Any reloaders here?

[NETim]

more reasons to reload

Cost savings is probably why most of us get into reloading. And then too, there's the opportunity to develop a load that is more accurate than factory loads in your rifle. (Although that's gettin' harder and harder to do as factory loads are better than ever. )



And at one time, if you wanted to use the "premium" bullets like Nosler Partitions, you had no choice but to reload. Nowadays, factory loads using Noslers and many other premium bullets are available.



For my money anyway, one of the best reasons to reload is so that you can develop custom, special purpose loads for your armament.



Right now I am just setting up to load some cast lead 45 gr bullets in my Hornet. Load 'em up at . 22 LR velocities or thereabouts and make a good squirrel/plinkin' load for the old girl.



Now if those guys would just ship the bullets to me!



Btw, I bought some Aguila . 22 CB cap loads at a gun show last Saturday. 375 FPS muzzle velocity. Virtually silent when you touch 'em off. I haven't tried them on paper yet to see how accurate they are though. I am hoping that these will make a good sniper load for starlings.



Tim

 

[nixter]

aguila Sub-sonics

Tim, those sub-sonics you mentioned are quite accurate in all of my . 22's. Won't cycle an autoloader though. www.cheaperthandirt.com has them quite cheap if you like them. Never tried them on live targets so I have no info for you there.









Nixter

 

[mdlowry]

One resource I've found is Steve's Reloading Pages:

http://www.stevespages.com/page8.htm



This is the main page, and there are reloading links towards the bottom of the page. Most of the powder manufactures have reloading data on their website also.

 

[TowPro]

I used to use the Rock Crusher. I bought the complete kit, scale, powder despensor, and it came with a great book.



I also added the auto primer feed, you want to handle the primer as little as possable, just the oil on your skin can make them misfire.



Also get carbide dies, depending on your loads, they can take the whole step of case lube out of the deal.



Also read up on Static Discharge. Set your bench up with stuff that don't cause static "read sparks". Carpet in the reloading room is not a good idea.



I also used to keep the powder in a metal cabnet, away from where your working, and only keep out what you need for the couple your reloading at that time. If you do spark, might as well stop the "bang" with just the powder your using



I used to reload 100-44 mags, and 200-38 specials (148 grain wad cutter) and 50-357's each week. plus countless 22's. Just for every sunday afternoon. I miss those days.



Some day I will get my AR-15. Then I can start all over again.



Not sure, but I think the AR bends the lip of the case when it ejects, not sure if you can reload them.

 

[JConley]

I used to reload all my ammo, but since the ARMY gives me free ammo, I have a hard time justifying the work involved in reloading



Get a scale, some books, and a case trimmer. For the 308 ammo, here is a site that has some inexpensive supplies.



http://www.gibrass.com

 

[moparguy]

Let me second TowPro's advise on the carbide dies and auto primer feed.

 

[Deezul1]

My AR doesnt bend the cases on ejection or any of my friends either

 

[Bill Lins]

I used to have a good CAR-15 & it didn't bend any of my friends, either.

 

[Scot]

Re: more reasons to reload

Originally posted by NETim

Btw, I bought some Aguila . 22 CB cap loads at a gun show last Saturday. 375 FPS muzzle velocity. Virtually silent when you touch 'em off. I haven't tried them on paper yet to see how accurate they are though. I am hoping that these will make a good sniper load for starlings.



Tim

When I was a kid, I had a Remington 66 and shot CB caps in it. most people thought it was a pellet gun...

 

[The patriot]

I've had a Dillon 500B for about 15 years now. Excellent machine.

For the small quantidies, I have a single stage RCBS press.

I also have two shotgun presses I bought in a garage sale, but never used them. One for a 20 gauge, and one for the 12.

I load for everything I own, except of course the 22LR.

My advice to you would be,

1-devote your attention strictly to loading when you are. Take your time.

2-handle the primers very carefully. Read about sympethetic primer detonation. They CAN be dangerous.

3- check your charges every tenth round, especially in cases that can contain a double charge without overflowing.

4- if in doubt, throw it out.

Eric

 

[Rogue Ram]

I second everything said so far.



I'll add my 2 biggest pieces of advice:



1. Do NOT let anyone BOTHER YOU while you are reloading. Period. End of story. Loose the phone, the pager, and lock whatever distractions live in your home OUT of your room, if possible.



2. CHECK EACH CHARGED ROUND WITH A PENLIGHT BEFORE SEATING A BULLET. See #1 above.



This was the first lesson my "mentor" ever taught me when reloading. He'd tell the wife "I'll surface in 2 hours, see you then" and she understood why.



All the guys are right, build the biggest strongest bench you can build. Use quality brass, primers, powder and bullets. If in doubt, THROW IT OUT. Components are too cheap not to avoid issues.



