Clay Target Q&A
With Russell Mark, Olympic gold and silver medallist
Questions: russell@corporateshootingstars.com.au
Q Russell, my father recently passed away and he has left me his reloader and all of the components that go with it. He had been a reloading enthusiast for more than two decades. Over the past two years with the cost of lead escalating and with less reloadable hulls available at gun clubs, I am starting to think its no longer worth the time and effort. Firstly, can you give me an idea on what you believe the cost difference is between reloading and buying new shells and secondly, can anyone reload shotshells as good as the major manufacturers?
Brian Wood, Victoria
A Hi Brian. I am sorry to hear about the passing of your father. He was a wonderful character around the gun clubs. Having no idea of what components you are using or the price you are buying them for, I would ask you to use the following reloading calculator that is available from this website: www.ewrg.org/sscalc.html It asks for Imperial measurements, so you will have to make the conversations before entering the data.
As far as quality is concerned, I guess that is a very subjective question and can only be answered the same way. My honest opinion on quality is no, you can’t expect the same quality out of a $1000 reloading press with used hulls, questionable shot and so on. I would expect generally better quality from a multimillion-dollar shotshell-manufacturing facility that constantly tests for quality control and ballistic changes.