Buckshot shot shot shells

[Muleskinner]

I've never loaded shotgun shells before. A friend of mine has all the equipment including about a thousand once fired hulls but most of them are low brass. If I wanted to reload a bunch of number four buck and 00 buck shells will low brass hulls work? Specifically I want to load reduced recoil rounds.. I have a couple of pounds of titewad powder that I accidentally bought instead of tight group and I really don't have any other use for it. It looks like I can reload them for about 28 cents per round if I can reuse the low brass shells.

 

[85MikeTPI]

From my initial research into shotshell loading, the high/low brass is just cosmetic and something of legend. The brass' job is for shell extraction, so it doesn't matter low or high.

With that said, I've never reloaded any.

 

[Mack C-85]

Google is your friend.....lots of articles, videos, and other info on reloading buckshot loads. I've loaded 12, 20, 28, and .410 target loads since I was a very young teen (~50 years) but never buckshot, so can't help ya' with personal experience.

Sent from my SM-A326U using Tapatalk

 

[Blacksmith101]

Try Hogdon Reloading center:
https://shop.hodgdon.com/hodgdon/hodgdon-titewad

 

[jr355]

When loading OO buck shot some shell/wad combinations require removal of the wad fingers or the shell will be "lumpy". Not a big deal but be prepared for it. Loading the shells can be tedious if trying to punch out a couple of boxes as you must load pellets by hand. Latest Lyman shotshell book has a good number of loads as does Hodgdons web site. Your titewad powder may be too fast burning though. Good luck!

 

[MTplinker]

Ballistic Products International (BPI) has some worthwhile ebooks you can buy explaining buckshot shell reloading. It’s different from loading for target (trap and skeet) and from hunting shells.

Hull selection- they recommend straight interior sided hulls for more volume. That in turn leads you to some specific wads, not necessarily the same ones you’d go with if you were using Winchester AA hulls.

I think BPI would say No 4 buck is small enough that you don’t need to do hand stacking of the shot.

You got to get a suitable wad for the “throw weight” of the lead as well as get it to fit in the length avail inside the hull so that the crimp works. Wad selection includes the squishy part being long enough and the wad has to have a suitable cup volume for the shot.

There’s more going on inside those hulls than I was aware of before I started learning how to do it.

When I get home, I’ll see what they got in the BPI buckshot reloading book. Titewad might be too fast. I’m used to seeing HS6, International Clays, maybe Universal clays, and sort of slower shotgun powders in the buckshot load data.

 

[Biggfoot44]

As mentioned , BPI has a couple of manuals/ ebooks specifically for Buckshot . Also check Bubba Rountree on youtube .

There are differences between hulls . straight vs taper , one piece vs seperate basewad , etc . But the brass height is cosmetic in modern era . ( Usta' be a thing in the era of BP loaded paper hulls .)

Since you mentioned target type hulls , reduced recoil , and simple , Bubba has a video just for that !

The simplified recap is :

Claybuster 12- 1138 wads ( clone of discontinued W-W AA- 12 , 9 pellets of .310 ( aka 0 Buck) , and your prefered powder using data for 1 oz of shot . ( Because .310 will stack evenly with the ID of that wad .)

If you just hafta use .330 ( aka True 00 Buck ) , cut the petals off , use 9 00 B in rows of 3 , and use data for 1 1/8 oz of shot .


The above loads will pattern about the same as factory generic aka non premium , Buck loads .

IF you want really , really tight patterning , it Can be done , but it's a bit more complex , and uses specialized components . In broad strokes , think Steel Shot rated wads , hardened and plated or coated Pellets , buffer . and certain slow powders . But capable of 65 to 80 yard groups tighter than generic does at 35- 40 yds .

Do you Need that ? Want that ? For across the room , not really . For hunting in Buckshot Only zones , definitely . For outdoor SD at the outer fringes of " pistol distances " , maybe .

 

[slsc98]

Muleskinner, you’ll likely need to register with a username and password in order to do a search for “buckshot” in thread titles but, I can guarantee you it will be worth your while (literal treasure trove of info here)!!!!! https://www.shotgunworld.com/forums/shotshell-reloading.13/

 

[Muleskinner]

Thanks for the info. I've never loaded any shotshells.. this will be a first.. lots of reading.. it looks like i can reload 00 for about 40 cents each. Friend has a 00 mold. I will need to find #4buck or a mold to cast my own.. i have a few hundred pounds of lead with a source for another 100 pounds or so. 1 pound will do 13 or 14 rounds.. I won't need it all..

 

[pre64hunter]

Have at it!

My brothers and I have been reloading shotgun shells since 1971 when I started with a Lee handloader. 100,000 rounds would be an understatement.
Different hulls, primers, wads, 90% BS! Use your common sense and stick with reasonable powder charges and fast or slow burning powders accordingly. Fast burning powder for light loads, slow for heavy field loads. All that different hulls, primers and wads stuff in the loading manuals is BS.
I've loaded and shot at least 1000 Lyman slugs I cast, and to the max plus! The only problem I've encountered was when Federal went to the 209A primer instead of the 209. It made a hot load but didn't hurt anything.
We load anything from 3/4 oz. to what will fit in a 12 gauge shell. We'd buy a 1000 primers on pay day and shoot them up every weekend. We filed out the charge bar powder hole to increase the charge.
We were poor boys, we would even pick the used wads up off the ice and use them again. We put a spent primer in the shot cup to take up the space from the crushed shot cup buffer. We would take the Mec 600 press with us and C-clamp it to the pig pen and shoot starlings and reload while shooting. We wore out that press and got another one! Wore it out!
I'm laughing thinking about what we did! I remember good advice, my brother saying "I wouldn't shoot any of my reloads without safety glass."
Just don't do anything REAL stupid. Remember too, free advice is worth what you pay for it!
Now reloading metallic cartridges can and will get you in serious trouble if you don't follow the rules!!