That’s why he’s a good actor you can feel the pain coming through his voice

I have been reloading for 50 years and the first thing I did was 12 ga shells. Had a neighbor who hunted doves a lot and he would load all his shells before season. He taught me to load when I was 13 on an old Herters press. Winchester used to load "Upland" brand shells and that was all he would use for his reloads because of the plastic base. He shot a 1100 Remington and he would let me load a couple of boxes for my old Parker 12 ga Double. That was a lifetime ago seems like...

This video is one of your best. It's getting to hang out while you step through a new challenge, think out loud about the why of your choices (showing the load manuals & instructions), share the process - mistakes & all, then take us on your first squirrel hunt in 15 years. Afterwards we get to see the cleaning & prep process, be at 'Johnny Child's' elbow while you cook & dang near taste the dish when done. Shoot & editing is superb. On screen you're relaxed & authentic while production is like you graduated from USC film school. Seamless flow & storytelling - you even break the timeline to background us or reveal where you're going but it never feels like an interruption. Hell, 90%+ of entertainment TV is less well done. Thx for taking us along and making it feel like we're hanging out with a buddy. A video is never this good without a sh*t ton of work. Which you make invisible. 💪🏼☀️👏🏼

....from 8 yrs. old in 72 till I was 17, NEVER missed opening squirrel with my Dad, scoped 22's only & head or neck shots.....made for delicious clean squirrel stew with thick gravy !!!.....must have shot 200-250 squirrels in those years & we ate everyone of them. Thanks fer sharing....those few minutes of hunting video brought back many years of wonderful memories.

Finally! We've missed you Johnny!

I’m definitely interested in seeing more shotgun reloading. Especially the .410

Most people don't know how good squirrels can be when they're properly handled and cooked. Those look great!

I think this was my favorite video so far! I like seeing the whole process with the squirrels too. As a Canadian prairie hunter, nobody I know eats squirrels here and ever since watching Meat Eater I've been curious what they'd taste like. I live about 45 min from the Boreal forest, might have to head North, shoot a bunch and find out! I've been trying to get into reloading for years, but for one reason or another watched your channel for my fix instead. I was thinking about pulling the trigger on a Lee Load-All as my first foray into reloading and lo and behold my reloading mentor released a video about it 😂. I think you've all but convinced me!

Been watching JRB for 6 years now, this is probably one of my favorites!!!

I have been waiting for this video for years. I have my dad's old mec 600jr bolted to my bench but had no idea what to do with it and unfortunately I can't ask him questions. Every time I try find load data I just get more confused. Thank you for this. I also have a single shot 410 that was my first gun and now you have me really excited to play with it again

That was a lot of fun to watch. I started loading shotgun shells when I was 12 yo (40+ years ago). I got a Lee Load-All press and went to town. I made every mistake possible and still didn’t manage to blow my face off, even when I took steel bearings from a bicycle wheel and put them in a shot shell... A lot of thoughts from this video, but I’ll try to summarize briefly. First, Mec definitely worth the price, 600 jr is adequate for my needs. Second, for about 20 years it was not worth loading shotshells because we could buy bird shot for the price of components, but seems that has turned around slightly with the ammo shortages. Next, you are very slow and deliberate for a shotshell reloader. I think it is preferable to learn shotshell prior to rifle/handgun cartridges. Even so I picked up a couple ideas from watching you. I look forward to every one of your videos.

For dropping powder, use your regular measure. As you seen how much a pita it is to empty the hoppers

I don't think you could make a more complete Shotgun video. That was excellent. Stayed up all night to watch it. Have to work early tomorrow. Worth every second. Especially when he spilled all over. Classic jrb moment.

Great video! Loved every minute of it. I'm making squirrel hunting a mandatory practice 3 or more times every year. I had been away too long and I forgot how much I loved shooting and eating squirrels.

Never plan on loading for shotgun but this was one of my favorite JRB videos. The perfect mix of your reloading and the other stuff that would normally go on JRB Outdoors. Good luck in the Metroid tourney too.

