Getting started?

[Michael J. Spangler]

hi guys

I'm looking to get started in reloading slugs. I have a friend that's a wealth of knowledge on shot loads, but isn't a slug guy at all. i have done a little bit of research on shotgun loading, and understand some of the principles.
I was wondering if there were any good threads floating around on the dos and don'ts?

i'll be shooting a remington 870 with a factory rifled barrel, and i would also like to have a slug to shoot from the 19" cut down bird barrel for giggles.

i don't have a mold yet. should i go lee or lyman? would one be able to fit both needs of the smoothbore and the rifled?

i have a ton of random hulls, but i figure i'll just buy a bunch of once fired or new hulls to take the guess work out of all of it. any suggestions on a decent supplier for the hulls/wads/cards etc?

thanks in advance guys!

[jmort]

Read Ed's and Ajay's threads stem to stern and that will be a good start. Then just look around lot of good info here.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?150140-VdoMemorie-Blazing-Sabot!

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?7916-12GA-FH-Slug-Tester

[stripercrazy]

mike couple things ive learned is stay away of the claybuster wads (not well liked here )and spend the 15 cents a hull primed, I got winchester aa hulls 1x fired and there good but I also got 1x fired remington 3 inch and they didn't want to size in my loadall(lee).....I'm new too and doing it all again I'd get a better reloader than the lee loadall2 the loadall has a plastic base, get one with a steel base....pushing the sizeing ring down on the remington's i'm worryed the base will break...ed

[jmort]

I also got BPI's slug manual

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/Slug-Loading-Manual-4th-edition/productinfo/00MSLUG/

[dverna]

MJS

I am starting out as well. After a lot of reading and lurking I decided to go with the Lyman 525 slug mold. I second the opinion of stripercrazy about reloaders. If funds are tight, get a used MEC 600 JR. I already had a PW 375 for game loads and it is a better machine than the MEC - but I am an equipment "snob" (I just like using good equipment).

I shoot a lot of trap and have about 15,000 hulls to choose from. I plan on using once fired hulls to start with but I am not 100% sure why a hull fired 3 or 4 times will not work - most here believe that, so I will evaluate that aspect.

NEVER use Claybuster wads - they are not suitable for top performing loads. I will not even use them for trap loads. Wads are the least expensive component - spend the extra penny (or less) for a premium wad.

Don Verna