Shot weight?

[Minnesnotashooter]

You seem to be confusing shot weight with shot size, or something. Plus you probably don't want to buy shot online, shipping will kill any savings over buying a box of shells in the store.

Shot size is in your case #8
Shot weight is the amount of shot you use in each shell. It is measured in weight (oz). You will buy it in bags of 25lbs so no the site will not tell you the charge weight in oz. This is determined by YOU and the charge bar or bushing. So one bag of shot can load any weight.

Time to hit the books.

Thanks this is what I was trying to get to, I was confused on the right shot weight, I thought that each shot size only had one specific load and I was wondering if they might say that on the site or I could find it out somehow, but I was wrong.

Thanks to ALL of you for dealing with my stupid rookie questions, sorry.

[shooter115]

Minnesotashooter....if you were to post your location I'm guessing/hoping someone in your area would volunteer to help you out. As gruff as some of the posters here sound they mean well and many would go out of their way to help mentor a 13 year old with an itch to get into reloading if that were at all a possibility. I think I was only 10 or 11 eleven when I started loading shells on my dad's MEC jr.....guess what, I have that press today and am still loading shells on it 25 years later.

Now for a friendly bit of advice.....track down a loading manual and read it. Don't try to pull all your info off the net. If you really want someone to help you out the best first step is to put your nose in a book, show some initiative and learn what you can on your own. Your questions will receive a much warmer welcome once you have a basic understanding of the reloading terms and processes.

Good luck and keep at it......reloading is a lifelong hobby that pays off in many, many ways.

[Seismic Sam]

And just to give you the proper incentive to read and re-read the books (PLURAL!!) that you will be reading, I am the 800 pound reloading troll that lives under the west end of the Broadway bridge in Minneapolis, and I crawl out from under my bridge to roast n00bs that look like they are about to get themselves or the people next to them at the range hurt, and roast them over an open fire, and then cover them in green n00b sauce (yummy!!) and eat them alive.

Here's a nice link I found in 30 seconds when I Googled "shotgun reloading accidents". It's just a blown gun, with no gory pictures, but if you keep searching I'm sure some of those are out there too. Once the gun blows up in your face, it's too late to go back and read the manual. You're WAAAYY too young to be doing this without 100% adult supervision. In this case the guy blew his left hand apart, was shooting alone, and was just lucky enough to have other hunters hear his screams of pain and come help him. It would have been a lot harder if he had to walk back to his car a mile away and drive 30 miles to get to a hospital.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/80287717.html

[Countryfried Frank]

Worst of all that SOB killed an Auto 5.

[darthdahl]

I'm sorry if this a extremely stupid question, but I just want to know what shot bushing I would need, I was planning on buying a Lyman 5th edition shotshell reloading book, would the answer be in there?

I bought the book and it taught me enough to know that it wasn't going to be worth it for me. If you're in the South or Southwest metro you're welcome to it.

[benny]

You seem to be confusing shot weight with shot size, or something. Plus you probably don't want to buy shot online, shipping will kill any savings over buying a box of shells in the store.

Shot size is in your case #8
Shot weight is the amount of shot you use in each shell. It is measured in weight (oz). You will buy it in bags of 25lbs so no the site will not tell you the charge weight in oz. This is determined by YOU and the charge bar or bushing. So one bag of shot can load any weight.

Time to hit the books.

Thanks this is what I was trying to get to, I was confused on the right shot weight, I thought that each shot size only had one specific load and I was wondering if they might say that on the site or I could find it out somehow, but I was wrong.

Thanks to ALL of you for dealing with my stupid rookie questions, sorry.

Where are you located? I am in the North Metro and would be happy to show you a little about reloading shotshells. I never reloaded metallic yet but have reloaded thousands of shot shells.

The mec 600 JR in one of the best reloaders to start out on till your more involved with it. They are cheap in good used condition and easy to use, the shot size is set in a bar that can change powder bushings to get a load your happy with. There are several powder bushings to chose from and there are lots of charts online to help you figure out a starting point. A scale is nice to have to verify your powder bushing is dropping the right amount but I have found the mec chart to be pretty close.

Shot shell reloading is more forgiving then metallic do to lower chamber pressures and the wads them selves give some where a solid bullet is not giving any when pushed down the barrel. But keep in mind nothing gives if it is obstructed along it's path out.

Now like others have said, get a good manual like Lymans and read up on it a little first.

Benny