I am new to shotgun shell reloading. I have spent many yrs reloading rifle and pistol bullets. Hopefuly some of this knowledge will transfer. However like any newbe I have questions about the shotshell reloading. Where do you all find the powders, wading, and other components to do the reloading. I have collected over the yrs hundreds of 2 1/2 in. shells in 12 and 16 gauge. I hunt with a a h fox and a lefever. I always ordered shell from galazans as they had low pressure and most important they had fibre wads. Do any of you know where I could purchase those. Any other ideas that you could pass my way would help. And how about where to get the lead and anybody still selling the bismuth shot.

thanks
j d

Ballistic Products has fiber wads, lead and bismuth shot. A bit expensive, but they probably can tell you what works in your short shells too.

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/

Bye
Jack

shotshell,
There are some basic differences and safety caveats which are unique to shotshell reloading. Before you invest in any of the components, get a copy of the Lyman Shotshell Handbook and read the "How To" portion in the front of the book. It will answer most of your questions and help you avoid the pitfalls

I am sure you will find that putting shells together for your Fox and LeFever will give you hours of pleasure.
There are two basic reasons to load (or reload) shotshells. One is the attempt to get your shell cheap, and the other is to make specialized shells.
I shoot a beautiful old double hammer gun with Etoile (Star) Damascus barrels. This gun was made in 1900 for waterfowl shooting a weighs 10 pounds with 32" ful and full chokes. Pictures of it cane be seen on the Tech Notes at Dixie Slugs.
Now......Most of the older doubles have very short forcing cones! This was done to reduce blow by into the shot when using cut wads instead of one piece plastic wads. These short forcing cone sealed the cut wads quick as they can out of the hull.
As was said, Ballistic Products has various cut fiber/cork fillers wads, nitro cards, and gas seals. Graf and Sons have all length new hulls in various gauges. Circle Fly has filler/nitro wads that are cut on the machines they bought from Alcan.
So, where to stsrt? If you are loading a shell with Nitro wads over the powder, or a plastic gas seal like the X12X.....use the same amount of powder shown for a one-piece plastic wad. Put one .135" nitro card on top of the plastic over powder wad.
Then dump your amout of shot in the hull and look to see how much filler height will be needed for a crimp. Dump out the shot and add your filler wads. To start with buy 1/4" filler wads. ....crimp, either a rolled or folded crimp.
An excellent powder for 1/4 ounce loads is Alliant Herco....with Unique best for 1/8 ounce loads.
If I can help more, let me know. If you decide to use blackpowder or a subsitute powder....the loading technique is the about same, but since those powders are bulky....use less filler wads.
A good place to start is a supp;y of X12X over-powder wads, some .135"/.125" nitro cards, some 1/4" cork/fiber filler wads, and overshot wads if you plan to roll crimp.
Regards, James

Thanks for all the great information. If I would have had to search for all the information provided here it would have taken weeks. Again thanks and I am sure i'll have other questions.
j d

Thanks for all the great information. If I would have had to search for all the information provided here it would have taken weeks. Again thanks and I am sure i'll have other questions.
j d


Glad to see you here and hope you post often, Take care...
Oberndorf

Welcome to the forum shotshell.

Therer ia a growing interest in loading shotshells for vintage shotguns, both with black and smokeless powders.
The problem is most shotgun reloading sections are about clay bird shooting. There is little posted/published about older types of reloading components.......such as filler wads, etc.
We will try to expand this Beartooth section to cover that type of reloading, if there is an interest.
There are dozens of neat tricks that come into play when loading for the Oldies! One is using dime coin roll papers for shot protectors. We will cover that later, if interested.
Also.....for many years the early American shotguns....Damascus and steel barrels, hammer and hammerless, single and double barrels....have been overlooked. Prices are still down on many, but that will not last!
Preparing ammo for these guns is a great pleasure and can be done fairly simple, with few tools! People that think these Oldies can compete with modern guns are surprised with when we start patterning theirs against my 107 year old American Arms 12 ga.
Regards, James

James and all,

I'm very interested in producing some quality shot shell the "old" way.. Is there a source for old simple load tools? I'm not worried about the speed of production, I'd just like to make some good 16 ga loads.

Thanks

James and all,

I'm very interested in producing some quality shot shell the "old" way.. Is there a source for old simple load tools? I'm not worried about the speed of production, I'd just like to make some good 16 ga loads.

Thanks

ntjaxn,
Some of the really old tools are hard to find and very expensive. Loading for the 16 gauge is easy. There are some of the old Lee Loaders around, but you have to really look for them. I have a MEC600 and a SizeMaster press in 16 gauge and they are swell. Hope this helps. All the best...
Gil

Iowaloha shotshell. I have very limited experience(mistakes) with shotshells. Like you, I have loaded rifle and handgun for awhile.

The best advice I can offer is to follow the load recipe "exactly"! Componants must be the from the maker specified. My mistakes were made here and I paid for them. I bought the stuff that the load recipe called for and all went well.

Nice to meet ya,

Cheezywan