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Post by reloader22 on Mar 10, 2019 12:47:39 GMT -5
So i decide i wanted to load my own 357 shotshells. Easier than i thought and very nice. 4.5 gr bullseye, cardboard wad and and an overshot wad crimped in. Used 7 1/2, 4 and 00 buck. 2 OO buck. Pretty cool for close stuff
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Post by AJ on Mar 16, 2019 9:58:06 GMT -5
Cool, I have used the Speer plastic capsules and loaded some #9 shot for snakes. I used to keep that load under the hammer with the rest of the cylinder regular bullets. If needed index it back one round and dust the legless creature.
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Post by reloader22 on Mar 17, 2019 6:02:26 GMT -5
Got a 10 lb bag of #12 shot this week and loaded up some .357 brass with it. While the 7 1/2 and #4 shot will only weigh out about 85-90 gr due to the extra airspace between the pellets, the #12 shot weighs 112 grains while still allowing room for an over-shot card and crimp. That's slightly over a 1/4 ox and supposedly their is 560 pellets of this size in 1/4 Oz.
I also add a layer of nail polish over the over shot card for extra insurance of it staying in while under recoil or tumbling around in a pocket.
I also, took 1 oz of this stuff and filled up one of the skeet loads that I harvested the 7 1/2" shot from. Will shoot it at something at some time.
Fun messin around
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Post by reloader22 on Mar 17, 2019 11:08:39 GMT -5
So, another silly thing I did was to carefully undo the crimp on some 22 shot shells. Not the CCI blue capsule ones but the Winchester full brass ones. After emptying the 25 gr of #12 shot, I replaced with 24 #7 1/2 shot and recrimped using needle nose pliers very carefully. Put one drop of candle wax on the tip and "finger-turned" off the excess. I had a small cardboard box about 6" deep with other broken cardboard boxes broken down and wedged inside of it. I propped the box up against a small bathroom plastic garbage can and shot it at about 12 feet. Got a 4" pattern that went all the way thru all the cardboard and one side of the garbage can. Probably 7-8 layers if different grade cardboard and one layer of hard plastic from the garbage can. Very surprised. I then took another 22 shotsheel and uncrimped it. Stacked 4 .177 steel BB's in it which brought it right to the top of the crimp and added a dab of epoxy to hold them in. Haven't shot it yet but assume it would penetrate even more than the 7 1/2 shot,
Silly stuff but fun being trapped in the house after a long winter here. When I was a kid I used to do this kind of stuff a lot.
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Post by reloader22 on Mar 24, 2019 20:20:02 GMT -5
Nice day today. Went to the range and shot hand thrown clays with my son, his girlfriend and my wife. After we were done, we finally got to shoot her new pistol. The .380 spectrum. Shot about 75 rds with no hiccups. Actually was fairly accurate at 7 yds. Then we broke out the 357 and the #12 shot loads. Oh my. At 5 yds the pattern is about 12" but there isn't 1" from any pellets. Very even coverage and a ton of pellets. I am sure that this isn't anything good except for mice, chipmunks and carpenter bees but it is cool as hell. We even went as far as throwing some very slow clay birds by hand and it was easy to dust them with these pistol loads. There is about 560 pellets in 1/4 oz in these loads and inside 5 yds it would be hard for a bug to get thru. Penetration is decent as all the pellets went thru 3 layers of cardboard and left nice splash marks on the rusty burn barrel behind it.
4.5 gr bullseye, veggie wad cut using a 38 spcl case, 1/4 oz #12 shot, same veggie wad over the shot, light crimp, nail polish over the top wad.
Also shot same type of load with 7 1/2 and 4 bird shot. Not enough pellets at 5 yds to say you could dust anything with regularity. Had a real blast with these today.
all along I had a 12 ga load in my pocket with 1 1/4 oz of the #12 shot and forgot about it until we got home. There is like 2500 pellets in that round and I bet a starling, pidgeon or a red squireels would be shredded inside 20 yds.
