12 Gauge Reloading

[philpot 4,966]

I used to have a Pacific reloader for all my 12 gauge shells many years ago but gave it up when I got involved to competition clay shooting as they were not allowed and to be honest I thought it was a thing of the past for shotgun cartridges.

 

Well after a trip to the Northern Shooting Show on Saturday, I found a stand there by a company called 'Clay & Game' who are a specialist company importing MEC reloaders and supplying all the items needed for reloading. I confess to being both surprised and very interested at the thought of going back into this aspect of cartridge supply now that I no longer shoot competitively and shoot live quarry now along with the fact that my wife also shoots clays. Being retired (but still only 30 in my head ) I have to be a bit careful with the cash flow and this might just be a help as well as giving me a little more of the hobby in my spare time. I know the machines are not cheap but that is a one off cost and although I could buy something like a Lee Loadall.........................I won't, it is either a quality machine capable of decent turnover or I won't bother. I like to have and use decent gear so buying a Loadall will drive my crazy and then go out and buy a better unit so I might as well bite the bullet (sorry for the pun) and start off as I mean to go on.

 

I have been looking at the info given and as they are not far away from me, I am thinking of going over for a demo as well as buying a few from them to try.

 

Question:- Do any off you reload 12 gauge shells and if so could you advise me where you buy powder and lead from so that I can compare prices as I have been out of this game for over 30 years. I would also be most interested to know what they cost you to make roughly.

 

Any information would be gratefully received.

 

Phil

[Snarepeg 28]

Have a Pacific 155 plus consumables, Pacific scales as well.

Surplus to my requirements.

John

[andyf 144]

Reloading birdshot is just not economic, I have an extensive rifle cartridge reloading set up and just for the 'hell of

it' got the cheapy lee load-all and some other bits in America and started loading some shotshells.

The long and short of it is that you would need to make your own shot for 'nothing' to even start to make sense.

Obviously 10g, 3 1/2" 12g Magnums etc and of course non lead loads are a different matter, but 6 shot pigeon / pheasant

loads. I reckon 25 shells with 'bought' shot, powder, wads and new hulls cost around £8.00 for 25.

That said I have messed around with self moulded 00 buck & AAA for Fox loads and achieved good results, I am looking at

dripping shot from an already owned Lee electric melter pot following some guidance on YouTube if this works even half

wellI will be in business (especially if lead shot gets banned, the ban won't apply to me).?

[Snarepeg 28]

Home made ️️shot is the way to go for saving money, been dropping it for 50years but lead getting harder to source now.

Wheel weights are now made with alloy? Houses built with plastic pipes etc.

Loading 410 and 28guage and your in the money, 20/16/12 with shop bought components not worth the effort, and probably work out dearer unless bulk buying components.

But still have a fair bit to load so will carry on.

[philpot 4,966]

Sorry for the late response chaps.

 

Having spent some time looking at the cost element of this matter and as already stated, there is no saving whatsoever. My thoughts were that if the cost of cartridges keeps going up at the current rate, then perhaps it is a worthwhile way to go however I would want a fast reloader and whilst the Pacific I had was really good, it was nowhere near as fast as the MEC rotatory system so thank you Snarepeg for your kind offer but it is not the type I want.

 

I may well still go this route for the hell of it and to extend the hobby for those cold winter days that seem to last forever, the jury is still out on this on but I will pop over to get a demo and chat with 'Clay and Game' who are based about 30 mins from me and try to establish the real costs involved.

 

Thank you for your input chaps.

 

Phil

[Snarepeg 28]

No problem Phil.

Have a 366 Pacific in 20 guage. 300/350 per hour ( not for sale)

Your welcome to have a look at this, near Bawtry. John

[philpot 4,966]

That is very nice of you John and I may well have a drive over and take you up on that offer.

 

Can I ask, where do you normally buy your powder / shot from and which powder you you use. It is so long ago that I did reloading I cannot remember which powder I used although pretty sure it was Eley Nobel and CCI primers and Plaswads.

 

Looking at the 'Clay and Game' site, I don't know any of the products but there again it was 30ish years ago. I had thought of asking them if I can go over and produce some shells to test at my cost of course. The worst they can say is 'no' so worth asking me thinks.

 

Phil

[Snarepeg 28]

Still useing stuff collected over the years.

But a good powder for normal cartridges loading 24 gram to 32 is AS from C&G.

Using recovered ️️shot at the moment but stocks exhausted from supplier ?????

Looks like the ️️shot dropper being fired up at some point if no more available.

. john

[samphire 18]

As you appear to have already established the monetary savings in reloading are at best negligible, that is when you are talking light clay loads or vermin loads up to say 30 32 gram .

But once you start moving away from the norm into say vermin magnum loads or wild fowling loads, reloading starts to make a lot more sense to stand the initial investment and load your own.

