410 reloading

[duke76]

Picked up a 410 Honey Bair 405 reloading single stage press at a gun show this weekend. Figured with the price of 410 and unavailable supplies this might be alright. I have a bunch of supplies to reload but anyone have any favorite recipes?

[turtlezx]

lotta powder choices 296 110 2400 4227 lil gun 410
21/2" shells 9 shot 13 to 15 gr powder clay buster wads
will work with most hulls

[hoodat]

I've been doing the 444 Marlin brass with a card wad on top of the shot, and wood glue finish. Been working great for one gun, but head-space is too tight in another. Gonna have to use regular hulls in that one. Think I'm gonna just trim those cases and use card plug like with the brass. Won't have to mess with crimp or roll that way. jd

[bimus]

Thank you I will have to look in to using 444 brass

[elmacgyver0]

A couple strokes across a mill file will fix those 444 cases just fine for a .410

[trapper9260]

Or you can put them in the case trimmer
There is other cases you can fire form to the 410 .

[Shawlerbrook]

303 Brit.

[MOA]

I started using 9.3x74R for my 3" brass hulls in my bolt 410. Lots of life using brass at these pressure levels. I'm also using traditional fiber wad and card methodology in my wad column. Lots of good powders to choose from from for all payloads.

[GhostHawk]

.303 british rims had to be trimmed to fit my .410. Not a hard job, chuck a piece of brass into a drill, spin it up, grab a file and take 4-5 thousandths off. Smooth edges with a bit of 0000 steel wool.

[trapper9260]

I got it now that I load 3/4 oz in a 2 1/2" and 1 oz in 3 " hulls and can be used in brass also. I use bullseye . I do not have the data with me now. for the test it is good for 20 yards plus . good pattern at that distance . you could go for how it looks 25 yards or 30 with the right size shot , this is out of a full choke.

[brass410]

9.3 x 74r are my favorite for three inch 410, they really stomp the grouse. 296, herco, unique, many good powders, find the one you can get, and work up a load, every little shottie I've have likes a different load. 303 make a decent 2.5 shell but mostly I find that the case head rim is to thick and needs a little attention with a file. Make sure you put a wrap of masking tape around the body above the rim when fire to form or they'll sometimes be a little off centre.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Great thread! Thanks for the photos of reloading brass shells. I reload .410, but it's all pretty conventional with a MEC Jr.

DG

[beemer]

I have an old Hornady loader for 3" and found the bottom half of a Mec with tooling for crimping 2 1/2. I cut off worn shells to do snake and round ball loads and glue in the overshot wad. I mostly use 1/2 oz. loads and H-110 left over from my magnum days.

I've been loading for 50 years and find the 410 to be one of the most interesting rounds I have ever tinkered with. You can do everything from very light pest loads to round balls.

MOA, would you tell a little more about the sodium silicate. Where do you find it and how you use it, I have heard of using it in motor blocks and shotshells but no other info.

Dave

[Harter66]

I have some 303 cases also .

Just a precautionary thought . The cases will take 30-35kpsi for a 100 cycles and accommodate 1 oz loads easily up to 1500 fps . The thing is a 425-450 gr 1500 fps load in a 45-70 is at the top of Trapdoor loads and into Marlin loads . Those might be hard on the older 410s built around 1200 fps 3/4&11/16 oz 20kpsi .

[Glwenzl]

I've been doing the 444 Marlin brass with a card wad on top of the shot, and wood glue finish. Been working great for one gun, but head-space is too tight in another. Gonna have to use regular hulls in that one. Think I'm gonna just trim those cases and use card plug like with the brass. Won't have to mess with crimp or roll that way. jd

Like have done the same thing years ago. Eventually bought some magtech 410 brass just for the fun of it and sone of their felt wads (beers many years ago). But I never used glue, just gave them a roll crimp in my 45LC seater die and got by ok. Got started doing this with 38s/44/45LC.

More recently on a mission for making 2-1/2” 410 Bismuth loads (for special purpose rabbit hunting) using some special wads from ballistic products.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I load all my .410's with 16 gr of H110, and 1/2 OZ of shot Claybuster wads AA hulls.

I bought a 8 lb jug of H110 back in the 80s' figuring I'd use it all up in my .44's, that never happened. So my solution was to buy a $2000 Citori Sporting Clays O/U, A Pacific DL266 single stage loader ($275) and 1000 AA's ($150) and start loading. This was the most economical way to go for me?

After the first 1000 rounds I still have @5 lbs left. This is my goto Skeet Gun and I shoot 50-100 rounds per week. Takes me an hour to load 100 rounds. I love the gun and the .410 shotshell. I just have to figure out the lead for stations 3,4 and 5 a little better.

Randy

[MOA]

MOA, would you tell a little more about the sodium silicate. Where do you find it and how you use it, I have heard of using it in motor blocks and shotshells but no other info.

Dave[/QUOTE]

I started looking for water glass in a small bottle, but was quite expensive and it had to be ordered online. I think I ordered this from somewhere back east online. A one gallon bottle for about thirty bucks.
The way I use it for my shotshells wither they be my 9.3x74R or my 12 an 20 ga brass shotshells is simple. My final overshot card is a tight fit diameter wise so it's snug to begin with and I put two drops onto the card an then run a toothpick around the inside edge so the glue has very good contact with a solid ring of liquid without any breaks so it's a solid seal when it dries. Of course a 12 or twenty gauge brass shotshell will likely take more than two drops, so just make sure that there's plenty of glue. Remember also that the material used may absorb some of the glue so be sure to check after about an hour to see it you need another drop or two. The overshot cards on my hull top card is usually kind of shiny.I love it. Best glue on the world. I also use it when I'm fire forming cases too.

CQ Concepts Inc. Is the distributor. They've on Amazon. It's like 20 bucks now for a gallon.

[beemer]

MOA, thanks for the write up, I think I will try to find some.

I like those long brass hulls. I have a box of Magteck 410's and about a dozen 444 hulls. The 444 rims were not too thick but too small in diameter, they would fall under the extractor in my H&R. I bored a hole in a piece of 1/4" steel, dropped the hull in and peened the rims out.

[MOA]

Beemer, I find myself using Wiki often to get a quick lock on cartridge dimensions when looking to see if a particular case might serve as a canidate. They usually have the specifications for all the important dimensions. Here's how I decided to use 9.3x74R for my 3" forever hull on my Mossberg bolt shotgun over the 444 or 303.
I pulled up wiki on both cartridges and looked at rim thickness, rim diameter and base diameter.

[brass410]

I load all my .410's with 16 gr of H110, and 1/2 OZ of shot Claybuster wads AA hulls.

I bought a 8 lb jug of H110 back in the 80s' figuring I'd use it all up in my .44's, that never happened. So my solution was to buy a $2000 Citori Sporting Clays O/U, A Pacific DL266 single stage loader ($275) and 1000 AA's ($150) and start loading. This was the most economical way to go for me?

After the first 1000 rounds I still have @5 lbs left. This is my goto Skeet Gun and I shoot 50-100 rounds per week. Takes me an hour to load 100 rounds. I love the gun and the .410 shotshell. I just have to figure out the lead for stations 3,4 and 5 a little better.

Randy

who says you cant save money reloading and casting? Your doing it right now, you've made the appropriate investment and should start to see returns any day now!!!LOL