BP Shotshell reloading cost.

[Cowtown Scout, SASS #53540 L]

14 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

I was given 2 cases of Black Dawg 12 ga BP shells several years ago.

 

Cut one open so I could duplicate the load.

AA Hull

1 oz shot

WAA12R Wad

4 ccs (60 grains) of real BP

 

I purchased some of those BD shotgun shells as well as 38-40 early in my shooting smokey stuff.

Edited September 24 by Cowtown Scout, SASS #53540 L

[Todd Hayseed]

4 hours ago, Dapper Dave said:

...38 Smith and Wesson...loaded with 5 gr of OE 3F. Great "gallery load". There's a 1/3 over powder card and a lubricated wad, both from Track of the Wolf. 

.38 Special, 18 grains of my own powder, card wad cut from a Ritz cracker box, a "grease cookie" made of pan lube, and a OOO Buckshot.  I can fire 60 of these without having to swab or really clean anything.  They do not lead the bore.  These are crimped in a Dillon SDB and the ball stays in place.

 

I usually tumble the completed rounds in my dry tumbler that makes them all shiny but these haven't had that treatment. It doesn't make them any more functional they just look better.  These .38 special have an OAL of 1.33 and I use them in revolvers.   Same load in a .357 case has an OAL of 1.42 or 1.46 and cycles in a lever action just fine.  Most of these are loaded sprue down and are 1.42 but one out of three of the bullets my buckshot mold casts has a sprue on both sides and those wind up being 1.46.

 

White River "factory second" primers, my own BP and a 70 grain buckshot makes the entire round cost less than a nickel.

 

The 18 grains of powder gets the power factor over 60 but still under 1,000 FPS.  Though I have since been told power factor doesn't apply to black powder loads.  Well in my case it works anyway!

[La Sombra]

5 hours ago, Dapper Dave said:

...38 Smith and Wesson...loaded with 5 gr of OE 3F. Great "gallery load". There's a 1/3 over powder card and a lubricated wad, both from Track of the Wolf. 

DD,

 

Just to confirm that the load is 38 S&W not 38 Special.

If so great idea!

La Sombra 

 

[Dapper Dave]

Yes, .38 SW due to the 000 Buck being .360 diameter, makes a dandy zero recoil load for my Iver Johnson Second Model and Da Boys Harrington and Richardson "America". Both are guns rescued from bar wall plaques by an expert gunsmith who put them back in working order.

 

Shot close range with the Iver - NOT a long range load. The black splotches are from my first loads, which had lube over ball. The new ones I use a thin overshot card and a lubed wad under the ball, almost not enough room for everything!

 

Da Boy shooting them in his Harrington and Richardson at 10 yards.

 

The group at 10 yards.

Edited September 24 by Dapper Dave

[Nickle]

My cheap  black powder shotgun loads are with range found cases.  I'm in Alberta and hard to source components.  Depending on which wad and case I'm using  my load is between 30 and 40 grains by volume of black powder and then  a second charge of cream of wheat.  Usually about 50/50 or 50 /40 Depending on wad and case.  I'm getting overall height of the column right and I'm shooting about ounce and a eighth of whatever lead shot I can get a deal on.

Right now I'm using #9 shot I bought at a auction.  I use a dipper and top off the loaded shell with some reclaimed 7.5 shot that won't run through my press. The #9 is so small that it tends to want to leak out of the crimped shotgun shell  but if I top it off with the 7.5 it works good.

A new bag of lead shot sells for $100 up here and powder if you can get it is close to $70 and of course it's illegal to make your own powder.

But the cream of wheat works good and I don't get much plastic in the barrel. 

WD40 works good for  me to clean the shotgun at end of day.

[Edward R S Canby, SASS#59971]

Nickle, I load with #8 1/2 shot because it is available when more popular sizes sell out.  I too dumpster dive at clays ranges for reloadable hulls.  Most are not premium hulls and don't crimp perfectly.  I place a 1/2-inch square of paper over the shot to keep any from dribbling out.  Small shot can find its way into a shotgun causing malfunctions.  BTW, my local big box shooting retailer just got a new shipment of lead shot and increased the price to $70/25-lb bag.

[Billy Boots, # 20282 LTG-Regulator]

12 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

I was given 2 cases of Black Dawg 12 ga BP shells several years ago.

 

Cut one open so I could duplicate the load.

