Reloading shotshells without a press?

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A strange person

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It seems to me that it would be fairly easy to reload shotshells without any special equipment using the "nail and dowel" method (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ4IBv0Bg9U).

There are several reasons I want to do this:

- I don't have the space to set up a reloading press.

- I don't want to pay for a reloading press.

- The 12GA Lee loader kit was discontinued ages ago, apparently.

- I do not need to reload very much; just a few custom hunting loads that will be carried more than shot. My high-volume training and clay shooting will continue to be done with cheap trap ammo from Wally world.

Has anyone here ever tried this? I would appreciate you sharing your experiences and knowledge.
 
If you don't want to buy a basic press, I suggest you keep buying factory shells.
 
I would say if the normal options of building shotshells are a no-go, then I would think about hand loading each shell and using a roll crimper.
This can be done on a small drill press or hand drill.
There are many vid's on YouTube about doing this. Just get a good load manual on shot shells ie. Lyman or others and follow the load data but use a roll crimp tool instead of fold crimps.

That would be another way, but the roll crimp heads are not cheap either...$39 and up....Just guessing...look online for shotshell roll crimpers.
Last time I bought a set of them they were $29 each..But thats been a while back.:D
Look here---> http://www.ballisticproducts.com/Roll-Crimping-Tools/products/128/

I would also suggest strongly to buy a good beam scale to measure powder and shot.

I tried the basic shot shell loading idea ( nail, hammer etc..) a few times just to say I did it, but I would not personally load more than a handful that way.....Too much trouble for ME..You may have more patience than I ? :banghead:


TD
 
Now that the useless reply from the unimaginative Mr. Orthodox is out of the way
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I'll third it.
BYJO4 gave you a straight answer and further discussion if not necessary to say the same thing again.

Smokeless shotgun shells operate at a high enough pressure to require resizing of the metal shell head when you reload them.

If not resized each firing, you will sooner or later have chambering, extraction, or loose primer problems too severe to ignore.

rc
 
reload them by hand all you want.. you still need to resize them..

and if you can't find a shotshell loader in a garage sale for $30 bucks, time to turn in your man-card
 
Funny thing, I'll go to a show this weekend, and I'll probably see 2 or 3 old shotshell reloaders pretty cheap. A decent used MEC is often well under $100, sometimes a lot less. Regarding pistol and rifle reloading, I have not seen a used Dillon in years (maybe never - I just can't recall ever seeing one around here), haven't seen a used RCBS in a long time, might find a used LEE, but no guarantee of that either.

As long as the tools are readily available at a decent price, I see no reason to take the risk.

Reminds me of a video a friend sent a link to showing how a guy makes his own white gas for running his coleman stove. As a minimalist approach, I applaud the guy for his ingenuity. But if I couldn't find fuel to run my coleman stove, I'd figure out some other method for boiling water, like a wood fire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY6stOum0wM

A strange person - I don't think anyone is knocking you for wanting to try something different, or taking a minimalist approach. But if you were considering the Lee basic loading kit, you could probably find it or something else used at a good price. And this forum is full of great ideas for reloading on the cheap and in tight spaces.

Your other option is you probably have a friend you shoot with who has a reloading setup and wouldn't mind the occasional intrusion for you to try rolling your own. I've offered several friends the opportunity to load some pistol rounds on my equipment.
 
I'll third it.
BYJO4 gave you a straight answer and further discussion if not necessary to say the same thing again.

Smokeless shotgun shells operate at a high enough pressure to require resizing of the metal shell head when you reload them.
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BYJ04 said nothing. You, at least, gave me an actual explanation of a problem I might encounter. That is constructive.

But I don't believe the shell head would need to be resized every single time it is used, because once-fired spent hulls will fit into the chamber of my 870 just fine. I'm sure this would be needed with repeated firings, but I will not need to reload that much. I just have a few ideas for loads that are not commercially available, and when I make them, I will just keep them on hand for when I need them. I will not need to reuse the hulls over and over again. When it comes time to make more, I will have plenty of fresh hulls from factory ammo by then. Also, most of the loads I'm thinking of would be distinctly low-pressure loads.

