Cost of reloading decent Buckshot????

[Lawyerman]

I have begun in the last two years to really study the shotgun. As a result I have been shooting more, that means buckshot. Putting the cost of equipment aside (it pays for itself over time like all reloading) what would it cost to reload 250 rounds of decent buckshot?

I can get all the Federal tactical hulls I want for free. We're talking primers, shot, powder, wad or buffer. By decent I mean something between true expensive tactical buckshot and Wally World bulk stuff or Sellier & Bellot. Hard shot that doesn't lead, patterns good etc.....A case of Federal tactical runs about $150 shipped so that's the benchmark.

 

[Traveler]

To do it really cheap you'll have to cast your own balls from wheel weights.

 

[Lawyerman]

That takes care of that. My time is worth too much to make it worthwhile. I figured if it could be done I'd buy one of the new Dillon loaders and go after it but if that's the only way to make it worthwhile it's a non starter with me.

 

[Youngster]

I'm interested in this though, how involved is buckshot casting and how much money can be saved with or without going that route?

 

[Dave McCracken]

Check with Ballistic Products. They offer buck up to 0000 and components. They also have load data available.

As for casting one's own, lead is toxic as hate, and it's a royal pain. Easy to make bad stuff, harder to make good, round, uniform balls. Not worth it, IMO.

 

[Mannlicher]

Unless you are shooting thousands of rounds, it just does not pay to reload shotgun shells. It may be fun, and an interesting thing to play with, but its not cost effective.

 

[Dave McCracken]

I beg your pardon? I load top quality shells for less than $2.80 a box.
Moreover, I get load, choke and barrel matched for optimum performance.

My used MEC,scale, manual,etc paid itself off in maybe three weeks.

But for the limited amounts of buck I use, it's not worth it.

Exception, I'm working on a superlight 00 HD round.

 

[Lawyerman]

Dave, are you saying that I could reload a case of buck (250 rds) for around $30? I'm there! I shoot probably 600-700 rounds of buck a year, would shoot more if it was less expensive!

For that kind of savings I would buy a Dillon and go whole hog, it pays for itself in short order. Will check with Ballistic Products AND start saving those hulls. Are the Federal Tactical hulls good for what I have in mind, I would assume so as that's my preferred factory stuff? What would you use? I can get them for nothing off the prison guard range, they just shovel them into the dumpster when done shooting!

 

[Sisco]

I only started reloading shot shells because I found a MEC 600 at a garage sale, got it cheap. Like Mannlicher I didn't figure it would pay out for no more than I shoot.
Loader came with more wads than I'll use in a long time, already had powder, friend gave me a big ole bag of AA hulls. Only extras I had to buy were primer & shot.
Normally I only use my shotgun for dove & pheasant and warm-up on clays before the season. Always bought the cheapest ammo WalMart had and my hit to miss ratio proved it was cheap. (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)
I figure now I'm getting premium ammo for the price of the cheap stuff.
I'm interested in loading 00 too, it's hard to find locally.

 

[kudu]

I believe that Dave meant a box of target shells with birdshot, not buckshot for $2.80 a box. Loading buck is time consuming and will probably not get you the greatest patterns. I have done a little of it and by the time you count out the pellets and add some buffering and shake it all down so it lays tight in the shell, one at a time, its' very time consuming. You can whip out a box of shotshells in no time, but buck is like precision rifle loading, one step at a time.

 

[Poodleshooter]

Lawyerman, if you're a lawyer, buy the buck. Your time ISN'T worth the reloading cost. The principle reasons that buck can be expensive to reload: heavy powder charges and shot cost. To get full speed buck loads, you need 28-30grs of relatively slow powder (Universal or slower) instead of the 16-23grs for trap loads. This difference of 30-50% adds up over 25,50 or 100rds. I've made buck loads with fast powders, but you're talking about a completely different load (around 1200fps instead of 1350fps+). Loose buck runs about $8-9 per 5# from Hornady. Compare to regular lead shot at $13-16 per 25#. If you want buffering or custom wads, you'll easily exceed factory cost. I personally reload it as my time is my own, and I'm happy with the non-buffered loads that I create. But if time is factored in at work wage value, a lot of reloading becomes pointless.

 

[Youngster]

Check with Ballistic Products. They offer buck up to 0000 and components. They also have load data available.

As for casting one's own, lead is toxic as hate, and it's a royal pain. Easy to make bad stuff, harder to make good, round, uniform balls. Not worth it, IMO.

Looks like I'll be probably be sticking with factory loads then, it's a good thing then my shotgun likes the cheap stuff. Around where I live cheap 00 buck goes for the equivalent of about $2.67 USD for a box of 5 while regular Big Four 2.75" 00 or whatever hits about $3.70 for the same number, it'd be even cheaper if I could find a source that sells by the case.

Tactical and premium stuff is fairly rare and expensive where I am though.

 

[Dave McCracken]

L-man, I was talking about birdshot loads. A box takes less than 12 minutes to load, and that's at an unsweating rate.

OTOH, the first 5 pack of Superlight buck I loaded took 10. Hand insertion of the shot, doing the buffering thing,etc, takes much more time.

Federal makes great ammo, and the Gold Medal hulls are great for reloading, but the Tacticals may be not the best choice. Check with Federal.

Hmm, back in the day I used to get once fired AAs from our regional range. I wonder if I passed up a good thing by not grabbing all those Winchester and Federal buck cases. Oh well...

In your shoes, I'd be more inclined to catch the sales from CTD, Midway, etc...

 

[Lawyerman]

Thanks all. I guess I'll just buy case lots of generic-PMC etc buckshot and be done with it.