Thinking of getting into reloading shotshells, cheap and easy method?

GT_80 said:

As the title says, shotgun shells are increasing in price, and I have a good stock of them, so I could feasible reload with little need to look for shells.

I have a bag of #6 shot I bought a while back to weigh down some rifle stocks, and I know I can get wads.

i know primers may be an issue, but I know a few shops that stock a lot of reloading components, so I will start to look.

but as far as presses/field reloaders go, I want something relatively cheap, and simple, I don't have a great area to set up a large press right now, though I could make a workstation in my basement easily...

I was looking at like the XringUSA kits or even some cheaper reloading kits on ebay that is just a decapper, tube, and a ring or giant nut for a base- I am not planning to buy the super cheap one though, I want something a little better than bubba can make in his garage, but don't want to invest hundreds right now.

I shoot 12, 20, and .410 and may look to reload all three of them.

Any suggestions or is anyone selling a setup relatively cheap?

Sad thing is, I had a Mec JR 12 gauge setup a few years back, and I gave it away

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If you are looking to stay low volume: Mec 600 jr.
If you are looking for high volume: Mec 9000

Fooling around with lower priced options will lead to nothing but headaches. Neither one of those is that expensive and will pay for itself in short order.

smithra_66 said:

If you are looking to stay low volume: Mec 600 jr.
If you are looking for high volume: Mec 9000

Fooling around with lower priced options will lead to nothing but headaches. Neither one of those is that expensive and will pay for itself in short order.

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It will be all low volume. Several hundred a year, maybe 1000 a year is probably what I will do. Maybe more once I realize the savings... I love .410, I would definitely shoot more of that once I start reloading.

Well, I think I found a Mec600JR set up for 20 gauge! Someone donated it to my club, ad the chairman is a friend. He said he would pick it up form the club, clean it up and give me a call... Said $75-100 is what the club wants for it, so that would get me started on 20 gauge!

I am still waiting to hear back on the 12 gauge I gave my buddy...

Was out in the grudge today. Selling a lathe. Moved the lathe and behind it found a Mec 700 Versamec(just a 600 Jr with extra features). Complete without bottles in 410 bore. I honestly didn't remember even having it. Hardly looks used. That is 2 410s I have...one is set up for 3 inch(fleabay
bound). Found 3 bags of mag shot behind the lathe too...along with a bunch of vintage metal powder cans. They will go to fleabay. One can half full is old Hodgdon BLC(not 2) surplus and a full can of Dupont 4064 with the small metal top.

Skeet 028 said:

Was out in the grudge today. Selling a lathe. Moved the lathe and behind it found a Mec 700 Versamec(just a 600 Jr with extra features). Complete without bottles in 410 bore. I honestly didn't remember even having it. Hardly looks used. That is 2 410s I have...one is set up for 3 inch(fleabay
bound). Found 3 bags of mag shot behind the lathe too...along with a bunch of vintage metal powder cans. They will go to fleabay. One can half full is old Hodgdon BLC(not 2) surplus and a full can of Dupont 4064 with the small metal top.

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I can't beleive all the stuff that you find around your place, that you forgot you had.
There is just something fun abount going on those treasure hunts and saying...................

"Well, hellow there, old friend".

BLC without the 2..................
Mercy.

Well if I keep cleaning out the grudge I will eventually be able to park a car in it. I kinda knew about the BLC as I knew I had a can and a half...and had lost the 1/2 can. I went around the grudge and think I found all the Mec and shotshell loaders. 5 Mec 600 Jr/700s. 2 Sizemasters..2 9000Gs a 650 Mec and a Hornady 366 somewhat modified by a previous owner. But I used to sell shotshell(and metallic) presses. I also pulled a new Thompson Center Encore in it's box out of the corner. It is the only 270 Win I have left

I've always enjoyed reloading, be it shotshell, bottle neck (did some today) and pistol. Shotshell recently for the grand kids.

Loading shotgun today is nothing like it was in the 70's/80's. We shot a lot and I don't remember one shortage.

I'm glad I bought up odd reloading stuff over the years when I found it at shows and gunshops.
Stuff I didn't even need, but the prices were really great.

I just opened another of those wooden trays of LR primers and loaded some 30-30's. I bought those primers for 25cents a tray/100 sometime in the past.
They all went bang.