AA Hull

1 oz shot

WAA12R Wad

4 ccs (60 grains) of real BP

 

Probably before Wally starting using Cowboy Goex.  Shot my share of those when on the Goex Team

[Chantry]

I'm doing something wrong!    Since I don't care about winning or where I place, I often use a 10 gauge as my main match shotgun.

 

Running 120 grs of 1F or 2F and 1.5 oz of shot I get about 55-57 shells a pound o powder and about 267 loads of bird shot per 25 lb bag of shot.

 

Primer, fiber wads and over powder/shot cards are incidental costs.  Since I use brass hulls, that's a capital expense.

 

And sometimes I'll pull both triggers.  

Edited September 28 by Chantry

[Billy Boots, # 20282 LTG-Regulator]

1 hour ago, Edward R S Canby, SASS#59971 said:

Nickle, I load with #8 1/2 shot because it is available when more popular sizes sell out.  I too dumpster dive at clays ranges for reloadable hulls.  Most are not premium hulls and don't crimp perfectly.  I place a 1/2-inch square of paper over the shot to keep any from dribbling out.  Small shot can find its way into a shotgun causing malfunctions.  BTW, my local big box shooting retailer just got a new shipment of lead shot and increased the price to $70/25-lb bag.

$70 ain't bad per what I have seen and bought over last couple years.  Sassy recently won a bag at SITS.  She didn't know why I was excited about her win.

I figure one can load a box of BP shells for around $12-13 don't you.

[Todd Hayseed]

3 hours ago, Billy Boots, # 20282 LTG-Regulator said:

$70 ain't bad per what I have seen and bought over last couple years.  Sassy recently won a bag at SITS.  She didn't know why I was excited about her win.

I figure one can load a box of BP shells for around $12-13 don't you.

https://theleadguysllc.com/ sells reclaimed shot $100 for two 25lb bags.  Shot is a mix of sizes but all SASS ok.  $2 a pound for lead shot is pretty hard to beat.

[Eyesa Horg]

The most I've paid so far was $55 for 25# at an LGS in Connecticut.

The least a few years ago was $42 when trap range was ordering a pallet.

[Blackwater 53393]

Hey, Mezcal Charlie!!

 

I was loading some 10ga brass shells yesterday and got to figuring cost! Now, I’ll grant ya’s that I’m figuring my cost on some of the components is lower because I’m a pretty good bargain hunter on a lot of this stuff.

 

My cost for shot per shell is around $.15. Primers are currently $.07 each.  Today’s price on Goex FFFg is just under $30.00 a pound and I’m using 80gr in these shells, so my cost would be $.35 per shell. Nitro over powder cards a $13.59 per thousand, so figure $.02 per card. Same for the over shot card, so another $.02! The cushion fiber wads are around $.03 each and I used two and a half to get my stack right, so we’ll call it $.08 a shell.

 

Not counting the cost of the brass shell, you’re looking at $.69 per shell.

 

My inventory at present is several years old and a lot of it was purchased in deals where I paid much less than going prices. My own cost is about half that for as long as present inventory lasts. 

 

You can load a 12ga shell with all new components for around $.45 per shell. The cost of new MagTech 12ga brass shells is around $36.00 a box, retail. That’s $1.44 a shell, so you’re looking at $1.89 a shell or $47.00 a box the first time around with all new stuff!

 

That’s for a new 12ga shell with 40gr of FFFg, .875oz of shot, nitro card, two cushion wads, and an over powder card.

 

Welcome to shootin’ brass shotgun shells!! That doesn’t count the dies to reload them or a press to use the dies in if you don’t have one, or at least a set of hand reloading tools at the minimum!

 

IT’S ONE HECK OF A RABBIT HOLE! 😜🤣

 

 

Edited September 27 by Blackwater 53393

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

This is of no real help (I know that - I'm Bored).  For the last eight or so seasons, I've been shooting and loading MagTech All Brass 12Ga.  I stocked up long enough ago, I no longer remember what I paid for my stash of Primers, or Powder, or Shot.  By now, the Magtech hulls are fully amortized.  With the HUGE increase in the cost of components, I figure my stash of Primers, Powder and Shot is also pretty much amortized and my only current costs are wads, and over shot cards, so I'm practically shooting my shotguns for about a nickel a round, or maybe a mite less.

[Blackwater 53393]

22 minutes ago, Colorado Coffinmaker said:

 

This is of no real help (I know that - I'm Bored).  For the last eight or so seasons, I've been shooting and loading MagTech All Brass 12Ga.  I stocked up long enough ago, I no longer remember what I paid for my stash of Primers, or Powder, or Shot.  By now, the Magtech hulls are fully amortized.  With the HUGE increase in the cost of components, I figure my stash of Primers, Powder and Shot is also pretty much amortized and my only current costs are wads, and over shot cards, so I'm practically shooting my shotguns for about a nickel a round, or maybe a mite less.

