Justin Buist

Looks like it’s time to get going with that. I’m actually shooting shells that I bought within the last year^* now, at least in 12 gauge, so it’s clear that I’m going to be sticking with this for some time.

I’ve looked into reloading metallic cartridges before but never pulled the trigger on it because of the initial costs and matching up dies, and whatever else is involved. It’s not cheap. So, when my shooting league’s team leader said I should just get a Mec 600 Jr. for shotshell reloading I looked into it. Turns out they’re $150-$200 new and about $90 on eBay after you figure in shipping. Okay, that’s doable, but I’m a cheap bastard.

Then I discover the Lee Load-All II. Sells for $42 + shipping over at MidwayUSA. Here’s a video of one in action. Okay, this is simple enough for me to do. This bloke has his C-clamped onto his kitchen table so it can’t take much of a bench to hold one in place. Not like the kind of bench you’d need to resize rifle casings.

Plus, like I said, it’s about $40. With a box of shells currently selling for $7 I can save about $3 a box by reloading them. So, I’ll recoup my costs after 14 boxes, or 7 weeks at my current pace. Even if I suddenly stopped doing shotgun shooting this year I’d still save money.

Plus I’d really like to try out some 7/8th oz loads. Then I might be up for shooting 3 or 4 lines in a night instead of 2. I’ve got a bit of a sore cheek today thanks to me popping my head up on a couple of shots tonight.

*: Back in 2005 or 2006 I did a fair amount of trap shooting over the summer. That was back when you could get a 100 round pack for $15, or about $3.75 a box. When I got back into trap I still had about 600 rounds of those in 12 gauge laying around and I’ve finally gone through them all. Didn’t make sense for me to reload until I burned through them.