Looking for local source for 0 buckshot.

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John E Davies
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Looking for local source for 0 buckshot.

Post by John E Davies » Wed Sep 21, 2016 9:13 pm

I'm looking for a small amount of Single 0 buck (NOT 00). I found an 8 lb bottle at Ballistic Products but it is a little pricey... I was wondering if anyone has seen this stuff locally, or has some sitting on a shelf that they would sell me. I would be OK ordering but I don't really need that much.

Before you ask, I plan to use it for gallery loads using .32 ACP cases, to shoot in my SP101 .327 Federal..... With buck instead of .32 round balls it will be super inexpensive to load.

Thanks,

John Davies
Spokane WA

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ron
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Re: Looking for local source for 0 buckshot.

Post by ron » Thu Sep 22, 2016 10:39 am

John E Davies wrote:I'm looking for a small amount of Single 0 buck (NOT 00). I found an 8 lb bottle at Ballistic Products but it is a little pricey... I was wondering if anyone has seen this stuff locally, or has some sitting on a shelf that they would sell me. I would be OK ordering but I don't really need that much.

Before you ask, I plan to use it for gallery loads using .32 ACP cases, to shoot in my SP101 .327 Federal..... With buck instead of .32 round balls it will be super inexpensive to load.

Thanks,

John Davies
Spokane WA

If you want to save money in the long run, get a buckshot mold. There's a company that sells them in several different sizes for $40 bucks with handles then all you need is a Lee bottom-pour electric furnace or a thrift store 1500 watt hotplate and revereware saucepan and lyman lead dipper which they have at white elephant. But then. rather than casting roundballs, you might as well get a Lee 2-Cavity Bullet Mold TL314-90-SWC (314 Diameter) 90 Grain Tumble Lube Semi-Wadcutter mold and tumble-lube them and shoot them as-cast and they'll be more accurate than round balls and less likely to lead your barrel.

You can buy lead at the local recycling yard and some places will let you look through their scrap if you want to use pure lead for consistency. Pure lead will produce the smallest diameter bullets or balls, and the more alloy the lead has the larger it will cast. it's best to start with pure lead and then add alloyed lead until you get the diameter you want. Adding Tin to pure lead will fill the mold out better, and add a little hardness. 95% lead, 5% tin is ideal. Also beware of wheelweights that might have zinc in them. old lead plumbing pipe is close to pure lead and so is the lead used to pack Joints in cast iron sewer pipe, which is known as Plumber's lead.

Here's where I used to get my scrap lead from when I lived in the neighborhood over by the Donut Parade:

Action Recycling Inc
911 E Marietta Ave
Spokane, WA 99207

(509) 315-3718


http://buckshotmold.com/

Lee Mold:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/115225 ... -wadcutter
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John E Davies
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Re: Looking for local source for 0 buckshot.

Post by John E Davies » Thu Sep 22, 2016 3:19 pm

Ron, thanks for the detailed response but I do not want to get into bullet casting. I am not looking at many thousands of rounds here, and I have no need for the equipment otherwise. A bag of commercial buckshot every now and then is what interests me.... The problem is finding it in this diameter.

John Davies
Spokane

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Re: Looking for local source for 0 buckshot.

Post by Blacklion66 » Sun Sep 25, 2016 8:47 am

no long copy/paste details :-)

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/586936411

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Coug91
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Re: Looking for local source for 0 buckshot.

Post by Coug91 » Sun Sep 25, 2016 8:56 am

Try Sportsmans warehouse , Black sheep or white elephant
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John E Davies
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Re: Looking for local source for 0 buckshot.

Post by John E Davies » Sun Sep 25, 2016 4:19 pm

Blacklion66 wrote:no long copy/paste details :-)

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/586936411
Wrong size, I can get 00 anywhere. 0 is a little smaller and very uncommon. Hornady discontinued it a few years back.

I did find some 0 at GB but it is a way larger quantity than I want. Maybe I will bid on it anyway.... but UPS Ground shipping from this vendor is $36. Yikes. http://www.gunbroker.com/Item/587093475

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Re: Looking for local source for 0 buckshot.

