I made my first shot shells tonight!!!

[OH_Spartan]

I used a lane hand loader to make my first shotshells tonight. My goal is to teach my son to hunt tree rats and season opens saturday here. I was a little tight on the deadline.

After a few threads here on THR and a little pain finding the exact components for a recipie I finally got to try it tonight. The lane isn't all that bad, really. I wouldn't use it if I was competition shooting every weekend, but for a few boxes a year so my kids can learn it isn't bad.

You guys would have laughed at me. My first shell, I counted out 112, #6 pellets so I would get an exact measurement of shot wt. My first discharge I held the gun behind a tree, wore long sleeves and leather gloves and cringed when I pulled the trigger.

Thanks fellow high roaders for helping me learn what I needed to have the confidence to even try.

 

[gspn]

Congrats! And welcome to a pursuit that will continue to teach you things for as long as you are willing to learn. Every time I go a bit further down the road, deeper into the world of reloading, I see even more avenues I can take...with more things to learn.

I hope you and your son have a great time in the woods together...I know I have with mine.

 

[41 Mag]

Now that you have some all loaded up, get you some freezer paper out and put it up on a wooden frame or possibly clothes pin it to a couple of wires stretched between a couple of post. I have used plenty of different things, even a big piece of cardboard box works.

Anyway have the young one draw out a squirrel sized area using a magic marker or sharpie in the middle. Might even look and see if you can find some small animal targets to print out on the web, I know there are a ton.

Stick the target out at about 25-30yd and let the boy give it a go with one of your rounds. Have him hold the bead just under the aiming point. After that let hm count how many pellets he put into the actual target and see where the majority of them went. Sometimes it is not the same place.

That will teach him to pattern the loads. Not so much that they actually hit POA, but he learns WHERE they hit. A little change here and there, and you will find you can change up the groups pretty easily with a tiny change.

Even shot size can make a load shoot tighter or spread considerably. Once you find one that puts most of the shot in and around the actual holding spot your good to go. Not that you need to worry too much about it before the weekend, but something you can both do together to improve his success. If he is confident where the shot is going he will put it there more often.

 

[bubbinator]

Not much reply here-you are going to need more than a handgun shot shell load to hunt squirrels! Stick to snakes in 10' for those. Get the boy a shotgun!

 

[ljnowell]

Not much reply here-you are going to need more than a handgun shot shell load to hunt squirrels! Stick to snakes in 10' for those. Get the boy a shotgun!

In case you missed it, they are reloading shot shells, for a shotgun.

 

[Texan Scott]

.410, 2.5" shell?

What're you shooting it out of? Sounds like a fine use for an old pawnshop rescue H&R single-shot to me!

Pick those pellets out, shred the meat, and make yourselves a good squirrel pie... you'll need about 6-7 and a good flour crust in an 8" pie plate.

We expect pictures of the sliced pie.

 

[OH_Spartan]

Yes I am using 2.5" 410-bore shells in a shotgun. I can't remember the model number but it is a bolt action, tube-fed stevens. I'm no expert at patterning, but I had a pretty even spread on a pizza box at 25 yards. Close enough to point of aim that I would trust it to shoot into a 60-foot tree. Squirrels are cutting early here this hear. Should be a good hunt.

I was actually thinking of grilling the meat, but you made me think of another option...potatoes, onions, bell peppers wrapped in foil and baked on a bed of hot coals.

 

[Texan Scott]

Very nice! This right here is the sort of thing more kids should have growing up... parents who spend time, pay attention, show affection, pass on a skill, and teach responsiblity and a bit of self reliance.

Any way you add food to it at the end is just gravy. (Oooh, gravy!)

 

[GT1]

potatoes, onions, bell peppers wrapped in foil and baked on a bed of hot coals.

I am up for that! Been a few years since I've had tree rat.

 

[oneounceload]

Sorry, but counting pellets does not mean you achieved your desired weight - it all depends on the shot and its content. Magnum shot is lighter than soft lead, and shotshells are loaded by volume corresponding to some weight tolerance

 

[Texan Scott]

Careful Spartan... successfully killing several squirrels only to discover the pellet count was irregular might be terribly embarrassing.

Of course, you've already proofed one in your gun, so...

Be safe and have fun!!

 

[41 Mag]

My first scattergun was a Mossberg bolt action .410 sporting a full choke. Pop told me when I could knock the doves down with it we'd talk about something else. I gotta tell you I got far more squirrels with it than I ever did doves, but I did get them....eventually. The oldest of my 3 grandsons has been working on a few squirrels with it over the past couple of years.

My bud likes the little cat squirrels smothered in a pan of red eye gravy for an hour or so in the crock pot. Our area has more of the bigger fox or red squirrels and I usually skin them out, dredge them in some flour and give a very quick trip through a skillet of hot grease, then drop them in the crock pot with a can or two of cream of mushroom soup or some brown gravy, sometimes a little of both.

Either of the above ways are enough to about put a real hurtin on yourself.

Good luck on your hunt, hope you let us in on how you all did.