The decline of shotshell reloading?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Even with the latest increases, my pet load for clays still runs about $3.25 a box. Sure I could get some cheap stuff for that and save my time, but they wouldn't be as good a load.

And I've not seen a good cheap 7/8 oz load yet. Oz loads, yes.

And, I like reloading. It's like fly tying, an auxilary hobby that provides stress relief.

An hour slaving away over the Grabber leaves me with some knots unkinked in my back and neck.

Reloading's not for everyone, but it's an option all should consider....
 
When I was a kid my dad taught me to reload shotshells - and pistol and rifle shells too. It was just something we did. that was the 60's.

Today the price of shotshells hasn't really gone out of sight, proportionally, as many here have said. You can still get 'em cheap. Just like the Mossberg 500, they're a great value. I have boxes full of shells I bought at sales here and there. I doubt I could shoot em all up in a week.

Guess what Im buying this year? Yep - shotshell reloading gear, likely one of those Lee Load -All jobs, like my dad used to have. I just like to do it! I dont care about the money saved, or not - it is satisfying to me. Im also getting up the gear to reload metallic, as well. Just for the joy of it.

It may be a dying art and I may be headed for extinction, but I'll go there shootin my own shells.
 
Since the bulk of my shooting with shotguns is in .410, I'll be reloading all the hulls I've saved so far. $8/25 can be easily beat by reloading, I'd wager.
 
Heh, I simply can't afford NOT to reload. Two competitve skeet shooters in the house. We go through a flat of 28g or .410 per practice session 3-4 times a week. On competition weekends we go through almost 4 flats of ammo. Last 8lb jug of Longshot lasted me less than 6 weeks. Same for a sleeve of primers.

As for the "price wash" for 20g and 12g, well, it ain't quite so. At the volumes we shoot, it still is worth saving the <$1.00 per box. Plus, I don't care for the cheapie ammo as much my own stuff.

And, I just like reloading. It's part of the whole shotgunning experience for me.
 
Again, when you shoot some VERY competitive wacky events like Annie Oakleys, chip shoots, buddy shoots, etc., for prizes and for your sacred honor, from 27 yards (sometimes farther back if there is a shoot-off), those lowball Wal-Mart shells just don't cut it. So, compared to the equivalent STS Golds, my handloads are a lot cheaper, and they even work a hair better for me.

If you just shoot an occasional round of trap from 16 yards, well, you won't know the difference unless you get Winchesters that won't feed in your gun, or Federals that make you cough if you blow out the barrel.:p
 
And, I like reloading. It's like fly tying, an auxilary hobby that provides stress relief.

An hour slaving away over the Grabber leaves me with some knots unkinked in my back and neck.

Reloading's not for everyone, but it's an option all should consider....
Click to expand...

Amen.

My brother-in-law and I (Mantis, here on THR) talk about this all the time. It is a great stress-reliever, and enjoyable on several levels. It requires focus, and -- even if only for a short time -- offers a little escape.

Right now, my passion is for shooting and reloading .45's and .44 mags. I still have my MEC Jr set up for shot shells, though. Back when my wife and I were shooting Clays every weekend, it was well worth my while to reload those Winchester AA shells. Now, I load up a few hundred a year for pheasant and woodcock hunting. Most of my reloading time is spend on .44, 45, and .357, but I still like to fire up the shotshell reloader from time to time over the winter to keep the hunting vest stoked in the coming season.
 
In my opinion reloading is not just about saving money, it is truly a part of the shooting experience. Everybody I shoot with reloads. It's a topic of its own after the shoot with a brew or two. So, if you realy are into shooting, reloading will give more enjoyment to the sport

DSC_0044.gif
 
Plus, if you appreciate GOOD ammo and what it can do for you (accuracy, velocity and consistancy DO matter in shotshells as much as metallic), you'll shy away from those loss-leaders and Wally-World specials.

Last time I checked, they frequently used reclaimed shot, and this is even more likely now with the cost of lead the way it is.

You might as well shoot square shot as shoot reclaimed. Never mind the mess the budget powders leave in the barrel.

I shoot 28 gauge exclusively, and I won't even mess with the Estates. I can still save money over $6/box, and have vastly better rounds.

