I'm so old that I started reloading .410 factory shells cost just a few dollars per case moe than 12's. We started reloading with cards, then win as wads, blue trico wads with 2400, rem., fed., orange, yellow and green wads and any other odd wads I could find. Loading data was sparse. You could look for months and never see anything new.
If you liked shooting shells off just in front of the brass nothing beat the blue trico wads and 2400. You could still hit the bird with them. They would open up and leak some shot before separation. If the front portion hit the bird it just vaporized the part it hit.
Today's selection of powders, wads and shells is vast compared to what we had 30-40 years ago. Safe data is easily found in print or over the Internet. Loading small bore guns has never been easier to those who reload. And on top of that the saving is so much greate in small gauges to make reloading them a major cost savings.
