My adventure into reloading

[YBNORMAL]

Well men, and ladies (if any are in this subforum), as some of you may know from me asking some questions in here lately. I have begun to start reloading, and since Max seems to be somewhat depressed about the lack of activity in here. I thought I would post a lame thread about my first adventures in reloading.

A log if you will.......

The air was crisp, the wind rustling through the trees made the night air sting the bones, wait..... no, thats not right.

I started out by picking up every stinking piece of brass that I fired and my friends fired and set them aside in the hopes that I might use it someday. Next, after lurking in this forum, I deduced that a reloading manual would be the logical first purchase.

So I picked up the Lyman 49th and read it cover to cover twice, during that time, I had daydreams of carefully handloading my .338 lapua and making 2000 yard shots with my painstakingly precise reloads. (then I looked at what brass and a rifle costs for .338 lapua). Well like I said, they were daydreams.

The next thing that seemed logical to spend some money on (I wanted to go in incriments), were tools for case preparation, so I did some more lurking, and looking at the tools that come along with the SUPER SUPREAME MASTER RELOADER WIDGET KITS. And I picked up everything I would need for initial case prep.

Keep in mind I had hundreds of thousands of .45 and .223 cases sitting around that were just begging to have SOMETHING done to them. Mind you at this point I wasn't compleately sure WHAT needed done, but it was akin to money burning a hole in ones pocket.

things like:

Primer pocket tools/brushes.

Shell holder for .45 so I could waste hours on end with a punch just to decap brass because there was nothing else to do but go to work and dream about reloading.

Tumbler to clean said brass.

etc, etc

And all the whille for days and weeks I looked around for a deal to come up for a press, or dies, or whatever. And then I found a deal on a press that had some dies with it and a trimmer, (Max, you may remember informing me about my inferior equipment last week......jk buddy).

So, now I had a press, well darnit, I didn't expect to have one so soon, so I naturally had to go out to Home Depot and get what I needed to build a bench. I made it out of plywood, 4x4s, and 2x6s, so its not going anywhere. As a bonus, I finally got to mount the vise that has been sitting on the floor for a few months since we moved (do you have any idea what its like to try to drift the rear sight on a S&W M&P when the vise isnt bolted down........not fun.)

So about 5 hours later, I had the bench made up and the vise and press mounted. I moved it where I wanted to set up shop and proceded to arrange, then rearange my meager assortment of tools and supplies into what can only be described as a mild case of OCD.

I picked up a new .45 carbide die set and mounted them up. I then sized (decapping already done the looooonng way) over 1000 cases and got them all sorted out by headstamp. This was a pain in the ass for me because I would try to sort them out by 50/100, etc. But by the time I set aside the 5 or 6 extra off my rounded count, I would find more of the same headstamp and have to separate the mixed bin again. ARGGGG, no biggie though, it was relaxing.

Now about this time, I was asking around the forum about the press I got and it became evident that its priming system was less than stellar (thanks again Max). No problem, I was planning to prime offpress anyway, and my used press was missing the priming tube and related mount anyway.

So today (for me, I work thirds, so yesterday for all of you, I went out and got an RCBS hand prime tool, and as luck would have it, I ran across 1300 remington 2.5 lg pistol primers, and 1000 7.5 small rifle primers, so I bought that up. Now keep in mind I stared out going to one shop (my main shop) to get the tool, well they didn't have it, and I knew that another shop had the tool and also a box of cci 300 primers, so I leave my favorite shop and go across town to get the tool and primers.

Well wouldn't you know that they had the tool but had just sold the primers, figures. So I bought the priming tool, and go baaaack to my normal shop because I thought I remembered some large pistol primers sitting there (not cci, but my manual said rem 2.5 was ok good too). I'm on a mission here boys, at this point, I'm going to get something primed if it kills me. They had the rem primers! Success

So I finally get home and I'm so exited to actually start to construct something rather than tear down/clean. I sat and hand primed over a thousand cases before my wife got home and rolled her eyes at me because I looked like a kid at x-mas time.

