Shot shell to metallic vice versa

[SmokinJoe]

Loading for (precision) rifle is all about detail and working up loads for each rifle and barrel. Shotshell loading is all about production of a set recipe. However, you do need quality components and there is still a lot of attention to detail, especially with a progressive. I started loading for rifles 62 years ago and loading shotshells 55 years ago; I have loaded many thousands of both. Shotshell isn't quite as economical as it used to be, but the pride in producing your own is still there. And I'll ditto what Greg said. It's all pretty straight forward until you get to 410, then your recipe has to be very exact for the particular hull you are loading to get really good results and you have to be on guard for potential shot bridging problems in the drop tube. It can be a real PIA.

 

[SmokinJoe]

Started metallic loading at 15 and shotshell reloading at 17. Bought a Ponsness Warren 375 at 18. Used it quite a bit then I stopped shooting for over 25 years. Now back to it. I live about a half an hour from Ponsness Warren over in Rathdrum ID. Had them convert the 375 from 12 gauge to 28 gauge which I use for sporting clays and I've been loading a lot of rounds on it. Had someone give me two 5 gallon buckets and two large boxes of once fired AAHS hulls so I'll be loading and shooting them for a while.

I also do precision loading for F Class in a number of calibers.

The primary difference between shotshell and metallic reloading is that with shotshells you need to buy the wad that matches the hull you are loading. That wad determines the shot load and the hull, wad and shot load determine the powder selection and load range. Shotshell recipes seem to be very precise in terms of component selection and people don't seem to stray from those published recipes very much. Probably because shotgun barrels can't handle the pressure that rifle or pistol barrels can. Learning curve is easy with shotshells and those mecs work well. Just watch a couple videos and find your shell, wad and powder by looking at the recommended loads which are available from a variety of sources. Get yourself charge bars for those mecs instead of buy a bunch of different sized cylinders for shot drop and powder drop. Process is: size, dump powder, push in wad, fill wad cup with shot, pre-crimp, crimp. Easy peasy.

Don't forget the primer!

 

[ronsatspokane]

Don't forget the primer!

Damn. That would suck. Hate it when all that powder falls out the bottom of the shell. BTDT

 

[SmokinJoe]

Me too.

 

[DocBII]

Good day,

Thought you were talking about paper/plastic shot shells to metallic shot shells. Just wondering about the crimp on metallic shot shells or any other differences between them and paper/plastic.

Pardon the interruption,
DocBII