# reloading steel shot



## snowslayerXXX (Aug 5, 2008)

was just wondering if it woth reloading shotshells. it would be for steel shot BB for snow goose hunting. we go through alot of shells. very new to this never reloaded before whats the best reloader, powder, ext.... and can you mix steel and one off the other non-toxic shot together?


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## southdakbearfan (Oct 11, 2004)

Well, first off, it is worth it, if you have the time. I load for my 3 1/2 for about 50% of what comparible shells in the store are.

Reloader - Mec Steelmaster, IMO. You can run up to BB size shot through the reloader, although I don't go bigger than 1's in the reloader, and hand weigh bb and larger by using a primer tray to get an exact pellet count for the weight. Like 80 T's, off the top of my head give me 1 1/2 oz. So I cover up all but 40 holes in a used primer tray, and dip them out of a dish, getting two pellets in each hole.

If you can find a used sizemaster, you can get the kit to be able to run steel through it. Gives you a different steel shot bottle with a wider mouth, larger drop tubes and steel charge bars. I prefer the steelmaster/sizemaster due to the collet resizing does a much better job resizing shells. You can buy their supersizer, which is eseentially the resizing station all by itself.

Powders - I have went to exclusively Alliant Steel, you will have to accurize your reloader for it and some reloaders won't throw this powder well due to its bulk, so you may need a rifle powder measure - Lee's perfect powder measure is cheap and works well for this. This powder gives better ballistics at lower pressures and is cleaner than some of the magnum powders like blue dot that can be used with steel.

Never, never, never mix components with steel. The pressures with steel shells are higher than lead and the hardness of the shot plus the type of wad needed to be used make them very sensitive to change. Powder charges should be within 1/2 a grain, never change hulls from the recipe, and never switch primers from the recipe or add buffer if it isn't included in the recipe. Also never switch wads, so pretty much never switch anything from the published recipe.

Precision Reloading, Ballistic Products and Reloading Specialties all are steel shot component manufacturers, and have their own published high performance data with many many recipes to fit any need. Alliant also has some decent data on its online reloader guide.

Besides a reloader, you will need a scale. If you go mec with the reloader, I would suggest a universal charge bar, will save you in the long run with not having to buy different charge bars and powder bushings.

My first advice would be buy one of the better steel reloading manuals, most of which have a really good informational section on reloading steel. After a thorough reading, you can decide for yourself if you want to go through with it, if not, you can always sell the manual. It will be the cheapest item of the bunch.

Most also have sections on bismuth, hevi shot, and some other non-toxics.

I attached a link for a reloading cost calculator, so you can figure it out for yourself.

http://www.trapshooters.com/rlcalcadv.htm


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## snowslayerXXX (Aug 5, 2008)

thanks for the info. also about how many 3" sells can you get out of a bag of BB shot


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## southdakbearfan (Oct 11, 2004)

well, depends on how much you want to load in them 1 oz, 1 1/8 oz, 1 1/4 oz?

Typically a bag or bottle is 10 lbs. or 160 oz. So if you were loading 1 oz, you get 160 loads, 1 1/4 oz = 128 loads.


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## greenhead_slayer (Jul 24, 2004)

I am interested in reloading steel as well. What manual do you recommend? Thanks


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## southdakbearfan (Oct 11, 2004)

precision reloading, ballistic products, and reloading specialties all have very good manuals for high performance steel reloading.


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## mallard mauler (Dec 6, 2006)

the status of steel manual is hands down the best one i have found out there. and as far as i have found steel shot 3 1/2 are selling for right around 21.99 to 27.99 a box for kent fassteel and i can reload a box for 13.29 so yes it is worth rolling your own. You can buy unslit wads from bpi and slit them yourself to get a better pattern by adejusting the # of slits and the length. hope this helps mauler


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