TSS Reloading setup cost

[wchadw]

All you really need is supplies and a drill, scale and roll crimper

Supplies are hulls, wads, possibly felt spacers, buffer, shot, powder and over shot cards.

Supplies are usually in packs of 100 so once you buy supplies you are good to go for awhile


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[GMC]

 I just started loading this past week and got my shot and data from Hal. I've made four shells so far and the roll crimps on all of them are not the best(i used a hand drill). some are a little uneven and one has a little nic in it. I put them all together using the recipe exactly and was paying close attention while doing so. But I cant help but to think "what if" I messed something up. I plan on shooting them this weekend and to be honest I have a little anxiety about pulling that trigger on the first one. Is there any mistakes that other hand loaders have made that I should know about or anything specific i should cautious of while building my shells? Any advice from anyone with experience would be appreciated. Thanks! 

[rdjustham]

Not trying to start and argument or a debate for or against just curious. 

First let me say, I reload both rifle and handgun for numerous cartridges.  I have two single stage presses and a progressive, along with digital scales, powder dumpers etc.  I reload for rifles to get every bit of accuracy out of them i can.  I reload for my ar15s because it used to be cheaper, pistols for varying reasons so i know the expense and am not opposed to it.

I saw where a price was posted of 52 dollars a pound for 9s, in a twenty gauge with 1 1/2 ounce pay load that would be roughly ten shells, at 5.20 a shell for just the payload, not counting primers, wads and hulls.  I picked up federal 20 gauge 9s for 29.99 bucks a few months back which comes out to 5.99 a shell.

Is there really any savings that comes into play or is there another reason to reload shotguns if you are not a high volume shooter?  Is the accuracy in a reloaded shotgun shell any better than factory as it can be in rifles?

[ol bob]

Night and day difference between federal and hand loads.

[rdjustham]

Night and day difference between federal and hand loads.

What are the differences?  I only shoot about a half a case of shotgun shells a year between ducks, turkey and maybe one dove hunt a year so i am truly curious.

[wchadw]

Night and day difference between federal and hand loads.

What are the differences?  I only shoot about a half a case of shotgun shells a year between ducks, turkey and maybe one dove hunt a year so i am truly curious.

Patterns will show difference. Federal tss normally pattern pretty poorly compared


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[rdjustham]

Night and day difference between federal and hand loads.

What are the differences?  I only shoot about a half a case of shotgun shells a year between ducks, turkey and maybe one dove hunt a year so i am truly curious.

Patterns will show difference. Federal tss normally pattern pretty poorly compared

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So payload and choke being equal, the charge weight and type of wad can effectively make a smooth bore shotgun more accurate?

[Spitten and drummen]

I just started loading this past week and got my shot and data from Hal. I've made four shells so far and the roll crimps on all of them are not the best(i used a hand drill). some are a little uneven and one has a little nic in it. I put them all together using the recipe exactly and was paying close attention while doing so. But I cant help but to think "what if" I messed something up. I plan on shooting them this weekend and to be honest I have a little anxiety about pulling that trigger on the first one. Is there any mistakes that other hand loaders have made that I should know about or anything specific i should cautious of while building my shells? Any advice from anyone with experience would be appreciated. Thanks!

I know you will be nervous the first time but you will be ok. Just pay attention to what you are doing. You will get faster and it will become a piece of cake. Also the more crimps you do , the better they will get. Reloading is not rocket science. Easy to do but pay attention and dont get complacent. Dont add or take anything to the load such as powder and shot. There is some tolerance there but the thing about reloading your shells is consistancy. After shooting your first round , inspect the spent hull for things like blown primers. Also if you can find the wad , look it over. They will show you if your too hot on the load and things like that. Enjoy yourself doing it and when you bust one in the beak with a load you loaded , you will have some personal satisfaction. Remember , you are loading a round that you can make nearly perfect unlike factory loads. Good luck.

[wchadw]

Night and day difference between federal and hand loads.

What are the differences?  I only shoot about a half a case of shotgun shells a year between ducks, turkey and maybe one dove hunt a year so i am truly curious.

Patterns will show difference. Federal tss normally pattern pretty poorly compared

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So payload and choke being equal, the charge weight and type of wad can effectively make a smooth bore shotgun more accurate?

May be their wad. But yes. Apex nitro hand loads all tend to pattern better in my testing out of same setup


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[Spitten and drummen]

Not trying to start and argument or a debate for or against just curious. 

First let me say, I reload both rifle and handgun for numerous cartridges.  I have two single stage presses and a progressive, along with digital scales, powder dumpers etc.  I reload for rifles to get every bit of accuracy out of them i can.  I reload for my ar15s because it used to be cheaper, pistols for varying reasons so i know the expense and am not opposed to it.

I saw where a price was posted of 52 dollars a pound for 9s, in a twenty gauge with 1 1/2 ounce pay load that would be roughly ten shells, at 5.20 a shell for just the payload, not counting primers, wads and hulls.  I picked up federal 20 gauge 9s for 29.99 bucks a few months back which comes out to 5.99 a shell.

Is there really any savings that comes into play or is there another reason to reload shotguns if you are not a high volume shooter?  Is the accuracy in a reloaded shotgun shell any better than factory as it can be in rifles?

