shotgun shell reloading recs

[MarkK]

What hulls, wads and primers would you all recommend for trap/skeet? I'd like to use virgin hulls with excellent reuse-ability. Prefer to use Unique as a fuel. Plan purchasing a Lee loader fo said purpose. TIA, Markk

[runfiverun]

Remington STS hulls.
i'd buy them once fired, and use something faster than unique.

[W.R.Buchanan]

MarkK: ok, here's the skinny.

First: Go to www.trapshooters.com. Buy Winchester AA hulls for 4-5 cents each, they can be reloaded between 6-10 times each. An alternative is Remingtion STS hulls which are virtually identical to Winchester hulls except they are green instead of red or gray.

Unique is not a good powder for this purpose. Use one of the more conventional shotshell powders. I use Green Dot exclusively, Red dot is very basic and popular as is Clays and others.

Both the Alliant and the Hodgdons sites have extensive information on loading for shotguns.

Typically with shotgun shells you figure out which hulls you are going to reload, then go to a chart and find a recipe that uses your components. IE Hull, powder, shot load, wad type, and primer. There are hundreds in every manual. :veryconfu

Then you pick one and use that recipe. I use this one. Win AA hulls, 19.5 gr of Green Dot, Winchester WAA12 wad (or Claybuster eq.) 1 1/8oz of #8 shot, and a win 209 primer. This is my standard 12 ga load for Trap and Skeet and Sptg Clays. Many new loading machines will be set up from the factory for this load.

Also once you get everything running right, you don't change anything. Some people change powders and shot loads however it is a big enough PITA to get a machine running right and the crimp coming out right with one combination of components. Only reason to change is if you get a horrendous deal on a huge quantity of a different powder.

With the above load you will get about 360 reloaded shells out of 25lbs of shot and a LB of powder.

I would highly recommend that you have another look at your loading machine choice. I assume you were talking about a Lee "Load All" and not a "Lee Loader" hand tool. Neither one will allow you to make enough shells to shoot very much.

A MEC 650 or even a single stage Mec 600 would be a far better choice. Available new from Midway for around $180 for the MEC 600. You could load about 150-200 shells and hour once you get broke in as to the process. Ebay is also a good place and it is not unusual to find MEC 600's for $25-50. Many good older loading machines out there from people who have moved on.

IF you are planning to get serious about shooting clays, then the next step up is either a MEC 9000 Progressive or a Hornaday DL366 at @4-600 per hour. The top of the heap is the Spolar Gold which is the absolute Cadillac of shotshell loaders and will yeild 900 rounds per hour without ever breaking a sweat.

Lots to know here, do go to the above sites and see the literally hundreds of recipes for loading shotshells. Do some research on the loading machines as well. By all means goto to Trapshooters.com as it is the Castboolits.com of the shotgun world.

This should get you pointed in the right direction. :mrgreen:

Randy

[NuJudge]

I typically shoot Skeet, and since the range is short, I can get away with several things you won't be able to if you are shooting a longer range game such as Trap and Sporting Clays, such as using reclaimed shot, and 3/4 ounce shot charges. For primers I like Winchesters, but you'll have trouble finding any primers now. I'm using Nobels right now, which are a direct replacement for the Winchesters. I would scrounge once fired Remington greens and blacks: most Skeet and Trap fields have them everywhere. The Remington blacks have an Aluminum head which works better than brass plated steel heads through my Mossberg pumps. If you buy new hulls you probably will need a special tool to crimp the first time, and I think it is only available for the MEC loader. For years I used 700X powder with complete satisfaction, but I can now get Promo cheaper, again with complete satisfaction. Remington and Winchester wads are very expensive, so look at Downrange's wads. Buy in quantity, or you won't save much. Find a friend in a Skeet/Trap club and get in on one of their group buys to save on shipping and HazMat.

Unique is a great target powder for the 20 gauge, but you will find little target data for it in the 12 gauge. I do remember seeing some data in the old Hercules pamphlets 30 years ago, and I think I made up some ammo using it, but the powder charges were much heavier than a more appropriate powder's, with attendant higher cost.

[beagle]

First off, a Lee Loader is kinda iffy as far as turning out the amount of ammo required for trap or skeet.

AAs or STS Rems are the way to go.

Expect sticker shock when you look for shot these days. Primers are hard to get as well.

