Advice on reloading the .410

[Shootn]

Thanks in advance for and advice!

I am a seasoned reloader of rifle and pistol cartridges. Never have tried my hand at shotsells.
I bought my son a .410 over/under for Christmas and bought myself a .410 SXS. Now to feed them!
I found a few boxes to buy at $25 per box, but I'm wondering if reloading might make sense
due to price/supply issues. A Lee Loader would be sweet, but they are rare as hen's teeth. Does
anyone have a suggestion for an alternative for low cost/low volume reloading?

Derek

[hoodat]

I saw a youtube vid called Reloading .410 with primitive tools. (or something close to that) you might give it a look. jd

[Shawlerbrook]

Same situation here. Use to be a site that spelled out everything you need to make handloads similar to the Lee loader. Google handloading 410 ammo and there are many YouTube videos. I bought the crimp starter and finisher from MEC and am currently attempting to make a primitive press to crimp star folds. I also bought a roll crimp tool from Ballistic Products. I use a MEC resizing ring to resize brass and prime and decap using hand tools.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

How much you should invest depends greatly on how much you intend to shoot the .410s. There was a .410 Lee Loader for sale here on the Forum just a day or two ago, and I've seen them for sale here before. They also appear on e-bay every now and then, but are usually well over $100. Like you, I decided to load my own, and purchased a MEC Jr. press made specifically for .410. Besides the press, of course, there is an investment in shot, wads, and primers. A press and all of the supplies are available from Ballistic Products Inc. You just have to decide if you want to make the investment or continue to buy factory shells. You always have to "pay to play" in the reloading game.

DG

[Wheelgun]

I was in the same spot 2 years ago. Ive had a single shot for yrs, but rarely shot it, so factory stuff was great. Then I ended up with a very nice pump, and of course, I started shooting it a lot.

I tried the Lee loader type tools, but it wasn’t worth it, time wise, for me.
I bought a used MEC 600 Jr 410 loader and set it up. Best decision ever…

With shot, a brick of primers, wads, hulls, and press I’m at $9.37 per box. Not really cheap, but way better than store bought prices. I haven’t seen any in stores in over a year around here anyway.

Congrats on the sweet sounding shottys, I’d LOVE to have a O/U or SxS 410 again…

[Wheelgun]

Thexringusa.com sells a Lee Loader type set up for 410 for a very reasonable price.

I’ve never used one or have any experience with them, but looked into it before buying my used Mec JR

For factory loaded stuff, the website ammoseek is helpful…

[arclight]

BPI sells the "Small Bore Manual" with data and info on 410 and 28ga loading. 410 is small enough that there are 410 dies for a regular single stage Rockchucker or similar press if you just need a little bit.

Otherwise, keep shopping around for a used MEC Jr. or similar. This is the sort of thing that is expensive new, but often found sitting in the corner with other used items at your local gun store for $100.

[Minerat]

My advise is buy the best loader you can afford to start. In my case that was a MEC 600jr I lucked into used. I have been reloading shot shells starting with a 20 ga in 1970. I have the 600 and 2 Mec sizemasters (12 & 20). I have no reason to buy any other loaders as I get about 100 shell per hour if I get serious and stick with it. You know the old saying "buy once cry once" at $25/box and your cost to reload at $10/box amounts to about 18 boxes before you break even. Midway has them for $270.00 and components available from Ballistic Products would get you going.

[Electrod47]

Here in South-East Mississippi, .410's are North of 40 Bucks. That's for 2 1/2 8-9 shot. Have all the little do-dad reloader set-ups offered today. "All of them". Found hulls here on Castboolit's and a ton of primed Cheddites at Ballistic Products. After I wore my thumbs and my patience out, at age 75 I finally said Why Not! and called MEC and bought the 600jr for 2 1/2 .410's. Should have done it 20 years ago. You get what you pay for. .410 shotguns have a soft spot here. Currently have 6 to kept fed. It seems you bought some quality .410's for both yourself and son. Stated you have reloading background. Save yourself some grief and go to the head of the class and buy direct from MEC. They are always in stock.

[Texas by God]

We only have 3 .410s here, all single shot.
I love the little guns. If you can shoot, they drop doves just fine. They are unexcelled for snakes and work great on squirrels and rabbits.
Luckily, I found a used 600 jr Mec in a pawn shop for $65. Best move I’ve made in a long time.
.410 ammo of any kind is totally non existent everywhere I’ve looked. For months now….
But I have run out of hulls to load. Time to empty some loaded rounds!


