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 Cut shells. 
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Location: Maple valley
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I guess if I had to, I’d just make my own. Might be a good idea to invest in a buck shot mold. Buck and ball would be fun too.
https://youtu.be/__NWTi2HUMI


Sat Jun 19, 2021 6:52 am
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Location: Skagit County, in the woods
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vic_b wrote:
I guess if I had to, I’d just make my own. Might be a good idea to invest in a buck shot mold. Buck and ball would be fun too.
https://youtu.be/__NWTi2HUMI


Yup. Loading your own is rewarding, and the Lyman Shotshell Manual (just one source of data) has some great slug and buckshot load data.

For guys who don't load their own shotshells though, it is possible to open a shotshell and replace the bird shot with buck or ball. The Lyman manual actually discusses this, and explains why it's safe to switch to a larger size shot, but never to a smaller size (it's about side wall pressure mainly, but also weight). Also, you can do it without cutting the mouth of the shell like the video above shows; just pry open the crimp with a thin nail, insert the ball or slug, and push the crimp closed again. It sounds cheesy but actually works fine, and as long as the height of the slug and shot column are close to the same, the crimp doesn't open again.
I cast a .690" ball which is a bit too large for 12 ga inside a shot cup, so I size it down to .625" and use them in standard trap loads (either loading my own or replacing shot in loaded rounds, depending what I feel like doing). Sometimes I use these balls in 1-1/8 oz trap loads; recoil is unchanged and it's very close to replicating an old .69 cal smoothbore musket.

For $1/round though, in the OP's shoes, I'd probably just buck up and buy the ammo needed for hunting, if the hunt is worth it. The reality is even if he blows off $40 in ammo practicing, that's still one of the cheapest parts of most hunts. Seems like a non-issue.


Sun Jun 20, 2021 10:42 pm
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