Newbie thinking about reloading

[heiner39]

Hi guys, I'm a newbie to rifle hunting this season and after taking my first whitetail I'm hooked. I've been talking to a couple guys about reloading and I'm considering trying it out with the only problem being I really don't have a clue how to get started. I did look at the Lee Anniversary kit and find it to my liking (due to low price for my trial of this potential addiction). Can anyone tell me what I should do/where I should look for good info on how to get started?

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Check out RCBS's stuff. I use and like Lee dies also.
You're right, it's a potential addiction. I would only consider reloading if 1) You plan on shooting A LOT (50-100 rounds a month), or 2) want to improve your rifle's accuracy and like to tinker a lot.
Like a lot of guys, I get bored with standard performing products and try to perfect things. Sometimes you can work wonders by reloading... sometimes it's the same old stuff. It REALLY pays off after your first 1/2 inch group with a rifle that would only spit out lousy 4 inchers at 100 yards.
Is it any cheaper? Can't say, because I'm willing to spend a little more in order to improve things beyond their standard. I'll spend the money if it's worth it.
If you only want to pop a buck or two a year, I'd just experiment with different brands, bullet weigths and loads. That can be expensive enough.
I'll admit it, there's a certain satisfaction I get when I kill a buck using my own personal handloads, as opposed to wacking him with something I bought from a factory. It's a little more personal, I guess.
Another thing; once other shooters know you've got bullets, powder, dies and a press, they'll be lining up outside your door for you to do their reloading. Usually these folks are broke and you never get reimbursed -sucks for you- and for me.
Don't need to consider a progressive press, unless you shoot hundreds of pistol or .223 rounds at a time. A single stage press is fine for a box or two of centerfire shells at a time. Don't buy just one reloading manual and treat it as gospel; many of them "fudge" their figures on the conservative side to avoid lawsuits. M. McPherson's is really good because he tests them himself. A micrometer is only around $30 and it's your best friend and helps you avoid mistakes. You might save a few dollars by buying 2 die sets with the decapping die and the necksize die only. That's OK, but sometimes it's benificial to full-lengh size hunting rounds... it just might save you from having a jam during a hunt.
Talk to other reloaders about what powders they perfer. I could have saved some money if I would have known which were substandard performers. I wouldn't have wasted time with H4831 and H1000 if I'd have known about IMR 7838 for magnums. Some hunting bullets look great and are really, really accurate, but either blow up or work lousy on deer. Again, talk to other hunters about what they perfer. Good luck -hope this helps. DD

 

[Bambistew]

I would also look at the RCBS stuff, much better quality than Lee and not much more $$$. I would also suggest buying at least one reloading manual and reading all the steps a few times. Anymore I find reloading more of a chore than fun, so I don't 'do a whole lot of load development now. I find one load and stick with it and don't sweat 100-150fps, and I'm more worried about the load being accurate than anything.

I don't shoot all that much anymore, but about half the rifles I load for are either wildcats, or the factory ammo is very limited and when I can find it, its $40-50+ a box so reloading is really my only option. I shoot maybe 100 rounds a year out of most of my rifles, and load maybe 6-700 rounds a year. Not a ton, but to equate that I can load a $75 375H&H factory ammo for about $20-22. Sure you have the investment up front, but I recover that easily in a year of shooting.

My whole loading setup started with a used Rockchucker press, dies, calipers a balance scale, a funnel, deburing/chamfer tool, 2 reloading manuals and a primer pocket tool. I think my whole investment was about $150 if that.

 

[Gunner46]

I have a Lee System. Bought it 20 yrs ago, or so, and it still works just fine, Thank You!

Your initial expenses will be up there, but then when you put it in 20 yrs+ it kinda seems worth it.

My greatest satisfaction has been being able to take my rifles and tuning them in to some pretty tight groups, with a specific bullet, for the field situation at hand.

I don't have a single rifle that I don't have a sub MOA load for AND at an adaquate enegry level for the intended purpose.

