Thinking about experimenting with 12ga buckshot (again)

[rbstern]

Once upon a time, I had a bunch of 12ga reloading gear. A MEC press, plenty of wads, etc. Still have a Lee 2 cavity .310 round ball mold originally purchased for loading pipsqueak rounds for 30-30 and 308 Win, and used it to cast shotgun pellets. Basically, halfway between 0 and #1. Loaded 9 of them into a 12ga shell. They worked well. This was before Lee started making 12 and 18 pellet buckshot molds. When lead shot for birdshot loads went up in price to the point where it was no longer possible to load birdshot cheaper than retail, I sold off the MEC press. Wasn't worth it for the amount of time I spent breaking clays.

I always lament not practicing enough with buckshot. Still have a Lee Loader 12ga kit: One shell at a time, same as the other Lee Loader kits . Rare, no longer made, 100% practical and useful for SHTF, so I kept it. Also have a lot of 209 primers and suitable powder on the shelf. But I don't keep wads around anymore.

Then it occurred to me: Why not make 12ga buffers with my 3D printer? I can customize the diameter, thickness, even the density. If I can design one that works well, I can print them dozens at a time. Should be a fun experiment.

Will post up results here when I get around to it.

 

[f250superduty]

I bought a roll crimp for 410 tungsten. I used it with buffer and it worked great. Didn’t need a press. I bought the casings already primed. Would probably work for 12ga. Buckshot

 

[97 winchester]

I like your thinking. I don't know much at all about 3d printing. I really enjoy reloading and have tried a few things. I'll be watching for your results.

 

[THREEJAYS]

In

 

[gh1950]

Roll crimp is way to go. You can make your over the shot wad out of anything creative. If you flog the interwebs, you can find people making shot wraps out of note book page holders, mylar house wrap, other exotic materials.

With the low volume of shells, hand loading each one is not an issue.

FWIW, .310 buck makes a great reload for any .32 cal pistol, cheap, easy to load.

 

[RSB]

Once upon a time, I had a bunch of 12ga reloading gear. A MEC press, plenty of wads, etc. Still have a Lee 2 cavity .310 round ball mold originally purchased for loading pipsqueak rounds for 30-30 and 308 Win, and used it to cast shotgun pellets. Basically, halfway between 0 and #1. Loaded 9 of them into a 12ga shell. They worked well. This was before Lee started making 12 and 18 pellet buckshot molds. When lead shot for birdshot loads went up in price to the point where it was no longer possible to load birdshot cheaper than retail, I sold off the MEC press. Wasn't worth it for the amount of time I spent breaking clays.

I always lament not practicing enough with buckshot. Still have a Lee Loader 12ga kit: One shell at a time, same as the other Lee Loader kits . Rare, no longer made, 100% practical and useful for SHTF, so I kept it. Also have a lot of 209 primers and suitable powder on the shelf. But I don't keep wads around anymore.

Then it occurred to me: Why not make 12ga buffers with my 3D printer? I can customize the diameter, thickness, even the density. If I can design one that works well, I can print them dozens at a time. Should be a fun experiment.

Will post up results here when I get around to it.

Find a New old Stock bag of Winchester AA12-R red wads on line. They are the original wad for home rolling buckshot in 2-3/4" hulls and much thicker than the Clay Buster copy. One bag of 250 will probably b cheaper than the material for your printer. That's just a guess on my part as i don't 3-D print

 

[rbstern]

Did some print and loading experiments today. I created a .695" cylinder in Tinkercad, nearly hollow inside except for just enough support to keep the shape. Printed it at various heights ranging from .45" to .815". These take about ten minutes to print, and use 2g of PLA filament (about 3 cents worth). Shown in yellow, in the images below.

Definitely going to work well in terms of being able to customize a buffer based on shot size. Working with twelve .310" pellets (1 1/4 oz), three layers of four, and 18.5 gr of Royal Scot powder. Should be about 1200fps, based on Royal's loading charts.

I'll post the final load once I get to it, and will be glad to share the Tinkercad project and an STL file for those with a 3D printer.

 

[rbstern]

The Lee Loader 12ga kit, for those who are curious. So simple, so useful...

 

[97 winchester]

The Lee Loader 12ga kit, for those who are curious. So simple, so useful...

View attachment 6181932

Many squirrels and rabbits in the pot thanks to these!

 

[SpeedyR]

great idea. you printing with standard filament or the flexible (TPU?) stuff?

I had the same idea of making my own slugs and buckshot a while ago. bought the Lee mold and have a bunch of pure lead, some spare hulls and wads and maybe an MEC non progressive to play with but haven't had the time to do much past that. Maybe this fall I'll get some projects done and set up a casting area to smelt some lead and make some bars and then into some molds..