Home Forums Reloading Shotshells Trap Loads

I'm getting back into trap shooting. I checked with the guys at the club about reloading. They said they are @ $4.35 to $4.50 a box for reloads. Sportsman Warehouse had shotgun shells on sell @ $4.99 a box. For 50 cents a box not worth digging out the Mec. I bought 4 cases and plan on buying another 4 cases.

Yeah.If ya dont have a supply of shot reloading dont hardly pay. Shotshells were the first thing my dad and I reloaded 50yrs ago. I still reload mostly cause I shoot some damascus barreled sxs's so have some low pressure recipes, also I shoot a fair amount of .410's and they are $10 a box. I have 1000's of hulls and some friends and I recently bought a barrel of reclaimed shot, so I'll keep reloading, plus I enjoy it.
But I do ocassionally pick up a case of shells on sale typically for Sporting Clays and its kind of nice to not chase down the hulls when shooting an autoloader.

Still worth reloading if you want a softer shooting load, or if you want to shoot hard shot. The promo loads don't exactly have the best quality components. I used to save more than that, but might still reload to get the better patterns.

Most of the guys a our asmall club just buy their ammo. I must have 20 bags of shot, am buy my ammo from now on..

I still reload my 12 ga loads but I load 7/8 oz of #8s or 1 oz of 7 1/2s for all my shotgun competition if factory loads are not required. My league and practice ammo is 7/8 oz of reclaimed shot. My price per box is under $4 for reclaimed and around $3 when using new shot as the shot I have was bought way back when I could get a bag for less than $20. I bought by the pallet back then and would have probably used it up if I had not lucked into a drum of reclaimed shot a couple of times.

The advantage of reloads is I can produce equivalents of the top factory loads (Winchester AA or Remington STS) for at least half -even at current pricing- what it would cost me at the store. For competition the added performance can make a difference at times and if nothing else it puts one's mind at ease giving them the confidence to concentrate on making the shot rather than wondering about the load. For goofing around at the local range with one's buddies, the least expensive loads which reliably operate in your gun are fine.

Before I moved back to Texas, I picked up lead shot any time it was $18.00 or less per 25 lb bag. I also got 400 lbs of reclaimed shot from a friend for something like $10/25 lbs. A friend and I would pay the local trappers $10 to pick up all of the STS hulls the local youth group left. I ended up with about 10k 12 ga. STS hulls and maybe 3000 20 ga hulls. Bought 32 lbs of powder and 15k of primers all before everything went to he!! price-wise. I'm still loading a box of 12 ga for about $2.50 / box and 20 ga a bit less than that.
I would REALLY hate to have to try and make it cost-effective with the price of shot and powder now.

Store bought stuff works alright as long as you find out what patterns well in your shotgun. You also want to keep speeds in sync with your timing as well. I also agree with you about reloading hard shot for some things, like money and meat shoots. Run what you brung, porch shoots, and smacking them hard when you are 80 yards off the trap house requires a pretty heavy/fast load running longshot too.... Chances are, you aren't going to be bringing home the bacon, using store bought ammo at these events... However, for shooting singles and with selective purchasing, you can still buy stuff that smashes them pretty hard at the 27 yard line as well.....