Bought 10 lbs of this shot and will be messing with it this year on different things. Fun.
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Post by reloader22 on Mar 29, 2019 22:20:50 GMT -5
Not too much interest in this thread. However, I loaded 50 rounds of this stuff tonight while watching and listening to the NCAA games. Pretty cool little load.
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Post by joelmoney on Mar 30, 2019 16:43:29 GMT -5
Been watching. Thanks for sharing. Just don’t have anything to add.
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tedb
8 Pointer
Posts: 108
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Post by tedb on Mar 31, 2019 9:33:21 GMT -5
Same enjoyed your post and the updates
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Post by reloader22 on Apr 12, 2019 19:50:13 GMT -5
So another pretty good load that has some big time punch and fills in the gaps:
12 .177 steel BB's and about 30 grs of #12 shot (which is more than 100 little dust pellets.
Charge .357 case with 4.6 gr bullseye and cover with a cut veggie wad Drop (2) .177 BB's on the wad. Fill the gaps with #12 shot Add (2) BB's Fill gaps with #12 shot Do over and over until you are about 1/8" from top of case Add over shot veggie wad use a dowel and push the wad, pack the wad tightly onto the payload. Crimp lightly to trap the top wad Make a mix of JB weld and skim coat over the top wad even with the case mouth Let cure Very snug and tight load
This round sends 10 BB's and over 100 #12 shot over 1,000fps from a 4" bbl .357 mag.
Inside 15 ft this is a hell storm on a larger critter than other factory pistol shot shells. The BB's sink over 1" in a 2 x 4. The #12 shot puts eyes out and raises general havoc on the face of a small animal. anything over 15 ft and the pattern irregularities make this load "iffy". But, in close, this is a shredder. Try it. It's cool.
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tedb
8 Pointer
Posts: 108
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Post by tedb on Apr 12, 2019 22:08:31 GMT -5
Sounds like a nice up close bunny load
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Post by joelmoney on Apr 14, 2019 12:04:34 GMT -5
Now that load sounds fun. My only concern would be what can the BBS due to my rifling? I might have to try that someday. I never thought of duplex pistol shot before.
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Post by reloader22 on Jun 22, 2019 19:23:05 GMT -5
So, this whole pistol shot shell thing has really got me intrigued. This is what I have done so far with really good results at 5 yds:
4.5 gr Bullseye with veggie wad over powder and over shot with an epoxy cap. The veggie wad is made by using a severely chamfered and deburred .38 special case. The mouth becomes like a knife edge. Take an .50 cal .060 veggie wad and pinch out some wads.
Loads tried:
1) straight 7 1/2 shot harvested from trap loads: 8-10" pattern at 5 yds with even dispersion. Good penetration as the goes thru 7/16" OSB. Would kill a small animal if pellets hit a vital organ
2) Combo of 7 1/2 shot and #12 shot. Interesting load. No sacrifice over number of 7 1/2 shot, just fill in the voids with #12 shot. Wicked pattern. Where there is a hole in the pattern based on the 7 1/2 shot, there will be 10 or more #12's in it. Chipmunck medicine
3) Two double 00 buck pellets. These go thru a 2 x 4 and stay about 3" apart at 5 yds.
4) Straight #12 shot. This is a very cool load at 5 yds. On a human head sized target, there are about 400 strikes. Will it kill someone? Highly doubt it but there eyes will be liquifies and they will have too many perforations in there face to deal with. Yikes! A good chippy/mouse round at camp
Today I ripped apart an old round I have laying around from my goose hunting days. 12 gauge Black Cloud with a duplex of round steel shot and those flying saucer looking shots. Size is is #2. Three #2 pellets make a nice triange in the bottom of a .357 mag shell. Fill in the gaps with #12 shot. You get 5 layers like this so 15 #2 pellets and about 45 gr (200 pellets) of #12 shot. This load was made today and will be shot tomorrow to see how it does for pattern and see how well the #2 shot penetrates a 2 x 4 or something else I may bring.