Cribbage
 
I reload, I'm not a high-volume shooter, and I shoot a 12 gauge. Why? Because I can make a better shell for a bit less money than I can buy. Switching from 1oz promo loads to a 1 1/8 oz handload improved my scores noticably, like 3-4 birds per round. I was averaging 14/25, with a best of 16. Now, it's more like 17/25 avg, with a best of 23. I don't shoot any more than before, I'm just breaking more birds.

My reloads cost about $3.00 / box, maybe a bit more. That's about a buck cheaper than promos, and about 2 bucks cheaper than 1 1/8 oz feild loads. The time is free, as I wouldn't be spending it on money-generating activities anyway.

For me, it makes sense, and I enjoy doing it.

--Shannon
 
Interesting comments and thanks to those who've contributed so far. To those that suggested I answered my own question I agree but my point was to find out if my conclusions are unique to where I live. It seems they aren't. For the most part reloading has become the preserve of subgauge shooters, high volume competitors, those who want different and better choices of ammo and/or those of us who feel more in touch with shotgunning when we roll their own.

There have also been several posters who are quite content to shoot the promo loads. I know many shooters who do that and some of them do very well with them. FWIW, I despite the Federal Top Gun but the Winchester Super Target isn't bad stuff IMHO. I wouldn't feel handicapped shooting sporting clays with this load provided I had a box of premium, hard-shot loads for longer shots.

A question to the folks loading 12 and 20 who are high volume shooters. To load high volume pretty much requires a progressive press. Purchased new a MEC 9000 with a good scale and accessories would be around $400. The savings are around $1.00 per box meaning it would take 10,000 rounds just to recoup your initial investment. If you didn't have the equipment already would you make the investment today?
 
PJR - I've started responding to this thread a few times, but have been interrupted each time. In any event, my reloading has really tapered off over the past couple years. It started with a large purchase of cheap (but decent patterning) ammo. I used that for practice and league stuff and picked up some flats of premium stuff for competition.

A little over a year ago, I started shooting registered events. It's been time-consuming and frequently means time away from my family. I don't want to spend even more time away from them, squirreled away in a corner of the basement reloading. Therefore, this year I purchased another even larger quantity of shells, and am looking to get a pallet-load delivered before the end of the year.

I like reloading. I like the cost savings (premium ammo at value-pack prices), the ability to tailor a load to a specific need, and even the plain-old process. I don't like the time it takes... I'd rather be spending time with my kids and wife or out on a course (or both :)).

That said, I have been doing a little reloading recently and am planning on doing more once the hunting season starts and the clays season tapers off.

Regarding your question:

If you didn't have the equipment already would you make the investment today?
Click to expand...

I think so. I use a MEC 9000G that a friend sold to me for a song, and it paid for itself within a year. Since I'm currently shooting upwards of 10K per year, another progressive would make good sense.

In fact, when my new gun arrives (with all the sub-gauge tubes), I'm probably going to pick up a 28ga 9000G and a couple Sizemasters in .410 and 20ga.
 
A question to the folks loading 12 and 20 who are high volume shooters. To load high volume pretty much requires a progressive press. Purchased new a MEC 9000 with a good scale and accessories would be around $400. The savings are around $1.00 per box meaning it would take 10,000 rounds just to recoup your initial investment. If you didn't have the equipment already would you make the investment today?
Click to expand...

I figure the savings are closer to a $1.50 vs AA/STS (3.25 the first time)
But the 2nd time, the savings are closer to 2.50 (hulls are free the 2nd time, 3rd time, etc). but doesn't matter.

We bought all our stuff last august (get married to a gun nut, see what happens)
We have already rolled over 18,000 rounds.:what:

Yeah, I'd say it's paid for itself.
already.
And it should last for 100,000 rounds and more I would expect.
 
Don't forget the residule value of your equipment. Even a beat up 9000 will fetch a couple hundred dollors.
 
Another Consideration

All these threads about TEOTWAWKI , Ammo supplies being out, no way to get ammo, or components.

I was born in '55, JFK shot in '63, GCA of '68, Add Cold War, Missles being pointed at us by Cuba...

I grew up with Folks, them Mentors and Elders I mention often, being self reliant.

All these Threads today - folks back when, and before me, were doing all this stuff already to be self reliant.

Folks did not "just to the corner gun store" and for sure did not order off the Internet. Some only came to town twice a month.