Get a manual. they all walk you through the basics. If you have any questions, just come back here. You'll find 1000+ yrs of experience ready to guide you along......

Good Luck and Good Loads...Have Fun

 

[camo308]

I like the RCBS stuff. I have been using it for a long time without any problems. I agree that you need to get a couple of loading manuals and read the process over a few times then go slow with no distractions when you start. An extra charge of powder or no powder at all can cause big problems. Start off at the bottom end and work you way up to make sure you don't overload for you gun. A max load out of a manual that works in one gun may be a super hot load in another.

I bought my press used and most of the other support equipment used also. I did buy most of the dies new though. You can probably save half of the cost of the equipment buying used stuff.

It's a great thing to do if you have the time and shoot alot. When I started loading shot shells I was shooting quite a bit and paid for all the reloading supplies in a few months. For rifle and pistol it paid almost immediately. All around better performance for a fraction of the cost of factory ammo.

You probably shouldn't buy a progressive press like a Dillon unless you are shooting more than a couple of boxes at a time and for huntung rifle ammo and accuracy I would only use a single stage press.

Good luck and let us know how it goes...

 

[Gunner46]

Hey H39....you never did say what round(s) you were looking to reload. Maybe we could help you skip some bummer loads and steer you to some that have worked for the rest of us.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Hey,Heiner... where'd ya go man?
Anyhoo, the more people who reload, the better as far as I'm concerned. While you'll never get two reloaders who agree with each other about hardly anything, there's always something to be learned if you listen closely.
There's very little mystery about reloading, just some applied science and physics... ya' know, all that stuff we all ignored in high school.
I'll give you an example of what happens when you follow a "fudged" reloading manual too closely and how accepting it's velocity readings as written in stone can mess you up. My brother gave me some money to load him up some .300 Weatherby rounds. His old Mark 5 really shot those expensive factory loads really, really well, so I tried my best to duplicate it. I knew that the factory loading went something like 3,450 fps, so I look up the fastest loading in the reloading manual. I think it was something like 84(?) grains of H1000 for a claimed 3,390 fps... close enough. My brother killed a few bucks with the rounds I made him, but for some reason, the longer shots he was taking were pretty much misses. I found out why later.
My brother saved a half dozen of the handloads I made him, and 3 years ago when I finally bought a Chrono cronograph, I fired half of them over it. Not ONE of the bullets reached 3,000 fps and most of them were right around 2,950 fps. I had turned my brother's .300 Weatherby into either a .300 H&H or a marginally fast .30-06. It's pretty understandable that my brother was missing further shots because he was expecting the higher velocity to extend his ranging ability, and those shots were now hitting lower at longer ranges.
I don't believe anything about a reloading manual's claimed velocity readings UNTIL I've sent a few bullets and loads over my chrono screens and see that number actually is. Then beyond that, is the load accurate at that speed? Just about everything else listed in a reloading manual is pretty absolute, but some of the velocity numbers really make me laugh.

 

[heiner39]

I'm still here fellas...just got caught up with family and friends over the holidays and things look like they are finally settling into the norm.

I picked up a Hornady manual (actually my sons did...good boys) and I like the look of the Interbond bullets. I'm considering loading some of them for my 30-06 Savage 116FCSS (quite new only 50 or so rounds gone through it). Of course I have read a lot about the Barnes line of offerings but they just seem so expensive to me. Right now I'm only going to be hunting whitetail and possibly muleys next fall so I don't need the rockstar bullet do I???? I was thinking along the lines of the Interbond or SST from Hornady or even the tried and tested Remington Corelokt (although it's not as "pretty" as the Hornady Any ideas fellas?

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Personally, I consistantly use the old school Hornady Interlock for nearly everything -I've yet to have one fail on me. Nothing wrong with the Corelockt either. The deal is... what does your rifle think about them?
The beauty to handloading is that it gives you some say in the final outcome regarding the accuracy level of a particular load and rife is concerned. But only if you choose the right componets.

