Returning to shotgunning...reloading ?

[gunnery]

Was able to snag my old mec 600 jr. from my dad's garage.
Cleaned it up and it seems to work well. It was bought in
1969.
Having not reloaded in almost 40 years...what kind of powder
do you recommend? Any difference in primers?
Is the "factory load" on the powder/shot bar okay for
trap/skeet/sporting clays?
Any shot size recommendations for the above shooting sports?
Thankls

[BigDogatPlay]

For all my clays needs I tend to use 1 ounce of #8 and Claybuster wads. I use either Remington hulls or Winchester AA.

Primers tend to differ a bit in overall size from brand to brand. We get a lot of Cheddite primers at my club and they seem to be a wee bit on the big size, but they perform really really well. Once hulls have been loaded with Cheddite primers I've found they can't be used with other primers.

Red Dot works very well in target loads, 17 grains or so is a good place to start in AA hulls for easy clay shooting.

I'd encourage you to pick up a current manual, Lyman is the best IMO, and plan to experiment a bit with components and loads to find what works best in your guns.

[hcbr]

welcome back

[bjl333]

What gauge are you shooting? If you're doing 28 & 410 it'll be worth it to reload. I think the 12s & 20s are pretty cheap. If you look around for a deal, considering the cost of shot.

[bucktooth7]

+1 for buying the lymans manual. It's got all the basics of reloading and hull id. Lots of load data too. You are going to need a scale to check your powder drops. This is very important. E Bay is a good place to look. Follow the rules, safety first.