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[frkelly74]

I will just go ahead and chime in with my " solution" to ammo for a 410. I do not ever intend to shoot a lot of 410 so I wanted to load it with tools I have on hand. It is a low volume enterprise for shooting a single shot shotgun, and it makes me happy. I use 444 marlin brass for empties, which should last forever, and just prime, powder, insert a 1/2 oz wad and about 1/2 oz of shot. Then add and overshot card and add a slight roll crimp with my 7.62X54R sizing die. I could go cheaper if I just used card wads but I have some plastic wads and so those are what I use. I have seen where you can use 303 Brit for a slightly longer case length and to hold more shot, but I have not seen any 303 brass for several years. I will say that the rim of the 444 case is smaller than 410 hulls so that they do not extract reliably from my gun without the aid of a fingernail under the rim. Other guns might handle this better.

[besk]

Took a little work, but I converted some once fired 303 brass to fit my 410's. Easy to reload for most of my needs.
There is a lot of info on the web about the mods needed.

[Mk42gunner]

Having started my reloading career with a Lee Loader for 3" .410's, I will say to buy a MEC of whatever model suits your fancy.

The Lee does not resize the head of the case, causing spotty extraction/ ejection. Fold crimps are also hard to form in the narrow plastic shells.

Robert

[beemer]

I ran across a couple 410 loaders cheap. Before that I was using about a dozen 444 hulls and was cutting the crimp off plastic hulls and gluing in card wads. I took a piece of 3/16 in. steel and bored a hole and polished it out. I would lube the case head and drive it in to size the head and drive it out with a dowel. There are a lot of ways to get buy but nothing beats a proper loader.

I bought a H&R on a whim and got hooked. Ended up with a New England and a Stoeger double. Fun little things, popper loads, shot loads and round balls, mild to wild.

[Polymath]

I load 5 to 7 boxes a year as they are not to be found. I used to load with a home made loader kit and it was ok. Bought a used MEC for the de-priming and sizing stage and that sped things up a lot and I got more consistent chambering too. I fold crimp my 2-1/2" and roll crimp the 3" hulls. Once they split, I trim off the splits, skive the mouths, and go again for the shorter2-1/2" load charges. I use LilGun for powder and mostly #5 lead shot for grouse. 209A primers. Reports came back to me that "seem" to be a tad more spiffy that factory rounds. I get aprox 5 to 6 reloads from them.

[Milky Duck]

Ive got the simple lee whackamole loader for the wee gun..... you can make very good loads for very little money.and if your guns are break open type,you can get away with a lot of things a magazine fed gun wont handle..crimps dont need to be perfect and perishing cases can do one more load.... patterning is paramount to get best out of the .410..they like what they like and suck with what they dont like. if loading for your kids,get them involved in doing so.... it helps to keep ammo wastage to minimum if they realise the effort involved,if components are bought with thier pocket money even better still.

[15meter]

Depending on the thickness of your wallet, buying new direct from MEC certainly is the simplest way but you'll pay full list price.

Unless you are only loading a dozen or two boxes a year a Lee is not the way to go. And I started on a Lee Deluxe in 12 gauge in 1975.

Currently load 12 on a MEC 9000, 16, 20 28 on a 650 and 410 on a Grabber. The Grabber has been modified what a triple thickness machined shell plate.

With 410, resizing the base seems a little more critical than the others.

I'd lean away from try to find a 410 MEC Jr. Those are pretty rare. 12/20 gauge MEC's are pretty common around here. Generally trade in the $60-75. Grab one of those and a 410 conversion kit and you'll be in business a couple of years before you find a dedicated 410 MEC Jr.

Winchester AA compression formed hulls are my favorite. Just seem to load easier and last longer than the others.

[gunarea]

Hey Shootin
Quit screwing around. Get a sizemaster or better. The sizemaster will produce in good quantity and allow use of any hull that comes along. A grabber has a higher production rate but is not as friendly for experimenting and small run odd ball stuff. The cost of commercial ammunition make a high level machine a smart and efficient investment. In the 410, MEC collet sizing is the best and with use of the supersizer, mosy any other quality press will give good results. The smaller shells are much more dependant on quality consistant crimps for performance. Spend another couple hundred dollars on commercial ammunition and the addiction to the little shotgun will either set in or go. Making several low cost blunders will add up in cost and experience. What I am passing on to you was golden direction given to me. Get really good stuff and never regret it. Even being twenty five years old, I am sure my MEC Sizemaster, would sell for more than it cost me new, in the box.309823. I manufacture everything 410, slugs, shells from 1.75" to 3". The sizemaster adapts well for messing around, the Grabber has a three stage crimp, both have collet sizing. My kids were the driving force for me to produce in quantity. As grandpa, it lets me smile with great satisfaction.