I'll have to look behind my Lathe,,seems like reloading stuff may grow there.

Can't belive the cost of reloading componets today. I'm even thinking of dragging out the lead pot and moulds again for 30cal.
Running low on my supply of cheaply gotten stuff.

Seems like it would be a winner if one of the reloading companys like LEE would make a simple 7/8-14 die set to load .410 shotshells.

Maybe they have looked into it and it ain't a winner....

In the hands of a good or skilled shooter the little .410 is a great shotgun.

However I think the best shotgun for starting a youngster on or for light field work
is still the old 20 Ga. that can be a light fast handling shotgun, to hit targets
big or small.

Nevada Ed said:

In the hands of a good or skilled shooter the little .410 is a great shotgun.

However I think the best shotgun for starting a youngster on or for light field work
is still the old 20 Ga. that can be a light fast handling shotgun, to hit targets
big or small.

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I am also a believer in the 20 ga. Way back when I bought my daughter an 1100 Remington at JC Penney's The week after introducing her to waterfowl hunting with a single shot H&R 20 ga. Shot her first goose at about 15 yards. 1st shot. . She was 10. She was and still is a good shooter. Better than many men. She uses the 12 ga for deer...but still uses that 1100 for most of her hunting. The 28 is a good starter gun too but ammo is harder to find/more expensive. In about 1995 I quit shooting the 12 ga in skeet. Just used the 20. The 410 is a hoot to play with ...but it takes being serious when you hunt or shoot registered skeet with the little gun. I shot it a lot. I bought a Spolar reloader in 410. Loaded 8800 rounds in April. They were all gone by the end of August. I had to load more to shoot the rest of the shooting year. It is a hard gun to stay consistent with...but fun...and it is the cheapest to load...much less shot. I use 8 1/2 shot in 410. 7 1/2 or 8s for doves and quail...all with the 2 1/2 inch shells. I have found patterns are better with the short case by far in most guns compared to the 3 inch

20 gauge is my favorite by far. Plenty of power, plenty of shot, very diverse, and less recoil than 12 gauge. there are not as many "cool" 20 gauges guns as there are 12 gauge though... No trench sweeper 20 gauges, no slam fire 20 gauges (not that I have seen anyway...).

I was able to secure my old 12 gauge MEC 600 JR press back from the guy I gave it too! He said he has about 1/4 bottle of powder, some #8 shot, 1000 wads, and a fair amount of de-primed and re-sized hulls as well. The press is free, the rest of the stuff he said he would give me "market value" (from 5 years ago I hope).

I am waiting to hear back on the Mec 600 JR 20 gauge press, I think I will be able to get it for about $80 - Hoping it is not missing anything, but at least parts are plentiful.

The .410 loading station, i am going to make one I think, at least for now using the best info I found on Youtube, and forums online. I have de-priming, and priming down, have scale for weighing powder and shot, and have wads, powder, and shot... Just trying to figure out a re-sizer to make sure the cases don't have issues loading or extracting.. If mine does not work, I may just buy a "survival loader" from Xring off ebay, they are like $85. I don't shoot enough .410 to warrant another press, unless I can find one setup for .410 for around $100.

You may find a Mec 600 at a yard or garage sale. I've never found a 600 but did find a 650 almost new for 75 dollars with 800 once fired cases(AAs) and a bunch of wads. To be honest. 410's are the hardest shotshells to load and they usually NEED to be resized. They normally are the highest pressure shotshells and need a good crimp. Find a shotshell loader for the 410. They are running $20 or more a box in these times...and are the cheapest shotshells to load

Skeet 028 said:

You may find a Mec 600 at a yard or garage sale. I've never found a 600 but did find a 650 almost new for 75 dollars with 800 once fired cases(AAs) and a bunch of wads. To be honest. 410's are the hardest shotshells to load and they usually NEED to be resized. They normally are the highest pressure shotshells and need a good crimp. Find a shotshell loader for the 410. They are running $20 or more a box in these times...and are the cheapest shotshells to load

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Yes the .410 prices keep going up. and if I did my math right, I can reload them for about $0.24 a round. They cost $0.85-1.00 and up a round if you can find them in store. That is a pretty good savings. I am still looking for a decent .410 loader, just haven't found one yet...

