[John Cleveland]

The Hodgdon reloading manual came with the MEC Sizemaster loader that I ordered. It had a number of 2 3/4 inch 12 GA loads that were in the 5,000's and 6,000s PSI, yielding 1150 to 1250 fps velocity.

I called Hodgdon to ask if they could tell me how those loads would change using 2 1/2 shells. I spoke to a fellow named Luke Otte who was very responsive. He would not comment on how the listed loads would change in 2 1/2, BUT, he sent me a table of loads for 2 1/2" shells with pressures between 6,600 and 7,000 and velocities ranging from 1075 to 1300 fps. pushing 7/8 or 1 oz of shot. They were for Bashieri & Pellagri, Cheddite, and Fiocchi shells. They all used Universal powder and either Cheddite 209 or Fiocchi 616 primers. Of course all the Fiocchi shells used Fiocchi 616 primers (I have some Cheddite 209's). For the B&P and Cheddite shells, they used BP CS12 Short wads. The Fiocchi loads used a variety of wads. I am trying to upload a Word document to share.

However, this leaves the issue of getting components. I found some sites saying that they have the Universal powder and a couple with the Fiocchi primers. The question I have is as to the legitimacy of some of them. They claim that the credit card companies and PayPal will not do business with gun related vendors. So they want you to use PayPal but selecting the option that it is a transfer of cash to a friend or family, not a business. The significance is that PayPal says that there is no recourse for those transfers.

So, I wanted to know if any of you have safely used online reloading vendors that did this and whether I can trust ordering and paying with this channel?

Thanks!