Anyone Reload Their Own

[azmark]

I've been curious about reloading my own rounds. I've always strayed from buying reloads but I'd be more comfortable shooting my own.

Anyone do their own? What do you recommend?

[gixxer]

I roll my own for 375 Rem Ultra Mag, 7mm Rem mag, 30-06, 243, and soon to be 9mm. I have a Dillon RL550 and I love it. The only problem these days is the price of powder has gone up considerably lately.used to be 20 bucks or less, now it's about 30 at most places.

The number one thing that you have to look out for is double charging a round. this is not so easy with rifle rounds cause I am using 90% charge density but with pistol rounds you will never know if you double charged until you pull the trigger. Then hopefully the pistol will not turn into shrapnel and maybe only split in two. If you are lucky you will get the extra loud boom and extra recoil then sit there and go WHOLLY s@#$ boy am I lucky! this is if you hand weigh all of your charges. If you set up the progressive and use the powder station then you are not even touching the brass at that step only every couple ones to hand measure to make sure your charge bar is still set good. DON"T DRINK AND RELOAD!!!!!!!!!

[azmark]

I roll my own for 375 Rem Ultra Mag, 7mm Rem mag, 30-06, 243, and soon to be 9mm. I have a Dillon RL550 and I love it. The only problem these days is the price of powder has gone up considerably lately.used to be 20 bucks or less, now it's about 30 at most places.

The number one thing that you have to look out for is double charging a round. this is not so easy with rifle rounds cause I am using 90% charge density but with pistol rounds you will never know if you double charged until you pull the trigger. Then hopefully the pistol will not turn into shrapnel and maybe only split in two. If you are lucky you will get the extra loud boom and extra recoil then sit there and go WHOLLY s@#$ boy am I lucky! this is if you hand weigh all of your charges. If you set up the progressive and use the powder station then you are not even touching the brass at that step only every couple ones to hand measure to make sure your charge bar is still set good. DON"T DRINK AND RELOAD!!!!!!!!!

Oh great, so much for that idea:lol:

Good Lord, a 375 Rem Ultra Mag! Beer cans must be getting harder to shoot:lol: I saw the Nosler rounds at a gun show recently and the vendor was saying that you can handload past the 300 gr that Remington makes.

[stobes21]

I reload shot shells but not metallic (volume difference in how much I shoot). I mostly reload because I shoot a lot of skeet and I prefer lighter loads than are typically available from the major ammo manufacturers.

And that's what (in my opinion) makes reloading worthwhile for many shooters. For rarer calibers the cost difference can be really substantial. But for something like 12 gauge once you count in the time it takes to reload it really isn't much, if at all, cheaper. But more important than the cost is the ability to control exactly what you shoot -- shot size and weight, wad type, speed, hull type, primer brand, etc. You can, through careful load selection and patterning, find a load that performs exactly like you want in your gun. That level of customization just isn't available for factory ammo. For the guy who shoots a few boxes a year it isn't worth it. But for someone who shoots a lot that can be a big difference.

My understanding is that metallic reloading offers a lot of the same advantages. But as I said, I don't reload metallic so I don't really know.

[bdev]

I've been curious about reloading my own rounds. I've always strayed from buying reloads but I'd be more comfortable shooting my own.

Anyone do their own? What do you recommend?

Hi azmark,

Handgun or rifle?

If you want to reload for handgun, check out the Dillon Precision website. Their progressive presses are the way to go.

If rifle, a good single stage press will do. Check out the Midway website and check out the RCBS presses.

I haven't reloaded in years but I've been through many presses and the Dillon system was the best for me.

[azmark]

Hi azmark,

Handgun or rifle?

If you want to reload for handgun, check out the Dillon Precision website. Their progressive presses are the way to go.

If rifle, a good single stage press will do. Check out the Midway website and check out the RCBS presses.

I haven't reloaded in years but I've been through many presses and the Dillon system was the best for me.

I shoot both but hands down a few thousand rounds a month of .45 and some 9mm.

Is there a "beginners" set to look into or what items to pick up?

[mtsgsd]

The presses from Dillon are worth the money. I have the 650, and reload .308, .45acp, and .32. It's saved me far more than the price of the press. RCBS makes cheaper presses (price not quality) and some bench loading purists will insist on them, but it's far more work, and more steps. Personally, I prefer an automatic press where each pull of the handle yields a finished cartridge.

I used to go through thousands of .45 per month, and hundreds of the others. Another benefit if you shoot a rifle, is that you'll be able to custom fit your brass and cartridge for your rifle. My National Match Springfield Arms M1A1 prints about 12" at 100 yards with any commercial ammo I've found, even Black Hills, but handloads give me .75 minute of angle, or 3/4" at the same distance. Big difference.

