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Powder recommendations

Mossybloke

Mossybloke

.270 WIN
Going to be loading some 12 ga shells for skeet and dove hunting and looking for powder recommendations. Also, can you load steel for duck hunting? Just wondering how you prove to the warden you're shooting steel hand loads when he checks. What a newbie I am

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Re: Powder recommendations

Mossybloke said:
Just wondering how you prove to the warden you're shooting steel hand loads when he checks. What a newbie I am
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a magnet.


So far I have only loaded 00 buck and slugs. My favorite is Blue Dot and Herco but thats good for heavy feild loads.
 
Re: Powder recommendations

I reload 1000's of 12ga shells a year.
I am a competitive Trap shooter and so is my wife.
My Trap gun is an old Remington 1100.
Being a Semi-Auto, if it gets to dirty it will not cycle properly.

I use CLAYS as my powder since it burns so clean! (Worth the few extra bucks)
I know many people that have to clean their semi every couple hundred rounds.
I have gone 1000 rounds between cleaning and never had my gun fail to cycle properly.

CLAYS also allows me to clean my pump guns a few times a year.
They get lots of use during Skeet season (after Trap season is over) and during hunting season.
 
Re: Powder recommendations

LTB45 said:
I reload 1000's of 12ga shells a year.
I am a competitive Trap shooter and so is my wife.
My Trap gun is an old Remington 1100.
Being a Semi-Auto, if it gets to dirty it will not cycle properly.

I use CLAYS as my powder since it burns so clean! (Worth the few extra bucks)
I know many people that have to clean their semi every couple hundred rounds.
I have gone 1000 rounds between cleaning and never had my gun fail to cycle properly.

CLAYS also allows me to clean my pump guns a few times a year.
They get lots of use during Skeet season (after Trap season is over) and during hunting season.
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That right there is a voice of experrience! Listen and Learn, I say.... Trap and skeet is a high-volume addiction that weeds out the wrong powder choices!

I load 1-1/8 ounce 12-ga shells and I think LTB45 might load 1-oz or lighter loads. Hodgdon Clays is a real good powder, for sure. For the 1-1/8 ounce loads I really like Green Dot and a Rem Fig-8 wad.
 
Re: RE: Powder recommendations

Mossybloke said:
Thanks guys I appreciate it. Where's the best place to get hulls?

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Pick them up, or out of the garbage at a Trap club.
Many Trap shooters shoot only brand new shells and throw away once fired stuff.

Now is the time to decide what type of hull you want to reload.
I reccomend ANYTHING Remington. This is what I reload.
Aslo Winchester, But only the quality stuff, The cheaper stuff is garbage.
Most other brands are not made of pliable plastic and will not handle recrimping very many times, if any at all.
 
That's good to know since I saved most of Remmy dove load hulls from last dove season I hunted. How many powder bushings are good to have on hand? I guess different powders have different weights so it would be best to stick with one powder so you don't need a slew of bushings

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Re: Powder recommendations

Pick your powder of choice and then look for published load data. All powder manufacturers have this on their websites.

If you are going to use a MEC reloader then they have a page on their website with all the info for different powders and what the pwoder drop will be per bushing #.
http://www.mecreloaders.com/documents/M ... gChart.pdf

The numbers puiblished are ballpark but pretty close....at least close enough for my loads.
 
Re: Powder recommendations

Hulls should be, if at all possible, from the Remington Premier STS Target line of ammo (the shiny green) or Premier Nitro line (the shiny gold). Mind you, Remington's Game Loads, Sport Loads and Heavy Dove loads have hulls worth loading as well.

These Remington budget hulls have steel bases instead of brass, so you definitely have to use a press that re-sizes the base. And these budget hulls come in both 6-point and 8-point variations whereas the whole Premier line are 8-point crimps. Some of the Remington budget hulls have a very thin brass wash (not even plating) that can fool a casual observer, but they are still very reloadable when properly sized.

The good news is that the inside dimensions for ALL* of Remington's hulls remain identical so as long as you use the same wad, primer, powder and shot weight you can pretty much load any Remington 2-3/4" 8-pt hull without segregating them from each other. Green Premiers, Gold Premiers, budget hulls both ribbed green and ribbed black... they will SHOOT exactly the same as far as downrange performance.

The budget hulls might give you three decent crimps before they take a dump. The Premier green and gold will give you at least double that number!

Winchester gray AA hulls are not junk but are close to it (two piece and may separate after a few firings), Winchester red AA hulls were superb but are no longer manufactured, and Federal hulls are weird because they aren't dimensionally the same throughout their full line. Some offshore hulls need smaller primers, and the use of American primers will stretch the primer hole after one loading so that you could get primers falling out (it's possible).

Geeez... I'm getting long-winded............

One last thing. Reloading for fine O/U and SxS requires very diligent hull re-sizing as these firearms have the tightest chamber dimensions. As you progress into pumps and semi-autos the chamber dimensions loosen up in order to help facilitate rapid feeding. In that regard, a $1,200 semi may not care if steel base hulls aren't always sized back to original dimensions.

nitesite.... you've been up a long time; shut up and get some sleep.


* - not to include buckshot and high-brass magnum and "specialty" hulls like turkey or HD.
 
Re: Powder recommendations

When it comes to high volume reloading and shooting I do both.
From personal experience I have found that I can usually get 10 or more reloads per Remington hull, even the value pack stuff from Walmart.

Some folks seperate out their hulls by how many point crimps they have, so that they can change the precrimp die to fit the hulls.

I do not do this.
It would take to much time.
I reload them all with the same pre crimp die and have no problem what so ever.
The Remington hulls just refold to their original factory crimp no matter what die I have in there.

You can experiment as you wish and work out what will work on your machine.
 
Re: Powder recommendations

Good post and I won't dispute what you're saying. I've had the same results as you most of the time.

I think that each different loading press might be set up "a couple hundredths off" here or there and some reloaders might experience longer crimp life or lesser crimp life depending on the individual press and its setup.

That's why I said "only three" or "maybe double that"......... just keeping it real. ;)

Haahahahhhaaahhhhaaaa! Going to sleep now.
 
Been reading load data all morning and it seems like it's best to stick with the same components as changing just one component such as a wad could be dangerous if you don't change everything else. I've also been trying to get info on correct wad pressure. My MEC has a pressure scale but cannot find what's the correct pressure anywhere

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Re: Powder recommendations

The pressure scale is for setting the correct pressure to seat the wad.
It more than likely came set from the factory or the guy who had it last if bought used.

The correct pressure will be if you can get all the components in the shell and the crimp is good.
By good I mean that the top of the shell should not be concave or convex.

Many of the old timers are very cautious reloading. Honestly I buy my primers on whatever is cheapest.
I buy at least 5000 at a time.
You can always find a recipe that will work for your established components and different brand primers
The biggest difference may be changing your powder bushing to adjust for the proper powder drop.
 
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