I belong to a Gun Club that has 2 shotgun ranges and have access to all of the hulls I could possibly want. Like you say, the spent hulls are gathered up and put into barrels and then the hulls are just thrown away. I initially had intended to reload 12 gauge and acquired (traded for) a Lee Load-All and a couple of MEC 600 JR's. I also went through a couple of barrels of spent hulls and pulled the AA brass base hulls. FWIW, It's not hard to separate the brass from the steel, just get you a magnet and anything that doesn't stick is brass.

I've never even fired a shotgun and I found this video very entertaining, informative, and well produced. I have had squirrel before and you've almost got me interested in hunting for them. I would watch more shotgun videos.

Squirrel hunting has always been the most fun for me: low pressure, lots of opportunities, and easy to manage the carcasses. Shears make cleaning way easier.

Squirrel season is the best season and a JRB video with reloading for squirrel is like finding a nest in a maple tree. Absolutely a great video man keep up the good work.

I learned to reload 12ga in the '70s with a Lee Load-All. Couldn't get a good crimp, surprised it seemed to work well for you. Then bought a MEC 700 (like the 600 with improvements) and it is all steel and makes perfect loads. Well worth it and the 600Jr is really all you need, especially for multi gauges. The MEC have bottles for powder and shot and that assy tilts down and you unscrew the bottles, works great with no spill! I bought a micro adjustable bar so didn't need to buy powder and shot bushings and easy to fine tune. Also, not hard to find used MEC machines to save some money.

As a long time subscriber and a metallic reloader and a Beagler who hunts rabbits/hare this was a great video to see due to the current selection of field/hunting loads, I’ve been considering trying to get into shotshell reloading just to have shells for our hunting group to hunt with for this and upcoming seasons. This video is almost exactly the mission I would be trying to accomplish. It was good to have the insight of someone who thinks like a metallic reloader making a video like this! Recipe looked great too!!

Take it from a former 10ga turkey hunter, TSS did change everything, it changed my gun from a 10ga, to a 12, then a 20, and the last two I killed were with a .410, and a swear, that .410 with .850oz of 9.5tss smokes a gobbler at 40+yards better than my 10ga used to with lead. And you get 19 shells to a pound of TSS so the cost is only semi ridiculous

What a trip this afternoon, I was listening to the podcast and realized I've been thinking about this for ages and here JRB pops up with exactly what I am interested in. Thanks JRB, another outstanding episode.

Squirrel taco was my first thought 😋 haha great video!

Mr. Johnny, a little tip concerning sharp knives... sharpen your blades however you usually do them and then MAKE an 8 inch MDF wheel for your bench grinder.. I use metal polishing compound from Harbor Freight on the wheel... I used 2 pcs of half in MDF to make a full 1 in wide wheel.. its easy and well worth the effort... and its a lot of fun... Happy reloading!!!

Very nice video for the first time reloading 12 ga shells. Now it puts me in the mood to start reloding my own 12 ga shells. 👍👍👍👍

Just want to say thank you for taking the time to put this video together. I love long videos like these and I recently start loading 12 guage. It's really cool to be learning alongside you! I'm cookin' up a steel shot load to take duck hunting! Hopefully things are as successful as your experience.

Had a lee load all for like 2 years that I haven't used yet, been wanting to reload shells for hunting/ home defense buckshot. Glad your making shotgun reload videos since alot of other creators go no where in depth as you do.

If you size ,de prime and then re prime your shells first you will make better time. I do them in batches of 25. Also. Push the wad up onto the pusher and just hold it with 1 finger to guide the wad. Use a piece of painters tape on the base in front of the pre crimp and mark with a pen as a reference for where you want to have the fold in the case to line up with. When your close the shell will / should spin a little into proper position. The long shot pwder works really well for me in 1 1/4 oz pheasant loads. Keep up the good work. !