If you are duck hunting, and that's pretty much it, why bother with reloading shot shells? I do the same thing, but with sales + rebates, I get my 3" Remington Nitro #2 steel at about $7. 00 a box... ... and get trap/skeet loads under $3. 00. At those prices, taint worth it for me to reload shot shells.



Have fun, ask questions when u need to.



Rogue

 

[Deezul1]

When selecting powder try to use one that fills the case well over half way. They tend to be more accurate and a double charge will overflow the case and let you know you screwed up.

 

[AlK]

I second Rogue Rams advice. In addition develop a step by step process and follow it - do not change it. Do one thing at a time and don't allow yourself to be distracted or diverted. Before you seat the bullets do a visual inspection as to the amount of powder in each case. Better slow and correct than have a firearm explode next to someone's face.

---

Al

 

[Hale on wheels]

I'm wanting to load my shotshells with tungsten or bismuth, and those shells are muy $$$. About $2/shot. We haven't had too many birds down here in N. Texas for a few years, so I have to stretch my shots out a little further. I don't skyblast, but I do shoot 75-85 yards pretty often, and steel doesn't do well that far out. I like the hevi-shot, I can reach out and touch 'em with that load. I think I can save some money reloading those, plus it's fun. I bought the kit for rifles, I like to shoot them as well, but I was just curious if my money would be better spent on the rcbs or the mec for my shotshells, and I am pretty sure the answer is the mec for that.



I am pretty well finished designing my table. 4x4 legs with 2x4 braces, a 2x6 box for the top (for rigidity) that is 3' deep x52" wide. 2x12's for the top. I'll probably build a shelf on the back as well.



By the way, does anybody have a couch I can sleep on? The wife's starting to catch on to how much all this is starting to cost!

 

[waterdonkey]

How much would it cost to get started with the equipment to load . 40 cal S&W?

 

[smartineau]

water donkey,



That is easy!! between $100-$10,000. seriously!!!!!



It depends on what you buy how fancy, automatic, what avers you want to buy.



I have the Dillion 550, and love the thing, I guess they cost about $350 now, but that is for a progressive reloader (lots of rounds fairly fast). Dillion has a web site that will give prices of their products, it all depends on how much you want to spend on your press.



Then as mentioned, calipers, dies, lube, manuals, powder, bullets, sizing mics, brass tumblers, blocks, the lit goes on and on. It mostly depends on how much stuff you decide to buy. Many times at gun shows you can find a good used press.



good luck and doing some shopping and talking before you plunge in and start buying.



steve

 

[NETim]

reloadin'

If you've never loaded metallic cartridges before, then I don't know that I'd recommend starting out on a progressive loader. Better to get a good grasp of the basics on a single stage IMHO.



Having said that, I don't know that I ever want to load pistol ammo again on a single stage loader. It seems like it takes forever to load up a box of 50!



Tim

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

A good middle ground between a single stage and a progressive is the Lee turret press. You load your dies into a cassette that snaps into the top of the press - once you have your dies setup in the cassette you don't have to redo them each time, just pop the cassette in. I have about 6 sets of dies so I love the ease of changing them. You can choose to either have it auto-index or use it as a single stage and just turn the cassette to change dies. When loading handgun ammo and setup for auto-indexing the load operation goes like this - put the spent shell in the press and pull the handle to run it into the sizing and depriming die, load a primer into the primer tool and lift on the lever to seat the primer, (the die cassette rotates as you lift on the handle to put the next die in line), pull the handle again to run the shell into the sizing die (and you can have an auto powder fill at this stage too if you wish), lift the handle (cassette rotates again to put the next die in line), set the bullet in the case and pull the handle to seat the bullet. You can get 3 or 4 die cassettes if you wish to put a crimp on the round as well. Then you just repeat the process for the next round. Definately not as fast as a fully progressive press (3 or 4 handle pulls per round), but a lot faster than a single stage and you can stop at any time. I think it's a great press for a beginner because you are doing one operation at a time and you can easily set it up for different calibers, handgun or rifle, auto or manual. I've loaded at least 10,000 rounds with mine.

 

[gonehuntingagain]

Get the MEC if you plan on reloading waterfowl loads. I quit reloading steel beacuse I didn't have the time to pattern fast steel loads, so I never really trusted them. You really have to find a load that works well in your gun, otherwise you will end up with cripples. The cost savings wasn't there either. Reloading bismuth or heavi-shot may be cheaper. For info on reloading for waterfowl, check www.waterfowler.com for their message board. They have a thread dedicated to reloading, and just about everything else waterfowl.

 

[The patriot]

Originally posted by waterdonkey

How much would it cost to get started with the equipment to load . 40 cal S&W?

Natchez has the complete single stage Lee outfit on sale for under $70. 00. This is plus dies and shipping.

It comes with the excellent Lee book too.

Of course you'll also have to get brass, powder, projectiles, and primers.

I think the URL is : natchezss.com

HTH

Eric