Back in the 70's, I used a Lee Load-all for a few years. Cheap, got the job done. I have better stuff now.

If cheap is important, Lee Load-all would be my first choice.

Nevada Ed said:

In the hands of a good or skilled shooter the little .410 is a great shotgun.

However I think the best shotgun for starting a youngster on or for light field work
is still the old 20 Ga. that can be a light fast handling shotgun, to hit targets
big or small.

Click to expand...

I favor the 28 gauge for new shooters, I've been told by several top shooters that the 28 produces a longer shot string than the 20 which makes it a bit easier to hit crossing targets.

Well, I now have a complete 20 gauge Mec 600 JR setup in my possession. My sportsman club had a member pass away, and all his reloading equipment and a bunch of random ammo was donated to the club.

I got the Mec for $80 (only missing the crimp starter which I already ordered a 6 point and 8 point). It was pretty grimey, and has some surface rust on it, so I started off cleaning it with WD40 and a brass brush, got a lot of the junk off, then cleaned with carb cleaner.

I’m going to dis-assemble anything that needs better cleaning/polishing, and probably buy new bottles, and get some Orings. The charge bar says “20 Gauge :2A” so I need to figure out what it loads. It’s an older at without the replaceable bushings.

I also got a unopened bag of 25 pounds lead #6 “Lawrence brand chilled lead shot” for $15.

I hope to get my 12 gauge press this week, but we’ll see. As luck would have it, Cabelas had some Hodgdon Long Shot too! I hit everything right in the last two weeks!

Once you get it all cleaned up, spray it with a good rust preventative. WD-40 isn't one.

SMSgt said:

Once you get it all cleaned up, spray it with a good rust preventative. WD-40 isn't one.

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I know WD40 is not a good rust preventative, I was using it more as a degreaser which is works OK as.

I picked up all my 12 gauges reloading equipment today from my buddy... Holy ****, I had no idea how much he had!

I got the loader of course, a set of 20 gauge dies etc for the loader (didn't know he had those, so I have spares for my other press), maybe 650 de-primed tall brass hulls, all sorted in plastic totes by brand and or color, maybe 1000-1200 primers, some powder (not sure what brand or model yet), some shot (no idea how much yet, but at least one full bag), a lee slug mold and a bunch of cast slugs, a couple containers of wads (maybe 300-400), and a ton of 7.62 nato shells that he never got around to buying reloading equipment for.

I paid $300 for everything, and I bet I have closer to $600 worth of stuff. I still don't know exactly what I got.

Now I am almost ready to reload all three calibers that I shoot.

For my .410 reloading equipment, I bought a MEC resizer from a press that I will use for resizing, I have the MEC pre-crimper and final crimper coming, and have a steel plate that I am setting up for de-priming, and priming and holding the shells as I load them. If it proves cumbersome or too slow, I will look for a better .40 reloader. But I shoot less .410 than 20 or 12 gauge so I don't think it will be an issue.

Now I have a lot of reloading reading to do, and then I will practice some and test fire.

well, a couple weeks have gone by, and I have gotten both my MEC presses set up and running, and I bought a bunch of MEC press parts for reloading my .410 shells

I loaded a bunch of 7 1/2 shot, 1 1/8 oz loads in Federal 12 gauge Grand hulls, and some top gun hulls as well, and loaded some 1 oz lee key drive 12 gauge slugs, and I had good results with them all.

I bought reloading books for 12 gauge, and the other smaller shotgun gauges and I am glad I did. I have been absorbing hours of videos on shell design, wad style, stack height, what to look for if your crimps are looking crummy...

i had mostly success in reloading, and only a few shells with swirled crimps and depressed crimps due to the wrong wads in a couple shells (again still learning...).

I am completely hooked on reloading though, even though there is a lot more science to it then I originally thought.

Finding loading data with powder, wads, and hulls I have in stock or are readily available is the most challenging part of it so far. I have been able to pick up a couple more types of powder, and have a lot of flexibility in my loadings too.

I did take a bunch of my reload birdshot out, and some of the Slugs I loaded, and they all shot pretty well.

All this shotshell reloading talk got me motivated to dust off my Mec 9000 and crank out a couple of flats.
Haven’t used it in a couple of years. A little lubricant in the right places and away it went. They really are good machines.
Now you just have to shoot enough to use all that new ammo.