Its really not about the savings. When many of us started loading them , you could not buy them because ammo companies was not loading it. I enjoy loading them and killing birds with a shell I made. I will continue to load them because I am controlling the process and I know that each one will be as close to perfect that you can get. This is my 2 cents.

[rdjustham]

Not trying to start and argument or a debate for or against just curious. 

First let me say, I reload both rifle and handgun for numerous cartridges.  I have two single stage presses and a progressive, along with digital scales, powder dumpers etc.  I reload for rifles to get every bit of accuracy out of them i can.  I reload for my ar15s because it used to be cheaper, pistols for varying reasons so i know the expense and am not opposed to it.

I saw where a price was posted of 52 dollars a pound for 9s, in a twenty gauge with 1 1/2 ounce pay load that would be roughly ten shells, at 5.20 a shell for just the payload, not counting primers, wads and hulls.  I picked up federal 20 gauge 9s for 29.99 bucks a few months back which comes out to 5.99 a shell.

Is there really any savings that comes into play or is there another reason to reload shotguns if you are not a high volume shooter?  Is the accuracy in a reloaded shotgun shell any better than factory as it can be in rifles?

Its really not about the savings. When many of us started loading them , you could not buy them because ammo companies was not loading it. I enjoy loading them and killing birds with a shell I made. I will continue to load them because I am controlling the process and I know that each one will be as close to perfect that you can get. This is my 2 cents.

Ive got enough reloading stuff to know "savings" is what we tell out wives.  Lol. Ive been loading my own deer loads for 20 years and take immense satisfaction knowing that when i send a round out 2-300 plus yards at what im shooting that its my round and just like the last one that went down the pipe.  It makes sense for loading something yoy cant get commercially (i.e tss) but with it commercially available it makes sense to continue to load it with hand loads being more accurate.  I just never realized with all things being equal you could still make a handload more accurate.

Thanks for the lesson.

[LRD]

Not trying to start and argument or a debate for or against just curious. 

First let me say, I reload both rifle and handgun for numerous cartridges.  I have two single stage presses and a progressive, along with digital scales, powder dumpers etc.  I reload for rifles to get every bit of accuracy out of them i can.  I reload for my ar15s because it used to be cheaper, pistols for varying reasons so i know the expense and am not opposed to it.

I saw where a price was posted of 52 dollars a pound for 9s, in a twenty gauge with 1 1/2 ounce pay load that would be roughly ten shells, at 5.20 a shell for just the payload, not counting primers, wads and hulls.  I picked up federal 20 gauge 9s for 29.99 bucks a few months back which comes out to 5.99 a shell.

Is there really any savings that comes into play or is there another reason to reload shotguns if you are not a high volume shooter?  Is the accuracy in a reloaded shotgun shell any better than factory as it can be in rifles?

Its really not about the savings. When many of us started loading them , you could not buy them because ammo companies was not loading it. I enjoy loading them and killing birds with a shell I made. I will continue to load them because I am controlling the process and I know that each one will be as close to perfect that you can get. This is my 2 cents.

Very well said and agree. I got started prior to 20 ga TSS shells being commercially available but enjoy the satisfaction of killing a turkeyr with my own loads plus I control the process and components.

[RiverRoost]

My season opens here in Ms in two weeks so I think I'm going to start piecing the equipment together and be ready to go for next season!

[Big Jeremy]

I just started loading this past week and got my shot and data from Hal. I've made four shells so far and the roll crimps on all of them are not the best(i used a hand drill). some are a little uneven and one has a little nic in it. I put them all together using the recipe exactly and was paying close attention while doing so. But I cant help but to think "what if" I messed something up. I plan on shooting them this weekend and to be honest I have a little anxiety about pulling that trigger on the first one. Is there any mistakes that other hand loaders have made that I should know about or anything specific i should cautious of while building my shells? Any advice from anyone with experience would be appreciated. Thanks!

Don't worry about a rough looking crimp. As long as it is sealed, you'll be good. As spitten and drummen said, you'll get better at it with practice. I had a few early on that didn't have pretty crimps, but they've all performed equally, regardless of what the crimp looked like.

I'm sure you're doing this already, but in case, before you start applying pressure, let it spin for a little bit to warm up the hull before applying pressure. It will crimp easier, and be more precise.

[Gobble!]

Here's the stuff I bought to get started. Tried using a hand drill but wasn't happy with how it turned out. Used a drill press on the lowest possible speed setting and it turned out great.

Good to Have
Reloading Block - $10
Shell Case 3.5" 12g 25 Rounds - $4
Shot Dipper - $5
Buffer Dipper - $2
Dental Vibrator - $40

Needed
BPI Ballistic Scale 1500 Digital Scale - $30
Roll Crimper 12g – $40
Funnel - $3

So if you have a drill press or a hand drill and are convinced a hand drill is all you need you could get by with $75 for the tooling to get started. I'm big on consistency and quality control which is why I handload. I never got into it to save money but there is a savings there. Five 2.5oz shells from Apex are $58.49/$11.70 per shell. I can load 2.5ozers for $8.14 a shell.