I finally shot the 12 gauge loads I made using #12 shot. I used the same shells I harvested previous shot from a few months ago except I replace with 1 1/4 oz of #12 shot. This is roughly 2,500 pellets. At 15 yds a house fly cannot escape the coverage! absolutley cool as hell!!! What a chipmunck vaporizer. Also would be good around barns and buildings because the shot is so small that it will not blast holes in things tougher than a bird or squirrel.
So this is kinda fun and I do say that I will never but store bought pistol shot sheels again.
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tedb
8 Pointer
Posts: 108
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Post by tedb on Jun 23, 2019 11:41:58 GMT -5
Sounds like you are having fun
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Post by reloader22 on Jun 23, 2019 12:48:53 GMT -5
The last load was tested today with the 15 #2 shot and #12 shot filling in the gaps. At 5 yds I was able to get 4 #2 pellets in a baseball sized squirrel with both shots I took. I didn't test them on anything cool like 2 x 4 or watermelon. Just a cardboard box full of more card board. The #12 shot penetrated several layers but not the whole thing. The #2's sailed right thru easily an these would probably kill small game animals at close range.
For some reason, the 2 shells stuck real hard in the cylinders and I needed a dowel and a small hammer to tap them out. Not sure why since relative load weight, wads and epoxy were identical to everything else I've done.
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Post by joelmoney on Jun 23, 2019 23:45:33 GMT -5
Interesting
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Post by reloader22 on Jul 13, 2019 13:00:01 GMT -5
I am toying with the idea of getting some .357 Max brass to increase payload to 7/16 - 1/2 OZ of shot. #9 or smaller. Not sure what dies I would need to form the case to fit a .357 mag cylinder but it's probably possible. Looking for some advise from some reloaders with a secondary level of custom forming brass for something like this. The overall brass length of the 357 max looks like it would still be within the tolerance of the 357 mag cylinder.
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Post by reloader22 on Jul 13, 2019 13:01:36 GMT -5
BTW, the reason to even try this out is to push the effective range to 10 yds or so instead of 5 yds.
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Post by ported45 on Sept 3, 2019 12:07:01 GMT -5
I am toying with the idea of getting some .357 Max brass to increase payload to 7/16 - 1/2 OZ of shot. #9 or smaller. Not sure what dies I would need to form the case to fit a .357 mag cylinder but it's probably possible. Looking for some advise from some reloaders with a secondary level of custom forming brass for something like this. The overall brass length of the 357 max looks like it would still be within the tolerance of the 357 mag cylinder. Max brass has the same dimensions as Mag brass with the exception of length. If they will fit your cylinder's chamber lengths, then you should have no trouble.
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Post by reloader22 on Sept 6, 2019 5:14:49 GMT -5
Yup, I see that as well and figured they may work. Just wondering what kind of tooling/dies would be needed to shape the neck so it fits in the cylinder.
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Post by luv2shoot on Sept 15, 2019 19:54:10 GMT -5
I’m working on 9mm , 357 & 45 acp shotshells using #12 TSS shot.
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Post by reloader22 on Sept 16, 2019 5:00:44 GMT -5
I hav ea current BP catalog and the smallest TTS shot is #9 for like $80 for 1.5 lbs. Where can you get #12 shot?
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Post by luv2shoot on Sept 16, 2019 7:00:32 GMT -5
Contact Brent Merryman at brentmerryman@hotmail.com. Has most all sizes. Much better $ . I use #9 -18 gm TSS in my TK2000 for turkey. Awesome load. Bought 5lbs @$185 + &8frt.