Not raining on your picnic but this is a bad time to start reloading shotshells because of the high prices and non availability of components./beagle

[groot nadine]

find a good used Pacific (Hornady) 366 press. Winchester AA, Remington STS or Gun Club hulls.

I use, Alliant Extra Lite, Alliant ClayDot, and Winchester SuperHandicap powders for 7/8 oz, 1 oz, and 1 1/8 loads.

any of the clone wads work well. I care for the Downrange products myself.

use hard shot. Winchester, Cheddite primers. The European primers like Rio will enlarge the primer pocket and then that's all you can use. take the suggestions about the online loading manuals.

Don't even think about a non-progressive press if you plan on shooting more than a box a month...

[RickinTN]

Start with the basic Mec loader. Remington STS or Nitro hulls crimp better for me than AA's. Red Dot or Clays (my favorite) for powder. Others in this burn-rate range will work also. Keep one ounce loads in the 1,180 fps range or 1 1/8 ounce in the 1,150 fps range. Buy your wads based on which load recipe you decide upon and stick to the load recipe exactly.
Good Luck,
Rick

PS. Once you get your rythym with a basic Mec loader you can produce a flat of shells in less than 2 hours. Starting with the basic machine will allow you to learn the process and become familiar before having to worry about indexing and the more complicated operation of a progressive.

[fcvan]

I bought a Lee Load-All II back in the late 80s because a buddy needed some steel shot for duck hunting. I grew up using my dad's Pacific press and my uncle/cousins (they lived across the street) used a MEC. My dad and uncle were on a trap and skeet shooting team so they went through a bunch of shells. Once all of us boys got old enough to hunt we REALLY started going through the shells. If I start shooting that many shells I would likely get a sturdier shot shell reloader.

Only recently have I brought out the Load-All II to put together some shells. I wasn't loading shot, I was loading .690 round balls. The Load-All II still works great and was well worth the $25 it cost from MidwayUSA back in '88. Now I think they are about $50, still worth it in my opinion. I was able to assemble a box of shells rather quickly that had great crimps and fed very well in my Remington.

[dverna]

The Lee shotshell reloader is junk. Get a MEC Sizemaster if money is tight. If you have more funds, buy a better MEC machine. "Better", in this case means it will produce more per hour - not make a better shell. For a better quality shell, the Ponsness Warren makes the best crimp, the Hornady (used to be Pacific) 366 are good, and if money is no object - get a Spolar.

Unique is a poor choice. I use Promo for powder as it is inexpensive and it duplicates Red Dot and it does everything I need for light 1 oz and 1 1/8 oz loads. Patterns are good and I score well with it. I carry a 98 average in registered Trap. For HC loads, Green Dot or International Clays are great choices.

The best hull is the Remington STS. AA's are second best. Use only recipes from known sources - ignore ALL load advice from forums like this.

I use Downrange XL-1 wads for 1 oz loads for practice (Green-dusters are good too), and for first shot of doubles. The Downrange WJ wad or Winchester WAA12 wads do a great job for 1 1/8 oz loads.

I use 8's for singles and doubles; 7 1/2's for HC. I am at the 26 yard line - if you are a short yardage HC shooter just use 8's for everything - use your singles load KISS.

[300winmag]

http://data.hodgdon.com/shotshell_load.asp

[runfiverun]

apparently nobody here has heard of ponsess warren reloaders.
I have three now that my dad gave me the 900 he has had since I can remember.
between the three I can do everything from 20 guage 2-3/4 through 12 ga 3-1/2" shells.
if I had any other guages I could swap one over to do them also.

the mec's do alright with low brass shells.
if you are very careful about the final crimp you can get them to feed in semi-auto's.
I have a 600 or two and some of their single stage type ones in a cupboard in the garage they are right behind the pacific 366 and the Dillon 450.
I used the 366 for full length sizing, priming, and final crimp shaping for the mec's.

[jmort]

The Lee Precision Load All works just fine. Owner/user reviews on Midway USA put the Load All at 4.5/5 stars and the MEC 600 at 4.5/5 stars. It is ignorant to say the Load All is "junk." On Midway it has 68 reviews with 45 5 star and 17 4 star and 5 3 stars and 1 1 star reviews/ratings. The MEC 600 has 7 5 star and 7 4 star reviews/ratings and costs three time as much. The 336 would be a good choice if you have the $$$.

[dbosman]

Lee loaders are great for teens and box at a time shooters.
Given the costs and current lack of components, you may find it simpler and possibly cheaper, to purchase target loads at the club or shoot.

