The decline of shotshell reloading?

[Dave McCracken]

My costs are similar to BozemanMT's.

Wads are $16/1000 for the Claybuster clones.

West Coast shot runs about $23/25 lbs.

Winchester primers, $23/1000.

My hulls are free, or recycled from new rounds bought and shot.

Also good hulls will last longer than 4 reloads. Mine are trashed after 5 or 6, but I could go 10 times if I didn't mind degradation of the pattern.

 

[PJR]

Powder - Hodgdon Clays, 14 oz., 18 grain charge makes 340 shells
$20.28 divided by 388 = $0.060 each

Shot - 25 lbs. of #8 magnum, 7/8 oz. load makes 457 shells
$34.19 divided by 457 = $0.075 each

Wads - $7.06 for 250 = $0.028 each

Primers - $4.23 for 100 = $.042 each

Subtotal without hulls = $0.205

Hulls $0.107 each with 4 uses = $.027 each

Total cost = $0.232

Cost per box $5.80 ($5.125 without the hulls)

Does this seem about right?

No it doesn't. I don't know where you are buying but you are getting hosed plain and simple. For starters 10 cents for a 12 gauge hull is about double the going rate. Everything else you are buying is also grossly over priced.

The best advice is to buy in bulk. You'd be surprised how quickly a thousand primers or 8lbs. of powder will get used up.

For some price comparisons try this site (and these guys are not necessarily the cheapest around either).

http://www.grafs.com/index.php

 

[dmarbell]

Hosed

OK, so I got hosed on my first purchase of reloading stuff. I'll shop around and do better next time. By the way, I found the name of someone nearby who teaches reloading, so maybe he can shed light on the best suppliers near me.

Can you buy the stuff online? It looks like shipping powder is dicey, but what about shot (too heavy?), hulls and wads.

By the way, I haven't located 7/8 oz. target loads near me anyway. So the price of my hosing, with the hulls sitting unused in my Dad's garage, isn't going to kill my enthusiasm. I get to spend time with him reloading, get the reloader out of mothballs, use up the hulls, and actually learn to do something useful. Probably not a bad investment, versus saving a nickel at Wally World!!

Thanks for all the support, all you guys (and gals).

Danny

 

[PJR]

The best way to find out where components are cheapest is to ask at the local shotgun club. Some times there are vendors at clubs that have very low prices and if not the regulars will be able to point you in the right direction.

 

[dmarbell]

First reloads

I wanted to report back. I reloaded 8 boxes on Sunday, which was plenty in 90+ degree heat in my Dad's un-a/c'd garage out back. Especially on the single stage loader!

One thing - my new 7/8 bar was loading about 365 grains of shot, instead of 382+ indicated. Based on my calculations, 407 #8 magnum per ounce of shot, I am about 15-16 shot short per shell.

Why would this have been happening? Is it something I should try to change, or be worried about? The powder was coming out 18-19 grains, Clays with a 33 bushing shooting for 18.2 per the Hodgdon book. I'm hoping if the scale was off, it was off at the high end of the measurement, that is, the shot, and not a the low end, the powder.

By the way, the wad was just about full to the top after dropping the shot, and the crimps looked good.

I had a ball with my Dad, so that investment was worth the extra cash (based on my hosing on prices, per the previous posts). I have feelers out for local sources of components at good prices. Dick's has 1 oz. loads on sale for $2.98 per box at case purchase prices.

Danny

 

[TrapperReady]

CAUTION: The following post includes loading data which is provided purely for informations purposes and may contain errors. Always use published sources for reloading data, NOT the data contained in this post. Neither the writer, The High Road, nor the staff of THR assume any liability for any damage or injury resulting from use of this information.


If the charge bar is throwing a little light, I don't worry about it. A dozen or so pellets isn't going to make a big difference, so just pattern what you've got and see how it works. You may want to see what it drops with a variety of shot sizes and see how they compare, just out of curiousity.

I tend to be more concerned about the powder weight. For specific loads, you can tune a bushing with either strips of tape (to reduce volume) or a judiciously applied round file (to increase volume). If I'm a couple tenths of a grain UNDER, then I'll leave as is. If I'm OVER, and the load is a maximum one, then I'll add some strips of electrical tape inside the bushing until it registers how I want.

It's one reason why I usually try to load "middle of the road" loads, where there's at least one loading listed with more powder and one load listed with less powder than the one I'm using. When you're not operating at the extremes, you've got a little more leeway.

For example (from www.hodgdon.com):

A 7/8 oz load I often use is:

Remington STS Hull
7/8 oz. shot (typically #8.5)
Clays powder
Rem. 209P primer
Rem. TGT 12 wad

The powder charges are listed as:

16.4 gr / 6,300 PSI - 1200 fps
17.5 gr / 7,100 PSI - 1250 fps
18.9 gr / 7,400 PSI - 1300 fps

Now, when I load this, my bushing is throwing about 17.8-18.0 grains of powder. I'm aiming for the 1250fps load, but the data shows a safe (yet max) load of 18.9 grains. I could monkey with the bushing, but since it patterns well and is within safe parameters, I leave it as is.

I've got a favorite load for pheasants, which is driving 1 1/4oz of #5s at a high rate of speed. It's safe as is, but a max load... so I load those very carefully and weigh each and every powder charge.

 

[redneck2]

I tried to get into reloading for my 10 gauge with Hevi-Shot. Cheaper to buy factory stuff. I had a dealer that would sell me a loader for $50. He said it was a bad deal because he'd sell me the factory stuff cheaper.

FWIW...We have a couple of guys here that shoot a lot and buy shot in multiple ton lots

 

[Hawk]

I don't really want to lie on the counch anyway; it's a hobby, not just a frugal chore.

I'll second that.

I got back into it a little less than a year ago.

FWIW, I probably should have gotten the updated 600Jr I had "back when". A full progressive does remove some of the "zen factor". Nonetheless, I believe my blood pressure is lower after I've been reloading.

If you can't justify reloading based on cost, try buying a 28.

 

[fordman650]

reloading

started shooting shotguns less then a year ago bought my first one for $50 and then got hooked my son said let's go out to the range and check it out
got hooked,sons freind let him borrow a mec jr and he started reloading he got hooked i was surfing ebay and looking at mec reloaders first mistake bought three 2 mec jr and a grabber got hooked this doesn't save me much money because i shot more now and it is away to just concentrate on one thing instead of sitting in front of the tv,remington gunclub and target load
reload great also do sts's,i agree with you AB winchester primers are the only way to go,shot is $15.50 for 25 lbs here and then again again i GOT HOOKED
great hobby

 

[fordman650]

reload

got carried away and didn't put in there what i started out to say,i think lots of people are reloading just go on ebay and follow just the mec loaders and see how fast they are going usually 80 or so in there all the time