I was quoted back in June these: #9=#37/lb #9.5=$42/lb #10=$43/lb #11=$50/lb #12=$55/lb
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Post by reloader22 on Sept 16, 2019 19:57:58 GMT -5
The heavier than lead shot is intriguing. What do you see in this #9 shot that makes #9 lead shot seem light in comparison? Penetration? What would be comparable to 9 lead shot in the TTS line? #10, #11? With the pistol loads, it would seem #9 lead would be minimum for rabbit squirrel shot inside 10 yds. Does #10 #11 TTS shot bridge that gap and make them equal in terms of penetration/energy? That would be key since you would have more pellets
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Post by reloader22 on Oct 28, 2019 19:05:35 GMT -5
I am happy to report that the 1st employment of one of my homemade shot shells in the .357 mag was a success! I was at camp after a morning bowhunt and fiddling with a few rifles to check for gun season when it happened. A sneaking chipmunk slithered around the back of our camp and beckoned to me to chase him. I had my .357 with me to shoot a few different hunting loads on paper like I always do. I also brought some of the #12 loads with me described in the above posts. I subbed out the rounds in my pistol with a few of the shotshells and snuck around camp. I slowly rounded the corner of the building to find the varmint poised on a cinder block 5 yds away. He was frozen in curiousity or fear. I already had the hammer thumber back and reach around the corner slowly. I levelled on him and squeezed off a shot. Everything went crazy. Leaves erupted, ears rang, dust rose and after it all there was silence. I approached the zone, hammer cocked in case I would be charged by a wounded crazed animal. But no second shot was needed. The little beast was very dead with many little holes in him. I was thrilled. nothing like sending a varmint to hell with a hand loaded custom round. I then tossed his carcass into the creek for a proper burial. Like osama and bagdadi. It was a good day
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Post by DBinNY on Oct 28, 2019 21:26:00 GMT -5
I thought I was reading "Death in the Long Grass". I was really relieved when I learned that the beast had expired and the anxiety of a imminent charge was put to bed. Congratulations. Hope you still have some tags left in case there is a recurrence.
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Post by reloader22 on Oct 29, 2019 20:21:36 GMT -5
It was dramatic. Facing the buck toothed beast....his stripes melting into the landscape. The dark stare of a crazed varmint intent on chewing his way into camp. Terrifying. It all worked out. The good guys won.
Cool shells to have at your disposal when the "chips" are down...or around.
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Post by joelmoney on Nov 4, 2019 15:28:32 GMT -5
Thanks for the update
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Post by reloader22 on Feb 8, 2020 16:01:22 GMT -5
So, I just loaded up a cylinder full of new shells trying to increase the pellet count. The only way is to lower the powder charge or figure out a way to make a nose cone that extends past the case mouth. That didn't happen so I backed the charge down to 3.0 gr bullseye. This allows 135 gr weighed of the #12 shot. 660 pellets. 5/16 oz. Will try and shoot these in the near future. Also had some 12 gauge "dead coyote" #4 Hevi-shot buckshot loads laying around. The pellets have a ring around them like those black cloud BB's for waterfowl. Dropped one in a .357 case charged with 4 gr bullseye and a wad. Surrounded it with #12 shot. dropped in another and did the same thing until I had 4 of the buck shot pellets in there with all the space filled with #12. Put an over shot wad on top and crimped. Will also test this one. Each #4 shot weighs 12 gr and mic's .24 cal on the band. with the filler #12 shot the payload weight about 100 gr. What is this good for? I have no idea but I know I would not want to get hit in the face with it. LOL.
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Post by DBinNY on Feb 8, 2020 18:34:53 GMT -5
It's good for entertainment.
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Post by reloader22 on Mar 28, 2020 12:50:17 GMT -5
Update: Found a way to make a nose cone and really ramp up volume. A bic pen cap cut in just the right spot. The top is well under sized and the bottom is way over sized in terms of having it fit tightly in the case. There is a sweet spot. Long story short, I now have a few rounds loaded with 160 gr of #12 shot and 4 gr of Bullseye. C.O.L. is just so that the cylinder rotates without catching. Pellet count should be around 800 +/-. You can put a small crimp and hold the cap but it still twists and you could probably pull it off. Would only want to insert one in the cylinder and shoot it right away and not carry it around. Hmmmm
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