doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com cost to reload 12b 2 1/2" shells?

i have reloaded rifle and pistol ammo for decades, but have always used store-bought shotgun shells. well, the number of 2 1/2" 12b shells i am shooting is climbing. i have been saving my RST empty shells and am about to make the commitment to reloading.

my main question is what is a range of typical prices per shell should i expect to pay if i do reload?

could you please give me a ballpark figure on the price of single stage hardware required to reload these shells? it would be for relatively low volume shooting.

thanks!

Marc,

I have just recently been successful(?) in reloading some 12 gauge 2 1/2 inch shells using once fired RST hulls. I load 1/2 and 3/4 ounce lead loads. I'm using a MEC Sizemaster loader.

I use Alliant Extra Lite powder for the 1/2 ounce loads and IMR 700X for the 3/4 ounce loads. I use Winchester primers and Claybuster 6100-12 wads. I use a 0.125 inch thick card wad in the bottom of the wad for the 1/2 ounce loads.

I made a quick attempt at using a shot shell reload calculator but was not successful in getting a per shell cost. I haven't given up on that, will try again later.

Forgive me for doing a quick reply, getting late here and it's past my bedtime. I can get back to you later with more detail if you'd like. (And hopefully, I'll figure out how to use that calculator.)

Edited my post after trying that calculator again and figured it out.
Cost for the 1/2 ounce loads is about $4.23 per box of 25 and $4.59 for the 3/4 ounce loads.
Be happy to provide my component cost if you's like.

Jolly

as far as equipment

find a good used MEC 600JR on eBay (or often found on craigslist)

then order a short kit for the loader

lots of dealers carry them - for example

https://www.ballisticproducts.com/prodinfo.asp?number=1308849

It's Five Dollars a box more or less. I don't use the cheapest components .

. Mec 600 will do it Mec Sizemaster will do it better . I have a 600 with the short kit it does not size Cheddite hulls very well. Most times I size and prime on a PW 375 finish the shell on the 600 with a short kit. Sizemaster would be easier no press switching.

You don't have to use Cheddite 2 1/2 inch hulls, several ways to cut better quality AAs or STS hulls to 2 1/2 inches. If you buy new Cheddites they have to be shortened to 2 1/2 inches so might as well set up to cut.

You can Roll crimp too, I want the roll route first, found a cheap 600 used now fold crimp almost everything.

Boats

There is a link from Trapshooters.com that you can use to put in the prices of your components and it will spit out the price of the shell.

http://www.trapshooters.com/pages/reloadcalc/

I would agree above, its probably going to cost you between $4.75 and $5.25 to reload after you buy the initial set up.

As for presses, while the Jr. will do the trick, if you are shooting more than one 12 gauge, the Sizemaster would serve you better. While the Jr. can use a "ring" for re-sizing the shell head, the Sizemaster's collet does a better job. If you are using one gun only in 12, then the Jr. would work fine as there is no need to re-size the shell head. The head would be "fire formed" to the gun's chamber. I mostly roll crimp, but those loads are low volume for woodcock and turkey. For those, I load new, primed hulls. Rolled hulls don't yield as many reloads as do pie crimps. Gil

Biggest cost is the shot. You save with lighter loads.

I load some 3/4 oz 12 G Lot of 7/8 oz and a few 1 oz. Some of my 12 G SxS's shoot 11/16 OZ very well and it's all you need for short clay targets. Most of the time load 7/8 OZ 7 1/2 to avoid changing the crimp adjustment though. Small volume run on the lighter loads, savings on shot not worth it.

Thing I like about loading short shells is you can tailor the load to the gun. No matter what the price hard to find mild loads suitable for SxS guns in some shot sizes.

Boats

I'm not sure MEC offers a short kit for their 12 gauge Sizemaster to change it from 2 3/4 inches to 2 1/2 inches, at least I didn't find one.

Simple solution is just make a 1/4 inch spacer to place under the shell at the Crimp Start station and Final Crimp station as illustrated below. And additional Rube Goldberg (an engineering term some of you may be familiar with) feature to add to that spacer is a rim guide to more precisely position to shell at that station and to keep the shell in place on the up stroke.

Jolly

If you don't have any 12 gauge 2 1/2 inch hulls for your short chambered gun, you can easily shorten 2 3/4 inch hulls and use a Hartin crimp.

Just shorten the hull 1/4 inch, use your powder, wads, etc. that you would use for your 2 3/4 inch loads but put an over shot card on top and crimp as you normally would. There's enough material left on the hull to crimp it securely. Of course the over shot card keeps the shot where it belongs. You can mark the card with your load, ie, 0.7 ounces.

Couple pictures below pretty much says it all. I did make a jig to position the hull precisely so that I would squarely cut off 1/4 inch using a serrated steak knife.

Jolly

I do about the same thing except run half a dozen at a time in the table saw. Sliding table that fits in the saws miter gauge slot with 6 holes, rest is just like your tool. Just finished 400 3 1/2 inch to 2 7/8 inch 10 G Federals. Either method yours or mine is a lot better than Precision Reloading�s Tool. It's hard to use and will wear your wrist out twisting the hull to cut.

And like in the photos you don't need a short kit at all if using O/S wads.

On Short Kits. I think Mec's kit fits 600 JR's and Size masters. But the home made rig shown works just as well I bet. Problem I had with the 600 Jr was with short 10 G hulls. Cheddites brass is thin and I was bending some rims when running the shell through the Decap and prime stage. Which caused jams closing the action. Bought a 10 G die for my P-W 375, size prime and knock the primed shell out of the die with a short Delrin rod dropped in the mouth and pushed by the knock out die. Then over to the Mec for powder wad shot and crimp. Mec Short conversion crimps are very nice. I should say I don't have this problem with short 12's

Extra work but no jams now.

Boats