If you are going to load, get a MEC. Even the 600 Jr. Mark 5 is fine. http://conniescomponents.com/600_jr_mark_5.html
Find out what brand shells are used at the places you will shoot at.
Buy once fired there and use those. You won't get criticized or snickered at as much. When I was a lot younger, I shot trap with a 20g and Federal shells from K-Mart. The thing that kept the snickering down is I generally broke all the targets. My reaction and aim was better than that of the old farts. It still didn't keep the local experts from recommending a 12g and Winchester AAs. For skeet, the old farts didn't even look at the targets. They fired when the birds were where they were supposed to be. ;-(

I'd encourage you to forget Unique as a shot shell power.
I also suggest you don't purchase powder, primers, or wads until you pick your hull. That may dictate the wads you use. The hull and shot weight should pretty much dictate very few options for wads.
After you have your hull and wad selected, find a recipe from a loading manual, and use the specific primer recommended.

If you want new hulls, check out http://www.ballisticproducts.com/
I've not checked lately, but they still had new, primed, casings for good prices.

[Muddydogs]

Ok I will go against the grain on this one. Been loading shot shells for years, trap, upland, steel, buck, slugs and once upon a time lead waterfowl loads. I do them all except steel with Win AA hulls and recently the Rem STS or Nitro hulls. For trap I load the AA's and Rem hulls with the same components and just adjust the crimp a little between the AA's and Rem hulls. I have been loading Unique for probably 30 years and have never found a need to switch to anything else but then again I load Unique in all my pistol rounds as well. Trap load is Unique, Win 209 primer, Win AA12 or claybuster equivalent wad and 1 1/8 of 7.5 shot.

I do agree with the other guys on the press, get a Mec or something else but don't get a Lee.

[jimb16]

If you are like me and reload pistol and rifle as well as shotgun, go ahead and use Unique. It works fine. I shot a 24 and 2 23s with my Unique reloads tonight (skeet). A Ponsness-Warren is a great machine. I have one. BUT they are expensive! I also have 3 MEC 600 jr.s. They are also great machines, but slower. I would recommend them if you are going to do much shooting. The Lee is way too slow. For wads, I'd go with Claybuster WAA12 replacements. They are good and much cheaper. I like either the STS or Winchester AA hulls. Either one is fine. Grab whichever is easiest for you to find.
"Trap load is Unique, Win 209 primer, Win AA12 or claybuster equivalent wad and 1 1/8 of 7.5 shot." Just substitute #8 or #9 shot for the #7.5 and you've got a great skeet load too. That is my go-to load.
BTW, you can get conversion kits for the MEC 600s to convert them from one guage to another. I have 3 of them because I'm too lazy to switch the parts. I picked up the extras at gun shows cheap.

[W.R.Buchanan]

The reason why MEC's are mentioned so often is because they are the most common loader out there. They are relatively cheap and they produce good quality ammo and seem to be well made. They are also easier to learn reloading on than a progressive. I have never owned one but I have played with them and they work very well for the money they cost. Plenty of used ones for sale as well.

I personally have and prefer my 2ea DL-266's, a 12ga and a .410, a DL-366, and a Spolar. I have had several other loaders but they went away simply because the ones I have now do pretty much everything I want them to and do it well. My most recent is the .410 DL-266 which I just aquired recently to go with my new .410 shotgun. I can load more than enough ammo for that gun with a single stage loader and the prospect of getting a .410 progressive to run right for 100-200 rounds a month was far outweighed by the price and simplicity of the DL-266, arguably the best single stage loader ever made and fully capible of loading 200 rounds in 1 hour..

PW machines are pretty advanced machines and way above the beginner level. They are not easy to get running and more importantly keep running. Spolars are essentially PW mirror images made from all machined parts and are twice as expensive as PW's which are nearly twice as expensive as Hornaday/Pacifics.

When loading shot shells or brass for that matter I personally feel one should learn how to load using a basic single stage machine so that a solid understanding of the process is firmly grasped. When the demand for loaded ammo exceeds your ability to load it on simple machines in the time available, then more complicated machines can be procurred to produce more product. This doesn't mean the simple machines are then useless, they can be tasked to make specialty ammo, converted to other guages, used to pre-process hulls, or sold to others.

I doubt most of us would get rid of our single stage Rock Chuckers just because we now have a D650. Too many other uses for the RC.

