I have been reloading pistol and rifle cartridges for years and have just acquired a couple of old Mec reloaders so I can start loading shotgun shells, one is 12ga and the other will be set up for 2 1/2" .410 when my dies get here. What are the best powder and hulls to use and where do you get them? I will be loading a 1/2oz. of no. 8 or 9 shot in the .410 and probably 1 1/8 oz. of no. 6 or 8 shot in the 12. In some of my research people are recomending to stay away from 2 pc hulls, How do you know if they are 2 pc.??
If you look down the empty hull, you see whether the base wad is separate. You can load the ones with separate base wads, but they don't generally last as long, and each hull must be inspected for each reload to be sure the basewad is still in place, for safety and reliability.
The "compression formed" one piece hulls, like the Rem and Win skeet loads, are similarly dimension and easiest to reload many times. Their failure mode is usually split necks, which are immediately obvious.
The wad to hull match is critical in shotshell loading. At first, many new loaders try to pick up every empty they see, but soon find they settle on a few favorites which are similarly dimensioned so that they can set the MEC and just load.
There are a dozen ways to load standard 1 1/8 oz 12 ga hulls, but here's my skeet load: 700X powder, compression formed Win or Rem target hull, and the WAA12 WIN wad, or the equivalent Claybster CB 1118-12 (patent on the WAA12 wad ran out, and the Claybuster rip-off is cheaper). I generally load about 1200 fps, and vary the shot size for hunting.
The .410 is picky to reload, with wad, hull, and powder match critical. You need slow powders like 296, and large shot sizes are PIA to get down that little tube. But with the price of new .410 shells, it is worth it.
The "compression formed" one piece hulls, like the Rem and Win skeet loads, are similarly dimension and easiest to reload many times. Their failure mode is usually split necks, which are immediately obvious.
The wad to hull match is critical in shotshell loading. At first, many new loaders try to pick up every empty they see, but soon find they settle on a few favorites which are similarly dimensioned so that they can set the MEC and just load.
There are a dozen ways to load standard 1 1/8 oz 12 ga hulls, but here's my skeet load: 700X powder, compression formed Win or Rem target hull, and the WAA12 WIN wad, or the equivalent Claybster CB 1118-12 (patent on the WAA12 wad ran out, and the Claybuster rip-off is cheaper). I generally load about 1200 fps, and vary the shot size for hunting.
The .410 is picky to reload, with wad, hull, and powder match critical. You need slow powders like 296, and large shot sizes are PIA to get down that little tube. But with the price of new .410 shells, it is worth it.
I load quite a bit of 410, not much of the other guages these days. I like AA#9 and WW296 for what I load in 410. I have used 2400 as well. I prefer the Winchester AA type hulls or other compression formed hulls. Blitzfike
Color does not matter. My 12 ga hull box has different colors Win and Rem compression formed hulls that have the same internal dimensions and all load the same.
The promo hulls are different with the separate (plastic) base wad, but can also be loaded with a slightly different loader setup. Keep them separate. I load hulls with separate base wads, particularly for hunting loads which often only get fired once.
In 12ga, I toss those with paper base wads as chunks tend to blow out of them quickly.
ADDED: See posts below for info on variant of Winchester AA.
Good advice by Rod Snell.
I started out like he said, picking up every hull that hit the ground, and reloading them with one of the $30 lee loaders. That was all I could afford at the time. They do a decent job, so I'm not going to trash them at all. Many thousands of rounds and hundreds of hours went thru that loader. Had many different loads set up for peters, rem, win, and other hulls by test and trial.
Now. I've gone with the RCBS Grand, as the level of shotgun shooting has gone up to the point I needed a progressive, and use only the AA once fired hulls.
I load a thousand at a time, and will have to get out to the shop to see what the load is for 1 1/8, 7 1/2's.
Also load #5's for pheasant using blue dot.
I started out like he said, picking up every hull that hit the ground, and reloading them with one of the $30 lee loaders. That was all I could afford at the time. They do a decent job, so I'm not going to trash them at all. Many thousands of rounds and hundreds of hours went thru that loader. Had many different loads set up for peters, rem, win, and other hulls by test and trial.
Now. I've gone with the RCBS Grand, as the level of shotgun shooting has gone up to the point I needed a progressive, and use only the AA once fired hulls.
I load a thousand at a time, and will have to get out to the shop to see what the load is for 1 1/8, 7 1/2's.
Also load #5's for pheasant using blue dot.
The older Winchester AA were a one piece hull, but the new AA have a separate plastic basewad. They are supposed to load the same.
I like the Remington STS type of hulls the best. They are all one piece hulls and I seem to get a more consistant crimp with them.
Dennis, how did you like your #5/blue dot pheasant load? I loaded up some 1-3/8 oz #5 with blue dot this past year and seemed to have a lot of unburned powder in the barrel. They still killed birds though.
I like the Remington STS type of hulls the best. They are all one piece hulls and I seem to get a more consistant crimp with them.
Dennis, how did you like your #5/blue dot pheasant load? I loaded up some 1-3/8 oz #5 with blue dot this past year and seemed to have a lot of unburned powder in the barrel. They still killed birds though.
There are two answers for whether or not all AA hulls are compression formed. One yes and one no. I don't want to take a chance on messing up a barrel with a lodged base wad so I guess I will have to check every one I load the first time around to make sure it is a one pc hull.
Does anyone have a list of what the designations mean - STS, HS, SS etc.
Does anyone have a list of what the designations mean - STS, HS, SS etc.
Not flaming anyone here but you experanced SG loaders need to start off the new SG loaders with:Get a shotgun load manual and read it, then:
DO NOT SUBSTATUTE ANY COMPONATS OTHER THAN A TRUE REPLACEMENT WAD!!!!
I load SG too, have for years. I always tell the newby, get a SG load manual and never give them a load to start with.
Shotguns are proof tested to 20,000 LUP or maybe it's PSI today.
I have never seen published SG load data that goes over 13,000-14,000 LUP
99% stay in the 9,000-11,000 range. Changing componants in the published data can raise pressures drasticly!!!
Follow the published load manual to the lette if possible!!!
Once again no flaming here just trying to protect the newby.
DO NOT SUBSTATUTE ANY COMPONATS OTHER THAN A TRUE REPLACEMENT WAD!!!!
I load SG too, have for years. I always tell the newby, get a SG load manual and never give them a load to start with.
Shotguns are proof tested to 20,000 LUP or maybe it's PSI today.
I have never seen published SG load data that goes over 13,000-14,000 LUP
99% stay in the 9,000-11,000 range. Changing componants in the published data can raise pressures drasticly!!!
Follow the published load manual to the lette if possible!!!
Once again no flaming here just trying to protect the newby.
There's two styles of AA hulls, the OLD and the NEW, the old are large AA marked inside a box, one piece base wad, the new have smaller AA markings with no box, two piece base wad
The color of the hull makes no difference, there made the same.
If you can get eather of the AA's or the remington STS your in good shape there the most plentyful. Pick ONE, don't mix them.
Which ever hull you use be sure that it is identified properly!!!
Then as I said in my earlyer post, get a good SG load manual and follow the recisipe to the letter, your safer that way, we don't want anyone getting hurt or distroying a gun.
Be safe and have fun!!!
