Small-gauge cost solution: Handload!

[db22]

As scout4 mentioned in his thread about 28-gauge ammunition, the small gauges ain't cheap if you're shooting factory ammo. A couple of months ago, I wandered in to the local carriage-trade gun emporium (need a $7000.00 trap gun? They got 'em!) just to see what might be on the used rack, and there on the sale table was a used MEC in .410 bore. Fifty bucks, with half-ounce bar and three bushings, and two bottles. An oldie, steel dies and all. Well, I had just found a Versa-Pack .22/.410 combo, and had invested in a couple of boxes of AA 3" at $15 per. I knew I'd save the hulls, but had no idea I would stumble on a MEC so cheap so soon. Wrote the check and hurried home to see if Graybeard's warnings about .410 reloading woes were true. About five crushed hulls later, I was turning out dandy 2-1/2" loads that threw 5/8-ounce of #7-1/2 pretty dang well. Looked on MEC's website for instructions to convert to 3" hulls, and five weird-looking rounds later had the thing turning out respectable 11/16-ounce loads.

Parents at the local club let their kids shoot .410s at pop cans and such, and they throw the hulls away. Trash can scrounger that I am, I have come up with about 30 Winchester hulls, and even more Federals. Wichester good, Federal not so good. But the cost of shooting the little popgun is really low, if I mail-order wads from Midsouth. A pinch of H110 or Lil Gun, and a tiny charge of shot, and I have a perfect lightweight squirrel-gitter.

The sad part is that, though I'd love to have a 28, I have found a whopping ONE 28-gauge hull in all my scrounging. We don't have a skeet field at my club, so you don't see the 28 much at all. But if you hang around at a club with skeet (or buy bags of once-fired 28 hulls from a club or shop that carries them), you could probably save a bundle shooting the 28. And, it throws a good 1-ounce load, so I have heard. Don Zutz had a 1-ounce recipe in his book Handloading for Hunters, and a recent issue of Handloader had an article on the 28 as a pheasant gun (?), with heavier loads listed.

Anyway -- keep your eyes open at gun shows and sale tables in the local gun shop. A second-hand MEC will save you a bundle on any gauge, but especially if you shoot the little ones.

[carbineman]

db22, How have you been? I picked up a 28 ga. youth w 22" barrel and the grand kids love the thing. The little woman has yet to shoot it, but I did manage to buy out all the 28 ga. factory loads when they were at $6.99 for Winchester AA's

Been looking for a Mec 28 loader and will continue to keep my eyes open for one.

Sounds like the combo gun is bringing you lot of fun................................carbineman

[Graybeard]

My old original MEC 700 .410 machine loaded all brands of hulls to perfection. My newer 600 JR sure don't but does fine so long as I stick with AA HS hulls. I sure wish I'd kept my old one when I stopped shooting .410 all those many long years ago.

[db22]

Carbineman: Good to hear from you! We are doing well out here in the coulees, getting ready for what some people say will be a cold and snowy winter. Your old 12-gauge barrel is a perfect fit on the Versa-Pack frame, and so I have .22lr, .410 bore and 12 gauge on the same frame. The .22 also fits one of my rifle frames, so I have .22lr, .357 Max, and .30-'06 on one frame as well.

You did good to buy out all the 28-gauge AAs you could find while they were cheap. I've gotten good life out of any AA hull I've tried. Used Federal Gold Medals for a while back in my trap league days, but have laid in a good stock of once-fired AA 12s for all hunting loads from now on.

Hope all is well with you and your family, and you have our best wishes for a happy and successful hunt this year!

Bill: Yep, those AA HS hulls do load well, even forming good crimps. The few Remington hulls I've found also do well, but I was surprised to find that Federal still roll-crimps their .410s, which leaves a rough case mouth, prone to splitting. The little .410 is still a novelty item in my collection -- I rely on 1-ounce 12s for almost everything, #8-1/2 for 16-yard trap, 8 for grouse, 7-1/2 for cottontails, and 6 for squirrels. The short 22" .410 barrel I have leaves the gun too light at the muzzle to swing well. The pattern board out at the club does seem to indicate that my .410 handloads will work as they should within 25 yards or so. You must be quite a shotgunner to break skeet targets with a .410!

[Elkoholic]

When I reloaded alot of shotgun rounds for sporting clays,
occasionally I get some hulls from these guys - Precision Reloading..
(and others) 

Check out their website:
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:GDyZitkNMjwJ:www.precisionreloading.com/oncefiredhulls.htm+shotgun+hulls&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

New 28 gauge hulls $14 per 100

Good luck!!
Mike

[shaner]

oh i been reloading the small gauges for years, had 2 boys that would rather shoot 20 and 410 then eat on days during the summer vacations from school, ive shot a bunch of 28 also, only way to  have one is reload for them had a 870 express i sold to a brother inlaw  awhile back , should let ol graybeard kick me for that one hahahaha but yu'd enjoy it to much bill hahaha.. yeah  watch trapshooter .com  for small bore  hulls week or so back a guy had 1000 28 to sell ,

[petemi]

I found a .410 Mec Jr. at a yard sale about 10 years ago for 25 bucks.  The only .410 we had at the time was an old bolt action piece of garbage someone gave my wife.  It wouldn't fire or eject reliably.  So, The Mec sat in a drawer never used.  Now that I've got my Topper/Pardner 22 inch .410 it is coming out.  I love the little gun and like to shoot it, but at 16 bucks a box, I'll reload.  I've got about a hundred pounds of #6 and #7 1/2 shot that needs a home.