Home Forums Reloading Shotshells Loading Steel Shot

Has anyone used the Sam 1 Alliant Steel Data For 10 gauge shells,
I would like to load some lighter loads at the higher speed. I want to know how the loads performed.

FLIGHTMASTER

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you might try midway for reloading supplys also. this is where i buy my shot and wads. look for the ST35 12ga wads. fit great in 3" remington hulls. the only 10ga wad i use is the BP mm1035 and i have 2 loads i like in the 1 3/8 oz 85BBB at 1585fps and 1595fps using fed and rem hulls. the bp 10ga book lists them

on the ST35 12ga wad: it costs a lot less than the BP steel wads. the most expensive part in reloading steel is the wad. not a lot of data for it but works very well. i'm loading it with a load from the latest lyman book. just find the 1oz 3" load at 1640fps. in status of steel #12 look at the csd series the ST35 is the 1 1/4oz version from B&P called the tuwsbl35 in the lyman book.i am using a european privately tested load of this wad. so i'm not going to post the load, but if you want good perfomace at a lower cost, find this wad

In my case, I don't use any Remington hulls for reloading. I just came into possesion of approx 1500 purple Fiocchi 2 3/4" hulls. I'm working on a steel load for them now too. I tried cutting the LBC43 wad back so that it holds an ounce and either roll crimping or fold crimping, but I can't get any more than about 1440 fps out of them with 35 ish gr of Alliant Steel. Likely the load is too light and I need change up to something a bit faster in the burn rate dept. Maybe Blue Dot, Herco, SR 4756, SR 7625, or Longshot. I may take a look at Longshot.. it may be the densest powder of them all and case capacity is an issue. The ST35, is it meant for straight wall or taper hulls?

like all good steel wads it is for high volume strait wall hulls. 1440fps is a good velcity. try the same load with 1 1/16 oz should get your pressure up. i do not hear good thing about long shot and steel shot. here is a 2 3/4" fiocchi hull/lbc43 load from BP12. 12ga 2 3/4" fiocchi 7mm base wad hull, fiocchi 616 primer, 34gr steel powder, LBC43 wad, 1 1/8 oz steel shot, 8,800PSI 1475fps. the notes say this is a very tight fit in the 2 3/4" hull, but wad trimming should not be nessasary

Yeah, that's the load I was working off of when using the purple Fiocchi hulls. I suspect the 7mm basewad Fiocchi's are the Orange hunting hulls as opposed to the Purple target hulls. I'm also in the process of comparing a few different hulls that look similar to the Fiocchi hulls based on basewad height. I did also just re-discover about 500 Federal 00 buck plastic basewad hulls that I may experiment with a little bit. With only about 7 weeks left in the season, I may be over-analyzing things when I should use what works and just shoot em with what I have left. I have 9 or 10 months waiting for next season.. lol.

the reo hulls i have are two types with the same base wad. the base wad is 7mm but has wings up the side of hull. dosn't match the picture in lyman book. they are dark blue with medium base metal, marked target and medium green with high base metal, marked top sport. i'm working on fit right now, wad trimming is probably going to be required unless i switch powder and primer choice. the high base hulls are great, they crimp very well my experimental load fits perfect and i can get all the hulls i can use, free.

a few thoughts for the crowd: a load that fits the hull perfect. when you have the right wad height to fit the powder volume, with the shot level with the top of wad and the top of the wad just under the crimp edge point. then having the crimp completely closed and tight is the goal i have for a perfect reload. it gives consistant pressure, velocity, and most importantly even patterns. the little details might seem trivial. but when you start with trying to exactly duplicate a book load, you find some have information missing, so you have to FIT the load. this load i'm working on is a book load, the wad they list with the hull they list with the powder weight listed put in the hull, gives me a wad height 3/16" to tall and 3/16" over the top of shot. simple right, just trim the wad. IF the wads you have are un slit like the st35 i have, it is easy to make a trimmer. then anther tool to cut the slits for the wad petals. it is not making target shells

I concur with the last statement. One thing I tend to do with steel shot loads is add a thin (.030") overshot card that is usually 13 gauge that sits above the steel shot but just under the crimp. It does not affect the pressure of the load. If the steel shot is smaller or the fold crimp is just a little bit open (the hole) the overshot card helps to keep everything in one place under the crimp. I've not had any more time to mess with loads since it's been raining and the Holiday is fast approaching. More things to think about in the off season though..

i have some 1oz #3 steel loads ready to try. if it quits snowing, i'll cronograph them and shoot some ducks.

