Mighty-Lite Shotgun Shells Are a Thing of the Past
Gone---as are inexpensive shotgun shells in 2021 of any brand. Shotgun shells now cost triple what they did just a year ago under Trump and center fire rounds have gone from $.10 each to $1.00 a round for rifles and handguns. If you can find it, as there remains year long waits for various ammunitions due to national shortages. Our wingshooting instructor, Buz Fawcett, always recommended Estate Cartridge Company Mighty Lite loads in 3/4 oz loads for 12 gauge. We used to special order them by the pallet from the factory at near wholesale rates from Texas. They were just under $2 a box delivered in 2996-2006. But Buz said if can no longer get Estate Cartridge, which happened around 2011, try Winchester 7/8 oz load, or shells by Caladre, Fiocchi, or Buschare-Ilagre, all Italian made shells. Well the day has come and Estate Cartridge Company has been acquired by Federal and the new company is no longer making the Mighty Lite loads. And, as of 2021, all of the above cartridges sell for $10 a box, some are $16/box such as those by RST, which are made for side by side guns. Modern factory shotgun loads are often labeled in "drams equivalent" or "dr. eq." A dram of black powder is 1/16 of an ounce. Dram equivalent means the powder charge in the shell is supposed to produce the same shot velocity as the listed dram equivalent of black powder. So if the box is labeled 3 drams, that means the velocity will be the same as a black powder shell containing 3 drams of powder. In 12-gauge, 2 1/2 dr. eq. s is a very light or low recoil load, 3 is typical
