The Cost of reloading .410 shells

Reader Milton F. asked "What do you estimate the cost (of reloading .410 shells) to be?" in the comments section of the post "The Forgiving Zone".

Capital equipment cost:  Essentially zero.  This post  discusses how one gentleman in Alaska uses common tools to reload .410 shells.  Those tools are things like 5/16" and 7/16" sockets and bit drivers.

I intend to cut a funnel with slits in the small end out of material from an old pop bottle to help ease the wad into the case.  I may use a piece of broken, fiberglass tent pole instead of the bit driver to press in the wad.  I have to play with things to see how it goes.

On a per-hundred basis:

The hulls were given to my by Russ Nelson at Family Shooter's Corral.  I buy brass from him and he threw in the hulls just because he likes me.  If Russ was out of .410 hulls my plan was to find the local 4-H shooting club and make a donation, then ask the advisor to collect .410 hulls for me to reload.

Powder:  I paid about $25 for a pound of H-110 powder at Bob's Gun Shop in Hastings, Michigan.  At 15.5-to-16 grains per hull that works out to about six cents a shell or $6 a hundred.

Wads: I bought 500, Federal wads from Graf and Sons.  Including postage that came to $22.53 which pro-rates to 4.5 cents a shell or $4.50 per hundred.

Lead shot runs about $2 a pound.  One hundred shells will use 50 ounces of shot at a half ounce per shell.  That works out to six-point-two-five cents a shell or $6.25 a hundred.  For the record, Mr Pepper plans to use the shells for in-barn pest control so we will use the softest 7-1/2 shot we can find to minimize the danger from "bouncers".   Mr Pepper is a hellova shot.  He once killed 13 possum with one shot.

Shotshell primers run about $30 a thousand or $3 a hundred for an additional three cents a shell.

Totting it all up, I get about $20 per hundred loaded shells or $4 for a box of twenty...not counting time.

Pictures of reloading the hulls with some simple, handmade tools