[trapper9260]

Depending on the thickness of your wallet, buying new direct from MEC certainly is the simplest way but you'll pay full list price.

Unless you are only loading a dozen or two boxes a year a Lee is not the way to go. And I started on a Lee Deluxe in 12 gauge in 1975.

Currently load 12 on a MEC 9000, 16, 20 28 on a 650 and 410 on a Grabber. The Grabber has been modified what a triple thickness machined shell plate.

With 410, resizing the base seems a little more critical than the others.

I'd lean away from try to find a 410 MEC Jr. Those are pretty rare. 12/20 gauge MEC's are pretty common around here. Generally trade in the $60-75. Grab one of those and a 410 conversion kit and you'll be in business a couple of years before you find a dedicated 410 MEC Jr.

Winchester AA compression formed hulls are my favorite. Just seem to load easier and last longer than the others.

That what I was going to say about get a conversion kit, then you good . If you load shotgun already then you will have most of what you need then the hulls and wads, In a post I did about roll crimp and just use cards and 1/8" thick cork and had raise the shot load in both 2 1/2" and 3" shells. also like stated you can fire form some rifle cases, do a search and will find what cases you can do it with and like some already stated will work and you can still get way from needed plastic wads with the way I load some. It depending on how one wants to do it .

[beemer]

I load 5 to 7 boxes a year as they are not to be found. I used to load with a home made loader kit and it was ok. Bought a used MEC for the de-priming and sizing stage and that sped things up a lot and I got more consistent chambering too. I fold crimp my 2-1/2" and roll crimp the 3" hulls. Once they split, I trim off the splits, skive the mouths, and go again for the shorter2-1/2" load charges. I use LilGun for powder and mostly #5 lead shot for grouse. 209A primers. Reports came back to me that "seem" to be a tad more spiffy that factory rounds. I get aprox 5 to 6 reloads from them.

Sounds like me, I use the hulls down to a nub. When the 2 1/2 split I make light creepy critter loads without crimps, just glue in a home made card wad. I do have a question, how do you skive the hulls ? I mostly use H-110 because that's what I have, how do you like Lilgun. I have a pound but haven't used it yet. I have read it is tough on hulls, what's your experience ?

Dave

[15meter]

Sounds like me, I use the hulls down to a nub. When the 2 1/2 split I make light creepy critter loads without crimps, just glue in a home made card wad. I do have a question, how do you skive the hulls ? I mostly use H-110 because that's what I have, how do you like Lilgun. I have a pound but haven't used it yet. I have read it is tough on hulls, what's your experience ?

Dave

Skive tool:

https://www.ballisticproducts.com/Power-Hull-Skiver-20ga-410/productinfo/0740012/

On Lil' Gun, it's one of the more popular 410 powders at the two skeet clubs I shoot at. I lean towards 296 because I've got a great 22 Hornet worked up, and it works well in the AA hulls I use. One less powder to keep in inventory is a good thing.

410's are more particular about column height then the other gauges where you can increase wad pressure to compress the legs on the wad to get a less than ideal component combination to fit in the case. The AA hulls were designed for 296.

[Funky]

I bought some Magtech brass hulls have loaded some .410's for my contender, they seem to work good with very easy loading requiring only a shellholder for priming. Worked good enough for my grandchildren to shoot some rabbits with, and now I bought some others in other gauges that I use for rabbit and other hunting so I don't leave plastic wads around. [ I know, not a big deal, but I will use that excuse to experiment with] Good Luck and Good Shooting Chris

[Rapier]

I use a MEC to reload 2 3/4 and 3" 410s. Probably the 410 is the most aggravating of all shot shells to reload. The 3" tends to buckel at the crimp stage, for no real reason, except it wants to do so. Even when you setup with 3" and tap the drop tube, the results can be iffy. I would rather load 100 boxes of 28s than two boxes of 410s. I use H-110 and 7 1/2 to load the 410s wih 7 1/2 shot and Unique in the 28s. I just do the 410s if we have a 410 only sporting clays match. We, the old timers, do, SxS , pumps, 410, etc., only matches just for fun. That is the only reason I have the 410 loader, other than that, I would not have a 410 loader or a 410 at all. If reloading, the 28 is a way better choice over the 410.