Dude. Been looking to get into scattergun reloading. This was priceless.vthanks

Was a long wait but well worth it. Awesome video, loved every minute of it!

I usually don't have that long to sit and watch, but I did and liked it. I only have a .410 as far as shotguns go because I live in the desert...quail and dove are the only edible birds out here. I'd like to see your .410 reloading vid. And, as far as the vooking goes, that was great. I learned a lot, thanks Johnny!

Hey dude. really enjoyed this, you went through every step, from the load crafting to going out back to collecting the squirrels and then preparing the meat, then cooking the meal. this was a good video-Dave

Three things I always add to any kind of meat.... Salt, pepper and garlic.. go easy, you can always add more latter. By all means, do more shot shell videos,.. great job at the bench, in the field AND in the kitchen!!!!

Love the shotgun reloading and squirrel hunting videos. I've always thought it was too expensive to reload shotgun shells compared to straight buying them but I want to learn and cooking squirrel looks awesome.

I have always used .22 LRs for squirrel hunting . I have used both rifles and target pistols successfully over the years. I always cut the pelt straight across the back and get my fingers wedged in under it. You then pull opposite ways and skin the squirrel like you are undressing it. When you get to the paws you simply use a meat cleaver or some kind of wire cutters or tin snips to cut them off so that you can continue getting the pelt/skin off working them out. We always used flour and some salt and pepper to pan fry them. Save the grease and the scrap morsels to add flour and milk to make gravy for your mashed potatoes. You make sausage gravy for biscuits and gravy the exact same way. If the gravy gets a little too thick add a little milk and stir while you continue to heat. If it gets a little too runny you simply add more flour while you stir and continue to cook.

Mom bought me a Load All II in 1986 or so when I was fifteen. I still have it and it still works, although I almost never reload shotshells any more. I admit I had to laugh a little at your expense when the screws gave way. I KNEW it was coming lol. This is a great video and will no doubt help many future reloaders. Thanks man!

Loved every minute of this video! I’ve never reloaded shotshell despite competing at skeet for a long time. Was excited to hear you announce this video was coming and I really wish to try loading hulls now. The hunting and cooking part were such a cool tie in. Can’t wait to see the journey continue into .410.

I've been reloading Shotgun shells for 50 years. I only use old AA's and Remington STS and Nitro hulls. The internal cup in the new AA's interferes with seating the wads and puts a crimp or wrinkle in the wall of the shell. A lot of people say they don't have that problem, but I do so I don't use them. Remington has never changed their designed and still load fine for me. The problem with the cheaper hulls with the steel base, is the steel base itself. The steel work hardens as it expands when shot and is compressed to original diameter when resized. Therefore, as the base of the shell is where it seals the chamber from gasses coming back out of the breach of the gun, it is not recommended to reload them more than once. Shells with a real brass base will stand the stretching and shrinking, many more times than the plastic will crimp at the top, so safety is not an issue.

Another great video man. love the longer vids. Good recovery from the spillage, yes would have been a mess to clean up .....

I went through the exact same thing starting out reloading shot shells. The main thing you need to worry about is using the correct wad for your hull. Meaning using a wad for tapered hulls vs straight hull. Cheddite hulls are straight which I like better. The next is the payload weight it doesn't matter the pellet size you use just the weight. So if you found a load for 71/2 shot you can substitute anything else as long as it weighs the same and fits to give a good crimp. It's all very archaic. My favorite powders for heavy field loads are blue dot and long shot and 800x. Bubba round trees channel has some excellent shot shell loading information. Also look at the Ballistic products website. Good luck going down the rabbit hole.

Dude! I'm only a few minutes in but already you are dealing with the same confusing issues. I did! In exactly the same way with same books, components and questions! Thanks for addressing these man. Sincerely! I felt so alone! The discrepency between books for understanding compontent changes in pressure and hull identification problems just like you adresssd made me feel stupid. Glad to know they were legitimate questions. By far this is my favorite video youve ever done. Thanks again Johnny!

