There appears to be some interest so I thought I’d start an ammunition reloading thread here in the firearms section and I’m sure if it’s active it will get stickied.
My thoughts on it include a clearing house for FAQ and how to get started followed up, I suspect, by more detailed questions. I would suggest that we stay away from specific load recipes as the Web-San likely is rightly concerned about liability. Since we’re all adults here I’m sure it can be handled via a message if you have to know.
No need to limit yourself to rifle and pistol, feel free to include shotgun reloading as well. I haven’t done it since my days of 20K rounds a year at skeet but I still have the full family of Mec 650’s in the basement.
Why reload? A few reasons
You will save money from buying factory ammo. Well sort of. You’ll find that with reloading you often shoot more so it’s a wash but the fun sort of wash.
Reloading can be done very simply or it can be as complicated as you would like. To get started for metallic reloading (rifle and pistol) you only need a few things.
Names to look for include;
Redding reloading - http://www.redding-reloading.com
RCBS - http://www.rcbs.com
Lyman - http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/home/
Lee Reloading - http://leeprecision.com
All are fine companies. There are others and it’s a vibrant industry in America with many Mom and Pop shops producing just what you need (even if you don’t know yet that you need it)
You’re also going to need a sturdy place to mount your press. We’re dealing with some significant leverage here and you don’t want to break up the household stuff.
A little guidance on the differences in presses. There are basically three kinds
(1)Single Stage – You resize/deprime and seat new bullets in the same press by swapping out the dies – For rifle and pistol it’s what I use
(2)Turret presses – Have a head that holds the resizing and seating dies (as well as the flare guide for pistols cartridges) in rotating head so you don’t have to unscrew them as you move function to function. It’s what I would buy if ZI wasn’t cheap and happy with the single stage I have
(3)Progressive presses, once configured, do all the reloading functions at a pull of a lever and stage empty brass from fired to sized to primed and charged to seating a new bullet and crimping. It’s what you’re going to want if you shoot a lot of pistol or EBR rounds in competition.
The actual process of reloading is easy and I’m not going to write it out but instead refer you to RCBS’s really excellent site at http://www.rcbs.com/guide/ that contains videos and FAQ that is really helpful.
So this will start the thread and hopefully folks will chime as they would like for discussion.
I load for the following calibers
.22 Hornet
.221 Fireball
.243 Winchester
.257 Roberts
.270 Winchester
7-08 Remington
.308
9mm
.38 S&W
.38 Special/.357 Magnum
.44 Russian, Special and Magnum
.45 ACP
My thoughts on it include a clearing house for FAQ and how to get started followed up, I suspect, by more detailed questions. I would suggest that we stay away from specific load recipes as the Web-San likely is rightly concerned about liability. Since we’re all adults here I’m sure it can be handled via a message if you have to know.
No need to limit yourself to rifle and pistol, feel free to include shotgun reloading as well. I haven’t done it since my days of 20K rounds a year at skeet but I still have the full family of Mec 650’s in the basement.
Why reload? A few reasons
You will save money from buying factory ammo. Well sort of. You’ll find that with reloading you often shoot more so it’s a wash but the fun sort of wash.
- You will have a much wider variety of bullets to pick from for target or hunting. These days some bullets have become very specialized and by selecting the right bullet for the right job you’ll often get much better performance be it a varmint bullet designed to disintegrate and reduce ricochets to the new monolithic big game bullets designed to expand at certain velocities.
- Rifles and Pistols are strange beasts and from one to another, even the same make and model they will like different loads. With handloading you have the ability to alter powders, primers, bullets, seating depth, concentricity and many other aspects of the load to end up with the right load that makes it as accurate as possible.
- In some case the only way to get affordable ammo for an esoteric cartridge is to reload. .38 Smith and Wesson (NOT the same as .38 Special) for my 1942 Webley is $60 for a box of 50 when you can find it. I can reload it for less than $7.50 a box. Don’t get me started on .44 Russian for a Colt New Service or .257 Roberts with a modern bullet.
- It’s fun. OK, maybe resizing and trimming 1000 pieces of .221 Fireball rifle brass two days before you have to have it reloaded to go to South Dakota isn’t, but it’s a hobby that you and your kids and even spouses enjoy. It helps if you’re a detail oriented individual with a technical mindset. Since that pretty much describes everyone here I think we’re good to go.
Reloading can be done very simply or it can be as complicated as you would like. To get started for metallic reloading (rifle and pistol) you only need a few things.
- Reloading Press
- Priming Tool
- Manual beam Powder Scale
- Reloading dies for your caliber of choice
- A reloading manual from the company of your choice
- Some misc little stuff like case lube, small funnel and some loading blocks to hold the shells while you put the powder in and such.
Names to look for include;
Redding reloading - http://www.redding-reloading.com
RCBS - http://www.rcbs.com
Lyman - http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/home/
Lee Reloading - http://leeprecision.com
All are fine companies. There are others and it’s a vibrant industry in America with many Mom and Pop shops producing just what you need (even if you don’t know yet that you need it)
You’re also going to need a sturdy place to mount your press. We’re dealing with some significant leverage here and you don’t want to break up the household stuff.
A little guidance on the differences in presses. There are basically three kinds
(1)Single Stage – You resize/deprime and seat new bullets in the same press by swapping out the dies – For rifle and pistol it’s what I use
(2)Turret presses – Have a head that holds the resizing and seating dies (as well as the flare guide for pistols cartridges) in rotating head so you don’t have to unscrew them as you move function to function. It’s what I would buy if ZI wasn’t cheap and happy with the single stage I have
(3)Progressive presses, once configured, do all the reloading functions at a pull of a lever and stage empty brass from fired to sized to primed and charged to seating a new bullet and crimping. It’s what you’re going to want if you shoot a lot of pistol or EBR rounds in competition.
The actual process of reloading is easy and I’m not going to write it out but instead refer you to RCBS’s really excellent site at http://www.rcbs.com/guide/ that contains videos and FAQ that is really helpful.
So this will start the thread and hopefully folks will chime as they would like for discussion.
I load for the following calibers
.22 Hornet
.221 Fireball
.243 Winchester
.257 Roberts
.270 Winchester
7-08 Remington
.308
9mm
.38 S&W
.38 Special/.357 Magnum
.44 Russian, Special and Magnum
.45 ACP