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Shotshell reloading? Anyone?

R

RedGoat

Master Class
Good morning, all !

Although I'm an "old-timer" at reloading metallic centerfire cartridges, I am a complete novice when it comes to shotshell reloading. I've attempted to get started doing it a couple of times over the years but have been very frustrated by how out-of-date many of the published "recipes" were. Updating of these recipes (I'm thinking primarily of the Lyman Shotshell Reloading Handbook) moves at a glacial pace compared to the rate at which the components (hulls, primers, powders, wads, and payloads) needed to implement the recipes change. This has only been exacerbated by the "covid" and "post-covid" era shortages.

However, I have determined, that come what may, I am going to figure out how to accomplish reloading my own shotshells without requiring a warehouse to hold the inventory of components required. The relatively recent publication of Lyman's 6th edition of the Shotshell Reloading Handbook plus Hodgdon's website data has provided me a fairly substantial repertoire of recipes for a range of "standard" 12 gauge loads using a manageable inventory of currently available components. I've been reading everything I can lay my hands on on the subject and watching more *tube videos than I care to admit on the topic, and I think that I'm about "there". I have a new, shiny Lee Load-All press and also a MEC 600 Mk5 Jr press on hand, ready to go, and a manageable quantity of compatible components. My plan is to learn the ropes by starting slow ( both literally and figuratively ) with some relatively low-pressure, low-velocity "target load" recipes suitable for shooting at clays and also just fun messin' around at the range. My ultimate goal is to assemble more "exotic" shells containing payloads such as oddball buckshot sizes, buck-and-ball, and various slugs, but baby steps first.

By primary goals for this exercise are to learn the intricacies of shotshell reloading and have tons of fun doing it. I'm not anticipating any real cost savings, but I do want to control both the cost and size of my component "collection" as I go about this new adventure.

I'm rambling on, I know. At any rate, I seldom, if ever, see shotshell reloading mentioned in forums such as this one, and I'm curious to know if any of you are involved in "stuffing" your own shotshells, either presently or in the past.
 
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You would probably need to look at Trap, Skeet or Sporting Clays forums to find much shot shell reloading discussion.
I haven't loaded shotshells in the last 30 years. The MEC 600 Jr should work well for your stated goals.

I have a 600Jr in 20 ga and MEC 650 in 12 Ga from when I shot mostly skeet.
Used mostly Winchester AA hulls and Winchester 452AA and 473AA powders that are no longer available. :)
 
shanneba said:
You would probably need to look at Trap, Skeet or Sporting Clays forums to find much shot shell reloading discussion.
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That's what I'm sorta thinking. I've also seen some discussions on various Cowboy Action Shooting forums.
shanneba said:
The MEC 600 Jr should work well for your stated goals.
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That's what I'm thinking. Right now, I am thinking that I initially will not even use the "middle station." I can throw a powder charge on my metallic cartridge powder measure, seat the wads by hand, and weigh out the payload on an electronic scale. I am not after high volume, just a solid understanding and "feel" for the process along with a high quality finished product. I'll start figuring out how to best utilize the "middle station" features of both the MEC 600 and the Lee Load-All after I have a few (100+? 200+? I dunno. Enough that I'm confident and comfortable) reloads under my belt
shanneba said:
Used mostly Winchester AA hulls and Winchester 452AA and 473AA powders that are no longer available. :)
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The unavailable powders are part of my exact frustration from previous attempts. It does absolutely NO good whatsoever in shotshell reloading to have a recipe which specifies ANY given component that is "unobtainium." You must be able to duplicate the recipe for hull, primer, powder, wad, and payload. I will leave experimentation with any component substitution for later on, if ever.

I now have a collection of recipes that will cover just about all rational payloads in a 12 gauge 2 3/4" hull, a few thousand primers that match the recipes, a few pounds of the powders that match the recipes, a limited selection of wads that match the recipes, and several cases of Remington STS shells and Winchester AA HS shells (also what the recipe collection calls for). I just need to go shoot a few clays and go to the "regular" shooting range a few times and I'll have those shells converted to hulls ready to reload in short order. (Shooting perfectly good ammo in order to reload? Yep. It's a sickness. I can't help myself.)

