Quality of Older Shotgun Shells

[Ultradog MN]

Not much point in smaller gauges for most things. A light 7/8oz load in a 12ga offers the same recoil in a much more common platform. About the only other gauges I'd consider (and they're both abominably expensive to shoot) are 28 ga for clay games and maybe some light hunting and .410 - same, same. The latter two both have some advantages but their lack of popularity makes them expensive to shoot, even for reloaders. (And I'm not so sure that reloading, at today's component prices, pays many dividends...

GsT

There was a time when I would have agreed with you. But then I got married and some of my excess stuff became marital property.
About that same time I learned that if a particular gun was cute, it was better than other guns - even if it is a cheap, no name, oddball guage.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

There was a time when I would have agreed with you. But then I got married and some of my excess stuff became marital property.
About that same time I learned that if a particular gun was cute, it was better than other guns - even if it is a cheap, no name, oddball guage.

20Gauge???

 

[David2011]

Not much point in smaller gauges for most things. A light 7/8oz load in a 12ga offers the same recoil in a much more common platform. About the only other gauges I'd consider (and they're both abominably expensive to shoot) are 28 ga for clay games and maybe some light hunting and .410 - same, same. The latter two both have some advantages but their lack of popularity makes them expensive to shoot, even for reloaders. (And I'm not so sure that reloading, at today's component prices, pays many dividends...

GsT

You’re right but it’s not new. In 2016-2018 I was shooting Cowboy Action. At the same time I was shooting 4-6 rounds of trap weekly so my shoulder was in great shape for tolerating 12 ga recoil. I used a box of Walmart trap and small game loads for Cowboy in a 20” side by side one weekend and they beat the snot out of me. I immediately started loading lighter hand loads for Cowboy but recognized that new shot drove the cost to about 50% more than factory trap loads. I started going to the club trap range when it wasn’t in use to scrounge used shot. In the SE New Mexico desert the shot was easily found among the vegetation and ant mounds but separating shot from sand and rocks was a lot of work. The loads were so much more pleasant to shoot that it was worth the effort.

 

[GeneT45]

You’re right but it’s not new. In 2016-2018 I was shooting Cowboy Action. At the same time I was shooting 4-6 rounds of trap weekly so my shoulder was in great shape for tolerating 12 ga recoil. I used a box of Walmart trap and small game loads for Cowboy in a 20” side by side one weekend and they beat the snot out of me. I immediately started loading lighter hand loads for Cowboy but recognized that new shot drove the cost to about 50% more than factory trap loads. I started going to the club trap range when it wasn’t in use to scrounge used shot. In the SE New Mexico desert the shot was easily found among the vegetation and ant mounds but separating shot from sand and rocks was a lot of work. The loads were so much more pleasant to shoot that it was worth the effort.

I found that you have to buy significant quantities to break even or come out ahead on shotgun loading. I bought something like 600# of shot and sufficient powder, primers, and wads to load it many years ago, and I'm still working it off. It's all loaded now, but my shotgun shooting slowed down when I no longer drove past the skeet range on my way home from work, so it'll probably last a while yet.

At the price (and availability) of components right now I don't know if you could make it work at all.

GsT

 

[David2011]

It looks like we're past any break even point with shotshell reloading. A quick look on Rotometals found 1,000 pounds of reclaimed shot in 25 pound bags at $2,299; $57.48/bag. In 50 pound quantities it is $123.99; $62/bag. New shot is $75/bag. Based on reclaimed shot for Cowboy shooting at 7/8 ounces per round, reloading the light loads with Red Dot, a wad and a primer works out to about $10.25 per box of 25. The cheap Winchester shells that come 4 boxed of 25 for a carton of 100 are $9.25/box for 1-1/8 ounce loads. Winchester Featherlights (1 ounce) are about $12.95/box.

The only benefit in hand loading shotgun right now is contouring the load to the task. Loading shotgun ammo, even with my relatively fast Ponsness-Warren Duo-Matic, is time consuming and will not save much money. It can save a little for my cherry-picked example but the cost of equipment is a significant factor as well. A MEC 600 Jr is now $300 and a P-W 20/12 gauge Duo-Matic is now north of $600 with a year wait.