I believe the fastest load for a long time before the more modern steel loads was in production was claimed to be the 3/4 ounce load by Federal in 20 gauge that claimed 1435 fps. I have yet to chrono the some of what I have but I'm curious.. so in due time I might.

i have cronographed some of the old 12ga steel loads. the best of them was the remington express 2 3/4" 1 1/8oz of #2's 1400fps. i still have a few boxes stashed. 1285fps is what some where. then federal came out with the 1 1/4oz 3" at 1450fps and steel shot became effective. now we can buy fantastic nontox shells, if you are willing to sell your first born and morgage your house you might be able to afford to shoot them on a regular basis. reloaders developed the ultra fast steel shells and we are benifiting from their experimentation. my goals with any steel shot shell is 1500fps as a minimum velocity. i have some loads that are over 1700fps, but i think the sweat velocity for steel shot is in the 1550 to 1650fps range. if you can get good even patterns in the 70% range at 40yds out of a 12ga. you will crush ducks geese and anything else you shoot out to 55yds with #1 steel or larger shot. there are 150 #3's in 1oz of the latest batch i just got from ballistic products. 2.95gr each pellet. makes them 2.5 shot, my last #1's where 1.5shot. so using the book data to measure load weights is not safe. you need to weigh each batch of pellets and load by confirmed count, not what is published in the books.

(Steel is costing $.1275 per ounce - 1 1/8 = $.1434 (50# @ $102 shipped from Ballistic Products) when you order, in the shipping notes, ask for bulkrate usps 50lb box shipping for your order. they just sent me 50lbs for a total of $92.69. but you have to go to post office to pick up. which can cost more than $10 for some.

was out killing ducks yesterday with my new load. i need to use the 616 primers in the rio hulls. had some fall out on firing. the #1 steel still kills birds much better than #3 steel. but some of that may be the #3 steel slows down faster by a little and i was hitting the birds in the back half with #3 steel and the front half with #1's with the same hull and load. if i only had the #3 load in my pocket this may go away. i'll try to find a brick of 616 primers and then try again. the #3 steel 1 oz loads will be my generic hunting load, quail/chukar/pheasants/decoying ducks.

I'm getting 10-lb bag to bag variation. 170 #3 to 176 #3 per 1 1/8oz average diameter of current bag is .136.

I have loaded steel for 15 years. Started out with 800-X and Blue dot in 2 3/4 " AA hulls and the old Mec wad. We killed a few geese and wounded more than I want to admit! As soon as I discovered STEEL powder and Reloader's Speacialties (RSI) "SAM 1" wads EVERYTHING changed. The secret to steel loads is SPEED! If the load doesn't start out at least 1450fps, don't waste your time. I load 37gr. Steel in a REM type 6 hull, Win. 209, 3" SAM 1 wad and 520gr of BB (82-84) pellets. Published velocity is 1550fps and geese fall out of the sky DRT (dead right there). My steel loads are so effective I have all but quit shooting lead at anything except targets. I have a 1oz. steel #4 load @ 1600 that smokes ducks and pheasants too.

I've seen all of the Steel wads sold by other companies and have tried a few with mixed results but nothing is as effective as the RSI wads with STEEL powder!!!

PM me if you have more questions,

Elk Country

I'm loading the $8.99 per 250 st35/vp70? wad and the $11.99 per250 LBC43 wad. I load to save money while making great shells for the 12ga. I have used the MM1230 and M1275 but find i get the same velocity using less powder with the cheaper wads. I do not worry about a little rub through with these wads, because i do not load anything larger than #1 steel for the 12ga in 3". And shoot them in less valuable shotguns like the 870express, old 1100 or a winchester pump. The wads i use are rated to #3 steel. I basicly now only do one 2 3/4" 1475fps LBC43 1 1/8oz #3 steel load. and one 3" 1460fps st35 540gr #1 steel load. I do make a few specialty loads at very high velocity 1775fps but they have a very small usage. 66BBB at 1775 in a MM1275 wad. Data is out there you just need to root around for it, then test the load yourself. There are major data books with loads i have tried, using exact load. LBC43. On firing have had to pound the hull out of gun. JFYI A 36" x 1/2" hardwood dowel is a good thing to have in your kit.

elkcountry,

Does RSI have a website?

What press do you use to load shotshells?

I'd suspect if you are using a dowel for extraction.... you might be exceeding pressure limits?

Yes i would suspect the published data used also. After ejecting a hull with a 36" 1/2" hardwood dowel and a hammer. My point is, loading steel shot has it's difficultys. Small differences make large problems. Do not assume a published load will work for you. Hull changes over time is the largest problem. There is a load in the BPI #12 exactly the same in 3 different hulls. I have all 3 hulls, so loaded them up. one hull did not eject at all, one ejected 20% of the shots, one ejected every time. All shot 100/200fps faster over my cronograph than the book listed. The slowest was the load that always had stiff extraction. I'm still shooting a version of this load in the one hull. Just 2 1/2 grains of steel powder less than the book load. It still will not function in the other hulls. Even dropping 4gr. But matches published velocity. The load is dropped in current data