[poorman]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArWWwaIsw0Q

[W.R.Buchanan]

I got a Hornady DL266 first, and being a single stage it was a little slow for the volume of shells I was shooting in my Quest for Skeet Nirvana. I now have a DL366 Progressive and whereas it is faster it also is much more finicky. After Hulls have been fired 3-4 times they get a little problematic to load on the Progressive, If one station muffs it's function it creates a mess and you get to start all over after you clean up the mess. So I cycle them back to the Single Stage so I can get a few more reloads out of them.

The going price for once fired Win AA .410 Hulls is between .15 and .25 cents each so I want to get as many as possible out of each one. Try www.trapshooters.com for hulls.

All that said a MEC 600 in .410 will make much nicer reloads than any hand tool ever made, so that is something to consider. The good thing is if you decide you don't want it any more, you can easily resell it here for whatever you've got in it or more!

There is a bit more of a Learning Curve with .410's than the bigger gauges, but once you get it tweaked right it is pretty trouble free.

Randy.

[15meter]

A Ponsness Warren is probably the best for 410, I had one in 12 gauge and it made incredibly nice reloads, several friends who have .410 P-W who swear by them. But they are pricey. I sold mine simply because I had 5 MEC's and didn't need an odd man out. Or two 12 gauge re-loaders.

It all boils down to thickness of wallet, number of boxes per year and how much time you want to spend reloading .410.

Number of boxes per year probably the most important number.

And the Lee style loaders were designed when the predominant hull material was paper. The Lee loaders excel with paper hulls. First and second Federal paper hull reloads could pass for factory loads most of the time.

Plastic, they are just OK. I even built a little wood framed arbor press to finish the crimp when using plastic hulls.

[Texas by God]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArWWwaIsw0Q

That is all kinds of neat right there.


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[MarkP]

410's on a progressive press are much slower; I would average about 175 shells per hour with 410 and between 350 & 400 for 12,20,28 ga. One issue the punches do not always line up with the mouth of the 410 hulls so that slows you down. Seems like a lot of AA's in 410 get a curve in them after firing. If something messes up on a progressive you need to stop and clean up everything up or it will cause you so much grief. Fine ball powder makes you invent new words when it spills on the platen and starts binding up.

I can get 150 to 175 12 ga shells loaded in an hour on my DL-266. I have a DL-266 in 410 it is slower than the 12 ga as the primer drop is not automatic like the 12 & 20 ga are. Primer drop tube is too large to fit inside 410 hull. The DL-266 is faster than my Mec 600 JR (410 vs 410) I can do 100+ / hr pretty easily with the 266 and probably 80 per hr with the 600 JR.

Unless I need two flats of shells I tend to use my 266's rather than progressives even with 12 ga especially 410.

[cwlongshot]

Here is one way I load it.

https://youtu.be/KsjiR-hba60

[Polymath]

Sounds like me, I use the hulls down to a nub. When the 2 1/2 split I make light creepy critter loads without crimps, just glue in a home made card wad. I do have a question, how do you skive the hulls ? I mostly use H-110 because that's what I have, how do you like Lilgun. I have a pound but haven't used it yet. I have read it is tough on hulls, what's your experience ?

Dave
You can buy a skiver tool from Ballistic Product or just make one. Take a 1/2" wooden dowel and rasp it down to a point on one end, drill a hole and glue and insert a 3/16" bolt shaft, spray glue a pie shaped piece of emery cloth to it. Put it in your power drill.

[Shootn]

Great information guys! I REALLY appreciate it!

[Rich/WIS]

Load 410 on a 20 ga MEC 600 I got for free using a conversion kit to 410 that also came cheap. Used to reload it a lot but when I moved four years ago the club here is not into shotguns. Since moving here have shot a whopping two rounds to dispatch copperheads in the yard. Back in WI shot a lot of sporting clays as well as other clay bird games, and if there is a nicer to carry grouse gun than my SKB O/U. Choke is unusual, per the spec sheet with it the lower barrel patterns 45% and the upper barrel 60%. Odd chokes but deadly on grouse and did well on skeet also.

Sitting on over 500 2-1/2 inch once fired AA hulls, 1200 wads and enough primers, although a little low on #9. Almost all my shooting is the shorter hull, used factory 3" for hunting. Unfortunately if there are grouse here in KY they aren't around my area nor is there a skeet range in reasonable distance.