Help! 12 Gauge Reloading, Is Worth it?

[acapa]

Both kids have stared shoot trap, is there money to be saved by reloading?

With the cost of shells ($5.75) these days I was wondering if it make sense to go back to reloading. Just shooting walmart cheap stuff now at 16 yards. 1&1/8th of 8 shot. Use to have a 650 mEC when I shot potshoots at the old South Coast Gun Club in Irvine, CA, but it decayed beyond repair.

Anyone know where to get federal paper shells? Are they even available now? Just in case I want to load up some blue dot for pot shoots.

Thanks

[ultra-ag]

Wait! Sorry, did I hear you say there is a gun club in Irvine? Is it still active? I don't mean to go off thread but I would definately love to shoot closer to home!

[tunder]

Try this.

http://www.trapshooters.com/calculators.cfm

[Thefeeder]

kkk

Reloading trap loads will run about $4.00 a box + time.
Your call if its worth it. I just but traget loads.

As for your Blue Dot...I've loaded 2 3/4" 1 1/2 oz heavy field loads in Win AA hulls for years....look in your old Reloading book for a reciepe using AA hulls....worked like a charm

[acapa]

Thanks for the replies guys!

Tunder, thanks for the link! I didnt expect any replies till morning. Good group of guys here in this forum! My old re

Ultra, I said the "old" south coast gun club. It was at the end of jeffery road. I helped to dig trenches when it moved to that site from Jeffery and 405 in the early 70's. Toll road went through that one and shut it down. I truely miss it. The proposed new site close to Black Star canyon was shot down by locals with requests for environmental impact reports and such. The land at the old club was simply given back to Irvine co who then had pay for the report, and pay big bucks they did and then had to pay for soil remediation. It was sad, one of the original Irvine"s promised we would always have a place to shoot.

I have a reciepe for a buffered blue dot load with fed paper and red Win. wads that worked like a charm on shoot offs back by the fence, especially in the annie oakleys. It threw out a flame but with low breech pressures. My old reciepe books are circa 1960's, same stuff still available?

[Hayashi Killian]

Is reloading worth it for 12ga? Only if you plan on making super combat loads. As in, magnum 0000-buck rounds. Normal factory bird and buck will do you just fine for shooting skeet/trap. The Walmart bulk loads are your best bet, and you may save a few pennies reloading them, but I guarantee it won't be worth it since you'll have to buy new everything for every round you make.

[mjsweims]

Right now reloading 12 and 20 gauge is a push with buying cheap Walmart loads, even if you shoot a lot. Lead is getting extremely expensive - over $40/bag delivered or with sales tax. If you shoot/reload 16, 28 or .410 it's worth the money to reload, or if you want a special load that you can't get in the cheap factory box.

[Thefeeder]

Thanks for the replies guys!

Tunder, thanks for the link! I didnt expect any replies till morning. Good group of guys here in this forum! My old re

Ultra, I said the "old" south coast gun club. It was at the end of jeffery road. I helped to dig trenches when it moved to that site from Jeffery and 405 in the early 70's. Toll road went through that one and shut it down. I truely miss it. The proposed new site close to Black Star canyon was shot down by locals with requests for environmental impact reports and such. The land at the old club was simply given back to Irvine co who then had pay for the report, and pay big bucks they did and then had to pay for soil remediation. It was sad, one of the original Irvine"s promised we would always have a place to shoot.

I have a reciepe for a buffered blue dot load with fed paper and red Win. wads that worked like a charm on shoot offs back by the fence, especially in the annie oakleys. It threw out a flame but with low breech pressures. My old reciepe books are circa 1960's, same stuff still available?

It will be hard to find Fed paper hulls. The Win red wads are still made. Win 209 primers are still made

[cudakidd]

Try Trapshooters.com for these questions. They usually have someone willing to sell you components. I purchased 1000 once fired Federal Gold Medal Paper hulls that way.

I reload to get a specific load (7/8 Ounce) that I like. My hulls are free (5 Dogs Range has thousands of once fired Winchester AA after a Sporting Clays tournament)

I used Promo at a bulk buy at $90/8 lb delivered, shoot reclaimed shot at an average of $10/bag when purchased. Reclaimed now is about $20/bag and works fine.

Primers at $110/5000.

Soooo, run the cost and see if worth it. For smaller gauges like 28 or 410 definitely worth it. 12 gauge is a push with speciality loads making the choice for me. If you have kids learning to shoot 12 gauge you can load up factory spec light recoil loads for far cheaper then retail...

[mike100]

I save maybe $1 per 25-box over the walmart promotional loads, but mainly I fiddle with 12 ga for fun like 1-oz economy light loads or a little something in the 1250-1300 range for handicap 27 yard shooting. those factory hdcp loads are about $8 per box so you can really save some there.

I also do 28 ga, no explanation there, I save more than $6 a box reloading those.