also a flechette round for the 106mm recoil-less rifle.
Also... back in the 1950s there was a concept for Direct Injection Antipersonnel Chemical Biological Agent (DIACBA) where flechettes were grooved, hollow pointed, or otherwise milled to retain a quantity of chemical biological warfare agent to deliver through a ballistic wound. The initial work was with VX, but it was found that it had to be thickened for the flechette to deliver a reliable dose.
Devious...eh?!
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