Easing into shotgun reloading

Other thoughts (or tonight's top ten]:
1. Toss your hulls and buy once fired WWAA. They are plentiful and standard.
2. Claybusters makes cheaper wads to replace pricier brand names using same data.
3. MEC loaders (= presses) work great and can be found used cheaply.
4. Loaders use charge "bars" with bushings for shot and powder volumes. I eventually bought an adjustable charge bar to dial in.
5. For what purpose? If hunting ANYTHING in California, you cannot use Lead shot or 00. Possession of any Lead ammo while outdoors is a F&W crime. You can shoot Lead on firing ranges only. 00 gets old after 5 rounds. #8 shot at 5 feet will blow a hole through a cinder block (aim for the hollow).
6. MEC makes a progressive loader but you wont need that kind of volume unless you get involved in trap, skeet, or sporting clay's.
7. Buy your 00 already loaded.
8. Waterfowl? Buy loaded ammo. Cannot be Lead. I loaded steel shot too. 3 1/2" hold more of the lighter pellets.
9. WSF works great. I have also used the "Dots": Red, Green, Blue. Unique seems to work in everything.
10. There is no "any hull" data. However, you will notice that X amount of powder Y will be published and work in similar hulls.
 
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It all starts with hulls, I prefer once fired STS but have a fair supply of old AA also.

Don’t know what you goals are but I switched to 12 gauge in 99 for SHTF Y2K.

I reload bird and buckshot for survival situation so I want commonality, one powder(HS6) one type hull and two different primers and two wads gives me 1-1/4oz hunting load, 00,#4 buck.


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I like your goal to start. But think you should slow down
and just buy a case of 00 buck.
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Two problems with that 1) I live in CA and I can't order online and have delivered to my house . 2) Not sure if you've heard but there's been a run on ammo lately that is not likely to be remedied any time soon . There is virtually no ammo on the shelves here . Thank god I reload and stocked up , I have no issues with the current state of factory ammo as far as regular cartridges . However after doing an inventory of shotgun ammo on hand I find my stock lacking and is why I decided to go this route .

I bought the cheap Lee shotgun loader a few years ago knowing at some point I'd reload shot shell . It appears I picked the best time to start lol

Don’t know what you goals are but I switched to 12 gauge in 99 for SHTF Y2K.
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That's my reason in a nut shell , I've recently been making sure if I have a firearm I also have plenty to feed it . No need having really cool paperweights .

I reload bird and buckshot for survival situation so I want commonality, one powder(HS6) one type hull and two different primers and two wads gives me 1-1/4oz hunting load, 00,#4 buck.
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I only have about 1/2lb of WSF left and like it so have no issues buying as much as needed . I also have several pounds of HS-6 on hand that I've yet to find anything I really like it for , well I have a 357mag load that works pretty well but that's it . If I could find a good shotgun load using HS-6 that would be great .

1. Toss your hulls and buy once fired WWAA. They are plentiful and standard.
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Do you have a link , my quick search seems to come up with a lot of out of stock options .

I also wanted to ask about the brass section of the hulls . Is it true the longer the brass area the better and can be reloaded more times ? Also why are the metal sections of my hulls black ? I scraped at them and they don't appear to be brass or steal almost look like copper maybe ???
 
Probably go back and read Marco Califo post #21 again.

My father at middle age took up trap shooting and reloading and let's say he "respected a deal" rather than he was cheap. He got *lots* of hulls from the trap club and realized he had *lots* of different hulls and then hunted around and found deals on *lots* of different wads that fit (or nearly fit) all the different hulls he had collected. And then one day he simply had enough of the madness (his store room looked like the warehouse for a small gun shop) and flat out decried that there would be one hull (Winchester AA) and one wad and a MEC 650 to marry them up.

Being a trap shooter though, I suspect his volume would be many times greater than what you will reload but that MEC 650 was a sweet machine.

I was reloading .45 ACP and my Dad, after seeing how much powder I would use said he spilled more in one reloading session (he didn't really) than I would use in a month so I got free powder (Red Dot and 700x) and in return I would run the 650 on occasion and load him up a case of his favorite trap loads. As one of the members here is found of saying, "life was good".
 
Grant 14 said:
I just read the link that Totaldia had at the bottom of his page. It is almost an hours worth of reading with lots of information. It was mostly about 3 inch 20 gauge and hot steel loads, but is a good read. I have several old 20 gauges, and wont use steel shot or 3 inch shells, but still learned a lot. There is so much more to learn! Grant.
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Make sure you read this fellow's blog https://pipesf16.wordpress.com/
 
Empty Hulls

Call your local trap, skeet, and sporting clays ranges. You can also visit them and look in the trash cans near the firing position - seriously. Of course you would want permission.
I have not shot trap in a few years, but those trash cans would be around half full of empties.

https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/20103
WINCHESTER AA-HS HULLS 12ga USED 2-3/4" 8 CRIMP *500/BOX

Item #: WU12GA
Price: $29.99
$0.06 per round
Shipping: One flat fee of $9.95 per online order.
Exclusions apply. Click for details.
Availability: In Stock
MPN: WU12GA
 
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DaleA said:
Probably go back and read Marco Califo post #21 again.



My father at middle age took up trap shooting and reloading and let's say he "respected a deal" rather than he was cheap. He got *lots* of hulls from the trap club and realized he had *lots* of different hulls and then hunted around and found deals on *lots* of different wads that fit (or nearly fit) all the different hulls he had collected. And then one day he simply had enough of the madness (his store room looked like the warehouse for a small gun shop) and flat out decried that there would be one hull (Winchester AA) and one wad and a MEC 650 to marry them up.
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I agree with that first statement.

