doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Got one of these on the way...

Sort of.

If you reload, it costs essentially the same to shoot 12,20, or .410.

The current average economics assuming you have a gun club membership and can buy components off the vendor truck, or you attend shoots and can avoid 'retail':

Shot is a dime an ounce.
Primers are 3 cents.
Wads are 2 cents.
Powder is 4 to 5 cents a 'bang'.

This is the same whatever gauge you load.

.410 shells are usually purchased in factory loads since you don't find them laying around free and if you buy them 'once fired' they cost 20 cents anyway.

.410 hulls cost roughly a nickel a cycle, exactly the same as the money saved by using only half an ounce of shot. It's a wash.

12 gauge shells are free for the picking up. 20 gauge shells sometimes can be found for free, if you can't find any at the ranges, Gun Club shells last nearly forever, certainly long enough to get the cost down to a penny per cycle.

When figuring total cost, I also include a penny per load for equipment.

I figure $5 a box total at current prices. I can certainly buy promo loads for near that, and I do burn quite a few of those.

But, for 410 and for stuff I can't buy at any price, I load.

Right, but ........ I can pick up all the .410 shells I can stand to reload for free. And a very gracious donor once sent me several hundred once fired 3" cases. 🙂

Seriously, I've never had to buy any .410 hulls except for 100 Cheddites to use to work up a 3/4 oz. "super load".

Even if you did end up at $5 a box, that's a long way from $12 - $15.

What is so hard for me to understand, and this is NOT directed at any one person, is why it's okay, and even recommended by many on this forum, that we should pay high prices for low pressure, over the counter, 2 1/2" shells to use in a vintage damascus gun, but cry "Wolf!" about someone paying a couple dollars a box more for .410s, if that's what brings them enjoyment.

SRH

Well I thought I had it coming now my north jOe'ja buddy says he wants to keep it to shoot toad frOgs with...

I'm still tying to figure out how you guys cook them.

Stan, you must shoot at higher class places than I do.

Back in the days when I could only afford about 50 targets a week, I used to plow through the snowdrifts on Monday for loadable AA 12 gauge hulls.

I ran them through the washing machine to wash the tobacco juice off them, at least until that time the spin cycle centrifuged out a bunch of primers and they ended up in the pump.

Wife was not amused.

Stan,
I don�t have a dog in this fight, BUT, an excellent, English gunsmith once told me he would be a far poorer man were it not for American shooters with English double guns, and reloaders. He said a good deal of his work was directly linked to that. My take, because I didn�t ask him to elaborate, was that the English guns had seen their best days by the time they got here, and the reloaded ammunition was mostly hotter than the guns should have seen in their prime.

I have heard it proclaimed by many guys how they would never make a mistake while reloading, and their ammunition is always perfect. And, I have seen posts with screwed up guns with the finger pointed at the reloaded ammunition.

I have heard of bad factory ammunition, but, have never had the pleasure, so to speak.

If and when I become a reloader, I�d tend to use the stuff in my repeaters, and use boutique ammunition in the guns I�d really rather not have an expensive mistake in.

I get it if someone doesn�t feel the same.

Best,
Ted

I've got so many AA .410 hulls I don't even pick them up now, SJ. Lots of guys shoot .410s down at my club, down here. Didn't know it wasn't like that everywhere.

Another thought, if you pay $8 a box for shells, and the leftover hulls are worth $.20/ea., how much has that box really cost you? Answer, $3.

SRH

Me too, Ted. No argument from me on that.

All my best, SRH

A personal decision, Ted. I respect that.

I recently had to decide if I was capable of safely loading for the M1 Garand rifle.

That's a different platform than I'm experienced with, and there are safety concerns that simply must be addressed lest one end up having a bad day.

In the end, I obtained the correct dies, primers, and gauges to assemble the equal of factory ammunition safety wise with the added benefit of a tad less recoil. My cartridges are better for the rifle than anything available commercially.

The key is to realize that people are fallible and anyone who claims to have never made a reloading mistake is simply a liar.

I hope I'm able to identify the age at which I should no longer load. I've seen quite a few older guys who just can't do it anymore yet they persist. The endless parade of duds gets annoying and we always wonder when the extra powder charge will show itself...

Too bad you don�t live down the street. I could save you the trouble. I have a stack of the Austrian military 30-06, old, but perfect for the Garand . A little bit lower velocity than typical, is what I�ve been told. I don�t even own a 30-06.
I think it is the stuff sold by Century.

Best,
Ted

Ted, your local CMP affiliated club could probably put that to good use should you ever decide to donate it to their youth program.

I didn't have a '06 either until about a year ago.

One time, I did have a Rem 700 in that caliber until I traded it for an 1100 Skeet 'B'.

The Garand adventure has ended up as a 3 rifle project, one of which now wears an optic. Fascinating rifle in all respects.

There is also a Sharps replica on order, so my shotgunning time will be somewhat reduced in the future.

I should have never have visited the 500 yard steel gong range...