shotgun reloading

[alaskan9974]

I am interested in reloading my 12 gauge, I almost exclusively shoot steel, where would a good place to start be? I have all the equipment to reload centerfire, I mainly load for lapua and bmg, but the blue dot in my 10mm seems similar. I have a couple bags of #2 steel shot I was using for ballast so I feel like I am halfway there. I use lyman digital powder measures, and prefer measuring shot and charges as opposed to dumping one in with a thrower.

What confuses me on loads is the variety of wads, hulls and powder.

Anyone have a go to load in 3" #2 or #1 steel?

 

[cfullgraf]

You need a shot shell loader and a shot shell reloading book to start with.

You will not find "dies" that work with your metallic cartridge equipment.

I'd recommend a MEC 600jr for low production loading. A good solid budget priced shot shell loader and in 12 gauge there should be lots of used ones available if you want to save a few bucks over a new one.

Shot shell reloading is pretty much "follow the published recipe" prospect. The data specifies the hull, wad, primer, powder type and weight, and shot type and weight and the loader needs to stick to it. No experimenting like in metallic loading.

You can weigh powder and shot individually if you want but it really will not gain you anything like with metallic cartridges.

Hope this helps.

 

[Blue68f100]

With shotgun handloading it's more about getting all the components working together. At the end you need a particular stack height for the crimp to work. Too long or short and you dump shot. Wadding is to match the construction of the hull, some taper, some straight. Then as you know in metallic handloading that not all powders have the same density. So your dealing with volume, hull construction, and payload. All got to play together.

As far as scales, they are used in selecting the proper bushing for the powder charge. No need in weighting every load. All of the shotgun reloading presses I'm familiar with load by volume. And there is no easy way to do it manually.

Find a old Mec 600 Jr to start on.

 

[Bbear]

You'll need the reloading press like this one=> https://www.mecshootingsports.com/steelmaster
If you can find one on ebay or the like that's used and in good shape you might save a few pennies.

As others have already stated, you really can't play around with the loads too much, if at all. Find your hulls then see what wads and powders will work for the shot weight you are wanting to throw then follow the directions.
It can be a bit frustrating when first starting out but once you have it down you can gin up a box in no time.

I don't load for steel, only lead but on my single-stage 16 gauge loader I can make up a couple of boxes an hour. On my more automated 12 and 20 gauge loaders I can make up to 10 boxes in an hour.

 

[George P]

Remington and Winchester AA hulls are tapered; the other Winchester hulls, all European ones and Federals are straight-walled. You can go to Alliant or Hodgdon web sites and plug in your hull, powder, wad, etc. and recipes will show. If nothing shows, then you need to find the components that DO show.

For example, I just went to Hodgdon, chose 12 gauge, Rem STS hulls and steel - there are 5 loads, 1oz, using Universal powder, velocities ranging from 1200-1300.

Alliant offers data for loads from 7/8 to 1-1/2oz (3.5" hull)

 

[mdi]

I recently looked into shotshell reloading (after 40 years of metallic reloading) and purchased Lyman's Shotshell Reloading Handbook. From my observations/reading, shotshell reloading needs dedicated shotshell reloading equipment and the loads are pretty component specific (specific loads listed for specific hulls, wads and combination of wads specific primers and type of crimp depending on shot or slugs) The process seems to be no more complicated than metallic cartridge reloading.

 

[George P]

When you get more experienced, you will realize that there ARE safe substitutions, but I won't go there at this time

 

[chrisgo]

Careful, or some day you may end up like me. I load for all the gauges and all the different disciplines. I have so many Shot, powder, hull and wad combinations it would make your head spin and require an entire room to hold it all! These are only a few pics of all my stuff!