What you need to know to get into reloading.

Gunsmithing Ammo | Reloading
1

Question #1
You need to ask yourself “What are your goals for reloading ammo”
I’ll break this down so you understand the question.

  1. Is your goal to save money on ammo?
  2. Is your goal to produce superior ammo compared to factory loadings?
  3. Do you not want to be dependent on the supply chain of loaded ammo?
  4. Are you just interested in a new hobby?

I’m going to start with the last and work my way back up. Your already into firearms so you think reloading is just a natural progression of your hobby. The short answer is Yes. Nothing wrong with this step you can soon learn way more about ammo than you ever considered before. You will now start to understand the hype and flop of a new cartridge on the market. Not that you will necessarily care if it succeeds or flops just the why it was developed in the first place. The strengths and weakness of a cartridges performance will no longer be a mystery. You will learn to understand what makes a good cartridge.

Now on to the next question “you don’t want to be dependent on the supply chain at the store.” The short answer is NO. You will be dependent on the supply chain of the reloading market. In my experience it always follows the loaded ammo supply. Once their isn’t any ammo on the shelf at the store the reloading components will soon be gone as well. With that said there is one thing you can do to resolve the supply chain issue on both sides of the coin BUY CHEAP STACK DEEP. This is were reloading has the edge it is cheaper to stock up on loading components than loaded ammo. You also has the universal aspect of powder and primers. The most common pistol calibers all use Small Pistol Primers even I believe it is federal uses small pistol primers in their brass for .45 acp. (Don’t get me started on that topic :rage:) You can use the same powder for most common pistol cartridges. (should you well that’s up for debate as far as pistol goes yes, as far as rifles that is a much longer answer). So yes it is more affordable to partially severe you need from the supply chain. During this mini scare of Covid 19 and BLM unrest in the nation right now I have not worried at all about my supply because I am stacked deep. During the Obama years I was caught off guard and under funded to stack deep and it hurt. I was desperate for pistol powder. So this time I was prepared.

So on to the next topic. You want superior ammo compared to what you can buy. The short answer is YES. This is a yes in spades. All firearms and in particular rifles have a personality. What I mean is I can develop a load for my rifle that shoots one ragged whole in a target at 100 yards. Then I take that same ammo and put it in your rifle that is the exact same rifle as mine and it shoots a 6 in group. Or I take that ammo across the country and shoot it in my rifle and I get a 3 inch group. This has more to do with atmospheric conditions that rifle personality though. You can learn how to tailor a load for a rifle and conditions that will out perform anything on the shelf.

Here is the big one “you want to save money on ammo.” The short answer yes and no. Seriously?? How can it be both you ask. I’ll tell you why by breaking it down further. YES because your cost per round will go down if you buy your components wisely. Unless you are trying to make superior performance ammo in which case the cost of brass and bullets is very high. NO because in my experience reloaders shoot more than none reloaders. Why??? They got into reloading to save money on ammo with that accomplished they shoot more. Now as far as Loading equipment goes I consider this a sunk cost but others may not. So as far a the equipment cost weather you consider it a sunk cost you can go in different directions High end, Middle Road, or Low cost, notice I say low cost not cheap I’ll explain. LEE Precision is the king of low cost reloading equipment. Their products are capable of producing high quality ammo. They use a lot of plastic in their presses. That plastic wear out but you can buy these disposable parts from them so who cares I don’t have to buy the whole thing just the part I need. (This is not unique to LEE) With all that said why choose more expensive stuff. That will only be clear once you travel down the road and see where the Reloading Hobby takes you. If all you want to do is produce quality ammo at low cost LEE will get you there. If you want to produce volume loads i.e. 1000’s of rounds in an hour LEE will not get you there. Middle road won’t get you there. Only high end will get you quality ammo in high volume with limited time.

This has been a long post. If anyone is interested I will continue this post with a breakdown in the different presses not their mechanical function but what they can do for someone on a practical aspect I will.

Also I will post a breakdown of the path I would recommend based on the starting points above 1-4 if their is an interest.

Or if someone wants to suggest a path forward on this post I will consider it.
IF you made it this far thank you and God Bless.

17 Likes
2

When it comes to reloading the best thing you can do is read. Forums supply A good way to compare loads and ballistics but no one can explain as much in a forum as they do in detail in reloading books and manuals.

But good read none the less

12 Likes
3

Loading books can be overwhelming, (information overload). Most people won’t understand everything the books say until they have been loading for a while. Besides I’m not giving reloading advise only what you need to know before you even buy a reloading book or equipment.

11 Likes
4

I’m not criticizing your thread bud, sorry if I came off that way. I love reloading talk. Just saying that for newbies it’s better to read and not just rely on forum info

9 Likes
5

Sorry if I got defensive. I just think having someone to ask questions is helpful. The books cover everything but if a person could learn everything from books why would we need teachers.

9 Likes
6

Is this a good set up and are the presses that go with it crazy expensive?

image
image866×1154 299 KB

10 Likes
7

I haven’t used these dies but I can say with confidence they will work. As far as pressies are concerned most presses use a standard thread size. The list of presses that won’t take those dies is very short.

9 Likes
8

As far as press prices that can vary greatly. It’s not a simple answer.

9 Likes
9

I use a Dillon progressive for my most commonly fired calibers. It can produce 100 rounds in about 15 minutes or so. I bought it back in the early 2000’s when I was shooting several hundred rounds per month in competition. It has paid for itself several times over.

For my less common calibers, I use a Lee Classic Turret press. It has an auto-indexing feature like a progressive press, but I don’t use it. I use it like a single stage press and perform one task at a time. I like this press because it uses a 4-hole turret for the dies, unlike a traditional single stage press. This allows me to set up all dies on a dedicated turret. If you load multiple calibers, you can purchase additional turrets for under $20. A turret can be swapped out in seconds and no disassembly is required. The press has a heavy cast steel base and has been very durable so far. The selling price is a good value in my opinion.

12 Likes
10

I use the 650 the same and I use the lee classic cast turret press with auto index for less volume but for Precision rifle loads I use a single stage to much slop in the turret.

12 Likes
11

Caliber changes on the Dillon are just to expensive to load all my ammo on it. That’s why I use the lee for .357 mag, 357 sig 7.62x25 .380acp

12 Likes
12

Great post, been reloading about 18 years on a Hornady single stage. Started with reloading 22-250 to save , now doing 9mm 38 super 38 special and 45 acp. It's something enjoy doing but saving weell not sure.

11 Likes
13

I haven’t saved a dime but i can afford to shoot more.

15 Likes
14

BUY CHEAP STACK DEEP
best advise ever. it is hard to justify reloading 8k of 40 when you can buy them at .24 ea, not that that stopped me! looking forward to more reloading post on here. great out line for those starting.

10 Likes
15

.24 cents :thinking: i need to do some calculating that seems high for .40
Reread it buying at .24 not loading for .24

8 Likes
16

, alaska shipping. dog sled is expensive.

10 Likes
17

Lol yeah that explains it.

8 Likes
18

great user name. at the risk of exposing how retarded i am,how do i post some pics to the members topic? i am not sure how to start a post, yet. thanks.

8 Likes
19

I user my phone to post pics it’s easier top snap a pic and upload. To upload there it’s a up arrow at the bottom right corner. To start a topic there is a button that says new topic. Down on the right when in the forum menu. There is a new user tutorial that an admin should direct you to . It really helps to use the tutorial. I’ll see if i can get help @Robert @LonewolfMcQuade @Sonny

6 Likes
20

i did kinda pay attn to sonny. ill get there just new to the format. thanks for the help!

8 Likes