Reloading Plastic 410 Gauge Shotshells

When I started reloading brass 410 cases, I purchased a pound of the relatively new Alliant 410 powder. I found its performance in brass cases to be disappointing. Unfortunately the only application developed for this propellant so far is in plastic .410 bore shotgun shells with plastic wads. Not wanting to let the powder go to waste, I loaded up some clay target loads using some fired 3 inch Winchester HS cases that I had picked up sometime ago.

Since I did not have a good tool to form a folded crimp on a 410 gauge shell, I decided to try using a roll crimp which worked out quite well .

Brass 410 Ga. Shells
Loading 410 Ga. Shells
About .410 Ga
Smallbore shotguns
Shotgun Pages
Lore of Guns


Loading 410 cases with Roll Crimp

I cut the cases down to 2 1/4 inches which left enough volume to use a plastic wad column and still seal the shell with an overshot card and roll crimp.

I formed the roll crimp by using an extra bullet seating die that I had from a Lee 7.5 Swiss die set

Steps to Load Cut Down 410 Gauge Plastic Cases

  1. Deprimed cases using a thin steel rod.
  2. The carbide sizing ring of a Lee 45 ACP Carbide Crimp die was used to size the brass heads of these plastic cases.
  3. Primed the cases with 209 shotgun primers by inserting the primer. I then used an aluminum rod inside to case to press the base on a flat surface to seat the primer
  4. Weighed the powder charges and added to the case
  5. Seated the plastic wad over the powder wad using a quarter inch dowel
  6. Measure 1/2 oz. shot and poured it into the wad cup
  7. Seat overshot wad and crimped the shell using a Lee 7.5 Swiss bullet seating die. I also tried it with a Lee 308 bullet seating die and that seems to work just as well.
.410 Gauge
Case Winchester HS case cut down to 2 1/4 inches.
Projectile 1/2 ounce # 9 shot
Wad Column Winchester WAA410 plastic cup wad
Powder 12.0 grains Alliant 410
Primer Federal 410
Firearm Springfield 951
Barrel Length 24.0 inches
Avg Muzzle Velocity 1137 feet per second
.410 Gauge
Case Federal Gold Medal 410 case cut down to 2 1/4 inches.
Projectile 1/2 ounce # 9 shot
Wad Column Winchester WAA410 plastic cup wad
Powder 11.5 grains Alliant 410
Primer Federal 410
Firearm Springfield 951
Barrel Length 24.0 inches
Avg Muzzle Velocity 1046 feet per second
Velocity Std Dev 32.0 feet per second
.410 Gauge
Case Federal Gold Medal 410 case cut down to 2 1/4 inches.
Projectile 1/2 ounce # 9 shot
Wad Column Winchester WAA410 plastic cup wad
Powder 12.0 grains Alliant 410
Primer Federal 410
Firearm Springfield 951
Barrel Length 24.0 inches
Avg Muzzle Velocity 1150 feet per second
Velocity Std Dev

The muzzle velocity of this load is estimated.

Appropriate Smokeless Powders

Listed here are some smokeless powders where there is manufacturers published data for use in 410 gauge plastic shotgun shells with modern plastic wad columns

The author of this page can be contacted at loreofguns at gmail.com

If you use images from this website on forums and other sites then please tell people where you got them from and link back to the page that you found the image(s) on. It is only common courtesy.