Organizing Shotshell Components

[lckdnldd]

How do you shotshell loaders organize your loading components for storage and easy access. Like shells, wads, cards and shot. I am just getting set up to load 12 gauge buckshot and slugs. I load for handguns and have things set up like I want for that but shotshell loading has a lot of bulky components. I have seen the MTM Shotshell and Wad Hopper dispensers but we loaders are DIY kind of people. I am sure some of you have some well thought out solutions for storage and easy access. If so can you share your ideas with me. Pics if possible. Thanks.

 

[cfullgraf]

I have a couple shelf units in my reloading room. Fired hulls get placed in a corrugate box like a small moving box and then stored on the shelf units. Wads are left in the original bag and stacked on the top shelf.

Primers and powder are stored in the same manner as my metallic cartridge primers and powders. Shot is stored under the shelf units on the floor.

As a note, I pretty much load only target loads and I use only one brand/style of hull for each gauge that I reload for. It minimizes having multiple style components for each gauge and simplifies the storing. If I want a shell for a different purpose, I buy it and discard the hulls if they are not the same that I use for my target ammunition.

 

[12Bravo20]

I do basically the same. I keep my hulls in a small plastic tote and I put shot bag in a coffee can (to help prevent spills) and leave the wads in the bag they come in. I store my shotgun primers with my other primers and all powders in a separate cabinet.

Cfullgraf brings up a good point about not mixings different brands of hulls and components. This is important when reloading shot shells since hulls and wads are not interchangeable with each other like metallic cartridge components are. Choose you hull, wad, and powder and stick with the exact reloading data given by the powder manufacturer for that combo.

 

[George P]

My MEC loader sits in the middle of the reloading area (4'wide) on either side I have small boxes - one for wads, one for hulls. 8# jugs of powder sit on the first shelf below and shot on the bottom. 1# plastic powder bottles make a great way to easily handle 25# of shot. Case of wads sits in a small closet with one bag on the bench at a time.

 

[Thomasss]

20 sq. inch platform with 1.5 inch wood rail around 3 sides. MEC grabber dead center. 25 to 35 shells left of loading unit and may be 100 wads to the right. Powder and shot bottles full. I also have a side table for some tools and a shot shell stacker. Everything else is on another shelf away from loading area. I load a box and then check my supplies.

 

[rfwobbly]

You're right. The hulls and wads take up a lot of room. They are very bulky but extremely light weight. Like Cfullgraf, the best you can do is keep the primers and powders organized, then the rest sort of lays around, out of the way. I keep shot on the floor. Hulls and wads are in those big "use it again" synthetic shopping bags. The handles make them easy to tote across the room when it's shot shell time.

 

[Barbaroja]

By far the most space intensive stuff is wads and hulls. I store hulls in cardboard boxes that copier paper come in. As far as wads I just have bags stocked on shelves. I can’t help but want to experiment so I have a number of different hulls and wads but primarily its winchester AA and Waa12r wads.

 

[brewer12345]

The wads sit in huge boxes on the very top shelf in the garage since they are bulky, but light. Hulls are in plastic buckets and I generally keep them primed and resized. Shot is heavy and compact, so it sits on the floor unless I have an open bag I am working on or using a bag or two to weight something down.

 

[George P]

By far the most space intensive stuff is wads and hulls. I store hulls in cardboard boxes that copier paper come in. As far as wads I just have bags stocked on shelves. I can’t help but want to experiment so I have a number of different hulls and wads but primarily its winchester AA and Waa12r wads.

I load one load for 12 and one for 20 - both are 3/4oz to make expensive shot last (533 loads from a bag). Since my reloads are only used for practice and not tournaments, this works for me. That light of a load also means low recoil. Nitro gold hulls, Win 209, CB wads

 

[GE-Mini-Gun]

As George P...only one hull Winchester A-A and one load (same as him for 12 and 20 3/4oz) and CB wads (cheaper than anything else).



Press on left is a Dillon SL-900, dark blue container is full of 12ga hulls, clear one beside it is 20ga, only has a couple hundred empties in it as I just loaded all of them; 28's and 410 are on shelf not shown. Everything under the bench is shotgun, all buckets to the right are full of loaded 12 and 20. 28's, 410's, wads and primers are on shelf not shown, shot is in another room.

 

[Barbaroja]

I load one load for 12 and one for 20 - both are 3/4oz to make expensive shot last (533 loads from a bag). Since my reloads are only used for practice and not tournaments, this works for me. That light of a load also means low recoil. Nitro gold hulls, Win 209, CB wads

It’s wise to stretch a bag if shot as far as you can these days. I don’t play any clay games, just loading my hunting ammo, hence the need for various components. I primarily load 1 1/4oz for two reasons 1) shooting squirrels out of giant Douglas fir trees I can use all the extra shot I can get. 2) I bought 5000+ wAA12r wads for $1 per bag at an estate sale.
My wife is going to be tossing bags of wAA12r into the trash when I die

 

[Barbaroja]

Double post

 

[George P]

It’s wise to stretch a bag if shot as far as you can these days. I don’t play any clay games, just loading my hunting ammo, hence the need for various components. I primarily load 1 1/4oz for two reasons 1) shooting squirrels out of giant Douglas fir trees I can use all the extra shot I can get. 2) I bought 5000+ wAA12r wads for $1 per bag at an estate sale.
My wife is going to be tossing bags of wAA12r into the trash when I die

You could always drop down to 1oz and either use a dacron filler on top or an overshot card before crimping to take up that extra space.

 

[Armored farmer]

 

[Barbaroja]

[

You could always drop down to 1oz and either use a dacron filler on top or an overshot card before crimping to take up that extra space.

i need the pattern density of the 1 1/4 oz to get consistent kills on squirrels in my environment. It’s mostly evergreen trees in the 200+foot range I shoot them through a full choke and usually only get a few pellets into them at those distances.

armored farmer- nice setup!

 

[George P]

View attachment 966014 View attachment 966015 View attachment 966016

Those EZ Paks sure make that part a lot nicer.

 

[lckdnldd]

Thank you for the responses so far. Definitely fuel for thought. I finally got all the components I needed to get started. Quite a bundle of stuff.