Great video Johnny! Shotshells can be very complicated. I have been loading shotshells for 40 years. Two general rules of thumb: 1 - Use shells that are one piece (Old WWAA and current STS, Nitro, and Game Load hulls) if you want to load the shells SEVERAL TIMES. 2 - Put a wad back into the hull that was designed to fit it. i.e. Remington wads or copies in Remington hulls, Winchester wads and copies in old Winchester AA hulls, Federal in Federal. The taper that is mentioned is an internal taper. This is what the wad choice is about. The base of the wad needs to seal off the powder charge. In cold weather, you can always tell who put tapered hull wads in straight wall cases when they show up at the trap range. You can hear it as a squad of five shooters shoot... Bang!, Bang!, Bang!, FUURRRTT...., Bang!

My mouth literally started watering when you slapped the bacon in the pan sizzling.

After handloading rifle cartridges for years I thought loading shotshells would be an easy transition. I had no idea there were so many different designs in a 12 gauge hull!

Lee-Loader is a great choice for the first timer, or old hand looking to load small volume. LEE has simple easy to follow instruction, Consult the Richard Lee second edition reloading manual to clarify many of the questions you've expounded upon. Most other loading tools tend to make there instructions overly complex. For well under $100 for one loader in your gauge and there you go. MEC's are fine for someone into High Volume shooting Skeet/Trap and start at the low end of $150 and well north of that.

Having loaded thousands of shells on the Load-All, this video brought back too many memories! You will get quicker and smoother with practice. If you’re loading only a few boxes of shells a year, this will serve you well.

Great video all around. Would love to see more of this format. Your comedy is one of a kind! Thanks JRB

As a rifle and pistol reloader love seeing the addition of shotgun to the arsenal. Also love all the cooking and cleaning stuff! So much to learn and I’m eager to try this myself one day

Love the shotgun stuff Shannon, and the long form videos. The rambling is what we come for, and heck if we learn something then all the better!

THANK YOU! I learned a lot about both the Lee loader and shotgun load data. I love your usual centerfire loading videos too. This was a welcome bonus.

Well done video, your calm demeanor and clear speaking had me tuned in very closely. I appreciate your showing us the reloader despite some issues it may have in build quality. However you showed how this machine does do the job if one is careful with it. It was fun to learn how the shot-shell reloading process works. Your wonderful backyard sounded like an aural animal paradise! Thank you for taking us on a wonderfully informative and pleasurable adventure.

This was like the weirdest mix of Johnny's Reloading Bench, JRB Outdoors and Good Eats. It was fantastic! Not only do I want to get a Load All II and load up some shotgun shells (I have several 16 gauge's I'd like to shoot more often), I want to go shoot some squirrels. Thankfully, I can sit on the deck and hit them with the 22, though ours are a lot smaller than those nice greys you have up north of me here in TN. Great episode, man!

Awesome video! Love the direction you went with this one

The reload, catch and cooks are GREAT! Continue these!

I can smell the bacon cooking from here. Great video about shotgun shell reloading and squirrel hunting.❤

I've enjoyed all of your content, going back the past couple/few years, but I absolutely loved this content. I've been curious about shotgun reloading but I'm not there yet, but I couldn't turn away from this. Squirrel hunting is a favorite of mine and the culinary portion of this was an awesome bonus. Keep pushing forward with this.

I'm sure other comments will say pretty much the same thing but I'll say it anyway - the Lee loaders you have will get you by if you load a couple of boxes now and then, but for more than that, they are really not what you need. One of the MEC Jr. models will still be economical, more accurate, more versatile, and last a lot longer than the Lee. The 2 bottle powder and shot bottles are way easier to set up and empty than the box types.

