Went to gander mountain today to pick up 7-8 boxes (because they come in 5 round packs) These SOB's are $23 a box of 5!
Hell my long beard XR #6's where only $19.99 for a box of 10.
So does anyone have a cheaper online source, or load info to make my own? Never made my own shotgun shells but if its anything like rifle/pistol ammo then someone has to of come up with their own recipe at this point?
One thing is for sure, after sighting in the gun I will NEVER shoot these jokers unless a bird is on the business end of the barrel.
They be high. :agreed: I bought a box of Federal Premium upland loads to get use to shooting my SA20. They come close at 3" - 1 1/4 oz shot #6 shot. 1300 FPS. A box of 25 for $23. They will be close to where sighting in should be quicker.
Great idea I did not even think to look for something comparable in size/shot/speed.
I did grab a pack of Winchester 2 3/4" #7's
I figured that would at least get me on paper at 20 with my scope and then I could do another check at 25 and move back to 35-40 for final sighting in with the Federals.
On your youth 20 ga. build i told you the same thing if you go back and read the page...the other day..about getting a box of upland loads and a couple boxes of the federal 20 ga. 3 in. 1 5/16 oz. 6 shot...you can get these in a box of 10 for just over 10 dollars a box from Midway usa with rebate...This will save you on those 5 dollar shells...lol
I completely forgot about that.
I'm going to be saving my hulls from now on. Plan on starting to reload in the summer.
Ammo is the least expensive part of the hunt but the part that sometimes means the most.
Sent from the Strut Zone
Quote from: davisd9 on February 10, 2016, 08:12:21 PM
Ammo is the least expensive part of the hunt but the part that sometimes means the most.
Sent from the Strut Zone
I guess you are right.... But when you are centering your build around a particular load (chokes and what not) and planning on doing some trial and error (shooting clean barrel, dirty barrel, different chokes, distances) You can start to spend money really fast at $5 a shell.
Last year I went through 4 boxes of Long beards. Thats 40 rounds. I had fun doing it though. Lots of fun chasing numbers and finding the right combo. Not fun for my shoulder though.
Federal 3inch 1 5/16 oz copper plated shell is a great alternative in #6 shot. Academy did have them on clearance for 8.88 on line. Great shell 10 in a box and has the flight control wad. I shoot both and did not have to shoot many of the hvw # 7 too see they are very good. Federal did have a 5$ per box rebate for up to two boxes of hvw if that helps any. I know what your saying its tough to shoot those too much that can hurt a man's wallet! I have got birds with both these shells.
Just get your gun sighted in with some low brass bird shot then shoot 2 or 3 of the Fed's in your desired choke. If you do buy some FED HW, make sure you get all boxes the same lot#.
If you are going to reload or handload, you might as well load TSS. It's not that much cheaper to do HW and the performance is night and day difference. However, like everyone else said, the ammo is probably the cheapest thing you will spend money on.
The Federal Heviweight 7's are starting to show up now online. BPS has them for 20.00 a box.
Also, check in the classifieds here. You can find Heviweight 20 ga ammo for sale.
I sight in with Rio pheasant load 6's. About $9 a box and same point of impact as HW 7's out of my gun..
My Beretta 391 loves them. And yes they aren't cheap!
I screwed up and bought the pheasant loads in #4.... :-[ Not really sure how I managed that as I know at some point I had 6's in my hands. But I was in a rush and had two boxes, put one down and walked out. Did not notice they where 4's until I hit the range. I took my first shot from 15 yards and the pattern looked like NOTHING I expected so I looked at the box again and it said 4's. >:(