Suggestions on equipment to reload 12ga

[West Texas Granny]

Well no reason to explain why I've started to shoot trap and skeet. So I need to start reloading so what do I need to reload 12ga. Tips. Tricks. What to watch out for?

[Guest]

The MEC machines are good and priced right. If you are using an autoloader getting one with the sizing collet (like the sizemaster) is recommended, but not mandatory. If you are using an o/u it doesn’t matter as much. You can save money on wads by using brands like claybusters instead of the WW brand at twice the price. Powder choice is wide open, lots of favorites for Trap/skeet. No need to beat yourself, especially with skeet so there is no need to try to reach max velocities. I’ve used hi-score 700x for years and it works great, ymmv . Primers – be aware that once you start using some brands (like fiocchi) you need to stay with them as they are about .001 larger than the rest and if you go back to using Rem/Win/CCI the primers can fall out (another reason o/u guns are so popular, very reliable).

To me, the hardest part is getting a nice crimp. Sometimes on older shells if the crip doesn’t come together completely you can put a little piece of masking tape over the hole to keep the shot in.

Anyway, these are just a few quick thoughts.

[jmorris]

I have an rcbs, mec and two hornady 366's. Hands down the 366's are the better machines.

[kamikaze1a]

Be aware that sg primers, unlike pistol and rifle primers, can not always be interchanged safely. Not to say they can not but substituting primers other than what the load data specifies can result in excessive pressure when dealing with max or near max loads.

As for hulls, stick with good quality once fired like Gold Medal, Champ II, RXP etc. Those bargain hulls don't hold their crimp nearly as well unless you got a perfectly matched wad/load to hull...

[CareyH]

Buy a good shotshell reloading book, and follow the data. Hulls,primers and wad all make a difference in the pressure, you cant just interchange them. I dont shoot a ton of shotgun(just 3 gun matches) so I have a mec 600jr. You can do around 100rds an hour with it. For me thats plenty, but if you are going to be shooting a few hundred rounds a weekend I would look into a progressive.

[Intel6]

I load both 12ga and .410 bore (for skeet) on MEC grabbers. I consider them a lot like the Dillon 550 in the metallic loading world. It is a progressive machine that is advanced by hand and I have been able to crank out some decent amounts of ammo on it. The other aspect I like about the grabber is that it has the collet resizing feature which sizes the hull heads back down correctly for whatever gun I shoot them in.

I am sure you will get lots of different advice about loading equipment. Like anything else there is a broad range of choices at a broad range of $$$.

On the powder, I go through lots of WST. I got it for loading 12 ga. target loads and then foudn out how great it is with cast lead bullets in handgun calibers so I always have an extra 8 lb. jug on the shelf.

Neal in AZ

[ranger]

I was a very active Sporting Clays shooter and I had great results with a MEC 9000G. However, with the rapid rise in component costs, I quit reloading 12 gauge and just buy 12 gauge "dove" loads in bulk at Dove season. I still load 28 gauge because of cost.