Hi Johnny, What a great video. (No annoying music; thank you.) I saw a guy in another video of the Lee Loadmaster II, drill a hole in the front of each reservoir. He used plastic plugs to keep the powder and shot inside each hopper. When he was finished, he pulled each plug, one at a time, while holding a container under the holes to catch the contents. That saved him from having to do the invert-the-loader-to-empty-it dance. That looked clever to me. Honestly, I couldn't believe it when you wrote on the powder hopper. I like post-it notes to identify powders. Also, a piece of white 2" water proof medical tape stuck to the hopper works (write on it, then peel it off later). Yes, they are janky, flimsy, but they work ...as you just proved. R, Steve

I had a good time watching this one. Thanks. Brought me back to some good times.

I don’t reload shells but spent a lot of time researching it as I want to get into it. From what I’ve heard (doesn’t mean it’s true) is that the swirl on your final crimp is a result of going “too heavy” on the pre-crimp so to say. Great video and very detailed and explanatory for those of us that don’t reload. Love the channel, looking forward to more videos in this series!

I appreciate your ability to attempt something you have no experience with. It really shows your maturity in the reloading arts. I also enjoyed this multifaceted video where you went all the way from reloading to hunting to table fare. Keep up the great work my friend!

I am really happy to see this video. Thank you for showing and highlighting all the problems I have with reloading shotshells as well. I live in Germany and to get all the components is already difficult. But sorting out which components is even harder. I own the Lyman shotshells reloading book as well. The first time I looked in it I was very much confused on all the different shells and wads. But your video gives me confidence to be able to handle all the differences to reloading rifle and pistol ammunition.

Wowser ! Incredible video ! So much information in one video and so well filmed . Awesome ! Loved every minute !

Awesome video Johnny! Love seeing you work through new things. Those load all presses do feel janky, but my family has loaded hundreds of thousands of trap loads through the same old load all press bought used in the early 90s!

Great video. All the way down to the bacon. Damn near midnight hear and I want to fry myself up some. My first step into reloading was with the same Lee setup. 16 years old and hunting geese. Closest place that sold any ammo was a one-hour drive and only working in the evenings for minimum wage, I didn't have a whole lot of extra money. Saved up, bought the reloader and all of the components and never looked back. Now, I followed the directions and recommended loads for a while....then started wondering if I could hit those birds that were flying higher up if I were to bump up the charge weights! Luckily, I never had a single issue. Still using the same machine almost 30 years later, but now loading stiff charges for coyote hunting!

Great video! Loved following the whole process. And the bacon looked perfect!

Glad to see you actually got the setup for 12 gauge! Once you get past the headache of load and component selection, it's a really fun and satisfying process.

Great show, educational and entertaining. Lee should be paying for this video

Thank you for this video. You answered about 20 questions I had. The examination of sectioned shells was particularly enlightening.

Very good video. Loved the easy pace, mistakes and thinking.

25 years ago I avidly shot trap and skeet, and reloaded thousands of shells, 700x and green remington hulls, kept on reloading the same hulls until they fell apart. Never had any issues. Seemed to always work and be forgiving. Ps also used the lyman book. Great job and videos. Thanks.

One of the best videos I've watched lately. You make it all make sense in layman's terms. Good job!

A quick follow up comment. Regarding your 410. There is a big movement where hunters are using the 410 for waterfowl and turkey and killing turkey cleanly with TSS loads out to 45 yards. I believe a 3" load would be around 11/16oz. I like the mix of both metallic and shotgun loading vids. BTW, you can rent a reamer and tap for that 410 and convert it to accept choke tubes. Probably don't want to do that to your topper being a gift and all but hey, it's an option.

Johnny - great chain of the investigations 😊, well done, thanks!

Bacon & squirrels looked excellent ! Dad brought home a load all when I was 14 years old, in 1981. My brothers & I reloaded thousands of rounds with it, I still have it & it still works perfectly. Yes it feels cheap, but it works very reliably.

