Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Low Recoil 12ga Handloads?

Yes, I have trap clubs all around me. Will check that out as a source.

Appreciate all of the tips and links. Finished supper, watched Andy Griffith, then walked to the head of the ridge to check out the October sky.
Stars, Milky Way, and combine and tractor lights were all sparkling...
Early start tomorrow, and time to turn in.

Thanks to all again...

I've killed hundreds of SD roosters with 7/8 oz 12 ga loads at 1200 fps and #5 or #6 shot. Light loads are all we use until the snow flies. It's all about shot placement. We use Hodgdon Clays. It was always entertaining to dump birds at 50 yds or more with that load while the non-residents next to me were complaining that their 3" magnum #4s couldn't take a rooster down at 30 yds because they were "too tough". I always looked at them and told them to "shoot them in the head". They laughed at me until I explained to them that my birds never go into the pile for the picture at the end of the day and I would show them a couple roosters from my vest with no damage to legs or breasts...

I just want to second John's recommendation of the Lee Load All II. I bought one used for low count 16 gauge reloading. I only use about two boxes of hard 1 oz. 5 shot a year. Hardly worth the bother of loading except that locally no 16 gauge ammo is consistently on the shelf and when it is the ammo is usually heap promo loads using soft shot.

The reason I got the press cheap is that a friend of mine bought it and used it for a short time, but wasn't satisfied with the crimps he was getting with the available hulls. He bought a MEC and found he had the same crimp problems because of lousy hulls. There are no really good 16 gauge hulls available. That is not a problem in 12 gauge. Hit the skeet ranges and buy a bag or two of good hulls and you will be set.

I think most of John's advice is spot-on. The only exception I would make would be with the press. While the Lee LoadAll is ok (I use one for 16 gauge specialty loads) the Mec 600 Jr. is way better, and the woods are full of used 12 gauge Mecs for not a heckuva lot more than a new Lee LoadAll.

I too am a big believer in 7/8oz 12 gauge loads for trap, skeet, clays, and live birds. Since discovering the efficiency of those loads 15 years ago, it's all I load in 12 gauge anymore, except for slightly heavier waterfowl loads. My recipe is: AA hull, W-209 primer, 16.7 grains Clays, Claybuster or AA grey wad, 7/8oz shot (sized for the game du jour, but never bigger than 6's).

I too have an old Ithaca pump 12 gauge, that my dad gave me for graduating high school back in 1970. It is a nasty kicking SOB with heavy hunting loads and would have been swapped away long ago for that reason, but for the extreme sentimentality of owning it. With the above load however, it is as tame as a pussy cat and I actually take it out now and then to shoot it.

Then of course that 20ga gas shoots 7/8 oz loads as a standard, find 'em all day long on the shelf.

LH your friend needs to download an owners manual for his MEC loader and read it as the crimping station is superbly adjustable on MEC's to produce great crimps. I got my 1 st 600jr when I was 12 years old. I bought all of them used for $40-60 ea except the 16 which I bought new. Currently have 3 12ga 600 jr's, 1 for 7/8 oz, 1 for 1oz, and 1 for all others. Bought them cheap enough that I don't change the bushings or bars just use a different one to change loads. Have all the bushings that a guy could need from 410 to 10 ga. MEC fan yeah, wouldn't have a 9000G for free. I regard shotshell loading as a enjoyable hobby that saves me money and gives me loads I can't buy.#5 shot in 16's is one of them. 7/8Oz of #9's at 1200 fps is my go to load for 16 yd trap and skeet. 700x,Red Dot etc AA gray wad and older AA hulls works great and don't beat you up. I'll admit to getting lucky in having accumulated about 700 16 ga WW AA style hulls but Rem and Fed also work fine. Most of the folks here would drop $50 to get there oil changed if they need too,why they can't rationalize a used MEC 600 jr for the same is simply beyond my ability to understand. Since shot has got so high priced a lot of guys quit loading and buy promo light loads which is fine but like any good deal they will dry up too. A well setup 600jr on the bench with all the components and hulls ready to go is the finest use of a rainy day while your crock pot is bubbling away. The satisfaction of loading your own can't be replaced by watching some liberal sh*t on TV and buying promo loads at Wallyworld, yeah I garden and have my own apple tree also. Magnum Man

Ill second the possibility of the clay buster 3\4 oz wad if you are really looking for low recoil due to the shoulder injury in a light gun.
I load a huge number of 7\8 shells in the grey clay buster wad Win AA12L copy but have tried the 3\4 for younger shooters. Wont cycle an auto but fine in a pump or OU.
Any where you find shotguns being fired you will find rem gun club hulls in the trash can. These load very well and crimp nicely. Same data as the STS Rem hull.
Thru a mod choke that light load will take care of the job if you do your part.
PM me if you need a sample pack of wads, hulls and some shot.

For light factory loads that work well I've been shooting B&P High Pheasant loads 1 oz at 1160 fps and PSI in the 6000 range. They have proven to be very effective on wild pheasants and are a pleasure to shoot out of my 5 lb 15 oz sxs 12ga with a hard buttplate. They are 2 1/2" loads designed for light game guns. If you buy any of them be sure you get the 1 oz as they have a 1 1/16th oz load at a 100 fps faster that has much more felt recoil.