Post by ron » Sun Sep 25, 2016 5:42 pm

John E Davies wrote:
Blacklion66 wrote:no long copy/paste details :-)

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/586936411
Wrong size, I can get 00 anywhere. 0 is a little smaller and very uncommon. Hornady discontinued it a few years back.

I did find some 0 at GB but it is a way larger quantity than I want. Maybe I will bid on it anyway.... but UPS Ground shipping from this vendor is $36. Yikes. http://www.gunbroker.com/Item/587093475
I'm sorry I don't have the exact answer that you're looking for but there are alternatives that may be a better way to go than using "0" buck for reduced velocity practice loads in your SP101 if you're willing to "think outside the box".

Cast bullets are more accurate and you can load them to the same reduced velocity as you could '0' buck and you don't have to cast your own. Rim Rock Bullets sells 78 grain "Cowboy" bullets for $25.00 per 500 plus $16.00 shipping to area code 99207. That's not a bad price for 500 bullets and you could always sell half of that amount at the next gun show or here on this forum for 20 bucks if you really don't want to spend a whole 40 bucks or want that many bullets, or otherwise 500 bullets might be a lifetime supply for you if you don't do that much shooting. Compare the price of these cast bullets to the price that you'd have to pay for a minimum amount of '0' buck plus shipping and I'll bet you'd come out ahead.

CB .32 78 gr. RN 406-676-3250 per 500
Unit Price: $25.00

http://rimrockbullets.net/top-shelf-bul ... llets.html
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John E Davies
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Re: Looking for local source for 0 buckshot.

Post by John E Davies » Sun Sep 25, 2016 6:23 pm

ron wrote:
I'm sorry I don't have the exact answer that you're looking for but there are alternatives that may be a better way to go than using "0" buck for reduced velocity practice loads in your SP101 if you're willing to "think outside the box".

Cast bullets are more accurate and you can load them to the same reduced velocity as you could '0' buck and you don't have to cast your own. Rim Rock Bullets sells 78 grain "Cowboy" bullets for $25.00 per 500 plus $16.00 shipping to area code 99207. That's not a bad price for 500 bullets and you could always sell half of that amount at the next gun show or here on this forum for 20 bucks if you really don't want to spend a whole 40 bucks or want that many bullets, or otherwise 500 bullets might be a lifetime supply for you if you don't do that much shooting. Compare the price of these cast bullets to the price that you'd have to pay for a minimum amount of '0' buck plus shipping and I'll bet you'd come out ahead.

CB .32 78 gr. RN 406-676-3250 per 500
Unit Price: $25.00

http://rimrockbullets.net/top-shelf-bul ... llets.html
That is great, I have bookmarked that page. I was unaware that anybody sold bullets that cheap. However they are 12BHN which is harder than I wanted.

I am looking at gallery loads - as slow as will reliably leave the barrel so they will be dead quiet. So my thinking was to use pure lead (5BHN) so the bullet will engrave (obdurate?) the rifling.Won't these harder cowboy bullets be impractical at such slow speeds and cause gas cutting?

I know enough about reloading in my comfort zone - reloading common calibers using manufacturer's data - but this is new territory for me. I was hoping to be able to just use .32acp brass and push a lubed round ball or 0 buck over a pinch of Bullseye. I am trying to get away from heavier bullets, casting, resizing and all that stuff.

Or am I just over-thinking this thing, as usual?

I do already have a few boxes of Hornady .315 (soft) round balls for muzzle loaders. They are expensive but will give me a start at this. The problem is that I am in a rental duplex for a while and all my reloading gear is in storage.... I am stuck until November at the earliest.

Thanks for your advise and help.

John Davies
Spokane WA

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ron
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Re: Looking for local source for 0 buckshot.

Post by ron » Sun Sep 25, 2016 7:59 pm

John E Davies wrote:
ron wrote:
I'm sorry I don't have the exact answer that you're looking for but there are alternatives that may be a better way to go than using "0" buck for reduced velocity practice loads in your SP101 if you're willing to "think outside the box".