And as for the second bit, I was in a similar camp. I was literally given a 55 gallon garbage bag full of Remington sts and nitro hulls from my local club, which was probably about 600 hulls. I then got a smoking deal on a Pacific 366. Man that thing was sweet. But man, all those hulls, wads, shot, reloaded shells... Man they took up a TON of space! They took up the majority of the space in my small reloading room, which was probably 8x10. Throw an 8 foot bench across the 10 foot wall, and even with a good amount of shelf space... Man loading shotshells takes up space! I did breathe a bit of a sigh of relief when I had to sell it when I moved. I just couldn't load them as cheap as I could buy them either, even being given hulls, lead shot is expensive, and steel, and other not toxic shot?*joker laugh* yeah, no.

I've still got an paper box(a box that paper comes in. Not a... Paper... Box) full of loaded 12 guage... And no 12 guage...

I hated the stupid bushings. I really quick got an adjustable bar for my mec. Want to try a new load? Gotta order a pair of bushings [emoji2357]I ended up with a fairly complete set of business for the Pacific... More clutter in the loading room

I get that today's climate is a bit different than when I got out of it. Shot is expensive. I had to search to find shot bags for under 50 bucks, and that was if you bought 2 bags.

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And then one day he simply had enough of the madness (his store room looked like the warehouse for a small gun shop) and flat out decried that there would be one hull (Winchester AA) and one wad and a MEC 650 to marry them up.
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That's the plan and is why I bought what I bought . The Winchester hulls I bought are plentiful here at my local range . It's what the military shoots and we rent out 3 of are 6 ranges just about every day of the week to the Navy , Coastguard and other LEO's . I have access to as much LC brass , WCC brass and those Winchester hulls I could ever want . As for the primers , the W209's are all that's available locally right now and I could go get more right now if need be . This means unless those Winchester hulls are total garbage and I can't use W209 primers in them , That's what I have to use right now . Please understand I'm not trying to be difficult or think I know better . I simply only have what I have to work with and if I can , I have access to as much of it as I could ever need right now . When I can I will buy better but I fear what I have is all I'll be able to find for now . FWIW I also don't want to buy a component that happens to be available right now only to never see it available again . Example : I refuse to use Varget even though it may be one of the best universal powders for several cartridges I load for . It may be great but it's also never in stock so I choose not to use it for that reason .
 
I may be stating the obvious, but not all Winchester Hulls are WWAA. This is a particular type, compression formed I believe. It is the bulk standard of shooting sports. Any 6 point crimp are not WWAA. Having Winchester stamped on the brass does not make them WWAA.
 
Thanks Marco I just bought those hulls and the Lyman 5th manual . Wanted to buy wads at the same time but thought I better look through the manual first . :cool:
 
Here's another view of the hulls I have and I likely have an endless supply of , they have 6 crimp lines/panels in them

NTuFCC.jpg
 
Yeah but are they one or two piece? That’s what matters.

I reload off hodgon’s online data with a Lee loadall II, I don’t need to change bushing to go between loads with the HS6.

Buck is dropped by hand and bird shot by hopper.


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Metal God. That pretty much sums that post.
Stick with WWAA like you ordered. Your green hulls are not refillable. Some hulls have tube and a basewad. The good ones are one piece of plastic compression formed unibody that are designed to be reloaded.
Sticking with WWAA will simplify you 12g reloading world. Later on, if you like it, you will find certain other brands (I am think of the blue RP hulls I had 20 years ago, or 30) are close to the exact same thing.
Promo, bulk market 6 point hulls are not worth picking out of trash..
 
There's nothing wrong with Reifenhauser hulls; they are actually preferable to tapered hulls for large shot like buckshot. When it comes to loading buck the folks at BPI will tell you this every time. They may not last for as many reloadings as a standard AA but they reload just fine. Since MG has pretty much an unlimited supply of these and he wants to load buckshot he has the right hulls for the job.

Federal Hulls are Reifenhauser type, so are Fiocchi, PMC, Cheddite, and most Euro hulls.

Now for trap loads, AA's and their Rem. equivelents are better as they require less powder and work better with the faster powders. If he wants to go to especially light loads they are certainly the best.
 
Metal god said:
If that was directed at me I don’t know what that means or how to look for it
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Yeah the hull dictates the correct reloading data to use.

So it’s prudent to know what hull you have.

Since you have HS6 go to hodgdon web site to use the data program.

I use a lee scale to find the bushing that throws the correct weight of HS6 (32grains) and that’ll cover all three loads I use.


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Don't buy hulls, go to a local trap/skeet range and you will find thousands on the ground and in the trash for free. Then decide what which ones you want to reload, the most common are Remington Gun Clubs. GO from there.
 
On the question of primers? I just went to Midway website, BPI and Graf &Sons. I looked at all of the primers listed and between the three companies there were 118 types/brands of primers and all but 4 were out of stock. This is what new and old reloaders have to deal with. This is why I bought the only brick of 209 primers that my local hardware store had. This was before I learned (in this thread) that there are considerable size differences between different brands and that limits what hulls I can buy. That is added to the problem of most hulls being out of stock. I just got a new catalog today, so I will see what Natches Supply has. Lots of searching. Grant.
 
There is nothing wrong with the Winchester hulls you already have. You can get 4-8 loading out of those depending on how hot you make them. Yes, there are different levels of shotgun loads. Load 'em mild and you might see 8-10 reloads. They are not the AA hulls. Those are smooth on the outside. Use proper data for the other style Win hulls and have fun.
 
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