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Shopping checklist?

H

honkey

.270 WIN
I just want to make sure I am understanding this correctly. I have sent the last few days watching YouTube videos and looking at different online supply stores and I am considering making a purchase to start reloading soon. I want to start with loading 12 gauge slugs. As I understand it, this is all I need to purchase to get started...
-Lee Load All Press
-Shells
-Powder
-Lead
-Primers
-Furnace
-Wads
-Crimper to shape lead for slugs.

Is this really all it takes? Looking at videos, the slugs look different than commercial versions where the slug lead is visible, in homemade it is covered. Does this affect accuracy or performance?
 
Oli700 is a slug maker and reloader. And he's good at it. He definitely knows what he's doing. I'm certain he'll be along here shortly.

But let me say a bit about making your own slugs. It isn't hard. But just buying lead and a furnace won't get you there.

You'll need to get soft lead, almost pure and not some hardened lead like linotype.

And a slug mould. Lee makes a good inexpensive one with handles included. Other mould makers sell their mould and handles separately and just their moulds cost far more than what the Lee combo sets you back.

Are you going to buy your lead already in ingot form ready for casting, that will fit in your furnace and has been cleaned of contaminates (called "fluxing")? If you scrounge your own lead like wheel weights etc you'll be broadening your process to include what is called "smelting" which is easy to do but isn't normally done in your casting furnace. It's usually done separately in cast-iron or steel pots over open flame while the lead is all dirty, and then you remove the contamination (fluxing) in a final separate step then poured into ingot moulds (or muffin tins or whatever) to cool qand harden. That way when you add ingots to your casting furnace it only sees clean lead that doesn't gum up the spout and ruin your casting sessions.

And the correct wad matters a huge deal, depending on which brand of hull you are going to settle on whether it's Remington or Federal or Winchester or whatever. Using the wrong wad/hull combo can cause overpressures in your gun!

Lastly, if you're going to do this I say ask questions up front and then relax a little bit. It's not rocket science, and if a guy like me can safely do it then anyone else can. It's hugely fun to shoot your own ammo!

If you get started, let me be the first to welcome you to the club!!!!!!!!
 
Thanks for the reply! The lead I was looking at is here:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/144043 ... age-weight

And the Lee 1 oz. mold is the one I was looking at also.

I am pretty new to guns, but I have been shooting a lot ever since I started and in everything I do, I am a DIY person. (Homebrewer, almost all food made from scratch, built my own arcade machine) So naturally this appeals to me as a way to learn and have another DIY activity. Saving money will eventually be nice also.

I am also interested in reloading for my .38 Special revolver, but I figured this was the wrong place to ask about that kind of thing. Ammo prices are really getting out of hand and if I could find a way to have fun and cut costs at the same time, I am all for it!
 
honkey said:
As I understand it, this is all I need to purchase to get started...
-Lee Load All Press That'll work just fine
-Shells Known as hulls, get one brand and stick with that
-Powder There are powders meant specifically for shotgun or shotgun/pistol like Red Dot, Green Dot ,and others. We can help you choose the right powder to start with
-Lead Read my above post
-Primers 209 Shotgun primers, NOT rifle or pistol primers
-Furnace If you're going to pour molten lead into a mould you'll need one
-Wads see my above comment
-Crimper to shape lead for slugs. I'm not really sure what you mean. Maybe a mould?

Is this really all it takes? Looking at videos, the slugs look different than commercial versions where the slug lead is visible, in homemade it is covered. Does this affect accuracy or performance?

Generally, it's a lot easier to use undersize slugs inside plastic wads and re-used hulls to make your own loaded slug ammunition. A correctly sized 12-ga slug rides directly in contact with the bore and doesn't use a wad with petals. So the hull mouth is rolled over on almost all factory slug ammo and the slug is visible. You can get VERY GOOD accuracy with a slightly undersized home-cast slug in a petalled wad inside hulls that crimp over into regular 6- or 8-point folds. Oli has had some amazing results doing it that way!
Click to expand...

Oli, what kind of lead are you using?

Pure 100% soft, or wheel weights, or Lyman #2, or what? I can see medium-hard wheel weight lead or Lyman #2 possibly working in conjunction with a plastic wad so as not to hurt a choked down muzzle but I sure wouldn't want to use harder lead slugs that are not in wads for anything that might damage a gun!

Honkey...... DUDE, you're talking to a HUGE fanboy for reloading the .38-Special cartridge. We're not just about shotguns here I want you to know!!!!!!!!!!!! I can so help you get started it's not even funny!!! :lol:

I'm gaining a whole new respect for you (I already did, you know) since you can possibly be my go-to guy if I want to start home brewing!!!!! Think collaborative effort here, man!
 
honkey said:
Thanks for the reply! You are most welcome!

