Shotshell

Shotshell style presses, intended for non-batch use, for which each shotshell or cartridge is cycled through the dies before commencing onto the next shotshell or cartridge to be reloaded, commonly resemble the letter "H".

Hence, it is common to use a dedicated shotshell press for reloading each gauge or bore of shotshell used.

In general, though, shotshell reloading is far more complex than rifle and pistol cartridge reloading, and hence far fewer shotshell presses are therefore used relative to rifle and pistol cartridge reloading presses.

At 1-1/8 oz. per shotshell, a 25 lb. bag of lead shot can only reload approximately 355 shotshells.

Being essentially "published recipe" dependent, antique shotshell reloading is not widely practiced, being more of a specialty, or niche, activity.

Brass shotshells are also reloaded, occasionally, but typically these are reloaded using standard rifle/pistol reloading presses with specialty dies, rather than with modern shotshell presses.

For published recipes using fold crimps and shot wads used as sabots, slugs can be easily reloaded using standard shotshell presses and techniques, without requiring any roll crimp tools.

Nonte, chapter 12, "Special-Purpose Shotshell Loads" Accuracy considerations Several different powder samples Precision and consistency are key to developing accurate ammunition.

Of course, when reloading for very old shotguns, such as those with Damascus barrels, special shotshell recipes that limit pressures to less than 4500 psi are still available, and these "recipes" are reloaded by some shotgunning enthusiasts.

Shotshell presses are available in both single stage and progressive varieties.

Shotshell presses are most commonly operated in non-batch modes.

Shotshell presses typically use a charge bar to drop precise amounts of shot and powder.

Shotshell reloading for specialty purposes, such as for buckshot or slugs, or other specialty rounds, is often practiced, but varies significantly from the process steps discussed previously for handloading birdshot shotshells.

Shotshell reloading is similar to cartridge reloading, except that, instead of a bullet, a wad and a measure of shot are used, and after loading the shot, the shell is crimped shut.

Shotshell reloading is sometimes done for scatter shot loads, consisting of multiple wads separating groups of shot, which are intended for use at short distance hunting of birds.

Similarly, shotshell reloading for buck shot loads and non-lethal "bean bag" loads are sometimes handloaded.

The use of interchangeable chokes has made it easy to tune the performance of a given combination of shotgun and shotshell to achieve the desired performance.

This difference is largely a result of shotshell presses having 5 stations available for use simultaneously, unlike a single stage cartridge press which typically has but one station available for use.