[azmark]

Does anyone have pictures or "Reloading Dens.":001_smile

Another big reason I want to reload is my .45 is a majority of stock I have are Gold Dots and a case of Black Talons I've kept from back in the day and my range rounds are running low. I have thousands of Wolf Rounds but I can't shoot those at my local indoor range and have to go to an outside range.

[jkingrph]

I have been reloading metallic for 48 years now, since I got my first centerfire rifle back in 63.

In those days it was easy to surpass factory ammo when making accurate ammo, not so much nowdays, but the cost savings is still there.

You can reload for obselte and non standard ( wildcat) cartridges easily. I do so for two. One is for a 1873(year model) Swiss Vetterli rifle, originally chambered for a 10.4x54R, the R here meaning rimfire cartridge. I did a simple conversion to make it centerfire, and make cases by resizing and trimming either .348 Winchester or 8mm Lebel cases, loading with either a custom cast bullet or if I want some quick loads just use a .429 (44 cal) pistol bullet. This was for a bolt action repeater the Swiss had while the United States was still using muzzleloaders, coming off of our civil war.

The other is an AR 15 type, chambered in a propriotary cartridge called the 6.5 Grendel. Brass is readily available, but a couple of years back that was not the case, so I picked up a couple of thousand cases of IMI(Isralie Military Industries) 7.62x39 brass, that's what the Russian AK 47 commonly uses. Resize, load a slightly reduced load and shoot it and it does what they call fire forming, I expands the case to fit the new chamber, which can now be reloaded to the new cartridge specs.

It's a lot easier than it sounds, just time consuming, as each case often has to be hand processed several times, depending upon how you are changing it.

Commercial and military standard caliber are much easier, just resize, deprime and re prime, charge, seat a bullet and you are done. Consistancy and attention to detail is what makes accurate and reliable ammo. In those 48 years I have shot thousands of reloads (some are inital loads created using new unfired brass) and only a few hundred factory loads.

[binowatch]

I used to reload quite a bit, all handgun rounds. I did it for the fun of fine tuning the old accuracy vs power question. I also reloaded some hard to find rounds that are fun to shoot eg 38 S+W. I used a Lee progressive loader only because a store I used carried all their stuff. Worked fine for 45 acp, 38 special, 380, 9mm, 40 S+W, 38 S+W, 357, 44 mag and sp. Had some major shoulder surgery a few years back and stopped reloading-it wasn't worth the extra wear on the shoulder. You have to pay attention and be careful. Never had a 2x load but had some squib loads and spent the rest of the afternoon driving the bullet out of the barrel. A good friend of mine-a nationally known custom gunsmith used to roll his own for testing until he had a explosion and shot his eye out!! It is great fun just be careful.

[gixxer]

Oh great, so much for that idea:lol:

Good Lord, a 375 Rem Ultra Mag! Beer cans must be getting harder to shoot:lol: I saw the Nosler rounds at a gun show recently and the vendor was saying that you can handload past the 300 gr that Remington makes.

You are right about being able to reload past the Rem safari grade stuff.

You think the 375 is big? I am having a VZ-24 barreled action made in the near future that uses Rigby brass blown out straight and necked to hold .510 hunting pills. Invigorating!! Don't ever shoot that thing off the bench, standing room only!

Here's my mess-- I mean reloading bench. For the record I take the time to clean up for maybe 20 min before I start rolling so I do not have any accidents. Note the hanging fan that I have to keep me cool when I am out there in the summer.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d41/gixxer01/shopspeaker1.jpg

[gixxer]

But anyhow you will not be disappointed with a Dillon and one other thing I use that is glorious is Redding sizing wax. I have a small tin that I purchased a long time ago and you use the smallest amount on your cases so it lasts forever, and if you put too much on you will not dent your brass or pocket it when resizing. Nother suggestion is go to the pet store and get a big bag of crushed walnut (the stuff they sell for the bottom of the tanks for lizards and snakes) it's cheaper there than a reloading place, and walnuts work faster than corncob media.

[mustachio]

I have reloaded for years on a Lee Progressive. In spite of what anyone will tell you, it is a good machine once it is adjusted properly. I have loaded 10's of 1000's of rounds and never a problem. Currently, I don't have the time to reload, so I buy factory when ever it is on sale-you can get some good buys if you look around. If you are just starting out shooting, reloading is a great idea.

[azmark]

I'm going to swing by Cabela's this weekend (craving a buffalo burger) and going to check out what they have. Thanks for the information guys.:001_cool:

[Rev Rob]

I used to reload .38s and .357s using a Hornady single stage press. Sold it all when I moved. I enjoyed this solitary activity and I miss it a bit.

