Any reloaders here?

[Deezul1]

As Steve St. Laurent mentioned the Lee reloading stuff is very reasonable and the quality is good. I use a Lee Loadmaster progresive press and have been very happy with it and have reloaded approximately 40,000 to 50,000 rounds with it.

 

[waterdonkey]

Thanks for all the info... ... ... sounds like another hobby is on the horizon

 

[WTBurke]

I like all of this stuff



William

 

[daveshoe]

Good stuff here. Just remember that a rifle is not a CTD. Start out on the low side of the loads listed in the manual. If you load em and shoot em all close to home all you need to remember is to watch for case stretching. This condition results from repeated firings and what happens is the bullet gets jammed into the barrel/chamber too tightly. The result can be a blown rifle and loss of body parts.

One thing we learned the hard way was the effect of climate change. We loaded some medium-hot loads that shot fine at home on a mild day. When we took them on a prairie dog hunt, the rifles really got heated up and the powder was pre heated in the chamber. This resulted such high chamber pressure that we had to limit our shooting to allow the rifles to cool between shots.

 

[Hammer]

Hale...

Not much I can add that already has not been said. Those before me have already given you some sound advice about equipment,procedures and safety precautions. I'll echo the bench comment and say nothing is ever too strong when it comes to your bench. When mine was constructed we used 1" trailer flooring and heavy wood to add support and strong legs. it was finished with a poly coating and still is as strong now as it was when my Dad and I built it 30 yrs ago. I was schooled by him and a good friend of his who is as tough today about reloading when I need some guidance as he was when I was a young lad(began at age 13) beginning to learn.



I own a Dillon,Lyman Spar-T,Lee and a RCBS Rockcrusher. I will load some of my lighter stuff on the turret presses but all my heavy caliburs,benchrest and varmint loads are loaded on my Rockcrusher. Yes,its a time involved process,but,with reloading time is needed and the more the better. Precision loads are not developed in minutes. It takes lots of test loads,many hours of chronographing and all the right items to come together to make the loads work for your rifle with the accuracy and precise hitting power you seek. I often wonder why those seek to reload shells so fast even if they are only shooting rapid fire equipment. speed in reloading is a deadly item. Off a couple of grains of powder,bullet not seat properly,primer be too high in the middle of your loading and at the range you and everyone around you have got a problem. Reloading is like creating a painting masterpiece,they are not created by haste,they are created by a labor of love.



One thing some have not added here and I will. A good,accurate cronograph is the best friend a reloader has and will aid in your ability to see which loads are better for your gun. The will give you better numbers than any reloading guide can. Guides are truely the backbone of the reloader and let you know where your boundries lie for safety,BUT,how their loads perform in your gun is only seen by the cronograph.



Pet loads you say,I have one that after this weekends 3 ft of snow being dumped on me will be used out of my favorite woodchuck gun. See,the silly little rodent,oops, groundhog,gave us our 6 weeks of winter a while ago and for that and this storm he will pay,LOL. My favorite chuck gun is a pre-64 Model 70 Winchester bull barrel equipped . 243 with a Nightforce scope on it. It will send a 85grn Sierra HPBT backed with 43grns of Winchester 760 Ball powder and lit with a CCI Mag 200 primer with deadly accuracy and the little groundhog is going to be toast. My other pet load for this gun is a 100grn Sierra BT backed with 40grns of 760 Ball and lit by a CCI Mag 200 primer. So while its a raging blizzard outside yesterday I was tuning my loads and await the warm sunshine and some payback... ... ... ... Andy



P. S. -Shotgun,much easier and cheaper to buy than reload. I have 2 presses collecting dust and do not use them anymore.