The dreaded "Is shotshell reloading worth it" question

[Andy]

Thank you folks. That's what I thought, I'll have a bajillion late season grouse shells to use : )

[charlie cleveland]

a 25 lb bag of shot has cost me 50.00 for a long time you boys in the north have it made...charlie

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by charlie cleveland

a 25 lb bag of shot has cost me 50.00 for a long time you boys in the north have it made...charlie

When I first started loading shells shot was $9 or $10 for regular chilled and $1 more for magnum . At the end of my competitive career the rooskies were hoarding lead snd shot was up to $20-22 a bag and we thought that outrageous . If I order shot now I can usually get it for about $35 a bag with shipping added . If you buy I think it’s $500 worth they ship for a little of nothing . I have however been picking it up from folks selling it that a loved one had left over etc and would get it anywhere from $20-35 @ bag . Hence I’ve got a rather sizable pile of bagged shot . Mostly all 9 , 8 or 7 1/2 . But there is a bag of 7’s I got for the heck of it the last time I ordered and 2-5 bags of 4’s and 6’s .

[Stan Hillis]

I really am insistent about not using 9s for much of anything. I used to use them to load my own spreaders for very, very close rabbit targets and crossers, as my sporting clays comp gun has fixed .020" and .020" chokes. Then I discovered Fiocchi Interceptors and stopped loading them myself. They're probably fine for skeet, but I don't shoot that discipline.

Number 9 shot just sheds energy too quickly for me to be comfortable with it, even on smaller birds like quail and doves. Because of that, 9s almost never pass through a quail or dove. I hunt quail a lot with a close friend who believes in 1 oz. of 9s for quail. I've cleaned, and eaten, his birds shot with 9s and mine shot with 7 1/2s. I almost never bite into a 7 1/2 pellet, but it's common to with the 9s. If nothing else, that reason alone is enough for me to not use them on birds.

I've got three bags of 9s that were given to me a few years ago by a good buddy. I use them to balance my Allison XTB boat when I'm driving it alone and want to run it at high speed. The Allison doesn't seem to care what size the shot is, but having not tried 7 1/2s in it, I can't prove that.

[Harold Pickens]

Feel the same about 9's, Stan. Have several cases of old AA's in 9's. They are fine for quick, close shots at sporting clays. One year I shot them on grouse, and I had to throw away too many breasts, they were just shredded. Straight #7's make a really effective killing load.

[Double Lab]

I like to simplify things as much as possible in life. I shoot nothing but 7 1/2's and tight chokes. 9's to me are cripplers on game and targets. Putting more pellets in a load doesn't make it a more lethal load . Putting the shot charge slightly ahead of the bird is what makes X's.

[Andy]

How many use 9's for 1: Sporting Clays, 2: Trap, 3: Skeet? I imagine more on skeet than anything else. I've been an 8's guy for any clay discipline, and don't shoot trap or skeet so take that for what it's worth : ) But I'm reading that Performance Clays reloading manual from BP and they talk about all sorts of different loads for different targets. I'm lucky if I can find my shells when I show up let alone have multiple loads at my fingertips.

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by Andrew Sacco

How many use 9's for 1: Sporting Clays, 2: Trap, 3: Skeet? I imagine more on skeet than anything else. I've been an 8's guy for any clay discipline, and don't shoot trap or skeet so take that for what it's worth : ) But I'm reading that Performance Clays reloading manual from BP and they talk about all sorts of different loads for different targets. I'm lucky if I can find my shells when I show up let alone have multiple loads at my fingertips.

If I've got 9's on hand when I start loading something I load 9's for skeet in all gauges . Also 9's for early dove but then again I go dove shooting so little anymore thats a kinda moot point .

In my mid period when I wasn't shooting competitively and had started loading and shooting again I loaded almost nothing but 8's and to be honest I'd have no issue with 8's for all the games dove and quail .

In recent years I've slowly grown a regard for 7 1/2's at the excercise in futiity (sporting and 5 stand) .

Also been using 7 1/2's and 6's for the tower euro shoot stuff .

Don't ask me why but in the last month or so I got a bag of 7's when I ordered shot . Not exactly sure why but what the hell I can try them on targets and or pheasents .

[Dean Romig]

I use 8’s for all clays games and all of my grouse and woodcock hunting except late season grouse when I switch to 7’s. For turkeys and pothole ducks I use 6’s.





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[James L. Martin]

I use #9 shot for 410 skeet and woodcock. For most hunting I use 6 - 7 - 7 1/2. #7 work for most if you can get it. RST loads it and I reload with it.For clays #8 works for most shots.