If you have a .410 shotgun (or handgun) and have looked for .410 bore shotgun shells, you know they are near impossible to find. When found, they are usually 2-1/2 inch shells, which is fine for most handgun applications. If you're looking for 3 inch shells, good luck.
Lately I decided to make some of my own. By hand. Because Lee has stated they won't make a cheap Load All in .410 because the cartridge is too small and fiddly. And, I'm not gonna invest a lot of money in a Mec, I just don't shoot all that many to justify the cost.
I've got a bottle of Win. 296 powder, which is a propellant of choice for .410. Which I already keep on hand for .357 and .44 Magnum rifle cartridges. I ordered a bag of general purpose wads and overshot cards from BPI. I had 209 primers already. I have a few still pictures that I took while doing this. Too bad I don't have a video, that would be better.
To start my experiment, I had about a dozen 3 inch fired hulls, Remington high brass. My plan was to not use a star or roll crimp to close the shell. More about that below. First, I decapped all the hulls using my Lee Load All in 20 gauge.
Next, I seated new primers using a bench top arbor press. The metal heads of the hulls didn't need resizing for the guns I'm going to shoot these in.
Next, I cut off the previously crimped end of the hull. Using a little meat saw with fine teeth that I rescued out of my mom's kitchen after she died. I don't know how old it is, but it was in her kitchen when I was single digit old.
Next, I metered out 17.0 grains of powder into each hull. Following that, I inserted a plastic wad into each hull on top of the powder. I used a pencil to push the wad in. I tamped it down some, then gave each one a slight tap with a flat tipped punch and hammer to pack the wad into the powder.
Since I'd trimmed the previously crimped end of the hull off, they no longer had the capacity for an 11/16 oz. payload. Instead, I loaded these to 2-1/2 inch data firing a half oz. payload of shot. Next time, I will trim less and see if I can get 11/16 oz. loaded. I weighed each load of shot on my little digital scale. I have a very old, tiny funnel that fits into the mouth of the hull to allow the shot to be poured in.
After I had the shot in the shells, I tamped it down lightly and carefully by hand with a punch, then installed a little overshot card on top. With the overshot cards in place, my method of closing the shell was melted candle wax poured on top of the card.
A couple of the hull mouths are ragged. That's because I tried a hose cutter before I changed to the meat saw.
I haven't fired any of these yet, but I'm certain that they will work well enough. I've loaded quite a few unconventional shot shells.
Lately I decided to make some of my own. By hand. Because Lee has stated they won't make a cheap Load All in .410 because the cartridge is too small and fiddly. And, I'm not gonna invest a lot of money in a Mec, I just don't shoot all that many to justify the cost.
I've got a bottle of Win. 296 powder, which is a propellant of choice for .410. Which I already keep on hand for .357 and .44 Magnum rifle cartridges. I ordered a bag of general purpose wads and overshot cards from BPI. I had 209 primers already. I have a few still pictures that I took while doing this. Too bad I don't have a video, that would be better.
To start my experiment, I had about a dozen 3 inch fired hulls, Remington high brass. My plan was to not use a star or roll crimp to close the shell. More about that below. First, I decapped all the hulls using my Lee Load All in 20 gauge.
Next, I seated new primers using a bench top arbor press. The metal heads of the hulls didn't need resizing for the guns I'm going to shoot these in.
Next, I cut off the previously crimped end of the hull. Using a little meat saw with fine teeth that I rescued out of my mom's kitchen after she died. I don't know how old it is, but it was in her kitchen when I was single digit old.
Next, I metered out 17.0 grains of powder into each hull. Following that, I inserted a plastic wad into each hull on top of the powder. I used a pencil to push the wad in. I tamped it down some, then gave each one a slight tap with a flat tipped punch and hammer to pack the wad into the powder.
Since I'd trimmed the previously crimped end of the hull off, they no longer had the capacity for an 11/16 oz. payload. Instead, I loaded these to 2-1/2 inch data firing a half oz. payload of shot. Next time, I will trim less and see if I can get 11/16 oz. loaded. I weighed each load of shot on my little digital scale. I have a very old, tiny funnel that fits into the mouth of the hull to allow the shot to be poured in.
After I had the shot in the shells, I tamped it down lightly and carefully by hand with a punch, then installed a little overshot card on top. With the overshot cards in place, my method of closing the shell was melted candle wax poured on top of the card.
A couple of the hull mouths are ragged. That's because I tried a hose cutter before I changed to the meat saw.
I haven't fired any of these yet, but I'm certain that they will work well enough. I've loaded quite a few unconventional shot shells.
I could star crimp them I guess, but doing it by hand without a guide/compression tube makes it pretty difficult and not at all consistent for tube feeding.
