| Home |
| About Me |
| Getting Started |
| About Trapshooting |
| Reloading |
| Patterning the Gun |
| Links |
| Contact Us |
| History of Trapshooting |
| Order Reloading Supplies from my Amazon Store order Wads, Lead and more |
Here is a Shot Tower Image courtesy of The Anchor Brewing Company, San Francisco Ca. |
This is a modern Shot Tower owned by West Coast Shot Inc. Order Shot from my Amazon StoreImage courtesy of West Coast Shot Inc. |
 |
Reloading Shot Shells |
Reloading Ammunition - Order Reloading SuppliesFindout how many pellets are in a shotgun shell! View the Shot Conversion Chart courtesy of MEC.Have you ever wondered how Lead Shot is made?I was wondering how shot was made also? Well, I did some research. Molten lead is dropped through a perforated pans from the top of a shot tower. The molten lead as it falls the air pressure make the small falling molten lead round. At the bottom of the shot tower, the shot falls into water to cool, the shot is then run through a screen so the lead balls of the same size are separated and any irregular shot is then re melted. Here is an example of a shot tower in Maryland, it is 234 feet tall Check it out. What companies do now is most likely the same kind of process but instead of making the shot towers taller they are most likely forcing air up this would allow the shot to take more time to cool before hitting the water. . Diagram of a Shot Tower How many shells can you reload per pound of gun powder?Lets make math a little fun. Here is a good use First you need to know how many grains are used per shell. Convert grains into grams by dividing the number of grains by 15.43. Then divide grams by 453.6. I use 19 grains of powder .I can reload about 368 shells per pound. 19 grains divided by 15.43 = 1.231674 grams 453.6 grams divided by 1.2313674 = 368.37 shells reloaded per pound of gun powder. 2946.96 shells per 8 lbs of gun powder. Reloading Shotgun Shells with my MEC Single StageI have now used my MEC Jr. for 3 years and loaded atleast 30,000 shot gun shells and never had a problem with its performance. When we first started reloading shot gun shells, reloading appeared to be very complex. Everyone had different opinions about the subject. Reloading is not all that complicated. Remember to follow reloading recipes from known manufacturers, typically the powder manufacturer will have these recipes. Go to their web sites. Using a MEC JR 600 shot shell reloader, there are five different stations. Here is what each station does.
|
|||
 |
Step 1 - Removes spent primer and resizes the brass at the bottom of the shot gun shell. Click on images to view larger image |
||
 |
Step 2 - Place a new primer in the small metal cup on the base. Put a hull over the stage 2 shaft, pull the handle down. This will seat the new primer into the hull. It is important to use the correct hulls because all hulls are not created the same. Some have different size primer holes, different design, and different number of crimp points. |
||
 |
Step 3 - Place hull with new primer in station three pull handle down and slide the charge bar to the left. This will put a powder charge into the bottom of the hull. In this picture the left hand is holding the handle down and the right hand is sliding the charge bar to the left. | ||
 |
Step 3 - After the powder is in the hull a wad is placed into the hull. The wad should be seated all the way down. The wad separates the powder from the shot and seals the powder into a confined space. | ||
 |
Step 3 - With the wad in place the shot is placed in the hull. The wad was seated in the hull the hand lever was pulled down. Keep the handle down and switch hands, so that your right hand is holding the hand lever down. With your left hand slide the charge bar to the right, this will let the shot fall into the hollow tube into the hull. Slowly raise the hand lever. Move the hull to the next station. | ||
 |
Step 4 - This station starts the crimp.
Place the hull in this station and pull the hand lever down. In the
next picture you can see the crimp this station started. . |
||
 |
 |
Step 5 - Place hull into station five and pull down hand lever all the way down. This makes the final crimp, and the shell is now completely loaded. You can load a box of shells in about 7 or 8 minutes. Don’t drink or smoke while reloading. Store reloading materials in a cool dry place. Most of all use common sense. | |
  |
|
Ammunition: A trap load typically are 7/8 to 1 1/8 oz of shot. Many clubs require a maximum load of a 3 drams equivalent of powder (HDCP is an execption) and shot not larger than 7 ". Combinations frequently used are #8 shot at about 1200 fps with a improved modified choke for singles, 7 1/2 shot at 1250 fps with a full choke for handicap or faster. No matter who you talk to about choke tubes everyone has their own opinion and this becomes a very personal part of trapshooting. Try different choke tubes yourself to find out what suits your shooting style. At this point I am using 1 1/8oz of shot (Not Chilled) number 8, Duster blue wads, Winchester WST Powder, CCI 209 Primers (blue box), and a MEC 600 Jr. Reloader. Reloading your own shells can be a very relaxing hobby, stay very focused on what you are doing. Reloading is not a game (DON'T ever smoke, or drink alcohol, when reloading. In fact DON'T ever start Smoking or Drinking it's not good for you). ONLY follow known recipes when reloading any firearm ammunition. Chilled lead shot is softer than hard lead shot and it doesn't break birds as well, use hard shot or magnum depending on the brand. This also is a personal preference depending on who you talk to. The smaller the number for shot the larger the shot size (pellet size). (#8 are smaller than #6’s.) CAUTION:
ONLY follow known recipes
when reloading any firearm ammunition. |