Easing into shotgun reloading

2) is Universal the same as universal clays ?
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There was too much confusion when they came out with Clays, International Clays and Universal Clays so they dropped the Clays from International and Universal
 
The Universal containers still say "Clays Technology" under the "Universal" name. International seems to have dropped all mention of "Clays" on the label (at least, the part I can see online), but the written description on Hodgdon's site still refers to it as part of the "Clays gunpowder series". So it is a kind of half-hearted truncation of the original name.
 
Ok great . I see a Lot of universal using 00 buck steel shot but when I looked online to buy the powder it said universal clays so I wanted to make sure they weren’t different .

Thanks .
 
It always was the most thoughtless powder naming scheme I've seen, and I expect Hodgdon's CS has got good and tired of answering questions about it. But vendors may still retain the original names for awhile.


EDIT: I went to Powder Valleys site, where they still catalog these powders with the "Clays" suffix. However, looking at their photos of the canisters, unlike the one on Hodgdon's own site, the Universal canister does not have the "Clays Technology" line under it. I don't know which one is current, but I noticed one other thing, which is that on every container, the names Clays, Universal, and International all bear the registered trademark sign, so I expect those are now the official names.
 
If I were you, I would have bought the Super Buck #0, that way you wouldn't have to cut the petals off of your wads.

Don
 
That was going to be my next question because somewhere in this thread I remember somebody talking about cutting the petals off . Is that in fact what I will have to do ?

Also I don’t really see any data for #O or #000 using the powder , hulls and primers I have to use so as a new guy to this I felt it best to stick with known loads at first . I also saw after I ordered the shot that I ordered the .330 size and they also have .340 sized OO buck . In some ways I’m glad I didn’t see that because I wouldn’t of bought either do to not knowing why there are two different sizes ??
 
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That was going to be my next question because somewhere in this thread I remember somebody talking about cutting the petals off . Is that in fact what I will have to do ?
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Yes, I mentioned it in post #73, but you weren't paying attention. The ideal way to load buckshot is in layers of 3. With 00 buckshot, the diameter is too big to fit 3 side-by-side into the wad, so you have to cut the petals off. Single 0 buckshot nests nicely in groups of 3.

Don
 
Oh I saw that and noted it , just wasn’t ready to address it fully at the time . Still had the same issue of having very specific components I am stuck with to use .

Not that I plan to do it but I’ve seen several YouTube videos of guys loading nails , nickles , glass , hell you name it guys are loading it in shotgun . Which seems to go against never deviating from published loads in anyway .

Keeping the above in mind why do they not make wads with the petals already removed for 12 gauge 00 buck ? I need to go back and look at the website but I don’t recall them saying remove the petals .

Looking at the Hodgdon site there are two loads using the. Components I’ll be using . The only difference is the charge weights - 30gr and 31gr all other components are the same . Does this mean I can load at 30.5gr ? Which will allow for powder throw variances ??

On a sidenote I’m super stoked that I’ll finally get to use my HS6 powder that’s been sitting around for several years now .
 
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Keeping the above in mind why do they not make wads with the petals already removed for 12 gauge 00 buck ? I need to go back and look at the website but I don’t recall them saying remove the petals .
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They do; most are fiber wads.
 
How many #00 pelets are in a 8lb bottle ? Or how much does a .330 diameter pellet weigh ? 30gr maybe 36gr is my guess ?
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Have no idea how many are in your 8 lb bottle. Buckshot loads are not loaded by weight, they are loaded by the number and size of pellets. You really need to look up load data specific to 00 buck and follow the load data exactly. This is not like loading bird shot.

Don
 
Metal_god,

Maybe this pic will show you what you are up against.

Don

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Lol yeah I know that ( your first post ) , I wanted to know how many in a bottle or there weight each , I’m trying to see how many rounds a 8lb bottle will load . Im not trying to figure out load data with that info . It takes 9 pellets per round , if I knew how many were in a bottle that would tell me how many I’ll be able to load with said bottle , same difference in weight . If I know the general weight of each pellet I can then figure out how many in 7000gr then how many are in 56,000gr :)

Thanks for that chart ( second post ) , nice :-)
 
The Lyman Shotshell Reloading Handbook says they should weigh 53.8 grains, so you should have in the neighborhood of 1,040 pellets for 115 rounds.

Don
 
OK , I have everything-ish I need and loaded up a couple dummy rounds , couple with petals and a couple with out . The ones with the petals crimped ok but the ones with out need some sort of filler because the shot sits to low . I believe I read in this thread that was going to be an issue and it is . It appears there's about an 1/8" space that needs to be filled and that's based on the top edge of the shot and the crease mark on the case . I looked around and only see felt filler wad in stock of that size .

First would felt work or is it to soft ? Also when looking at felt sizes/heights is the 1/8" number what it compresses down to or is that it's "fluff" size ?

Where does the filler go , below the shot or on the top or does it matter . Logic says on the top and you crimp into the filler but I learned a long time ago logic often has no place in reloading . Rocket science is more what you should be considering haha .
 
 
You can put filler wads under or over the shot. If you go with under a 20 ga card might fit the wad better. You can use cork, fiber or card stock.

I have found that 00 buck pellets weigh pretty close to 1/8 ounce. ( Just read the last couple pages and saw your question wasn't answered per pellet in ounces)
 
Keeping the above in mind why do they not make wads with the petals already removed for 12 gauge 00 buck ? I need to go back and look at the website but I don’t recall them saying remove the petals .
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Ballistic Products sells gas seals that can be used as fillers or as the wad in buckshot loads. They also sell a buckshot manual that has data for the gas seals. Most of the data is for Cheddite, Rio and Fiocchi hulls. Which they also sell.
 
Thanks guys , I went ahead and ordered those filler wads USSR linked . One last question till the next . The Hodgdon data using 00buck and hs-6 has two charges 30gr & 31gr . Does this mean I can only use one or the other . They don’t say min and max but rather list them as two different loads . My thought was loading a few at each and if they both are safe . I’d then go to 30.5gr for all the loads . That should give me a good bit of wiggle room when throwing the charge ??
 
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