I was jut wondering if anyone knew of an outfit that was making hand loading tools for the.410
similar to the ones that LEE used to make. I've been looking for one for quite some time now, but haven't been able to find anything.

I had, and maybe still have, one of the Lee kits. Never could get it to form decent crimps. My solution was to load .444 Marlin brass as .410s. Worked fine in my gun, and did not take any special tools.

These days, you can get proper .410 brass cases, made by Magtech, from Midway. Cobble up a way to deprime and reprime, get a 7/16" punch to cut top wads, and make up powder and shot dippers. Use a drop of rubber cement to hold the top wad in place. That should get you in business.

That sounds like a good idea, I'll have to take a look on the Midway web sight. I have all sorts of tools I've made up for depriming etc.
so thats no problem. Might make for an interesting project this winter, Thanks.

Midway has cardboard wads for the 410 so you don't have to cut them yourself. I've loaded some in 444 marlin cases. Some guns won't close on the 444 rim. Now that there is 410 brass it should be easier. I tried loading some with the 410 plastic wads and also with the cardboard wads. I liked the cardboard wads better. You can put a wad on top, then run the case into a roll crimp die. It worked fine for me, but I didn't handle the rounds roughly. I don't know if they might open up in a pocket or backpack??
Midway also has regular plastic 410 hulls for cheap.
The kids like shooting the 410 more with a smaller shot payload and light powder charge.
The 410 is a great gun, but the price of factory ammo keep me from shooting it more.

On a different site, I saw a guy who was useing 9.3x74R brass to make a 3" brass case. He was useing it for his 45/410 TC contender and cast bullets. It could be used for a 3" mag shot load though.
I've been playing with some reduced loads.
BPI 2.5" primed plastic hull from midway($14/100), Fed. 1/2 oz wad($6.50/250),
11 grains 2400 with .4oz no 7 shot, and a BPI fiber wad($10/500) glued on top.
Any ideas on chronographing the loads? I haven't tried yet, but would imagine that it could be a pain.
I used regular Elmers white glue, but it didn't hold very well. I may try a drop of krazy glue, but I think it would leave a residue on the hulls.
What I'd like to find is a way to put the factory star crimp on the plastic hulls and use a regular loading press. A 444 shell holder fits the 410 rim.
The cost for buying and loading is around $5.70/25 shells. Then reloading will be around $3/25. Even if I just used the primed hulls once and threw them away, it would be half of the store price.
I don't have a way to size the base of the plastic hulls yet. I think I'll get a 460 S&W size die and see if it will take the 2.5" length inside.
The fired hulls still drop into the chamber, but I would imagine that they will need sizing sometime.
Anybody have thoughts on Star crimping the plastic hulls?
sizeing the base?
Or chroning the loads? (I'd like to keep the reduced shot loads to around 1150 fps so it will be similar to factory loads to keep swinging and follow through the same.)
TIA

quote:

Originally posted by Leftoverdj:
Use a drop of rubber cement to hold the top wad in place. That should get you in business.

Guess I should have read all before. I'll try that one.