Folks hoarded Single Shot Shotguns and had supplies to reload pellet and slug loads.
Even back then folks did slugs , even the simple ones, which are still very effective similar to some on this page - just the simple round ball.
http://shop2.mailordercentral.com/bpicart/products.asp?dept=71

LOTs of .22 ammo, for single shot .22 rifles, and Medium frame revlovers, 1911 and all - Them simple hand held Lee Reloaders stuck back. Duplicates, old trade ins, pawn shop finds...hoarded.

I gravitated to shotguns, I never got into metallic. Still, folks always had a way to reload ammo.

Always kept stores put back to reload ammo. WE didn't know what all may happen.

No Gubmint to call on 911, did not have 911. Tornado come thru, and too many times canned goods, water, guns, ammo, and reloading stuff taken to and used by victims.

Why we hoarded. Someones house / area hit / gets tossed to pcs, and the guns in it, or the barns are gone...WE were neighborly . This was recipricated.

I mean a simple single stage MEC wiil make a round ball slug that will take a deer, I have done it, and seen it happen to many times. Pellet loads for game, for food...

The hardware store is gone, the bait shop is gone...All that ammo they had is gons...house is gone and you are guarding what you have ...with a borrowed gun, ammo given and the means to make more.


I was big enough to shoot a 28 ga. Single shot shotgun by myself. Mentor hands me a reload, and tells me to shoot the door off an wrecked Desota [ Car make at the time].
Yep, that 28 ga round ball slug went thru that old, heavy metal door.

"Why?"
"Because the looters may be shooting at you and using that car door as cover, you may have to stop a serious threat, get them to stop shooting folks with that 28 ga single shot you can handle"

"Oh! Can I shoot some more please".
'Yep, then we gonna show you how to make more"
"Oh boy!"

How raised - what you do.
 
I recently stated reloading 20ga because I could not find specialty ammo I wanted to afford. I picked up a used MEC Jr. for $35 and now roll my own blackpowder shells for a lot cheaper than I can purchase them. Not to mention availability- blackpowder shells are hard to find.
 
I would never criticize anyone's decision whether to reload or not. I shoot a fairly small amount of trap and significantly less than half of the shooters I've met reload. They describe the potential savings and it's really not significant, nor are the trap results noticiably different. Maybe some guns would benefit from reloaded shells, but most newer model guns shoot the cheaper fodder just fine, especially with a long barrel, backbored barrel and extended choke tube. As much as I wouldn't mind trying reloading, it would be an economically foolhardy decision for me to invest even more money on shells for very little if any improvement in score. Of course I'm talking about 12 gauge or 20 gauge only, and I don't shoot enough .410's hunting.
There's some Yale trap team members who come to shoot for summer practice, and they have to pay for their own practice ammo. And you know what they shoot? WalMart loads, and they shoot just as well if not a little bit better on average than everyone else, many whom also shoot promo loads. And even the guns don't matter very much as far as being expensive or fancy.
The club shooters buy a big pallet of shot once in a while, or else the prices are just too steep to provide any cost benefit.
We're shooting for fun and recreation, not for serious competition.
To make another analogy, when people shoot .22 bullseye, some guns shoot the cheap standard velocity ammo better than the expensive ammo. The league keeps enough statistics to make it easy to figure out, it's often more the shooter and the gun than the ammo.
So, I hope everyone understands that it's often both the scores and the overall costs that keep hobby & recreational shooters from considering becoming serious reloaders. It's not a criticism, it's just the way it seems to be.
And when the sport gets to be too expensive or there is a future disruption in supplies, I'll shoot my muzzle loaders without any hulls or cartridge cases! :D
 
Blackpowder shotgun has a lot to recommend it. Every load can be customized for the conditions (i.e. spreader loads for skeet #8), different shot sizes in each barrel, etc. Even though I don't reload much for my regular shotguns, for my bp double, I get a lot of action. It also slows down a skeet match somewhat but people enjoy watching it go off so don't mind the slowdown usually.
 
RELOADING (or Handloading as we call it in the UK)

What a fantastic thread!
I have been handloading (shotgun) since 1962. Nothing has ever been cheap in this little country of ours - all of our governments, whatever their political colour have been corrupt and tax us to the hilt to pay for deadbeats and scroungers. Saying that, you will not be surprised that shotshells in 1962 were EXPENSIVE. It was not until the 70's when I started visiting and shooting at USAAF airbases that I realised how much we were being ripped off in the UK. By this time Eley was forced to close for months, after a horrendous explosion that killed four key staff.Cannuck shells were rushed in from CIL along with reclaimed 4BP primers. Red Dot powder became the norm!

