Shotgun Cartridge Reloading

[WH308]

I reload for my rifles and enjoy the quiet time spent at the reloading bench.

I wonder if shotgun reloading has any upsides as per rifle reloading? I don’t want to try and reload for my clay gun, but do wonder if reloading for my game gun would be a nice sideline. A few evenings spent at the reloading bench in the lead up to the pheasant season does sound appealing.

If I was wanting to produce a 1oz, 6 shot, fibre wad, 2.5” paper cased cartridge, where should I start?

 

[levigsp]

I reload for my rifles and enjoy the quiet time spent at the reloading bench.

I wonder if shotgun reloading has any upsides as per rifle reloading? I don’t want to try and reload for my clay gun, but do wonder if reloading for my game gun would be a nice sideline. A few evenings spent at the reloading bench in the lead up to the pheasant season does sound appealing.

If I was wanting to produce a 1o letterz, 6 shot, fibre wad, 2.5” paper cased cartridge, where should I start?

The good news its easy, buy a mec 600 loader, scales, powders shot etc from some
one like clay and game reloaders and follow instructions to the letter.
the bad news is its the worst time ever to start. shortages of Primers, cases, and most powders and not likely to resolve shortly!

 

[RJD]

I reload for my rifles and enjoy the quiet time spent at the reloading bench.

I wonder if shotgun reloading has any upsides as per rifle reloading? I don’t want to try and reload for my clay gun, but do wonder if reloading for my game gun would be a nice sideline. A few evenings spent at the reloading bench in the lead up to the pheasant season does sound appealing.

If I was wanting to produce a 1oz, 6 shot, fibre wad, 2.5” paper cased cartridge, where should I start?

1920

 

[Smellydog]

It's not really worth it now to be honest.
When I was shooting a lot of pigeon in the 90"s I would load 200 loads during the week.
Sometimes I load a few now and then but you may as well just buy them.
I used a Lee loadall for years. Must of loaded 10 or more thousand!

 

[WH308]

It's not really worth it now to be honest.
When I was shooting a lot of pigeon in the 90"s I would load 200 loads during the week.
Sometimes I load a few now and then but you may as well just buy them.
I used a Lee loadall for years. Must of loaded 10 or more thousand!

Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s not worth it, but the thought of shooting a pheasant with a hand loaded cartridge is quite appealing!

Will a loadall do 2 1/2” cases without modification?

 

[Smellydog]

Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s not worth it, but the thought of shooting a pheasant with a hand loaded cartridge is quite appealing!

Will a loadall do 2 1/2” cases without modification?

Yes it is satisfying. I use to load black powder loads for pheasants.
Good question on the load all. The early ones were 2&3/4" and 3".
I'm not sure if I read something about an adapter or a tip for loading 2&1/2"....it's been a while.

 

[WH308]

Yes it is satisfying. I use to load black powder loads for pheasants.
Good question on the load all. The early ones were 2&3/4" and 3".
I'm not sure if I read something about an adapter or a tip for loading 2&1/2"....it's been a while.

The tinternet suggests the final crimp sleeve needs cutting down by 1/4” to allow it to shoulder up for a 2 1/2” case

 

[Smellydog]

There is the alternative. The old tools. They work very well.


And, if you can find one, the Lee loader.

 

[Smellydog]

The tinternet suggests the final crimp sleeve needs cutting down by 1/4” to allow it to shoulder up for a 2 1/2” case

That was it

 

[jthyttin]

Haven't loaded for a while, but IIRC in stock form Load-All allows you to just push the handle down as far as it goes. And when you cut the sleeve, you can no longer do this on 2-3/4" cases but you must do the crimping by feel (or dedicate the press to 2-1/2" cases)

Regarding roll crimp, if purchasing just get a drill mounted roll crimper (or modify hand cranked tool). You get much more consistent crimp with consistent RPM and can use higher RPM than achieved with hand crank. There's a sweet spot where the crimp "just forms".

If using primed cases and not reusing them, roll crimper is all you need (assuming you got scales since you reload for rifle). Haven't roll crimped paper cases, it seems way more complicated and tools like BPI are not recommended. Some seem to rate this one:

Roll Crimper - Quad-Pin - 12 Gauge - The Reloaders Network

A quad-pin roll crimping tool for 12 gauge hulls. • For use in either drill presses or hand drills • Case hardened (to 50+ Rockwell) • Black oxide finish for increased corrosion resistance • Made in USA • Free Shipping

www.thereloadersnetwork.com

 

[enfieldspares]

Yes. If modified as others have said the Lee Load All. John Longstaff imported them made to do 67.5mm cases and other users modified them to do 2 1/2" (viz 65mm) cases. I have one of each. The Longstaff ones came with a sticker on the front noting that it was for 67.5mm cases. The 2 1/2" one needs mounting on wood to raise it so that the handle clears the edge of any bench you fix it to. As I only used the 2 1/2" one to make dummy cartridges for display and blackpowder loads...note I added the blackpowder with a scoop not through the machine and finished with a roll turnover...it is now up for sale with the wood base. £58 posted by Parcelforce 48 or £50 collected.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s not worth it, but the thought of shooting a pheasant with a hand loaded cartridge is quite appealing!