Cast bullets are more accurate and you can load them to the same reduced velocity as you could '0' buck and you don't have to cast your own. Rim Rock Bullets sells 78 grain "Cowboy" bullets for $25.00 per 500 plus $16.00 shipping to area code 99207. That's not a bad price for 500 bullets and you could always sell half of that amount at the next gun show or here on this forum for 20 bucks if you really don't want to spend a whole 40 bucks or want that many bullets, or otherwise 500 bullets might be a lifetime supply for you if you don't do that much shooting. Compare the price of these cast bullets to the price that you'd have to pay for a minimum amount of '0' buck plus shipping and I'll bet you'd come out ahead.

CB .32 78 gr. RN 406-676-3250 per 500
Unit Price: $25.00

http://rimrockbullets.net/top-shelf-bul ... llets.html
That is great, I have bookmarked that page. I was unaware that anybody sold bullets that cheap. However they are 12BHN which is harder than I wanted.

I am looking at gallery loads - as slow as will reliably leave the barrel so they will be dead quiet. So my thinking was to use pure lead (5BHN) so the bullet will engrave (obdurate?) the rifling.Won't these hard cowboy bullets be impractical at such slow speeds and cause gas cutting?

I know enough about reloading in my comfort zone - reloading common calibers using manufacturer's data - but this is new territory for me. I was hoping to be able to just use .32acp brass and push a lubed round ball or 0 buck over a pinch of Bullseye. I am trying to get away from heavier bullets, casting, resizing and all that stuff.

Or am I just over-thinking this thing, as usual?

I do already have a few boxes of Hornady .315 (soft) round balls for muzzle loaders. They are expensive but will give me a start at this. The problem is that I am in a rental duplex for a while and all my reloading gear is in storage.... I am stuck until November at the earliest.

Thanks for your advise and help.

John Davies
Spokane WA
Yes, you are probably overthinking this thing. Cowboy action generally means reduced velocities and 12 bhn is really only medium hard . But just to be on the safe side, use that link and go to the Rimrock website contact information and call them up and ask if they make a softer bullet in 32 caliber or if they think the 12 bhn bullet will work for a reduced velocity load. It should, since your groove diameter is probably .311 and the bullets are .312.

As far as reloading in an apartment, I used to reload at my desk while living in an apartment using a Lee hand press and aLee hand priming tool until I finally broke down and got an RCBS priming tool with the square tray that uses standard shellholders. I actually used to cast bullets in the basement of that apartment, and before that I lived in a travel trailer for many years and loaded everything from 32 ACP to 350 rem mag.
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John E Davies
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Re: Looking for local source for 0 buckshot.

Post by John E Davies » Mon Sep 26, 2016 8:33 am

Hi Ron,

I have emailed Rimrock Bullets asking just that question. I hope that they say those bullets will be OK plodding along that slow. BTW after reading this I doubt that they would be willing to run a small batch of soft ones for me, tho I did ask:

"Our cast lead bullets are cast from virgin lead alloyed with just the right amount of tin and antimony. We order our lead in 60 lb bars, 60,000 lbs at a time. By ordering this much lead at once we can make consistently accurate cast lead bullets.

We normally make one particular type of bullet for a week, on one or two machines before going on to another kind or caliber. For instance, if we are making a run of .38/.357 158 gr. SWC this bullet maybe be run on 4 machines for 10 days ... that's in excess of 1 million bullets! Operating like this on one type of bullet at a time is what helps us make batches of identical, consistent bullets that you can count on. EVERY time."

Thanks again for your comments. I will get this figured out one way or another.

EDIT: I received a reply to my email and Frank at Rimrock said that they should work fine in this application. Guess I will order some.... Woohoo. JD

John Davies

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Re: Looking for local source for 0 buckshot.

Post by feilerma » Mon Feb 13, 2017 11:34 am

You mentioned gallery loads. Are you plinking in your basement? Speer makes (or used to make) plastic reusable bullets that fired with only a primer and no powder. Along those same lines you can "cast" really soft bullets using hot glue and an old cartridge with the bottom removed for the mold. (You remove the bottom so you can push the "bullet" out). It's a los volume process but the projectiles are reusable.
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Re: Looking for local source for 0 buckshot.

Post by Rigger28 » Sat Feb 18, 2017 7:30 pm

If you can find a mold I would be happy to cast some 0 buck for you. I have a ton of WW alloy as well as softer "tape weight" alloy and quite a bit of pure plumbers lead. i will do it for free but a beer donation is always welcome.

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