Many of the commercial producers of CAS ammunition are having the same issues as individuals getting components and have nothing to sell.

 

[GeneT45]

Those prices make me wanna puke!

When I was shooting shotgun regularly one of the guys at the range convinced me that the Dillon loader was garbage and that the MEC 9000G (iirc) was the ticket. Bought the MEC, hated it. Eventually bought the Dillon I'd been eyeing originally (I have several Dillons for metallic reloading) and it was head and shoulders better than the MEC.

Even back then I couldn't beat the price of the cheap "light game loads" (7-1/2 or 8 shot, 1oz, 3-1/4 Dram equivalent) at $3 / box, but I could beat the price of "fluffy" 7/8oz skeet loads (which were inexplicably expensive) by a healthy margin. Now I'm probably sitting on a loader that won't see serious use again unless things change dramatically.

GsT

 

[talvare]

I sold all of my 12 ga. reloading equipment and components several years ago because I just wasn't saving enough to make it worth the effort. Now days I don't think it makes any monetary sense at all. I kept my 28 ga. loading equipment because it still made sense, but I haven't used it in quite a few years. I still load for my handguns because I still have a lot of components on hand. I know that buying handgun ammo on the retail market is pretty expensive now but haven't bothered to investigate whether or not reloading still makes sense.

 

[pontiac428]

Custom loads are priceless, so I cannot bring myself to buy boxed ammo for anything. But component prices have doubled and more just since the COVID lockdown, and that sure sucks the wind out of it. Hasn't slowed me down, but component resupply does make me cranky, and hearing me bellyache gets me snapped at by the Frau like nothing else.

 

[David2011]

Those prices make me wanna puke!

When I was shooting shotgun regularly one of the guys at the range convinced me that the Dillon loader was garbage and that the MEC 9000G (iirc) was the ticket. Bought the MEC, hated it. Eventually bought the Dillon I'd been eyeing originally (I have several Dillons for metallic reloading) and it was head and shoulders better than the MEC.

Even back then I couldn't beat the price of the cheap "light game loads" (7-1/2 or 8 shot, 1oz, 3-1/4 Dram equivalent) at $3 / box, but I could beat the price of "fluffy" 7/8oz skeet loads (which were inexplicably expensive) by a healthy margin. Now I'm probably sitting on a loader that won't see serious use again unless things change dramatically.

GsT

Some people are just Dillon haters. I’ve owned a Square Deal B that I really didn’t use and swapped for the Ponsness Warren press, two 550Bs and a 650 with the case feeder. I still have my 550 that I bought new in 1991 and the 650. All have been first class machines.

I sold all of my 12 ga. reloading equipment and components several years ago because I just wasn't saving enough to make it worth the effort. Now days I don't think it makes any monetary sense at all. I kept my 28 ga. loading equipment because it still made sense, but I haven't used it in quite a few years. I still load for my handguns because I still have a lot of components on hand. I know that buying handgun ammo on the retail market is pretty expensive now but haven't bothered to investigate whether or not reloading still makes sense.

It definitely matters what you have to buy and the purpose for which you reload. I shoot USPSA, steel plates and plink. I cast virtually all of my handgun bullets and powder coat many of them. A box of 50 45ACP or 45 Colt can run from $32 to almost $50. My cost is closer to $5 for 50. If you want jacketed bullets that’s an additional cost but still less expensive than factory loads. The exception is 9mm. The bare bullets cost more than most 9mm factory loads.

 

[pontiac428]

How are you loading 45 for 10 cents a pop? The last 15,000 primers I've bought have had an actual landed cost of 12 cents each, and Titegroup is only below $60/pound landed if you buy kegs. I can't get my USPSA gamer loads below 25 cents today, more like 27 per after tax and shipping on the parts. Not even counting the equipment costs. Boxed 9 is close at that point, but like I said, custom loads are priceless. Nothing like coming in a hair over 125 PF on the chrono in minors.

Back in the day I could load the same .40 or 9 gamer load for 6.5 cents, but those prices are history.