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View Full Version : Loading 410 shot shells on a regular press?



44minimum
01-29-2008, 10:33 PM
Aloha dudes, been awhile since I posted anything. I recently got a little 410 snake charmer for my nephew to play with and then I went shopping for ammo. E E E E E E E E kkkkk! $10.00 a box for the cheap ones. Since a 410 shell is no bigger around than a 45 colt, can you load one on a regular press or do you have to have a shot shell press? I'm sure that some of you have had the same idea and conquered it one way or another.

racepres
01-29-2008, 11:14 PM
I do.. But I also use 303 British brass blown out for the case!! I do hear [and believe] that 444 marlin may be a better choice for brass 410's.. MV

Sam Carp
01-30-2008, 12:28 PM
A #5 Lee shell holder will hold a 410 case in your press. Thats all I know.

Good Luck, Sam

44minimum
01-30-2008, 02:11 PM
Race pres, could you elaborate a little bit on your loading process for these 303 British rounds? Do you anneal the cases? I have tight group, bull's eye, and H110 powder laying around, are any of these suitable?

Lightning22
01-30-2008, 02:21 PM
Race pres, could you elaborate a little bit on your loading process for these 303 British rounds? Do you anneal the cases? I have tight group, bull's eye, and H110 powder laying around, are any of these suitable?

Just about to go down this road myself...

Link (http://www.endtimesreport.com/410reloading.html)

Rich

krag35
01-30-2008, 02:57 PM
the rim on 444 Marlin brass slips under the extractors way to easy on my son's savage 410. I have 100 or so virgin 303's we are going to fire form and try.

racepres
01-30-2008, 03:27 PM
That's a good link! I did 'er by the seat o' my pants... Anneal, fireform w/ 14.0 gr. Unique/Corn Meal/wax plug. I'm using shortened plastic wads and 17.5 gr of 4227 in 1/2 oz. loads 15.5 gr. of 4227 for 11/16 oz. loads.. I am cutting out card wads from cereal box w a sharpened 44 case, then crimping w a very heavy roll crimp to hold em together. I should think that Bullseye will fireform them [probably abt 6 gr ] H110 should be fine w/ the 1/2 oz loading at 15.0 gr and for the 11/16 oz I would use 14.0 gr. Bet you'll like 'em .. MV
Edited my charge wt #'s A good reason to Always double check what yer doin against a "real" manual.. Heck even the free ones from the powder companies are indespensible!!

Lightning22
01-30-2008, 03:37 PM
I've found so far that I have to turn a radius onto the sharp edge of the rim in order to get my AYA .410 to close.

Rich

racepres
01-30-2008, 04:02 PM
I've found so far that I have to turn a radius onto the sharp edge of the rim in order to get my AYA .410 to close.

Rich
Hhmmm W/ what brass?? MV

wire nut
01-30-2008, 05:17 PM
I bought 25 of the cbc .410 brass casings from cabela's. I have tried herco and 2400 powder and the results are similar enough when I patterned them that I don't think it would make a difference. I have presently loaded 10 with 410 powder from alliant. I haven't patterned them yet. I am presently using an over the powder wad cut from a cereal box, then a claybuster .410 plactic wad then an over shot wad cut from a cereal box.I am loading 1/2 oz of shot.
I patterned these at 25 yds shooting at a 6 inch circle on the target. These loads put between 22 and 26 no 8 shot in the circle at 25 yds.
I tried different glue to seal the over shot wad but I have the best results with plain ol' elmers.I tried duco cement as suggested by a member here but I didn't get very good results. I hve obtained some .444 brass but haven't tried them yet. Please post results from your loadings as anything better I will try. Wire nut

racepres
01-30-2008, 05:29 PM
Huh!!!! Never patterned 'em, Put a bad ouchy boo-boo onto blackbird and rat tho!!! Some pretty viscous wind and blowin' snow right now.. or I would have the youngest go try it!! MV

Slowpoke
01-30-2008, 06:34 PM
I patterned these at 25 yds shooting at a 6 inch circle on the target. These loads put between 22 and 26 no 8 shot in the circle at 25 yds.
I tried different glue to seal the over shot wad but I have the best results with plain ol' elmers.I tried duco cement as suggested by a member here but I didn't get very good results. I hve obtained some .444 brass but haven't tried them yet. Please post results from your loadings as anything better I will try. Wire nut

So did you get the big bubble with the Duco cement, it is kind of thin and the overshot wad needs to fit pretty tight to the case wall or it will leak down and thus the big bubble.

That's the only problem I experienced with it.

It sounds like your load is working good for you as is.

Sometime you might try the SP 410 wad, it has the best gas seal of all the plastic .410 wad's.

Love the .410

BCB
01-30-2008, 06:42 PM
I am presently trying to get the ability to shoot the Contender with a 10" 45/.410 barrel because of eye problems. If I can sort of master it, I plan on getting the 14" with the rib sights. I agree that the .410 shells are expensive and I was going to get a reloader for the .410.