Your on the right track so far with loading shotshells. I also found the AA hulls are not as cracked up as they say. The odd crimps you saw with it sticking up and concaving inward is normal as well as the little hole in the middle. My dad would apply some clear nail polish or wax to keep water out. STS hulls are your best bet. I normally load Unique to max pressure because load data for Alliant is VERY CONSERVATIVE.Getting into the MEC Loaders, the 600 Jr. doesn't have a resizer built in while the Sizemaster does. The MEC Loaders also solve some issues the LEE has like having to align the crimp for initial starter crimp. The MEC auto-aligns the hulls. Sadly, I don't have much experience with TSS shot, I just stick to the gold standard of lead. Hope this helps.

There goes my Friday night! Thanks for the video, Mr.Bench 🇺🇸

This was such an enjoyable video. I've never had squirrel before but you've inspired me to probably get a small game license and try heading out a couple days before deer season and get a should of them to try.

I purchased 2 Lee Load All II at the close out of a local store 20+ years ago. Paid $10 each for them. I've loaded THOUSANDS of rounds on them. Both 12g & 20g. Best investment ever.

What a great adventure, that was really fun to follow. Thanks for the content

Clean up on aisle 9 This is perfect timing Johnny. I recently bought a 20ga load-all 2, 300 pre-primed Fiocchi hulls, claybuster waa wads and 25lbs of #4 This video has helped give me the confidence to build some shells for spring turkey season. Illegal to hunt squirrels here in B.C.

Liked seeing the shout out to Preacher’s Day Off. Another great channel

Squirrel dumplings is always my go to for a squirrel dish can’t beat it

Great video. I really enjoyed all of it and prefer your longer videos. Your videos got me into reloading years ago, and I'm going to start shotgun reloading now, too, so do some more. Thanks

The part of spiting the lead pellets brought me directly to my childhood memories lol

I've been looking forward to this one!

Excellent video and new subscriber. The first 25 mins of this video were my exact frustrations when I first started with shotshell reloading to a T. Great job!

One of your best videos

When I saw the drywall screws with mistake above them, I laughed out loud. My buddy did the same thing a few months back. Learning the hard way is tough, but enlightening. Btw, love the channel!

Really cool video Johnny. I liked the journey aspect of it. Felt like I was on it with you. Now I've got to go make squirrel tacos and bacon. Keep up the great content. I can't imagine the effort that went into making this video.

Shannon, as much as I loathe this process and I am not much of a shotgunner, I enjoyed the video and really appreciate you stepping out of your comfort zone to provide this entertainment for us. I felt your pain through the whole video. The only thing this video does is remind me how much I don't care for shotgun, and that I can't find any unique for my 44mag😅. Thanks again and God bless brother!

Two hour JRB video on a Friday? Sign me up!

So glad to find out im not the only one. I did the exact same process with trying to identify those hulls and ended up migrating to Remington sts hulls. It blew my mind that there where no forums or anything that i could find with someone new to shotshell reloading. Ended up having to go overseas for about a year for work and its like you are getting me up to speed with my old notes that i forgot to write.

The tops of those hulls are awesome.

Used to hunt squirrels in 1977 when I was 16 with my BB gun. I would cut up in quarters, flour, sauté, then add some slivered onion, white or red wine and a can of crushed tomatoes. Simmer for about an hour. Was delicious! wow you just brought back some memories. We usually got them one shot, head shots. You mentioned doing it with a .22, and that would probably be the best for them. Great job on the video as usual. One more thing , I always say to my wife , "I hope I don't blow my face off", while reloading ammo, and when You said it the first time I watched you, we laughed our ass off, glad someone else out there is like me.

I like the catch and cook. Very good

I love this channel !!!!!! Keep up the great work !!!!

Had a stink bug crawling around my press a few weeks ago. They typically find their way into my vacuum as well but I happened to be loading 45 auto at the time. Well he "found" his way into one of my cases and so I set a 230 gr FMJ over top of him. Needless to say he had a much more exciting end than the typical vacuum route. Spent case had just a leg stuck to the interior of the brass.

Man, I felt your pain when I started reloading shotshells. Glad it worked out for you and hope to see more.