 

[Gunner46]

Your big advantage with using one of the Barnes line of bullets, is that you can drop way down in bullet weight and still get equal penetration. I'm shooting 120 gr Triple Shocks in my 7mm/08. Book vol. is at/above 3100 fps.

To put it in penetration/ bullet weight loss terms, I would have to use a 175 gr bullet to get equal terminal bullet weight, if it shed 35% of it's weight.

Now, with that said, I've used 150 gr. Nosler BT's for a long, long time and they worked just fine thank you!

 

[mtmiller]

Fellas, I am also interested in getting into the reloading. I have been using reloading equipment from a co-worker, but it is probably time to get my own set up.

I have been looking on ebay and maybe that is the best way to get set up one component at a time. The other option is to just break down and get an RCBS supreme kit (although I would rather have a digital scale).

Downside is the best price I can find for the kit is through Cabelas and I really try not to show them any support. Any thoughts?

 

[Oak]

Pay $20 more for the non-Cabelas purchase, sell the powder scale on Ebay and buy the scale you want.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Fellas, I am also interested in getting into the reloading. I have been using reloading equipment from a co-worker, but it is probably time to get my own set up.

I have been looking on ebay and maybe that is the best way to get set up one component at a time. The other option is to just break down and get an RCBS supreme kit (although I would rather have a digital scale).

Downside is the best price I can find for the kit is through Cabelas and I really try not to show them any support. Any thoughts?

How much is the price difference on the items you want from Midway USA?

You can buy some of the things one at a time, you really don't need all that much to start.

 

[Oak]

JC, I looked at them earlier. I think they are only $5 more than Cabelas for the kit MtM mentioned. But Midsouth Shooter's Supply has the kit for $259.99, which is about $10 cheaper than Cabelas, depending on shipping costs.

 

[Washington Hunter]

www.midwayusa.com is a good one, and another one that often has the best prices is www.midsouthshooterssupply.com. One more to look at would be www.natchezss.com.

I hardly ever buy anything from Cabela's anymore. Why, when they have the highest prices of anybody?

BTW, I've had a RCBS Rockchucker for going on 25 years, and haven't had a need for anything else. Also have what I believe is the lowest priced scale RCBS makes and it suits me just fine. I'm not sure what the advantage is of a digital scale...must be some advantage I'm sure but may not be worth the additional expense.

 

[BuzzH]

The advantage to a digital scale really shines when you buy one like the lyman 1200. You can store a couple hundred different loads in the memory and recall them with a touch of a button. Also, it automatically dispenses the powder to the exact weight at the touch of another button. No reason for a charge thrower, scale, or trickler...its all one.

I cant believe how much time I've saved with mine and how much more accurate they are than a conventional scale. Worth every penny.

 

[Washington Hunter]

Well that's good to know Buzz. I'll have to check into those sometime. But I'm still not sure it would be worth it for me, since I only load on average 10 or 12 boxes a year. But if I was just starting out I would definitely think hard about going that route.

 

[BuzzH]

I dont know...10 boxes is 200 rounds...I think its pretty close to being worth it even at that. Its pretty time consuming to weigh 200 charges on a conventional scale.

I usually load 400-500 rounds a year for various rifles.

I got by for years without the lyman 1200...but I wouldnt be without it now.

When doing load development, its also nice to have. You can change powder charges 1/10th of grain at a time if you want.

 

[1_pointer]

Thanks for the info Buzz! I'e been leary of trying one of the auto dispensing digi scales, sounds like it works pretty slick. weighing 25gr charges for the .223 AI is definitely tedious...

Miller- Just bite the bullet and get the Rockchucker or equivilent Redding set up and a set of Redding dies. Amortized over the lifetime of it's usefullness it'll be much cheaper per use than that box of rubbers you have...!

 

[mtmiller]

Amortized over the lifetime of it's usefullness it'll be much cheaper per use than that box of rubbers you have...!

Rubbers?? Hell, I go bareback. BTW, how is your wife and my kid.