Reloading 12ga. Shells

[DavidD]

I've been buying 12 ga. Winchester Game Loads at Academy for $4 per box. I only shoot sporting clays and I've been thinking about reloading and have tried to justify this "expansion" to my hobby by thinking I might save a little money but Can I reload 12 ga. shells for $4 or less per box (excluding reloader and equipment)?

[Westwindmike]

David,

Try this shotshell cost calculator.

http://www.ewrg.org/sscalc.html

I put in some basic numbers and it figured to cost almost $5 a box to reload at todays inflated component cost. I still have a lot of lower priced components and it costs me about $3.93 a box.

Edited December 4, 2008 by Westwindmike

[Hidalgo]

You can't best that price.....but you CAN beat the quality. It's a great hobby, and you can customize the shells to your use. But unless you aren't pleased with the quality of what you're using now, and if you don't have the time or passion to do it, it's probably something to carefully think about.

[DavidD]

David,

Try this shotshell cost calculator.

http://www.ewrg.org/sscalc.html

I put in some basic numbers and it figured to cost almost $5 a box to reload at todays inflated component cost. I still have a lot of lower priced components and it costs me about $3.93 a box.

Awesome calculator, thanks Mike! It confirmed waht I'd already figured manually.

You can't best that price.....but you CAN beat the quality. It's a great hobby, and you can customize the shells to your use. But unless you aren't pleased with the quality of what you're using now, and if you don't have the time or passion to do it, it's probably something to carefully think about.

Yes Hidalgo, this is the conclusion I've come to as well, just for the fun of it. What I don't get is why I keap coming up with $9.92 per box. It appears to be in the powder and shot however shopping around both of these numbers seem to be in order. Any ideas anyone?

[Westwindmike]

Dave,

Check your powder amount per shell. You have 88.8 grains per shell. At 19.5 gr per shell, the end result is much lower. And yes, your shot cost is driving it up also. When shot was $20 a bag, it made more sense.

Mike

Edited December 4, 2008 by Westwindmike

[DavidD]

Dave,

Check your powder amount per shell. You have 88.8 grains per shell. At 19.5 gr per shell, the end result is much lower. And yes, your shot cost is driving it up also. When shot was $20 a bag, it made more sense.

Mike

Ok, I knew there must have been something I was missing. I read somewhere that 1 dram = 27.34375 grains and that a typical 12 ga. skeet load was 3 drams. Is this information flawed?

[DavidD]

Dave,

Check your powder amount per shell. You have 88.8 grains per shell. At 19.5 gr per shell...

Mike

Ohhhhh, I see said the blind man! I was using the conversion from drams of BLACK powder to grains whereas I'll be using SMOKELESS powder to reload. My results are much better and well worth reloading to me now. Thanks a bunch Mike!

[enfield]

If you're planning on using your Winchester Game Load hulls, are they the same smooth plastic hulls as used on the AA target loads? If not, your plan of reloading the hulls 10 times may be wildly optimistic. I've found that only the Winchester AA and the Remington STS hulls are worth loading more than once. When using other hulls (ribbed Federals and Remingtons), I lose a lot of them due to damage in firing, sizing and crimping. AA's are like the Energizer Bunny -- they keep going, and going . . . . .

[DavidD]

My plan is to order once fired AA,s. Is it realistic to expect 10 reloads out of them (on average of course) ?

[enfield]

I bought 1000 AA's from a skeet range many years ago. Since I don't shoot nearly as much now, I haven't yet determined how many times they can be reloaded. I will say that I have reloaded many of them 4 times and haven't lost more than 1 or 2. With ribbed Federal hulls I was down to 30-40% after 4 loadings (as I recall). I put a Sharpie mark on the base every time I reload a hull, so I can tell when I pick one up out of the basket how many times it's been loaded.

I really think that my supply of AA hulls will be a lifetime supply!

The last time I loaded non-AA hulls was when I used up all of my Federal and Remington ribbed hulls (some 400) loading them for Christmas presents for my son and son-in-law. I told them to don't bother picking up the empties -- I don't want them back.

[Fadex]

I used to reload STS & AA loads for about $2.10/25, but I haven't reloaded any in a long time. I know that many of my AA's were loaded at least 8 times. The ribbed hulls were only good for about 3-4 reloads, I think they must be designed to split.

[DavidD]

I used to reload STS & AA loads for about $2.10/25, but I haven't reloaded any in a long time. I know that many of my AA's were loaded at least 8 times. The ribbed hulls were only good for about 3-4 reloads, I think they must be designed to split.

The prices I used on the last calculator reflect Reloaders Bench & Mid South Shooters supply prices. Any other suggestions?

[Fadex]

I bought a lot of my supplies at Pioneer Gun Shop in McMinnville and Gamalia Shooters Supply in Gamalia, KY. Unfortunately Pioneer Gun Shop has been out of business for many year (god I loved that place!). But Gamalia is one of the largest skeet, trap, sporting clays, suppliers that I know of. If you happen to drive up there, and it is worth the drive, make sure to stay away from the rooms to the right when you first come in the building. It gets..o..so expensive in there...lol. Last time I was there they had several 5 barrel sets as well as several Perazzi shotguns in smaller safes.