Reclaimed shot is available but can be sporadic in our area at least. And making your own lead again is an option but its not for everyone.

Powder is never cheap these days vectan powders are probably the best option for economy of use in regards loadings and availability, you must take into account collecting powder in the cost equation as its pricey to ship i am led to believe. But living where you do you are not a million miles from Clay game so i imagine this will be a good place for you to get powder, and indeed primers which have the same or very similar shipping constraints in uk law.

A reliable set of powder scales are essential in my opinion, bushings and powder dippers are all well and good but scales are the only way to go .

Lee load all 2s are ok and cheapish and available and the do work, but there are used preses at similar money if you look around . this is the route i would go if i were you.

I picked up pacific 105 last month in the scunthorpe evening telegraph for 10 quid, and a texan a single stage for 25 around a year ago at Lincoln autojumble at hemswell so they are still about and in your area if you stay vigilant.

I do not know how much you want to invest in time or money in this aspect of shooting, but you can spend as little or as much as you want, and you do not need anything progressive if you dont want , but obviously if volume in production is a factor a progressive machine is the way to go.

I have a couple of progressive presses a ponsness warren and a Bigger Texan i have had 40 years or more both are good but its up to you how deep you want to venture into this.

[philpot 4,966]

It sounds like you are not far away from me Samphire judging by the comments you have made re Hemswell ect.

 

To be very honest, I really do not know what to do as the cartridges WILL be in the main, 21, 28, 24 and 30gr loads so I think as you say there are almost no savings whatsoever even assuming I collect loads of empty shells from places like Beverley shooting ground where my wife and I are members.

 

I do like the thought of reloading again after all these years away from this aspect of the hobby but the outlay is considerable if I want a decent turret reloader such as the MEC Grabber and the 9000GN. With two of us shooting clays and myself shooting pigeon / corvids at least once per week now that I am retired, a Lee Loadall would drive me crazy at the production speed and very quickly become a chore although the price is very good. I missed out on a Grabber a few months ago as a friend sold his which was a surprise as I thought he had sold it years ago..............hey ho.

 

I am going to look around for a s/h unit over the coming months so we will see what comes up.

 

Phil

[David.evans 5,323]

Don't forget Phil , I'm in demo . You can have all the lead you want any time mate !

And all my empty carts , by the bucket load

Atb

[philpot 4,966]

Cheers Dave

[Baldcoot 2,352]

I started with a lee junior ,1 cartridge at a time and now have a very old Lyman press which works .Powder ranges from 20year old Noble <green flames >to Alliant but use it from 28g 7.5 to B/B in steel .Lead shot sourced from a chap on P.W near Notts he pops up from time to time selling his "surplus".

Also the shooting show on the last day hang around till they pack up got 15kg as they couldn,t be bothered putting it back in the van ,saved 30 quid on retail.

Save money No ,same price as bought yes ,but the fun of making and shooting your own priceless .

On ebay every year a chap in Doncaster sells reclaimed no 7 shot about £5 a kg ,dont have a link but a lot of it maybe malformed as its once fired atb

[samphire 18]

It sounds like you are not far away from me Samphire judging by the comments you have made re Hemswell ect.

 

To be very honest, I really do not know what to do as the cartridges WILL be in the main, 21, 28, 24 and 30gr loads so I think as you say there are almost no savings whatsoever even assuming I collect loads of empty shells from places like Beverley shooting ground where my wife and I are members.

 

I do like the thought of reloading again after all these years away from this aspect of the hobby but the outlay is considerable if I want a decent turret reloader such as the MEC Grabber and the 9000GN. With two of us shooting clays and myself shooting pigeon / corvids at least once per week now that I am retired, a Lee Loadall would drive me crazy at the production speed and very quickly become a chore although the price is very good. I missed out on a Grabber a few months ago as a friend sold his which was a surprise as I thought he had sold it years ago..............hey ho.

 

I am going to look around for a s/h unit over the coming months so we will see what comes up.

 

Phil

When i wanted some rare reloaders for my own use i got them from Craigslist ebay and trade me plus sales in forums abroad, America and canada produce used results but not all will sell to the uk, you have to ask via PMs . It leaves you a sort of captive audience if you understand. Yet i have still had some bargains even after the 4extortionate shipping costs.

If you want say a PW 800 or 1000 You will pay off anyone over here they are in demand here bargains do exist but they are few and far between.

The more ubiquitous Mec and other smaller single stage presses are around under a hundred in this country as i explained but are even then snatched up once they show up for sale.

I have a couple of progressives but i do quite use a Pacific 266 single stage quite a lot for loading pigeon cartridges has an ok production rate and is of good design.

Older 244s 250s 255 260s are similar in design but in older v pacific livery .

If i spot anything that might do you i will PM you the Details.