BUT now I see there may be another route. Could someone post a few pictures of what the brass looks like after fireforming? Or how about a picture of the brass .410 shells? Thanks...BCB

racepres
01-30-2008, 07:12 PM
Could someone post a few pictures of what the brass looks like after fireforming? Or how about a picture of the brass .410 shells? Thanks...BCB

Here Ya go
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/2039/dscn3080hn3.jpg
On the left, a regular 3" hull, next to an aluminum 3" ctg. [wish I had more, and knew how to reload 'em]. next to a fire formed 303, not perfectly straight .. yet.. but it will work and eventually , it will be straight!. That "die" on the right gets used for lots of stuff around here... probably none of which it was intended to do!!! But that is what I use to "crimp" the case [kinda rolls it over somewhat like that Aluminum one.] However, a 45 seater seems to work also! HTH.. MV

racepres
01-30-2008, 07:15 PM
Sometime you might try the SP 410 wad, it has the best gas seal of all the plastic .410 wad's.


I do in fact use the SP 410 plastic wad.. trimmed back to fit!! Works great for me. MV

Lightning22
01-30-2008, 07:44 PM
Hhmmm W/ what brass?? MV

The headstamp is 'FNM .303 British'

Rich

racepres
01-30-2008, 08:07 PM
Very strange Lightning. We have used ours hs= WW Super, in a savage, a T/C, or two, and a mossburg!! Hhmmm again!!!MV

wire nut
01-30-2008, 09:21 PM
slowpoke, It is hard to for me to get a consistant drop with duco cement. Yes it would bubble up. I tried spreading it to a uniform thickness but it seems to want to pull to 1 side when it dries. The elmers works real well. I put a medium size drop on the overshot wad and spread it to a uniform thichness.
bcb the brass shotshell cases are 36 gauge that are that are made by braztech. cabela's has them listed in their shooting catalog and on their web site, wire nut

Slowpoke
01-30-2008, 10:23 PM
wirenut--I will give the Elmers a try next time, I like variety. I wanted to try Silicon sealant real bad but evertime I get near that stuff I end up with more on me than the project.

good luck

Slowpoke
01-30-2008, 10:24 PM
One thing you can do when fire forming the 303's is take a wrap or two of scotch tape around the head of the case, this will center it fairly well in the chamber for the big bang .

good luck

DLCTEX
01-30-2008, 10:41 PM
For sealing the overshot wads on shot loads for 45acp I use Dap tub and tile caulk on the toothpaste type tube. Just a dot smeared with a fingertip. Never found any residue in the gun barrel. Over shot wad is cut from styrofoam take out trays using a cartridge mouth for a cutter. Dale

dakotashooter2
01-31-2008, 01:24 AM
A mec loader would probably pay for itself pretty fast. I am fortunate that I can borow one and I do about 750 rounds in one sitting and that last me quite a few years. My last ones were about $2.25/25 but with shot prices up that may be $2.75-$3 now. Still much cheaper than factories.

On occasion you can find an old lee loader for the 410. It's a one at a time prospect but if you have a lot of time on your hands it'll get the job done. The problem is they are hard to find and demanding a price about 1/2 of the much more efficient mec.

I have always wondered why lee never produced their LoadAll in the 410. Probably cause at the time the 410 was still pretty popular and the produced enough shells that the price was reasonable.

44minimum
02-01-2008, 01:46 PM
Is it possible to use a 44 magnum die to de prime 444 Marlin Brass and 303 British Brass? Apparently, I won't need to resize, at least very often. I don't have any 444 Marlin dies but I will buy them if I have to have them.

woody1
02-01-2008, 02:47 PM
Is it possible to use a 44 magnum die to de prime 444 Marlin Brass and 303 British Brass? Apparently, I won't need to resize, at least very often. I don't have any 444 Marlin dies but I will buy them if I have to have them.

If you've got a shellholder and a selection of various dies you should be able to come up with a decapper of some sort by moving decapping stems around. Any die that the 444 will fit into will work if you can extend a decapping stem far enough. My stuff is all still packed from the move, but I think what I'm using is a 308 Win. die with an extended decapping pin. Most any belted magnum die will work also. Regards, Woody

44minimum
02-01-2008, 04:21 PM
They only dies that I have are 22 hornet, 357, nine MM, and 44 MAG. I imagine the 22 hornet dies will not work. Guess I will have to buy some 444 dies. This will be the first time that I have done any sort of fire forming.
Questions
1 after I get some 303 cases, do I just cram them up into the 444 decapping die? or do I lube them first? Will this stretch the cases out to where they need to be?
2 if I just started out with new 444 Marlin Brass, should I anneal them also? From what I've read, the case head of 303 Brass is a little larger and should be more likely to extract easily.
3 it seems like all I need to do is to put a little wad over the top of the shot and some glue, is any sort of a crimp necessary?
4 do I need to make sure that the case is filled to the top, or is it OK if there's extra space?

wire nut
02-01-2008, 07:31 PM
44 I use a lee universal decapping die. Cost about $10. IT will work on most calibers. I have not had to resize any brass yet as a shotgun operates at only about 10.000 lcu. If I have to resize in the future I am going to try to use a .44 mag lee factory crimp die. Just take the crimping sleeve out of the die body and use the carbide ring to resize.

DLCTEX
02-01-2008, 09:58 PM
+1 on the universal decapping die. I leave it in a small press (RCBS Jr.) and use it to deprime all brass before putting it in the tumbler. Dale

44minimum
02-02-2008, 03:13 PM
thanks fer the info everyone

Red Logan
02-02-2008, 04:32 PM
just happen to have a mec 410 loader I dont need, cheep..

44minimum
02-02-2008, 04:38 PM
Thanks for the offer, but I will pass at this time. I will keep it in mind though in the future.

cosmo
02-02-2008, 04:44 PM
I would like to buy the 410 reloader if price is right. could you let me know what you want for it. thanks Joe.