Same with the shotshell loaders.

Randy

[Harter66]

I had a couple of Lee Load all IIs . They work and do load pretty shells. Now I have 3 Mecs and a Pacific . The MECs all have adjustable charge bars for steel and large shot drop tubes . I like them and I prefer the SizeMaster's collet sizing.especially if I do any amount of high brass like Remingtons or Cheddites .

Fiocchi cases and any of a dozen wads from Balistic Products will do the job at lower pressures. Red Dot is a great choice.

Avoid the Federal hunting cases the dove and quail cases are only good for a couple of loads at best . Use them for throw aways .

[dverna]

The Lee Precision Load All works just fine. Owner/user reviews on Midway USA put the Load All at 4.5/5 stars and the MEC 600 at 4.5/5 stars. It is ignorant to say the Load All is "junk." On Midway it has 68 reviews with 45 5 star and 17 4 star and 5 3 stars and 1 1 star reviews/ratings. The MEC 600 has 7 5 star and 7 4 star reviews/ratings and costs three time as much. The 336 would be a good choice if you have the $$$.

I am far from ignorant (but I will admit I am a machine "snob"). If all you have ever driven is a Yugo it is a pretty good car too. The ratings mean nothing if the poor ******** do not know better. That is why the guys rated the MEC 600 that high too. They do not know better and they are justifying their purchase.

I use a PW 800+ with electric drive and Spolar with hydraulic for 12, 20 and 28 ga target loads but when I needed something for low output hunting loads I bought a Mec 600 JR - it was OK but I added two PW375's and they do a better job. Not everyone needs a high end machine, but if you do not need the output or quality then get a MEC and be happy - they are decent. Recommending a Lee is truly "ignorant". From a guy who loads 15-20,000 shells a year.

[pergoman]

If you are talking about only loading and shooting 12ga, buy new shells, shoot them, and sell the once fired hulls. In my part of the world, the cost will be about the same as rolling your own without the time and initial investment on equipment. 20 gauges are about the same deal. Now...28's and 410's are a totally different economic deal.
A flat (10@25 round boxes) of 12ga shells cost just a bit over $50 for rio, fiocchi, federals, etc.around here. AA's and STS cost more but we have stores that will buy the once fired hulls for $.03 each if you buy new shells there.

[warf73]

What hulls, wads and primers would you all recommend for trap/skeet? What gauge are you going to shoot? I'd like to use virgin hulls with excellent reuse-ability. Its your money but your better off buying flats of loaded ammo and use those hulls instead of buying virgin hulls. Prefer to use Unique as a fuel. Plan purchasing a Lee loader fo said purpose. If your shooting once a weekend (100 rounds) it will get your feet wet TIA, Markk

Once you get into shooting trap/sheet and like it a budget for a better reloader will be needed.

[Fernando]

Older Rem premiers if you can find them 15-20 loads til they get a side split
New rems if you can't not as nice but close. Buy a couple flats and shoot.
Claybuster wads(cheapest) - Can even remember using recycled wads
Liked WW209's Rems 2nd
Powders would be
Red dot - break barrel o/u
700x / Clays - auto
700x if it's cold say below 20
If your a trapper Green dot or univ. clays will tighten core
Assuming 12ga of course
Save the unique for your Boolits.
Go with the cheapest components you can.
If your not going to be shooting that much no need to dump the cash.
If your gonna try to be good/ok you'll need the cash for the 1000's of rounds
it'll take.

[JeffinNZ]

I used a Lee Loadall for years. Mainly for BP rounds and it did OK. Then I was given a MEC Junior and never looked back. MUCH better crimp. MUCH faster.

[kenyerian]

Just buy a case of AA's , save the hulls and you are in business. There are much better choices for loading for trap shooting. However it is doable with a Lee if you have the time. Lee's are very flexible and you can load hunting loads, light loads , etc without having to buy anything else. The big expensive machines are set up fot competitve shooters that take shooting very seriously. It takes a long time to get your return on investment.

[avogunner]

My 12ga Skeet load:
7/8 oz #8 Shot
17.9gr Clays (#32 Mec Bushing)
CB0178 Wad with AACF hulls
DRXXL Pink with Rem STS hulls

[chirodr1]

I use Winchester AA hulls, 18.5 grains of Red Dot, 1 1/8 oz. shot, and Remington or Winchester primers. Check the web for load information. I do use Unique for 1 1/4 oz. loads.