Looking at buying a Mossberg 590 Shockwave and started to look into Aguila Mini Shells to increase capacity from 5+1 (2-3/4") to 8+1 (1-3/4"). Price of the Mini Shells are between $0.85 to $1.20 each depending on shot size or slug and if you can find them on sale.

So now I'm looking at handloading shotshells to lower the price and possibly increase the capacity by shortening the shotshell to 1-1/2" which should bump capacity to 9+1.

Background:
I'm not new to reloading, only new to loading shotshells. So I have almost everything I need for handloading just need to pickup a shortlist of items: priming tool, hull cutting tool, hull holder, hull skiver, and roll crimper. For reloading shotshell I'm going to need a sizer and depriming tool. Anything else?

Questions:

1. Who here has made their own "short" or "mini" shells?

1. What tools do you recommend?

1. Anything I need to pay attention to specifically for making short shells?

Shopping List:

1. Trim Doctor II Shotshell Case Tool

1. ExactaRoll Double-Pin Roll Crimper 12ga

1. Hull Vise

1. Power Hull Skiver <-- Only needed for Fold Crimps

1. Hulls, gas seals, overshot cards, primers, powder, shot/slugs

Do they work in a 590? I know they don't in a 500 (they fall through the loading ramp). They make some sort of insert for the loading ramp to prevent them from falling through. You might want to look into this before you start picking up reloading stuff for it.

OPSol Mini Clip is what is needed to run short shells through a Mossberg 500/590. One of the reasons why I chose the Mossberg over the Remington.

I am going to load some but have not got the chance to start. My advice is to buy a used mec reloader and shorten it for the size shell you want. I plan to modify one so it is adjustable.

Here's mine with the Mini-Clip: viewtopic.php?p=814557#p814557

It works just fine, except that the Mini-Clip can get knocked out pretty easily by handling the shotgun, if your finger pokes it for example. But when it's in place, it runs quite well.

I have a MEC sizemaster and reload my trap rounds (I reload for pistol and rifle too)

This type of thing is out of my wheelhouse so I'm just going to think out loud for a bit

The sizemaster has two settings for hull length, I only reload 2-3/4. To load 3" I would have to unbolt the center support, raise it to the 3" setting, and bolt it back in (along with some other settings). It doesn't have a setting for less than 2-3/4. I suppose you could take it all apart and drill/tap the center column to go shorter. Other reloaders might be different

The other thing I'm thinking about is components. Can you find the wads to build the shells you want?

And recipes, all the shotshell loading data is very specific. I've never seen someone 'work up' a load. You follow the recipe and it is what it is.

Again, I'm just spitballing here. I don't want to discourage you. Just thinking about potential issues you might run into.

From what I've read there no,wad is used list a gas seal which is about 0.275" thick.

The only thing is press would be used for is sizing, depriming, and priming. Will use a roll crimp mounted in a drill press as it consumes less space.

I'm not sure if sizing will be that important for your needs. The press I use sizes when I deprime but I'm also reusing hulls over and over again. Lots of guys don't resize every time so I wouldn't worry about doing it right off the bat

I'm not sure you will be able to reuse the hulls too often with the roll crimp. Even with the regular star crimp the hulls crack and can't be reused. I watched the video and that device heats the hull up to get it to roll. I kinda doubt that it will be able to do that over and over again.

So... What hulls are you going to reload?

I mostly use Winchester XX but have a few Remington STS that I think are a better hull. The double X are harder plastic and crack easier, STS are more forgiving. I would guess that the STS would take the roll crimp better.

Both the XX and the STS are suitable to reload. A lot of the cheaper hulls have a different base design and will separate.

Sounds like reloading a roll crimp will be limited so a press may not be needed. Do they make a hand primer/deprimer for shotshells? I haven't found one yet.

Here are the hulls I'm looking at:

1. Cheddite Clear 2-3/4 16mm @ $13.99/100 unprimed
2. Fiocchi Clear 2-3/4 16mm @ $13.99/100 unprimed
3. Rio Clear 2-3/4 16mm @ $11.99/100 primed

Goal is to have a 1-1/2" mini shell and be under $0.90/shell. Sounds like if I go with a fold crimp I could potentially reload but will need a press (press modifications needed) and would need to load to 1-3/4" like the Aguila mini shells. To keep it simple I'm going to go with the original plan and run a roll crimp. I'm going to practice on a few spent hulls first loading bird shot.

Here's a good article on how to load/reload roll crimps: https://www.ballisticproducts.com/bpi/articleindex/articles/rollcrimp1/RollCrimp.htm

Just found Lanes Reloading. They make hand dies (arbor press) and primer tool for 12ga. Not going to be a high volume setup but its a start.

http://www.lanesreloading.com/loaders.html

If you lived closer you could just come by and prime them on my press.

That Lanes reloader should do the job and isn't too expensive. You could also rig something up in a vice. It might be fiddly but you don't have many to do.

I'm going to have to rig up something similar for reloading 40mm

Found a vintage New/Unused MRC (Lee) Deluxe 2-3/4" and 3" 12ga Handloading Kit on eBay. Paid $92 shipped, little higher than I wanted to pay but its a piece of history as well. Going to use an arbor press to eliminate the need for a mallet.

They are hard to find but rcbs use to make shotgun dies for their ruckchucker. They are expensive also. A MEC can be had for 50 bucks. Drill and tap a hole in the bar to lower it. Do all the stages except crimp, then do the roll in a drill press.

Thanks, I'll look into the Rockchucker and MEC modifications needed for short shells.

Anyone make a Hi-Tek (polymer) coated or plated slug?

Buffalo arms makes dies for all Guages, but at 250 a set and it requires a 1 1/4 thread press. Screw that and they are all sold out.
I'm a machinist, I see a business opportunity maybe some adapters that use MEC parts to bring cost down. I have been researching the slug thing lately. Have not found any poly coated ones. I have been looking into casting my own. Molds arent too expensive.