[garyg]

Somewhere online there is a reloading price calculator, you could use that to figure out how long it takes to payback the cost of the equipment (there's an accounting term for that, I just don't recall what it is). A while ago I was shooting quite a bit, both center fire rifle & handgun. At that time if I recall correctly it took about 2000 rounds of .38 Special to pay off the basic reloading kit. But the costs of reloading components has risen faster than the cost of storebought I think.

It sounded good & I was successful with both .38 wadcutters and .357 Mags. I got great results in .270 Winchester, being both more accurate & hotter than factory available loads. The thing that doesn't show in the calculation is time .. depends on what yours is worth to you. And hurrying is the last thing to do when reloading, as noted above. I still have the reloading outfit, but not shooting enough pistol to justify the time (especially with the garage at 10 degrees here since December). And the factory rifle load performance has caught up with mine, and I shoot only a box a year.

So, YMMV .. but check around if you decide to reload, there are a great many slightly used presses around ..

[Pbalkan]

I reloaded for years...just about everything.

But the bulk of my reloading has been on a Dillon 550B and in hand-gun calibers. I shot competitive Bullseye pistol for many years and we have to have ammo that is custom made to shoot accurately from our particular pistols... and lots of it.

Here's a shot of my Dillion before I changed the powder measure because it had turned dark.

In the photo, you can see some of my dies and (next to blue Dillon) my little rifle press that I use much less.

I bought my Dillon press in 1988 and Dillon is still backing it under their lifetime warranty. I can't say enough for Dillon's quality and service.

[moonshine44]

If you're serious about reloading, my first suggestion is to get a good reloading manual and read everything there is in it to read about how to do it right. Then read it again. Pretty much all of the bullet makers have manuals available. Cabela's should have some if you go there.

That having been said, preferences in reloading equipment are kind of like preferences in women. Everybody has something that they like...

I started loading with a single stage RCBS Reloader Special press. I still use it for loading my rifle rounds, because I weigh each powder charge for those...

Shortly after I started reloading, I started shooting cowboy action. Cowboy action takes a lot of ammo, and the single stage press was just too slow. I ended up with two Lee progressive presses, a Pro 1000 set up for .357 and a LoadMaster set up for .45 Colt. It has been my experience that the weak point in the Lee progressives is the primer feed. The LoadMaster got so bad that I went to hand priming to speed things up. Then one day a couple of summers ago it took me two hours to load a hundred rounds of .357 on the Pro 1000, and a week later somebody else owned both Lee presses and a new Dillon RL550 had taken their place. If I load several primer tubes in advance I can average 300 rounds and hour with the Dillon...

Starting with a single stage press is a good idea, because it lets you concentrate on one step at a time. On the other hand, if you're shooting much pistol a single stage press will soon drive you to distraction. The Dillon is spendy, but worth every penny. And since the RL550 is manually indexed (you turn the turret by hand after every pull of the lever) if something screws up it's relatively easy to take care of the problem. With an automatic indexing press you don't have that luxury. But things don't screw up much on the RL550. I can't say enough good about it...

Is reloading cheaper per round? As a general rule, even with the price of components going up, the answer is yes. Will reloading save you money? In the long run, probably not, because you'll probably shoot more, so the cost will balance out. The plus side is that you'll get to shoot more for the same monetary cost...

[azmark]

I reloaded for years...just about everything.

But the bulk of my reloading has been on a Dillon 550B and in hand-gun calibers. I shot competitive Bullseye pistol for many years and we have to have ammo that is custom made to shoot accurately from our particular pistols... and lots of it.

Here's a shot of my Dillion before I changed the powder measure because it had turned dark.

In the photo, you can see some of my dies and (next to blue Dillon) my little rifle press that I use much less.

I bought my Dillon press in 1988 and Dillon is still backing it under their lifetime warranty. I can't say enough for Dillon's quality and service.

I see your stash in the back there.....I'm coming to your place when zombies come!

[garyg]

Oh, and I forgetted one thing .. my experience only, you can save as much money reloading as you did when you started shaving with B&B advice :thumbup1:

[Pbalkan]

I see your stash in the back there.....I'm coming to your place when zombies come!

I see that you are a fellow Arizonan

I didn't want to add that reloading is MUCH easier when you are close to the home of Dillon Precision. I shot weekly night matches and monthly "registered" matches at Phoenix Rod and Gun until I moved to Flagstaff. I miss it.

When I moved to Flagstaff, I totally remodeled our new home. In the garage, I build a separate reloading-room and insulated all the walls, ceiling and floor. Even in the winter, I can run a space-heater for about 30 minutes and my own body-heat (reloading is exercise) will maintain the room's temperature.