RST also make factory low pressure light loads.

I strongly recoment finding a used MEC 600 before buying a Lee. I have a couple of Lee's on the shelf that I replaced with MEC's and it make reloading a real pleasure.

My target loads are 7/8 oz over Greendot in 2 1/2" 12ga and my watwerfowl loads are 7/8oz ITX shot over PB in 2 1/2" 12ga.

All I ever load anymore are 2 1/2" shells as that is what a lot of my guns shoot and they work just fine in my 2 3/4" guns and I don't have to deal with a bunch of different shells.

B257, I've got a couple of dumb question for you, What do the "gun club" hulls look like? At our club it looks like everybody shoots either Nobel Sport or Winchester. Also, are the ribbed (12 ga) W and Universal hulls exactly the same and further are they HS hulls? The appear to be identical to the HS shown in my Lyman #5 book except that they are ribbed. Muddy

muddy22-
Here is a photo of some Remington hulls, including the current hulls marked "Gun Club". (Note the two different colors of the metal heads.) Current Remington 12-ga 2-3/4" hulls like the STS Premier, Gun Clubs, gold-colored Nitro 27, Sport Load, Shur-Shot, etc., are all molded using a single piece of plastic and a metal head. They are usually termed "one-piece", sometimes "Unibody", sometimes "SP". Currently they all use the same reloading recipes.

(There are a couple of Remington 2-piece 12-ga 2-3/4" hulls with yellow or black basewads. These will use different reloading data.)
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Winchester hulls of current manufacturing can be confusing. Those with the cup-shaped basewads, like the AAs and Universals, will use the same recipes. Some of those labeled Super-X" or Super-Speed may have cup-shaped basewads, and are reloaded similarly. These basewads are designed to allow use of the same reloading data as the older compression-formed one-piece Winchester hulls. Winchester also makes shells with straight tubular walls and flat basewads; I've not found recent reloading data for these hulls.

--Bob

I shot low recoil as well as short 2.5" shells, after I did the math I found it was easier to just buy RST shells than get involved in low volume reloading. 1oz of 5's or 6's at 1200fps will crush a pheasant & are a real pleasure to shoot
http://www.rstshells.com/

I like green hulls. To me they last longer than red AA's. Those start cracking at the folds after a couple of reloads. STS will stand more reloads, IME.

JB gave good advice. For a bit more money, a good used MEC on EBay may be an option.

The cowboy action crowd is big into low recoil loads. They usually have good info. Try SASS on line.

DF

SASS is another option.

I have MEC reloaders in .410 and 28 gauge, and they work well, but I don't see any major advantage over the Lee Load-All for somebody who's not going to load more than a few boxes of shells a year. That's exactly what I use my three Load-Alls in 12, 16 and 20-gauge for, to make a few boxes of custom hunting loads for certain purposes.

But for practice I just shoot cheap factory ammo, because the price is just about as low as I can load them for and I don't have to spend time at the bench. Which is exactly why there are far fewer shotshell reloaders around anymore. It used to make sense for trap and skeet shooters to crank out several hundred rounds of reloads a week, but not these days.

DF, I can remember awhile back around here when the local trap range was selling Federal Top Gun loads for $4.00 a box and a lot of guys bought them and tossed the hulls. I asked a fellow shooter about that and he said well "they are only $4 a box so no one thinks they are any good for reloading" I laughed until my sides hurt. The kids they had reloading the traps and scoring picked the line clean when the shooting stopped for the day and put them all in clay bird boxes(135 ct boxes) and then to the garage. Pretty soon the club offered them for sale with no response and then it was anyone want them can have them. I put 75 of those clay bird boxes full of Top Gun hulls in my F-150 and took them home. I found out in short order that they loaded 3 times easy as pie with no problems at all. Claybuster makes a 1 0z wad design for them and they work fine. Now days I only shoot them once because I want to cut back on the space they took up in the pole bar loading room. I have also loaded the green and black Rem gun club hulls with satisfaction as well as Estate and RIO. WW bit the bullet for me when they change their plastic formula and put that stupid step in side their hull. Magnum Man

Thanks again...

For all the info and links.

Does anyone know if a 2 3/4" chambered pump will cycle 2 or 2 1/2" shells?

2-1/2" shells are normally no problem, but 2" depends on the gun.

I see you are staying in opening morning JB....


Keep where it is safe, like me.

Yeah, we've done opening day on public land before. I even accidentally located a legal bull two days ago, while hunting antelope, but don't have any interest in risking my life for a spike elk. I'm not worried about getting shot, but the traffic. The boys don't drive all that well when hurrying up and down those mountain roads to beat everybody else to their "secret" spot.

I stopped at the LGS the other day. Five minutes listening at the gun counter had me scurrying for cover....and you know me...I don't scurry well....

Was in one of the Townsend ranch-supply stores a couple days ago, which also sells hunting licenses and has a small sporting goods section. They boys were so fixated on buying deer and elk tags, more ammo, orange vests, etc. that they were totally ignoring the .22 Long Rifle ammo that had appeared on the shelves a few days before.