I am also interested in reloading for my .38 Special revolver, but I figured this was the wrong place to ask about that kind of thing. Ammo prices are really getting out of hand and if I could find a way to have fun and cut costs at the same time, I am all for it!
Click to expand...

I don't have a lot of high-end top-of-the-line Porsche-Class reloading gear, but I cast two different .38-Spl bullets from free wheel weights (a 148-gr DEWC double-ended-wadcutter, and a 140-gr LSWC lead semi-wadcutter) and 100 loaded rounds are costing me about $5.00. If there is any difference between my reloads and factory it is that mine are far more accurate. And it's a great DIY hobby, just like you said!

I'll send you some swag (bullets, cases) to help get you started if/when you ever get a press and some other start-up equipment.
 
nitesite said:
Oli, what kind of lead are you using?
Click to expand...
I am using pure for the slugs and a tin mix for 00 Buck. I will probably try some harder tin mix slugs due to having a Cyl choke. The big reason to use pure on the Lee mold is so the slug releases from the center pin easyer. I have read about people using WW's and not being able to get the slug off of the center pin . Being only 69 cal in a wad it should fit through any choke

nitesite said:
I'm gaining a whole new respect for you (I already did, you know) since you can possibly be my go-to guy if I want to start home brewing!!!!! Think collaborative effort here, man!
Click to expand...

My Aunt and her hubby own www.hoptech.com
 
I didn't realize I would get so much good info so quick. Nitesite, I would be down for a trade and for teaching you to homebrew. Check your PMs... I am in North Alabama also.
 
nitesite said:
honkey said:
Thanks for the reply! You are most welcome!

I am also interested in reloading for my .38 Special revolver, but I figured this was the wrong place to ask about that kind of thing. Ammo prices are really getting out of hand and if I could find a way to have fun and cut costs at the same time, I am all for it!
Click to expand...

I don't have a lot of high-end top-of-the-line Porsche-Class reloading gear, but I cast two different .38-Spl bullets from free wheel weights (a 148-gr DEWC double-ended-wadcutter, and a 140-gr LSWC lead semi-wadcutter) and 100 loaded rounds are costing me about $5.00. If there is any difference between my reloads and factory it is that mine are far more accurate. And it's a great DIY hobby, just like you said!

I'll send you some swag (bullets, cases) to help get you started if/when you ever get a press and some other start-up equipment.
Click to expand...

That is awesome that you are casting your own. I am not sure I would start with casting my own bullets, but I would like to get to that point once I have the rest of the process down pat.

oli700 said:
Here are some things I have learned, and you need a data manual. If you just want to do slugs than they provide you some data with the mold.

http://www.mossbergowners.com/viewtopic ... 103&t=1745

http://www.mossbergowners.com/viewtopic ... 103&t=2154

http://www.mossbergowners.com/viewtopic ... 103&t=1254
Click to expand...

Thanks for the links! I will make sure I read through those when I get back from teaching trumpet lessons tonight.
 
All right, after watching more videos and reading the links provided, I have decided that sometime here in the next week I will be ordering my equipment. I also think I may go ahead and get a mold for .38 special bullets. I realized the kits I am looking at do not include calipers. Are they necessary or is that just a tool that is nice to have?
I found a junkyard near me that says I can go pull weights off of tires and take them for free (although they are not sure if they have many) and another junkyard says they sell them in 5 gallon buckets for $50. Even at $50 for a 5 gallon bucket, that doesn't seem unreasonable to me. What do you guys think?
 
Fifty bux for way more than 100-lbs of wheelweights is a fair price in today's new economy. A few years ago they went for half that before demand rose by hoarders.

BTW, a 5-gal bucket even after smelting everything down might get you thousands and thousands of bullets! There are 7,000 grains in a pound so divide by bullet weight to estimate how many you can get out of 100+ pounds!

DO NOT pay that price if there is a lot of extranneous crap in the bucket like cig butts, nuts and bolts, old brake pads, or a lot os steel and/or zinc wheel weights. For that price you need to get almost all lead weights. And the soft lead tape-on weights that go inside aluminum wheels (look like a roll of lead postage stamps which bend very easily) are A-Okay. If you need pics of what steel and zinc weights look like let me know!
 
Good to know! I already did the math of bullets per pound of lead. I am trying to decide on what I am going to carry in my S&W 642 as my defensive round (thanks for the advice in the PM about the +p loads) and then I want to start making ammo that will be the same weight and velocity to practice with so I can get used to the recoil, but whether I end up deciding on 110 grain or 158 grain (or anything in between), it really doesn't matter because the cost is negligible. Looking at the cost of reloading ammo, it almost seems silly to not reload. I also would want to make around 200 or so slugs. I figure that could last me quite a while.
 
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