how can I figure

[Charlie Tango]

How can I figure how many shells I can reload out of a bottle of powder and a 25# bag of shot?  I would like to do an actual comparison of reloading versus buying new for price reasons.  I reload now because I like to do it and it is fun for my daughter and I to do something shooting related together.

I am going to try to keep an accurate count of my newley purchased supplies, but I am afraid of loosing count half way through.

Thanks
Charlie Tango

[George Foster]

In reloading manuals there are charts that tell how many shells you will get per pound of powder for the charge weight you are loading.  With shot you will get 50 shells per 1/8oz.  In other words if you are loading 1oz loads you can load 400 shells with a 25lb bag of shot.  I hope this will help you some.

[Graybeard]

There are 7000 grains in a pound of powder. So divide the number of grains you are loading into 7000 and you will get an approximation of the number of rounds you can load. It will not be exact as there is always some spillage of powder and few loaders drop precisely what they are supposed to but it will be accurate within 4-5 rounds.

A bag of shot is 25x16 or 400 ounces. So divide the number of ounces you load into 400 to get the number of rounds a bag of shot loads. As stated there are charts in many loading manuals telling you precisely how many shells you get per bag of shot. If you are loading 1-1/8 oz standard 12 ga loads figure 355 per bag. As stated one once loads give you 400 per bag. Standard 20 ga 7/8 oz loads give you 457 per bag. Standard 28 ga loads of 3/4 oz give you 533 and standard .410 1/2 oz loads give you 800 per bag.

[Bob_K]

A gent by the name of Dave Root worked up a pretty neat Shotshell Cost Calculator.  You can contact him at dave@25straight.com.

[ffwildcat]

go to trapshooters.com and look for the reloading calculator about mid page.

when you populate the sheet with your load data and click "calculate" it will tell you how many rounds you will get out of a bag of shot and a container of powder.

pretty slick.

change the load specs and see how many extra shells you can load by changing the shot and powder charges (in accordance with recommended load specs of course)