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Reloading lets you make this kind of reduction on your own. By letting you fiddle and tinker with components, you can find just the right recipe for the task at hand.

THE INTANGIBLES

Reloading shotshells puts you in touch with an exotic hobby and thousands of others who share it. For some practitioners, reloading is merely a means to an end, only the simple act of creating shootable shells.

For others, reloading (and patterning) become a quiet passion. It deepens their interest in all facets of shotgunning; involves them in a wider community of shared interest; and promotes an understanding of and ability to negotiate an interesting and unusual technical field. The path to reloading shotshells becomes a path of deepening commitment to shooting, like archers cresting arrows. Hunters find themselves shooting a little trap and skeet, while sporting clays enthusiasts begin tinkering with and patterning turkey loads … just for fun of course … they have not bought a license … yet!

Let’s talk price. A case of Target Load Sporting TLS32 Rio shotshells from www.ableammo.com for Christmas 2004 cost $38.60. These 12-gauge, 2-3/4-inch shells are filled with 1-1/8-ounce of #7-1/2 or #8. Your choice, of course. The rated muzzle velocity is 1,200 fps. Adding a 3 percent handling fee makes the cost $39.76. (If you live in Texas, add 8 percent sales tax.) A case weighs 25 pounds and, from Huntsville, Texas, to Gainesville, Fla., where I live, the UPS Ground shipping charge is $9.67. Total charge is $49.43 per case or $4.94 per box of 25 or 19.77¢ per shot. These are good shells, but even a casual reloader can cut this cost in half.