Reloaders do not have to get in the car, drive to a local retailer, stand in line and then buy a whole box when they know they may only need a half-dozen shells to pattern a new gun or load.
The reloading experience allows you to experiment with different components. If you have never shot some of the spreader wads, for example, it should be easy to buy a small batch from an internet site or a friend or your local dealer and load a half-a-dozen shells. It should be interesting to see how they pattern with an eye to those fall days of woodcock hunting. When you begin reloading, your shooting opportunities bring whole new horizons.
Working at the reloading bench will introduce its own hazards into your life, so always wear a good pair of impact-resistant safety glasses in case a primer should explode or some other accident occur.
Everyone who shoots experiences recoil. The first place to begin taming the recoil of a shotgun is probably a good-quality shooting vest with a padded shoulder patch. Relatively inexpensive, the vest is virtually mandatory for carrying extra shells and utility items for a day of shooting.
Some shooting sports writers make a big deal about every shotgun being unique. Oh yeah? Take your 12-gauge Remington 1100 Sporting 12 gas gun with a 28-inch barrel and full choke. Unless you have modified it, unless it is damaged or has become excessively dirty, the difference between the way it shoots and patterns and the way any other current model 12-gauge Remington 1100 Sporting 12 gas gun with a 28-inch barrel and full choke shoots and patterns will be negligible. Where meaningful differences arise is with similar shotguns with different chokes or different length barrels or, of course, with different gauges. Then time at the patterning board will teach you about your specific gun and the loads it shoots best.
Having a reloading station at home can help you overcome the recoil dilemma, too. Recoil is a serious issue among shotgunners, from professionals to novices. All shooters, regardless of their weapon, are sensitive to and are eventually affected by recoil. It is only a matter of time before you must deal with it because recoil causes flinching, sometimes called “target panic,” and flinching causes you to miss what you are shooting at, whether it is a clay disk or a grouse thundering out of the quakies.
Recoil is a special problem for shooters whose body types are not heavy and muscular. Recoil is punishing. You can remove your conscious mind from the physical effects of a shot if you try, but your body remembers … and compensates. Older shooters and many younger shooters, especially those with slender physiques, are especially sensitive to recoil. A padded vest, a thick buttstock, a cushioned comb and perhaps even shooting with gloves will help.
Reloading can help tame recoil and blast by letting you find shell recipes that will accomplish your objectives with lighter or different types of loads. Many shotgunners discover that lighter loads accomplish the same killing results on birds or clays as the standard heavy loads, and that lighter loads punish their body less. As a build-your-own specialist, you can create literally dozens of loads, experimenting with different primer, powder and wad types, and different weights (and sizes) of shot, from powerful 1-3/4-ounce loads down to the relatively small (for the 12-gauge) 7/8-ounce. Reloading gives you the opportunity to experiment with a few shells in many sizes, rather than searching for a complete box of any one particular load recipe. You can try before you buy!
Here is the commercial way to accomplish that same result. Estate Cartridge (by Federal) produces a Super Sport Target (SS12XH) 12-gauge, 2-3/4-inch shell with 1-1/8-ounce of “extra-hard” #7-1/2, #8 or #9 shot. With what Estate calls its “max” dram equivalent of powder, firing this relatively standard shell will almost certainly give your shoulder a very solid, although not damaging, blow when you pull the trigger. After a box or two, you are increasingly going to notice that bump.
But shotshell manufacturers like Estate have become increasingly aware that gunners require relief from blast and recoil. Consequently, Estate offers a comparable shell in a Competition Target and Flyer – Mighty Light Load (ML12). This recipe uses the same 2-3/4-inch shell and achieves the same 1,250 fps shot velocity with only 7/8-ounce of “magnum” shot, a full quarter-ounce reduction, and a reduction in powder charge. This lighter load is going to prove much easier on your ears and your shoulder. Because you will anticipate and flinch less, you will score more. It is a fact.
Reloading lets you make this kind of reduction on your own. By letting you fiddle and tinker with components, you can find just the right recipe for the task at hand.
THE INTANGIBLES
Reloading shotshells puts you in touch with an exotic hobby and thousands of others who share it. For some practitioners, reloading is merely a means to an end, only the simple act of creating shootable shells.
For others, reloading (and patterning) become a quiet passion. It deepens their interest in all facets of shotgunning; involves them in a wider community of shared interest; and promotes an understanding of and ability to negotiate an interesting and unusual technical field. The path to reloading shotshells becomes a path of deepening commitment to shooting, like archers cresting arrows. Hunters find themselves shooting a little trap and skeet, while sporting clays enthusiasts begin tinkering with and patterning turkey loads … just for fun of course … they have not bought a license … yet!
Let’s talk price. A case of Target Load Sporting TLS32 Rio shotshells from www.ableammo.com for Christmas 2004 cost $38.60. These 12-gauge, 2-3/4-inch shells are filled with 1-1/8-ounce of #7-1/2 or #8. Your choice, of course. The rated muzzle velocity is 1,200 fps. Adding a 3 percent handling fee makes the cost $39.76. (If you live in Texas, add 8 percent sales tax.) A case weighs 25 pounds and, from Huntsville, Texas, to Gainesville, Fla., where I live, the UPS Ground shipping charge is $9.67. Total charge is $49.43 per case or $4.94 per box of 25 or 19.77¢ per shot. These are good shells, but even a casual reloader can cut this cost in half.
Some writers suggest that reloading gives you a sense of craftsmanship. For hunters, this may not be as important an idea to grasp as for clay shooters. After all, unless you are wealthy enough to hire guides and hunt at lodges or “plantations” where someone else does the real work, successful hunting is a do-it-yourself operation.
For clay competitors, however, a sense of mastery means – in simplest terms – learning to lead a flying target. Nothing about your tools, the shotgun or your shooting accessories (vest or cap or safety glasses, for instance) gives you a sense of personal investment and involvement beyond pulling the trigger (unless perhaps you build your own shooting cart). I would argue that craftsmanship is a thing of the hands that separates humankind from all other creatures, and that reloading for clay shooters allows one to enter that realm.
Close-up of the MEC adjustable rammer tube on 9000-series reloaders. The gradations help you apply specific amounts of force to a load. When you begin reloading, you will learn a new technology and add the virtually lost element of individual craftsmanship to your shooting resume.
Some writers have suggested that reloading gives you an advantage, allows you to “do better” in the field, perhaps because you can precisely tailor your set-up to the situation. In a general sense, I support this concept, but do not believe that it is true in any specific sense of killing a sharp-tail grouse or making any specific sporting shot. There is no study that suggests that reloaders are better hunters or competitors than individuals who are well supported by commercial loads. The proliferation of commercial loads today matches the ability of reloaders to create their own loads, but as I have suggested, finding those commercial loads when you need them and in the quantities you want at the time is the challenge.
SAFETY AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS