# Shotshell reloading.....



## Hunter333 (Jan 19, 2000)

I am looking to pick up my press this week some time and was wondering if you would share your thoughts on shells for skeet, trp, and sporting clays. Please be specific: powder, hull, wad, shot, primer. Where to get them online? What to stay away from? I am loading 12 guage. I have loaded thousands of rifle rounds but not shotshell yet. Thanks for the help!!


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## Zak (Feb 19, 2000)

I reload mostly 1 ounce loads for my 12 and 16 gauges. For the 12 gauge, I use a Winchster 209 primer, Winchester AA hull or Remington STS hull, Red Dot powder, a WAA12 Super Light wad, and 1 ounce of hard #8's or #71/2's. My cousin shoots mostly 1 ounce loads of Winchester primer, Remington STS hull, Clays powder, Green Duster wad, and 1 ounce of #8's or #7 1/2's. Universal Clays is a pretty good choice in powder too. I don't know of any good places to go in Muskegon for reloading components, but there is a good gun shop called Schanz Supply in Otsego which is in Allegan county. I buy my primers, shot, powder, and wads from there. I have thousands of hulls so I don't need to buy very many. Zak


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## Mr. 16 gauge (Jan 26, 2000)

I reload anything that I can get my hands on! Currently I am reloading a lot of Remington Unibody "black beauty" hulls (they are the ones that are packaged under the "dove & quail", "rabbit & squirrel", ect loads). I currently load 1 oz loads in both the 12 & 16 gauge, and 7/8 oz load in 20 gauge for target loads.
A word of advice: make your powder, primer, wad decisions based on your choice of hull. I load the above hulls for one reason....they're FREE!!!!! The hull is the most expensive part of the case, and I get these for nothing by rummaging through the dumpster at the local trap range. Save yourself a bunch of hulls first, then make your decision on a load.
Also, when deciding on a load, I like to pick loads that I can have some versatility with. By this, I mean that I can use two different powders with the same wad, or two different wads with the same powder. Reason being, if my local store is sold out of powder X, but still has some powder Y, I am still in business. Same thing with wads....if one is out of stock, I have another source.
My current load in 12 gauge is 1 oz of 7 1/2 shot in a Winchester WAA12SL wad under a charge of green dot powder, set off by a Winchester 209 primer. Winchester 209 primers are pretty versatile; they can be used in a variety of hunting and target loads........I buy these in bulk.
As for powder, primers, and lead shot.....I buy these locally; unless you are going to buy these in large quantities, the hazmat and shipping fees will kill you.


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## Sarge (Apr 25, 2000)

When I started, I got on the Remington web site and downloaded their recommended recipe page. I started with STS hulls, STS 209 primers and TGT12 wads for the 1oz loads and fig-8 wads for the 1 1/8 oz loads. I user Hodgedon powder. I load the recipe that produces about 1150 fps velocity for skeet, and 1200 (or better) for the Trap loads. I feel the extra punch for the longer shots is helpful. 

My loads are working well for me, and even though I've moved out of exclusively STS and NITRO27 hulls, I will probably stick with the hodgdon powder and remington primers and wads. When I like something, I don't keep shopping. Maybe I should but thats me. 

Once fired hulls are the way to go. The newer AA hulls from winchester, and the STS or NITRO27 hulls from Remington can be reloaded many many times before any signs of stress show up. They can often be found really cheap or free, right after big shooting events like ATA shoots and Benelli Exibition shooting etc. The first person who thinks to gather up those factory discards after such an event is set. He can either load them or sell them. Even if you arent' there to get them free, the dudes selling them let them go cheaper than buying them from a store or online. I would never buy new hulls. If I needed them that badly I'd buy a case of ammo and just recycle them.

The powder companies have web sites. Hodgdon has its shotshell manual available to download online. I use the recipes from them now.


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## Beaglernr (Dec 1, 2002)

I do not have specific data here at this computer, will try and send some pet loads to you later but from reloading shotun shells for about 25 years I can give you some thoughts.
For clays/skeet and what little trap I shoot, I reload exclusivly 1 ounce and 7/8 ounce loads.

My favorite powder..Clays, straight clays as it is very forgiving, versitile (sp) and clean. However.. When I found powder for a good price, red dot, green dot, tighwad I would experiement and develop loads that work well with them. Why pass up a good bargan?

Primers, hard to beat Winchester 209s day in and day out. Federal are a bit hotter and work better in cold winter days but the new reminton 209s are a joy. I have only reloaded a few thousand with them but so far have no complaint. They may be replaceing Winchester as it seems like quite a few people are changing over.

Wads, hard to beat claybusters for price and they do preform well. Some of the specialtiy wads from BRI are great, just cost quite a bit. What ever you get, be sure to make sure you have a wad designed for your hull be it a straight wall or tapperd. Some people say it does not make a difference, I feel it does.

Hulls, in past AA were most sought after but right now the Remintons premeri are what hull hounds are looking for. I have been hearing that the new improved AA hulls do not hold up like the old ones did. Keep in mind that not all shotgun hulls are the same. Two general configurations, straight wall where it is basically a straight tube, Active, federal, paper hulls and some of the two pc hulls are this type. Right now I can not tell you all that is out there, advantage, you can really pack in huge loads if you wish. Tappered hull such as AA, Remington priemers are an example of those whose inside dimention gets smaller toward the bottom and has a rounded base. You get very good burn rate and can pack in nice consitant loads. So, if you are hull scrounging just keep that in mind. 

Shot, just get hard, or magnum shot. Soft shot is easy to defrom and will give you lots of fliers. 



1-Hey, when reloading skeet/clays all we are doing is breaking a clay pigeon. I like to look at load density..keep this in mind that a 7/8 ounce load of #9s has approx 150 more pellets than a 1 1/8 load of 7 1/2s. This translates into: Lower recoil for 7/8 ounce, quicker on second shot, denser pattern and..more loads per bag of shot. 
When are those heavy handicap loads for trap good, for handicap and windy conditions...cold weather or for rabbit stations as those darn rabbit clays are a bugger to break. 

2-Have fun and explore shot like 8 1/2s. I love those things they have more downrange energy for those 40 yard shots but you can put a bunch of them for good pattern density in 1ounce loads.

3- What ever you are loading...take a bit of time and pattern them in your gun. I started to do this and was amazed at what a half grain of power could to to improve or destroy a load. Shotguns are not a fussy as rifle/pistol but they have there own little bits of fun.


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