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Best source for shotshell practice loads?.

john 800

My daughter and I are both shooting trap league this summer, so I will need a flat each of 12 and 20 gauge trap loads. I have looked at midway, midsouth and some other sources. Does anyone have a source they are familiar with that would be cheaper or better?
Secondly, has anyone done the numbers to calculate reloading cost lately? I am guessing it is not worth loading them solely for cost. Am I right?
 
I just plugged current numbers into the math, not counting taxes or shipping.
Used Ballistic Products for a baseline retail price for shot and wads, used Powder Valley for powder and primers. It rolled up around $0.40 per round to make them without accounting for hulls.

By the time you add shipping for lead, and haz for powder and primers... you get the picture.

It really gets driven by the cost of the shot. At typical prices running $59 per 25# bag before shipping and tax, you can't really win by loading when cheap target shells cost around $0.38 per round.
 
Iowa Fox said:
The only way to save money around here that I know of is to take advantage of the component buys the big clubs offer to their members. Usually once a year Just about all of the High schools here have trap teams, no reloads allowed for the shoots.
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Agree. Mainly the cost of the shot.

Once we lost the better retailers in the SoCal area, the only way to load trap/skeet shells at a savings was if the club bought shot that made the math work. The shot is driving roughly half the cost of the shell all by itself.
 
Luckily there's a place close by with good prices on components, no shipping or hazmat, cause I like them federal papers.:cool:
 
Obama managed to fix the shot market. Just before dove season you can buy a lot of dove loads and just let the hulls lay. Reloading is the way to go if you can get a deal on components. Everything is more expensive these days. Back when I shot skeet, we all practiced with the .410 and reloaded. You can shoot a lot pretty cheap. You could practice 16 yard with a 20 ga. or 1oz. loads in the 12. That's just about a light dove load. We bought Federal paper Trap loads in bulk at the club. That was a good deal at the time but it was a long time ago.
 
Some gun clubs are a more reliable source---but also sometimes
more expensive.

Recently Ive seen quite a variety at Cabelas but didn't stop to check
prices.

Something I haven't checked but a lot of shooters tell me the the cost
of reloading has turned them to shoot factory loads.

Good luck in your search----hope your daughter enjoys.

A. Weldy
 
Lucky Shooter said:
Good luck in your search----hope your daughter enjoys.

A. Weldy
Click to expand...
Her best friends grandfather coaches the local trap team and recruited them to shoot local summer League, he has been invaluable at helping them learn, it is one thing for me to have shot some trap amd another to have a guy that has been teaching it for years to kids and knows so many little tricks and habits to watch for. They had a handful of very strong girls from the team graduate this year, the 4 were ranked 1-4 in the conference with 3 of those being seniors. The kids and parents are enjoying it alike, she may not have time to do school trap team with school Softball, Jo volleyball and gymnastics but she is shooting and having fun nonetheless so its good to see. These 3 young ones at 12 are all well above average athletes in natural ability and coachable at the sports they have played (I am coaching their softball team currently) so I am thinking they will continue to learn quickly.
 
The Winchester promotional shells from Walmart. When in stock buy the 100 pack. I have used them to run 25 straight a number of times. They don't pattern as well as a AA or Remington STS or premier but they will hold their own just fine at the 16 yard line.
 
john 800 said:
My daughter and I are both shooting trap league this summer, so I will need a flat each of 12 and 20 gauge trap loads. I have looked at midway, midsouth and some other sources. Does anyone have a source they are familiar with that would be cheaper or better?
Secondly, has anyone done the numbers to calculate reloading cost lately? I am guessing it is not worth loading them solely for cost. Am I right?
Click to expand...
Where are you located? When my son shot we went to Sparta quite a bit and the walmarts in the area usually had a good supply at a reasonable price.
Reloading only pays if you buy in quantity as others have mentioned. We bought shot in 500lb barrels from McAlister in Iowa. Not sure if they are still there. It was "remanufactured", not reclaimed and we were pleased with it.
Not sure how many rounds you shoot at league but a 10 boxes doesn't go very far.
 
You need to find a load that what will pattern in both of you guns and stick with it. Otherwise you could have hole in the pattern and miss when you were on the target. I reloaded AA hauls, I had shooters that would save the once fired hauls for me. If you are spending the money and time, don’t short change the game on ammo. You need a regular load that will pattern and don’t change. It an expensive game no matter how you look at the costs.
 
TrapperBR549 said:
Where are you located? When my son shot we went to Sparta quite a bit and the walmarts in the area usually had a good supply at a reasonable price.
Reloading only pays if you buy in quantity as others have mentioned. We bought shot in 500lb barrels from McAlister in Iowa. Not sure if they are still there. It was "remanufactured", not reclaimed and we were pleased with it.
Not sure how many rounds you shoot at league but a 10 boxes doesn't go very far.
Click to expand...

Our local summer league is 10 weeks, so 10 rounds plus we will shoot some practice. I will look into the company you mentioned for shot.
 
majohnson said:
You need to find a load that what will pattern in both of you guns and stick with it. Otherwise you could have hole in the pattern and miss when you were on the target. I reloaded AA hauls, I had shooters that would save the once fired hauls for me. If you are spending the money and time, don’t short change the game on ammo. You need a regular load that will pattern and don’t change. It an expensive game no matter how you look at the costs.
Click to expand...
If she gets into the competitive side I will definitely look into buying or loading better quality ammo, for now I am just looking to get her amd I out shooting reasonably. The kids that are averaging 95 plus birds out of 100 certainly dont want to give up the bird that sneaks through a pattern. Looking at the scores these kids are shooting it is DAMMED competitive. But we have a long way to go to get there LOL
 
Good on you for taking the time and trouble to raise that girl right.

If it keeps you both doing something together that she will remember after you are gone, then cast a wider net… if your club doesn’t organize a group buy for ammo or lead, maybe the neighboring programs do?
A trip to fetch shot or ammo once a year is a PIA, but that is the only way I can think of to keep the costs down.
 
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