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Thread: Vintage 410 Shotshell Reloading

  1. #1
    Boolit Master PBSmith's Avatar
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    Vintage 410 Shotshell Reloading

    I recently purchased an old single barrel shotgun in .410 and wish to reload a couple of boxes of ammo. Targets will be the occasional Blue Rock, starling, and maybe a squirrel or two. The quantity of ammo I wish to produce will certainly not justify buying a modern press such as MEC.

    An old Lee mallet kit would work fine, but these things are going for an absurd price on ebay.

    Are there other simple vintage hand tools out there that I can scout for that won't break the bank? I have a Pacific DL250 and a Lyman Vandalia for the larger gauges, but I don't know if .410 dies were ever available for either.

    I won't have any trouble de-priming and priming with various simple shop tools. The big hangup is going to be sizing case heads that were not fired in my gun.

    Seems likely that Lyman might have made and sold a single mallet-type die for sizing, and I wouldn't be surprised if the same company had wad-seating tools as well. But I don't know what to look for.

    Look forward to your suggestions.
    PBSmith
    Last edited by PBSmith; 11-24-2021 at 06:13 PM.

  2. #2
    Boolit Master



    TNsailorman's Avatar
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    x ring makes a complete kit to load the 410(also 12, 16 & 20) and it is far cheaper than the lee loader kit and better designed also, made out of metal instead of plastic.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master hoodat's Avatar
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    444 Marlin cases, and standard 2 1/2" wads.

    These work great in my single shot, no so good in my grand daughters. Head space is a little tight in some guns. Easy fix is to spin the rims down a couple thousandths. jd

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  4. #4
    Boolit Master
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    Have you considered role crimping ?

  5. #5
    Boolit Master Jedman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by toallmy View Post
    Have you considered role crimping ?
    This is what I was going to say. If you have a simple way of depriming, priming and have a scoop powder measure or a scale the rest is pretty easy with plastic hulls. With your old single barrel you shouldn’t need to resize the brass or steel head of the hull as they usually don’t expand to large not to fit in a break action shotgun.
    A roll crimper can be used with most any hand drill or drill press and gives you great flexibility in what you load if you have different wads to make up the length needed.
    410’s are great and can serve many situations well.

    Jedman

  6. #6
    Boolit Master PBSmith's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jedman View Post
    This is what I was going to say. If you have a simple way of depriming, priming and have a scoop powder measure or a scale the rest is pretty easy with plastic hulls. With your old single barrel you shouldn’t need to resize the brass or steel head of the hull as they usually don’t expand to large not to fit in a break action shotgun.
    A roll crimper can be used with most any hand drill or drill press and gives you great flexibility in what you load if you have different wads to make up the length needed.
    410’s are great and can serve many situations well.

    Jedman
    I do in fact like the roll crimp - have used in other gauges. At the moment this .410 project is stalled for lack of empty hulls, or loaded ammo at less than scalp prices.

    Also, the few empty fired hulls I've got on hand were fired in another gun and will not chamber in my single shot, thus full sizing of the brass (or steel) case heads will be required if I do acquire fired empties.

    The conversion of brass rifle casings to .410 is novel. However, my supply of rifle and pistol primers is skimpy. I've got a few shotshell primers so that's the direction I'd like to go

    I never thought I'd want to own a .410, but the more I handle the Stevens and think about the economy of reloading for it, the more enthusiastic I become. Thanks for your posts.

  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master Outpost75's Avatar
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    I use Berdan 9.3x74R or .303 British cases converted to take 209 shotshell primers, fire-formed and when necessary size using the carbide ring only from Lee .45 ACP factory crimp die. Might need to thin rims a bit, but in older gun probably not.
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  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy gunarea's Avatar
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    Hey PBsmith
    You can size with a 45acp size die. Just remove the decapping pin. High brass hulls may go better with a touch of Vaseline. This can be done easily on a press or nearly as easy with the Lee "whack a mole" procedure. The 444 shell holder works on most of the hull bases, not all. Loading 410 is not so difficult as most present it. For a low volume demand, you will do fine. I have only been into 410 for fifty years, so if I can be of any help, just ask.
    Roy
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  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master GhostHawk's Avatar
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    Not hard to make a set of tools that will allow you to reload. It helps if you are not looking at rounds of trap/skeet etc.

    I have shot both .303 british and .444marlin in my Mossberg .410. Fireforming the brass was not hard.

    Turning rims down can be done with any drill and a file. Takes a little time but that is all.

    That also gives you an option for something like a .40sw cast bullet loaded into a hull.

    I have made reloading sets for both .410 and 20 ga hulls. Pretty simple really if you sit down and think about it.
    I keep each set in a food storage snap top lid with the right size punch for punching out over powder and overshot wads.

    I suspect it would not be hard to convert brass cases to 209 primers if that is what you need.

    And I think knocking down a dove or squirrel or rabbit with hand crafted loads reloaded with tools you built yourself would be very satisfying.
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  10. #10
    Boolit Master PBSmith's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gunarea View Post
    Hey PBsmith
    You can size with a 45acp size die. Just remove the decapping pin. High brass hulls may go better with a touch of Vaseline. This can be done easily on a press or nearly as easy with the Lee "whack a mole" procedure. The 444 shell holder works on most of the hull bases, not all. Loading 410 is not so difficult as most present it. For a low volume demand, you will do fine. I have only been into 410 for fifty years, so if I can be of any help, just ask.
    Roy
    Roy,
    PM to be sent shortly.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master PBSmith's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Outpost75 View Post
    I use Berdan 9.3x74R or .303 British cases converted to take 209 shotshell primers, fire-formed and when necessary size using the carbide ring only from Lee .45 ACP factory crimp die. Might need to thin rims a bit, but in older gun probably not.
    Is that primer conversion job something you can describe in a short tutorial? I'm assuming you do this yourself.

    According to my old Speer manual, the lower dimensions (rim thickness, rim and case diameters) of .30-40 Krag and .303 British cases are close. Will Krag cases work in the conversion to .410?

    Thanks.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master PBSmith's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GhostHawk View Post
    Not hard to make a set of tools that will allow you to reload. It helps if you are not looking at rounds of trap/skeet etc.

    I have shot both .303 british and .444marlin in my Mossberg .410. Fireforming the brass was not hard.

    Turning rims down can be done with any drill and a file. Takes a little time but that is all.

    That also gives you an option for something like a .40sw cast bullet loaded into a hull.

    I have made reloading sets for both .410 and 20 ga hulls. Pretty simple really if you sit down and think about it.
    I keep each set in a food storage snap top lid with the right size punch for punching out over powder and overshot wads.

    I suspect it would not be hard to convert brass cases to 209 primers if that is what you need.

    And I think knocking down a dove or squirrel or rabbit with hand crafted loads reloaded with tools you built yourself would be very satisfying.

    Ghost, PM to be sent shortly

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check