birdman686

hey all,

ive never reloaded before, and im decideing to start because im starting to shoot skeet quit a bit, and reloading sounds fun and a good way to spend free time. Ive got a 12 ga, whts the best everything, kits, primers, powders, everything

thanks for everything

HighDesertWolf

for a beginer I recommend a Lee Load all its simple press and includes shot and charge bushings for just about every 2 3/4" to 3 inch load. The press is very simple to set up and use and darn near maintainance free. I used one for 10 years before I got my Hornady 366 progressive. also the lee load all is quite inexpensive about 40 bucks for the press not much of a loss if you decide reloading isnt for you. also the nice thing about the load all is if you decide you want to load other guages they make conversion kits for 20 ga and 410 bore for 20 bucks each. Even though I have a progressive press its setup for only trap loads to much of a hassle to swithc things around, So I still use my load all for loading heavier loads for pheasant and turkey.

heres a link to check out the load all: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...&noImage=0

also if you decide to get a load all I would be more them happy to give suggestions on component combinations that ive found to work the best in the load all.

Not many guys on here know the ropes of loading shotshells im for the most part the shotshell guy on this forum. Any questions you have feel free to ask Im always game for helping out a fellow scatter gun enthusiast.

birdman686

thanks a lot, the load seems like a deal...umm you mentioned something about setting it up for trap loads, i think thats what i would use it for, or atleast what i would shoot the most. What combinations work best for winchester shotguns.

thank you so much for the help

HEAD0001

Birdman- are you looking for skeet loads? Or trap loads? They are different. It is expensive to set up shotgun loaders. You should be sure exactly what you want, before you buy a loader. With the price of shotgun shells being as cheap as they are, you do not save much money. So if saving money is your motivation, then I would wait until you are sure what type of load you want. If you just love to reload like I do-then go for it.

We use Ponness-Warren presses. I would not recommend them for starting out. If I was getting started I would buy a MEC-possibly a Grabber.As HighDesert said, the Lee would also do alright, but I prefer the MEC. The first thing you need to do is collect a whole bunch of AA hulls. Those are the only hulls I will use. Some people like the Remington-I do not. I use Winchester primers, and WW wads. I also use a clean burning powder. Some people use a cheaper, dirtier powder, and they get more loads per pound of powder. I like my Beretta too much to shoot dirty powder. If you are shooting a semi-auto then you definitely want to shoot a cleaner powder. Get a couple of good manuals, and then you are ready to go. It is actually a simple process when you get things put together. Tom.

My only warning is be careful with your bushing, or charge bars. It is easy to make a mistake, so be careful.

HighDesertWolf

Thats is disputable and can be more of a matter of choice and preferance or if maybe you are shooting International trap and then the loads are way different but I dont want to confuse you so we wont even go there.
.
A general trap load would be a 1 1/8 oz of 7.5 or 8 shot moving at about 1200 fps where skeet loads can very usually by preferance or if you shoot a handi cap. But from what Im guessing I think a solid trap load will work for birdman then as he progresses and starts to have ideas about what would be better for his style then he could start trying different things to suit his shooting, ofcourse you have to start somewhere and I recommend started with the basics and using a good solid trap loading to start since it will also work for skeet.

I load federal rolled paper base wad hulls because of the fact that Federal hi power, Field, Game, Dove and Squirrel,Top Gun and those federal multi purpose shells at walmart are all the same hulls and theres an abundance of hulls available on the ground at trap ranges. AA you generally have to buy because nobody throws AA hulls away. The federal hulls are actually excellent hulls and as tough as any AA hull. The only real upside to AA hulls is they are the most popular and there are hundreds of load combinations available where the federal Hi power hulls have maybe a hundred load combinations available.

For powders theres actually alot of misconception as to what powders are dirty. Faster powders will generally be cleaner because they burn up completely before your wad cup leave the barrel with the exception of alliant red dot and Unique which tend to be very dirty powder, slower powder dont always burn completely and will foul a gun. I would pick a fast powder like Alliant green dot which a fairly clean powder but is also very consistant. But if you are truly worried about shooting the cleanest powder then you will want hodgdon Clays or Clays International those are by far the cleanest burning powders.

Before I go recommending loads I need to know what hulls (shells) you plan to shoot? I also recommend picking up a couple different powder manufacturer load data brochures from your local gun store they are free and read through them so you can get an idea of what powder you want to use and of how nit picky shotshell reloading is you have use the loads in the book theres 'NO' inventing loads in reloading unless you are a Ballistics engineer and have the hundred of thousands of dollars of equimpment and know how that load developers have. You have to load by the book if the book doesnt show it then you dont do it. But first and most importantly you need to pick a brand of hull to reload. then we will start from there.

birdman686

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birdman686

im not sure i get the difference between trap and skeet loads. my guess is that skeet loads are ones that you bring to the range, and possibly trap loads are ones that you hunt with. but thank you all for your imput and ill be back with the answers to your questions soon!!

HEAD0001

Are you loading the Top Gun hulls in your Lee? We have tried the Top Gun hulls several times, our results were poor. Maybe my loader just does not like them. I have had problems with sizing, and hull separation at the base with Top Gun. We have loaded some Federal Paper's and I agree they are good hulls. I just buy a few cases of AA-shoot them, and keep the hulls. I am pretty sure you did not mean to say that Federal papers were the same asTop Gun.

I shoot a lighter load for skeet. I shoot 2 3/4-1 oz with 8's or 9'sfor skeet, and I shoot a heavier 3 dram-1 1/8 oz 7 1/2'sfor trap.We shoot alot more skeet than trap, and I see no need for a heavy load to shoot skeet. Tom.

HighDesertWolf

yep skeet loads usually are bit heavier than trap loads that about the only difference between trap and skeet loads. My favored skeet load is 1 oz 7.5 shot with 3 1/2 dram for shooting doubles the I dont mind the recoil but the increased velocity helps so you dont have to worry about leading targets.

asfar as using top gun hulls on the lee yes I did and now use them in my 366. the only problem ive ever had was the crimps sometimes would fold in thus allowing shot to spill out but that was fixed easily by not seating the wad with tomuch wad pressure I more or less would just set the wad on the powder till I felt the faintist amount of resistance and let the weight of the shot charge set the wad pressure for me after that the problem was the wad cups were crushing because the load all has no way to set wad pressure other than by feel. but after figuring it out I never had an issue again also this problem only happened with AA12 white wads when I use federal 12s3 2 piece wads I never had the problem. if you are experiencing hull seperation its possible you got a crappy batch of hulls or the hulls were previously loaded improperly and the hulls were damaged.

eldeguello

It seems to me that 12 GA. skeet loads use 1 1/8 oz. of No. 9 shot, whereas in the trap load, the same volume of 7 1/2 size shot is used due to the longer ranges at which the pellets catch up with the target. But I don't remember there being much difference other than shot size.....