Newly made friends at these bases supplied us with Win AA shells at silly prices. (Our purchase tax on 'luxury' goods at that time was 33%!) We could shoot for less than half price! I tell you, Texan presses, Remy 1100's, ammo, lead shot, powder, primers, wads - you name it - flowed through those gates!

In 1973, while on such a visit to USAAF Bentwaters in Suffolk, I shot Skeet with homemade shot. When I mentioned it and opened a shell to reveal the said pellets with a re-used AA wad, the comment from a pilot was: "Buddy, you really are in a bad way here."

I miss those days!
 
Around here, the 28?? gauge is very rare so a guy i know, he buys like a thousand cases and shoots them as he would anyway, but then he sells the empty shells on ebay and gets half his money back just from that.

I know a few people that reload shot shells and it is definatly overpriced, but I believe for the sake of conservation and such that it is a good practice.

Many here have expressed that it is cheaper to buy new shells, that wal-mart has them for 4 or 5 bucks a box... to this I laugh, your getting ripped off even at that price, lol, seriously i wouldnt pay more that 3 bucks a box. but no matter.

Happy shooting
 
I am 20 and have been reloading for several years know. I reload Shotshells and .308.I have been around shotshell reloading all of my life, my dad reloaded, so i used his formula unitl i got old enough to work my own. .308 because it allows me to make a custom load for my deer rifles. my only problem is that reloading equipment is about 150 miles away.


and like Scoupe said,
I just like reloading. It's part of the whole shotgunning experience for me.
 
Last edited:
Reload Costs

I walked into a gun shop today and bought everthing needed to reload 7/8 oz. target loads, except the AA hulls, which my Dad already has. He also has a MEC 600 Jr. reloader. I bought one bushing and a new bar for the 7/8 loads, and I'm not including those in the costs. I don't know the cost of hulls, but was told to use about $0.10 each, and I figured with light loads they can be used about 4 times each. All costs below include 7% NC Sales Tax.

Powder - Hodgdon Clays, 14 oz., 18 grain charge makes 340 shells
$20.28 divided by 388 = $0.060 each

Shot - 25 lbs. of #8 magnum, 7/8 oz. load makes 457 shells
$34.19 divided by 457 = $0.075 each

Wads - $7.06 for 250 = $0.028 each

Primers - $4.23 for 100 = $.042 each

Subtotal without hulls = $0.205

Hulls $0.107 each with 4 uses = $.027 each

Total cost = $0.232

Cost per box $5.80 ($5.125 without the hulls)

Does this seem about right? Are there alternative sources for shot and powder, on the 'net, other than beating up on my local vendors? This might be ok for my 16 gauge gun, but doesn't seem worthwhile for my 12's. I'll have fun with my Dad reloading the stuff, and the light target loads will be ok, but we also wasted a gallon of gas and an hour going to the store. Oh, and I was a gnat's eyelash from buying another gun while in the store, so that cost probably needs to be included!! ;^)

Danny
 
good gawd:fire:
you need to find another store
i walk into sportsman warehouse and walk out

25lbs of shot for $21
1000 Win209 primers (or CCI's) for $25
8lbs of Clays for $96
Hulls I get for 3 cents each (sometimes I'll pay 4 cents for STS's, but not for AA's, the MOST i have ever seen hulls for was $7/100)
Wads are $5/250 (20/1000)

plus sales tax.

your prices are outrageous, don't buy there anymore.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

elktrout
  • Locked
Ammo for Clays Shooting
Replies
13
Views
1K
George P
George P
evan price
  • Locked
Winchester AA-HS hulls- what the heck, Winchester?
Replies
1
Views
2K
Uniquedot
U
R
  • Locked
Query About "win Aa" Hulls
Replies
5
Views
993
mswestfall
M
F
  • Locked
set up for reloading 28 gauge
Replies
17
Views
3K
flexible
F
J
  • Locked
Reasonably priced 20 gauge target ammo that's reloadable
Replies
6
Views
702
oneounceload
O
Back
Top