Will a loadall do 2 1/2” cases without modification?

Other machines that used "sleeves" such as the Redding Model 16 also enabled the user to select a sleeve for 2 1/2", 2 3/4" or 3" and "crack on".

 

[JTO]

A rolled turnover is easier and more consistent than a star crimp on fired cases.

 

[enfieldspares]

A rolled turnover is easier and more consistent than a star crimp on fired cases.

Indeed if the OP is intending to use blackpowder, say 3 drams, and a fibre wad then a RTO may be the only way to accomodate that and his shot. If buying an RTO tool here's my 2p. Do NOT buy old antique tools from eBay or xxx or yyy gunshop, arms fair or car boot sale. Buy a modern tool (or an old Lightwood or French Manufrance tool the only exception to the antique rule) that grips all around the rim of the cartridge. It looks neater. The old two or three finger grip antique tools look horrible as they can dig into the rim of today's modern thin steel base cartridges. The modern ones (or the old Lightwood or Manufrance) that grip all around do a better job.

 

[Smellydog]

Very true if! If you apply to much pressure crimping!
I apply a lubricant to the case mouth and turn quickly but don't apply much pressure.
I don't get damaged rims then.
Also note, not a deep roll crimp is necessary.

 

[mike243]

financially it will never stack up but as a hobby it is fantastic and very satisfying to shoot stuff with shells that you have loaded ypurself, The only time there is any real benefit though Is reloading a few specialist loads or steel for wildfowling, with steel shot speed kills and most of the factory offerings in steel are, or certainly were absolute junk, I literally shot thousands of ducks and hundreds of pinks with my steel homeloads I sold the last my shot gun reloading kit a couple of years ago, about half a garage full, when I gave up wildfowling, at one time I had 8or9 Mec 600jr machines in 2.75/3" and 3/3.5" 12 bore, all of which I bought on ebay from the states, back then you could buy one for less than 40 quid + about 25 quid for surface shipping, they were always a bit of a chore to set up so to change the settings for another load and then change it back was a double pain in the ares so I would have a machine set up foreach load, most componants came from C&G back when Ian C was the owner, most of the cases for loading steel shot I bought from the states, I dont know what the availability of primers or powders are these days, if it is something that you would really like to do, far be it from me to say not to, just make sure that all the componants are there to be bought

straight powder

 

[jthyttin]

CIP mandates maximum velocity for steel shot (IIRC 430m/s for 12 bore), so you get definite advantage on longer range cartridges by homeloading.

 

[User00040]

Have done it myself.

100% not worth it unless you have been lucky enough to obtain a job lot of powder/primers/wads/shot/cases and also a suitable press to do it on.

Shot is getting very hard to find in decent quality/quantity.

Very difficult to get shells uniform enough to run a gas-operated semi-auto smoothly. Recoil operated semi-auto not so bad.

Keep in mind your crimps have to be smooth for them to feed nicely.

Also, the quality of hulls (cases) we have are 'Eurotrash', hardly worth the effort of picking up. By contrast the US made hulls are designed with reloading in mind. Keep in mind that the '209' primer size from the US will not fit directly into most of the European hulls unless swaged.

Also the plastic on the European hulls will tend to stress-fold and not take a crimp as well as the first time.

Another thing to add, the consistency of compression of the column of powder, wad, shot and shot cover (if you use one) is vital. If you end up with uneven lengths of shells due to this, it won't be consistent.

All in all, by the time you have spent the time, money effort to gather the items, and 'load development/patterning', you could have bought several hundred/thousand ready loaded cartridges.

 

[WH308]

Well gents, I’d say you have pretty well talked me out of this venture! Thanks for all the replies though.

 

[Bell308]

i reloaded 12 guage 24gram No8's for my son when he started out only on the basis that his semi auto would only function with 70mm cartridges, it would not cycle 67mm ones, commercially bought light loads are generally in 67 or 65mm cases which are a problem for autos etc

 

[Bell308]

i still have a good number of 16 guage fiber wads if anyone wants to buy them....