Loading Buckshot???

[orerancher]

Been Handloading Rifles and Pistols for 40+years...But I don't have the first Clue about how to load a Shotgun Shell... Talked the Owner of the Tradein Post in Town out of a old Lee Loadall, Bought the Lyman Manual...Been reading It, and am now completely confused...

Putting the Shell together is pretty straight forward...It's the Components...
The Manual says You cannot substitute any component in the Load Data....Is It that big a Deal?

The Load in the Manual I want to use, I cant find the Components for....

So...I found some Once fired Rem.12ga,2 3/4, 'Nitro Mag' Hulls Any Idea what Wad would work for 00 Buck?
Red Dot? Blue Dot? OtherPowder??

Any advice on Loading Buckshot would be most Welcome!!

Also anyone have a Lee OO Buckshot Mold Ya wanna Sell?

[Ohio3Wheels]

It can be that big a deal. Back around the dawn of time 1968/69 I was loading 16 and 20 gauge on the Lyman shot shell loader that probably inspired the load all only it's mostly metal. I don't recall varying much from the book and my notes from those day were lost in one move or another. I think I may have played around with the wads as long as they were the same length. I had only been loading from about 2 years and pretty much treated the manuals as gospel. Never did any buck shot. Perhaps some of the guys with more recent experience will have a better handle.

Stay well, be safe, make smoke,

[Ranch Dog]

It can be that big a deal.

What O3Ws said! Yeah, shotshell work is "reloading" vs. the "handloading" that most of us do with metallic cartridges. I do think that you bought the best shotshell loader on the market.

Load data for a shotshell comes down to a set of components that solves the "stack" within the hull so that it will close and guarantees that the sum total of the components will not hurt you or the gun.

The go-to reference that you need is BPI's Buckshot Manual. What I found with older references is that the components listed in the stacks are no longer available.

I have found these two online sources the best for components:
Ballistic Products
Precision Reloading

[Ranch Dog]

Of course, there are the components listed on Lee's buckshot molds.

[mikld]

When I reloaded shotshells I found it to be very "component specific". A specific shell was to be reloaded with a specific powder charge, a specific wad, or combination of wads, a specific amount of shot and a specific crimp. The first "problem" I found when not following the formula correctly was crimping. Often the crimp was "sunken" way too low and or I couldn't get a crimp to close. I didn't do any "load developments, work ups" like I do with metallic reloading, just followed load data line for line. I guess if I invested more time I could figger out variations in loads, but for the several hundred I reloaded all worked quite well if I followed the formula...