I've also been dissecting every variety of 12 gauge 2 3/4" shell I can lay my hands on, right down to sectioning off the base of the hull, just to verify "what it is." The Remington hulls (of almost any 12 ga 2.75" shell they offer) are the thickest and the only unibody hull I've found and verified. The Federal HOA (High Over All) hulls are the same hull as the Remington. The Winchester AA HS hulls are a close second in thickness and "quality" feel.

Both the Remington hulls and the Winchester AA hulls have current published recipes which utilize the Claybuster clones of the Winchester WAA wad series that span the entire spectrum of payload weights utilizing currently available powders and either Winchester 209 or CCI 209 primers. I am able to stack my entire inventory of shells, hulls, wads, primers, powder and shot in one small corner, so this venture is looking like it will work out. I'm not going to mess with other straight wall hull varieties until I get some experience loading the Remington and Winchester tapered wall hulls under my belt.
 
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835mag said:
Back when I shot trap I loaded 1 and 1/8th ozs of shot in a WAA12 wad over either 18gr of Red Dot or 21gr of Unique. AA hulls. That was 35+ years ago.
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Right now, I don't trust Alliant to keep either Red Dot or Unique powders available. I'm now seeing them listed as "in stock" after a long absence from online sites and local store shelves. I have a VERY small supply of both that I purchased long ago and hold in reserve for handgun loads, but I'm rapidly replacing anything and everything Alliant with products from Hodgdon. Hodgdon sometimes runs out of given powders, but at least they SEEM to try to serve customer needs. Alliant not so much.

Actual real Winchester WAA12 wads are no longer available for purchase (yes, I know they can be found, but when that supply dries up...) Fortunately Claybuster makes exact clones of the entire WAA wad lineup and they are plentifully available.
 
I have been loading 12, 20, and 28 for years with Unique. I buy powder and wads and shot and primers in bulk to keepnit simple. Mostly nowadays I load Winchester AA HS 28 gauge hulls using Winchester wads and 209 primers and #9 shot for skeet. I am getting 10 or more reloads per hull. I load on a Spolar progressive machine. My best advice is once you get your MEC consistently throwing the right powder charge and your loads perform the way you like, stay with it and don't screw with it. Follow the recipe from the book, those loads havd been tested ad nauseum.
 
I've seen red dot available, but not sure how long it'll last! I don't reload for sg but it's been on my list. Since my ffl dealer has gone out of the business and stopped reloading sg he's been deciding on what to do with the 2 mec??? he has (each 1 is setup for 12 and 20ga). He hadn't given me a price yet.
 
Remington hulls, Winchester primers, IMR powders, #9’s, MEC 9000’s for 12, 20, 28. 1 oz loads for skeet in 12ga. Lots of “reloading for shotgunner” books on Amazon or maybe your local library. Powder companies have reloading info too!
 
Musashi said:
Remington hulls, Winchester primers, IMR powders, #9’s, MEC 9000’s for 12, 20, 28. 1 oz loads for skeet in 12ga. Lots of “reloading for shotgunner” books on Amazon or maybe your local library. Powder companies have reloading info too!
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Which IMR powders? All of the published recipes I've seen (both current data and much older data) list obsolete (aka discontinued) IMR powders. There is NOTHING in the way of powders available from IMR (I know, actually from Hodgdon now) that fit any current (or older) published recipe.

As far as powder company published data, Hodgdon's Reloading Data Center website is a gold mine. It's where I've gleaned the majority of the recipes which fit my criteria. Most of the remainder have come from the "new" Lyman's Shotshell Reloading Handbook, 6th edition. A smattering of recipes have been found in older material that, as you have mentioned, I purchased used from the Amazon site.
 
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RedGoat said:
Which IMR powders? All of the published recipes I've seen (both current data and much older data) list obsolete (aka discontinued) IMR powders. There is NOTHING in the way of powders available from IMR (I know, actually from Hodgdon now) that fit any current (or older) published recipe.

As far as powder company published data, Hodgdon's Reloading Data Center website is a gold mine. It's where I've gleaned the majority of the recipes which fit my criteria. Most of the remainder have come from the "new" Lyman's Shotshell Reloading Handbook, 6th edition. A smattering of recipes have been found in older material that, as you have mentioned, I purchased used from the Amazon site.
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Not many imr powders available for sure. My beloved 4831 is a no-go and hoping the sc version will be a good fit. Every do often I see 4320, but no 4350, 4831, 7828 or 7797. It was a long time before 8208 became available again. The 5 fastest in imr is available last i checked
 
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