I’m actually pretty much in the same boat!! Between what I’ve bought ten to fifteen years ago and what I’ve had given to me or that I’ve found in bargains where I made back my money on stuff I got that I subsequently sold for good profit, my 12ga reloads in brass are a dime or less a round.

 

My 10ga rounds are a bit more expensive, partly because I am still building inventory. My components are in that inexpensive category for the most part. Wads and nitro cards were donated by a shooter who decided that he didn’t want to fool with them and he gave me a ridiculous price on the bulk of my brass. A bag of over shot cards was less than $10.00 for a thousand when I bought ‘em and a friend gave me several hundred #57/157 primers that work for most of my 10ga brass and a good two boxes of 12ga.  The biggest expense in getting into the 10ga game was 15 shells I’ve bought from Track of the Wolf. I finished out a box of 18 several years ago when those shells were around $8.00 and I bought eight more last week to complete another box at a cost of $10.46 per shell including shipping.

 

I figure it’ll take another three cycles to get the 10ga down to the level of expense that my 12ga shells are costing me.  Wads, nitro cards and over shot cards are the only things that are different and I have plenty of those for both gauges.

 

Amazin’ what you’ll think about on a slow Sunday afternoon…

[Mezcal Charlie]

Thanks for all the good info! I’ve been gathering my possibles to get loading and found some Hogden Triple FFg to begin. Just need to get some load data for 44-40 and 12 ga 2-1/2” brass. Again thanks and I can’t wait to make some smoke!

[Edward R S Canby, SASS#59971]

On 10/23/2025 at 6:31 AM, Mezcal Charlie said:

Thanks for all the good info! I’ve been gathering my possibles to get loading and found some Hogden Triple FFg to begin. Just need to get some load data for 44-40 and 12 ga 2-1/2” brass. Again thanks and I can’t wait to make some smoke!

Hodgdon publishes loading instructions for 777 on their website.  Just dump enough powder in a 44-40  case so that the bullet just touches the powder.  Special BP-lubed bullets are not needed.  However, 777 is an energetic powder and this load is undesirable for CAS main match loads so some use filler (contrary to Hodgdon’s instructions).  Using a BP measure set to 15, dump this amount of 777 in a case and then add filler.  I found 1/2-inch foam backer rod worked well.

 

You will find plenty of loading instructions for brass and plastic shotgun shells on this Wire.  Reduce the powder by about 25% from that recommended for real BP to account for 777’s higher energy content.  Your shoulder will thank you.

 

BTW, you can use a regular powder measure with 777.  That pound of 777 will disappear quickly.

 

Welcome to the Darkside.  The cloud of smoke generated is glorious.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 24 by Edward R S Canby, SASS#59971

[Chancy Shot, SASS #67163]

This is the cost I have using my latest expenses.  Notice, I am using the cheapest BP I can find locally.

 

Chancy

 

Component	Quantity	Cost of Compnents	Cost per round	Cost for 25 rounds
Hull	1	Free	Free	Free
Primer - Winchester W209	1	55.99/1000	0.05599	$1.399750
Powder - Wano Reenactor	50 Grains	$16/lb $16/7000 Grains	0.11429	$2.857143
Wad - CB8118-12	1	$13.97/500	0.02794	$0.698500
Shot = Eagle 7-1/2	450 Grains	$51.97/25 lb 51.97/175000 Grains	0.13364	$3.340929
				$8.30

[Mezcal Charlie]

On 10/24/2025 at 4:00 PM, Chancy Shot, SASS #67163 said:

This is the cost I have using my latest expenses.  Notice, I am using the cheapest BP I can find locally.

 

Chancy

 

Component	Quantity	Cost of Compnents	Cost per round	Cost for 25 rounds
Hull	1	Free	Free	Free
Primer - Winchester W209	1	55.99/1000	0.05599	$1.399750
Powder - Wano Reenactor	50 Grains	$16/lb $16/7000 Grains	0.11429	$2.857143
Wad - CB8118-12	1	$13.97/500	0.02794	$0.698500
Shot = Eagle 7-1/2	450 Grains	$51.97/25 lb 51.97/175000 Grains	0.13364	$3.340929
				$8.30

Thank you!