I watched a video not too long ago of a hunter/survivalist Dave Canterbury reloads a 12ga shell using black powder and a screwdriver. I am sure that you could use smokeless powder if you had a more accurate method of measuring but as Dave describes black powder is more forgiving.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F85LM...feature=relmfu
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Very interesting video; this is about what I had in mind, except I doubt I will ever use black powder in my 870. I definitely like Dave more than the barefoot guy. I also like his idea about using medium-sized shot for making a versatile load that can be used on a variety of game at modest range. I posted a thread about just that a while back, but it just got alot of head-scratching and "why not just use the right shell for the job"? I really ought to save that sort of stuff for dedicated survivalism forums where people understand me.
 
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FWIW I found a 12 GA and a 20 GA Lee loader within the last year myself. One on the trading post here and one on Gun Broker. Both in the $25 shipped range. If you are willing to wait some and look around I bet some more of them will show eventually. They make a 12 GA reloading die set at RCBS to use on the brass shotshells Magtech makes that use a large pistol primer and fit on a standard press with the large threaded hole. I just removed the bushing on my Rock Chucker. Note there is no way to star crimp them however and the dies are in the $65 range.
 
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In an "emergency" where will you get shot, powder, primers, and wads? If you stock up on those get a danged Lee loader and be done with it.

I am a master typist, my Kindle fire goes out of its way to make me look bad.
 
If one were to practice and shoot clays with factory shotgun shells and only wanted to make a few special purpose hunting reloads with a glue crimp... I don't see why one would wanna buy a reloading press for that. You wouldn't need the hulls to last forever. Some hulls only last for a few reloadings, anyway.

Seems like the guy in the video already figured out the how. Just make sure you use the right load information for the correct hulls and wads. I fail to see how a reloading press will make the difference between safe loads and unsafe loads. That's where the information and scale come in.
 
Where I used to live, there was a little mom and pop gun shop, he always had once fire hulls there at different prices. I asked him one day, why the different prices, he said just like brass some hulls can be reloaded more than others. Then he said guys love Winchester AA hulls, they last many reloads. I got to thinking, I have a Texan 12 ga loader, and 2 cases of Winchester AA hulls. Never got around to reloading them, because thats when a box of 12ga shells was 3.00 at Wallyworld. Now that Wallyword Value Pack of 100rds is now creeping to 25.00. I might dust of the old Texan and see what i need for it and start hammering out 12ga.

I beleive i got the Texan at a auction. Pretty cheap if i remember correctly because that was before the goverment spent all the money in the world and put us in the position we are in now. So Mec and Texans may have gone up in price. But if you have the room for another press and the funds, get one, because if the wrong guy gets in office we are going to be trading rocks as money. So im makeing sure that i have ammo for it. BTW i live on a rocky side of the mountain, so if your going to need new currency let me know. haha
 
I have a MEC and a Lee Load All. I like them both. However I also bought the Lee Loader 12 guage (and 20 and 410) off of EBAY a few years ago. They work quite well.
 
The POS Lee Load All is still available, but a used MEC Jr. would do a much better job. What components are you using? Do you have the proper components? Hulls are not necessarily interchangeable, nor are wads, primers or powders

Believing anyone who can easily post a you tube video actually knows what they are doing and that is safe is asking for trouble. There are published reloading data and books that show the proper procedures.

If you really want some fancy hunting ammo, perhaps a search at Cabela's, Bass' Gander, etc., might find you what you want without the trouble
 
I just have a few ideas for loads that are not commercially available,
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Also, most of the loads I'm thinking of would be distinctly low-pressure loads.
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How does your first statement even remotely come close to your second? How do you know what the pressures are? Do you have the testing equipment? How did you determine what components and how much to use?
 
If you really want some fancy hunting ammo, perhaps a search at Cabela's, Bass' Gander, etc., might find you what you want without the trouble
Click to expand...

I am already familiar with all of the factory ammo that is currently available. I have the internet.

How does your first statement even remotely come close to your second? How do you know what the pressures are? Do you have the testing equipment? How did you determine what components and how much to use?
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The first and second statements have nothing to do with eachother.

The loads I am referring to generally consist of light shot weights at low velocities, and can reasonably be concluded to be low-pressure.
 
In an "emergency" where will you get shot, powder, primers, and wads? If you stock up on those get a danged Lee loader and be done with it.
Click to expand...

You can get lead anywhere, and I know techniques for creating shot. Powder can be had from pistol ammo or .22 ammo, and wads can be crafted from cloth if necessary. Primers would obviously have to come from shotgun ammo (unless one happens to chance upon a box of shotgun primers.) If you need defensive or deer-slaying ammo, you could take the primers from trap loads, and vice versa.
 
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