Green Dot reloading questions

[Dakine]

Hello, I did a search and found one thread that looks very promising, I'd like to see what you guys think regarding specifics of the materials I have on hand, and also some newbie questions

I see people talking about Green Dot and pistol loads. I just want to be careful that I'm not misunderstanding something... is there only ONE Green Dot powder? I didnt know that shotgun powders were interchangeable with some handgun and rifle recipes. Thats kind of cool, but just to be clear, what I have is 1 lb of Alliant Powder Green Dot smokeless shotshell powder.

Until I started reading tonight about reloading Shotguns, I had NO IDEA that small changes in hulls, powder, primers or wads could make such a substantial difference. As soon as I saw that I figured I'd better start doing searches and seeking wisdom!

So what I have accumulated so far (and maybe I'll even be really lucky and find out that they are actually compatible!!!) is the following:

Green Dot powder
WT-12 Western 12g Orange Target Wads
CCI 209 primers
20 lbs reclaimed lead shot

Hulls:

Federal - they are ink stamped 7 1/2 1 1/8oz 3 DRAM (I thought some were marked Target Load, or Field Load too but those must be deeper in the box) I have lots of these so I was hoping to use them mostly.

Winchester - they are ink stamped UNIVERSAL 7 1/2

Federal - ink stamped TOP GUN 7 1/2 2 3/4" 70mm

Winchester - ink stamped AA Super Sport 1 1/8 7 1/2 and they have a head stamp that says WIN AA HS 12GA (I've heard these are highly sought by reloaders because of the design, they last for more times being loaded)

I've got hundreds of the Federal 3 dram and the Universal stuff so I'm hoping I can use it up, I've only got maybe 150 ish combined of the Win AA and the Federal TOP GUN, and perhaps I'm making a mistake and overestimating the quality/value of the TOP GUN hulls? if those are the only ones out of that entire collection I can use then I will, it just means that I can only reload a smaller batch and that might limit the number of times I can do 5 Stand when I go to the range.



I'm not completely helpless, I know that the 2 3/4 refers to the shell length and the chamber of the shotgun, and that 7 1/2 is the shotsize and 1 1/8 is the weight of the shot charge. I've done lots of trap shooting, but this is my first attempt at shotty reloading.

In my search I found this thread and it looked pretty close. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?176402-Does-anyone-use-Green-Dot&highlight=Green+Dot

I'm hoping that someone with first hand knowledge and/or manuals showing the recipes might be willing and able help!

Thanks in advance!
-Dak

Oops, I also forgot to mention, that until I learned about how easily the pressures can be changed when reloading and substituting components, I had also intended to cast my own buckshot and slugs and load those as well. Even if the materials I have on hand can not be used for buckshot & slugs I'm still going to buy those moulds next week, I'll just have to figure out a way to sort out the supply problem with the rest of the materials.

[JIMinPHX]

Green Dot is Green Dot. There is only one Green Dot.

Shotgun powders often work well for moderate velocity pistol loads. Shotguns & pistols both tend to use relatively fast powders.

I have used Green Dot for reduced recoil loads in 12 ga. with both buck shot & home cast Lee slugs. I was using the cheap Winchester Universal hulls. I would only reload them once, then throw them away. They are not the best hull that Winchester ever made.

I do not have a shotshell loading manual in front of me, so I can't comment on your specific group of components.

As you have already started to learn, when starting out loading shotshells, stick to EXACTLY the recipe that is in the book. Do not substitute "similar" components. You can substitute exact replacement components, but not similar components. An example would be that claybuster brand wads that are an exact replacement for WAA wads can be used in place of WAA wads, but different wads from claybusters can not be used in place of WAA wads. Something as simple as changing the brand of primer can create a fairly significant pressure problem.

[woody1]

Check here:

http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/recipedetail.aspx?shotype=&weight=1.125&weightdis=1+1%2f8&shellid=493&gtypeid=3&gauge=12

[longbow]

What Jim said! Get some reloading manuals or reloading info from powder manufactures and follow it exactly.

As Jim says, primer and hull changes in particular can cause unpleasant pressure changes for a given powder charge. Just because a primer is marked "209" does not mean it is the same as another brand of 209! Large volume hulls run at lower pressures than tapered small volume hulls too.

I do have listings for Win AA hulls but I do not think Federal top Gun show up in my manuals. That is one of the issues with reloading shotgun hulls, each manufacturer's hulls are different requiring different recipes and even hulls from the same manufacturer often different ~ Federal Gold Medal and Federal one piece plastic hulls have different loading recipes required and now BPI has an even different one piece Federal hull that requires different recipes again! And Federal also makes plastic hulls with paper basewads that require different loading as well.

The short story is ~ make sure of what you have (don't guess), find a specific load recipe for those components or buy the components that suit the recipe. Believe it or not, it gets even worse with buckshot and slugs because there is much less loading data available!

Best to get several sources for load recipes then find components to suit and stock up.

Longbow

[Four-Sixty]

You could also call Alliant. I have not myself, but a reloading buddy says he has called them and told them what componets he has and they have been able to give him reloading data right over the phone customized to his components. If you're on a budget, this will help you work with what you got.

As for reloading with reclaimed shot. I found it to be an exercise in frustration. I gave up on it. I found the shot bridged in the drop tube of my MEC. After I removed what I thought was a loaded shell I'd jostle the press enough to have the shot (stuck in the drop tube) dump all over my bench. Also, I did not get anywhere near a consistent charge of shot.

Take a close look at the shape, or wide variety of shapes, that exist in the reclaimed shot. Since they are not uniform, and they are not coated with graphite, they will not (in my opinion) throw any kind of consistent charges from a charge bar. I bet if you weighed them, you'd even get different volumes of shot columns. You have a couple things working against you here.

1) The inconsistent size of the shot. Every charge will have a different number of 7&1/2, 8 or 9 shot.
2) The inconsistent shape of the shot. This will cause variability in the stacking of the shot and result in wide variance of the density of the shot charge.
3) Corrosion of the shot surface that will introduce a lot of friction causing the shot charge to not stack, or lay, efficiently from throw to throw.

If you get this to work for you, awesome! Let me know how you did it. I gave up on using reclaimed shot and relegate it to making buck, or slugs.