.410 bore reload Help

[smitty8812]

I have been thinking of starting to reload .410 rounds, but not clue where to start. equipment, supplies ect... would welcome any help, a begginers kit would be nice.

[TERRYGER]

mec 600 reloader in .410, harder to find than most but not impossible to find used. $60-80. buy new if you can't wait.

wads, shot, powder, primers, hulls. all of these in proper size and proportion can be found in any of a number or free reloading manuals or computer info. you are in business.

warning: unless you are loading in a very large volume the cost will take a long time to amortize. maybe cheaper to look around for the best prioced .410.

[Revoman]

The best advice to give is to read as much information from sites like this, but mostly from reputable books that deal with shotshell reloading specifically. Metallic loading is much different from shotshell loading.

Once you know the books inside and out, then you should be able to make a good decision on which loader to purchase.

Most beginners are good with the MEC 600, which is a single stage style machine. It's a little slow, but it can be found used for usually a good price and works well. (I would guess that a decent one should cost no more than $100 - $120 or so.) Of course there a bigger badder machines out there and you may opt for one of those instead. Just remember this is about saving money as well as producing really good shells. There are also some very low budget ones too, the issue with those are that most folks simply don't have that much time to dedicate to loading because since they are budget they don't offer any speed at all and are very ssslllloooowwww.

The books will also tell you which components to use. You should not vary from those components as a noob, once you get your feet wet and are well versed at the game, then you may wish to dabble in varying your components. Even at that, I would still recommend sticking with the established recipes for safety reasons, there is no sense in trying something that is out of bounds, it's much too costly.

If you stick with exactly what the books state, you should be good to go.
They will tell you which hull, wad, primer and powder to use for various payloads of shot. It doesn't matter what size the shot is unless you are planning on using buck shot or large shot, normal 'bird shot' is mostly what you will find in the manuals. The 410 in particular it is extremely important to use the exact components as there is NO room in the small hull for error. That being said, the most common load is for 1/2 oz. of 8 or 9 shot, although 7-1/2 shot is not uncommon for hunting.

If you buy your first rounds from the factory, after shooting them, you now have once-fired and can reload them easily. It would be recommended to buy a good brand such as AA or STS style hulls as they are the cream of the crop for reloading purposes. Federals will work as will others, you just don't get as many loadings out of them. After all that's a big part of loading the 28 and 410, saving substantial amounts of money from factory as you probably already know, they are expensive.

You can buy once-fired, but I find that they are expensive besides, you can enjoy shooting the factory's to get the once-fired yourself. This also gives you a good opportunity to see any differences between factory and you new reloads.

As in most things, you are much better of cost-wise by buying in bulk as that offers the most savings. If you can hook up with a component buy out in your area, even better. Lead shot by the way is pretty costly by itself and is for the most part the driving force behind how much your rounds will end up costing you. But at least you are using the 410 bore which doesn't require too much shot, a good thing!

[tujungatoes]

Get the lyman shotshell reloading handbook and start reading. Also consult powder manufacturers websites for load data. As stated previously stick with published loads for the components you purchase.

I have a well used 600jr I got from another Calgunner, and It works great. Not the fastest in the world, but I don't shoot tons of .410 so it works for me. I can see where it might frustrate someone who shoots more.