Well, thats where I'm at right now, I have no boolits, no powder, over 1000 .45 cases primed and ready, and tons of anticipation!

[max384]

What a beautiful story YBNORMAL. I'm not even depressed anymore!

As far as your equipment goes, I don't like Lyman, but you may find that you like it, as many do. And if worse comes to worse and you do hate it and eventually buy new stuff to replace it, at least you didn't buy it brand new (at brand new prices) like I did! Plus if you start on something you don't like, once you replace it with something better, the reloading process just gets that much better.

Glad to hear you're having a good time getting started. I'm not sure what type/size bullets you're looking to get, but if you go with 230 gr FMJ, I've found that Bullseye works great, doesn't take much powder (which saves money) to get desired results, and measures very nicely in a powder measure if you use one (I never did. I always weighed out each charge until I finally went with a progressive).

That RCBS hand primer works nice, doesn't it? It was like upgrading from a 1988 rusty ford escort to a 2010 cadillac when I got mine!

You've gotta be itching to get some completed rounds done, I'd imagine. Just be sure to only load 5 to 20 (people have different preferences) bullets at a time until you find a load that you like.... then go to town!

Post pics of your reloading bench!

[dk99358]

Just to give my $.02 on a couple of max's points.

Much as I like Lyman equipment, I don't like their powder measure and prefer the RCBS. Something to keep in mind when you start charging all those cases.

When working up a load, I generally load 3 shells with each charge, starting with the manual's minimum and working up to max. In big shells like the 270, I jump .5 grains at a time, for smaller ones like the 223 or handgun, I jump .3 grains at a time. As you shoot the increasing powder charges, you will see the groups start out 'large'. They will most likely decrease in size then probably open up again as you approach maximum.

There are plenty of good powders to choose from, I think an important consideration (especially for someone just starting out) is to pick a powder that gives a charge that fills the case at least half full. That eliminates any chance for a double charge.

Dale

[YBNORMAL]

Thanks DK, is there any reference source that will tell me how much a certain powder will fill a given case? I recall seeing in my manual a note about compressed charges in given loads, but not an over-half spec.

[mauser]

Just to give my $.02 on a couple of max's points.

Much as I like Lyman equipment, I don't like their powder measure and prefer the RCBS. Something to keep in mind when you start charging all those cases.

When working up a load, I generally load 3 shells with each charge, starting with the manual's minimum and working up to max. In big shells like the 270, I jump .5 grains at a time, for smaller ones like the 223 or handgun, I jump .3 grains at a time. As you shoot the increasing powder charges, you will see the groups start out 'large'. They will most likely decrease in size then probably open up again as you approach maximum.

There are plenty of good powders to choose from, I think an important consideration (especially for someone just starting out) is to pick a powder that gives a charge that fills the case at least half full. That eliminates any chance for a double charge.

Dale

That is great advice. Everything I load is with a powder charge that fills the case more than half full at minimum and completely full/compressed load at maximum. That eliminates the chance of a KABOOM due to a double charge. The extra cost of powder is a small price to pay for the safety, security and peace of mind that goes along with it.

As far as the RCBS hand priming tool is concerned, I'll say this; I don't like it!
Priming off of the press with a hand unit is my preference, but I do not like the RCBS tool.
I bought the RCBS hand priming tool and used it once to prime a batch of brass. It was OK, but when I changed shellholders I said "that's it, I'm done!"
I promptly put it up for sale on eBay.
The RCBS claim to fame is twofold, the safety gate to prevent gang explosion of primers and the ability to use the same shell holder in the priming tool and the press.
I've used the Lee AutoPrime for many years without a problem. I've actually tried to detonate primers by seating them aggressively, sideways, upside down, double in the same case and any other way you can think of. I couldn't do it. The fear of a gang explosion doesn't bother me. If I can't intentionally make one explode I'm not concerned about making some mistake that causes a result that I've never heard an actual account of happening.
The other thing about it is that it takes a few minutes and 3 hands to change the shell holder. If you never need to change it you're good to go. I load several different cartridges, I need to change often. A change of shellholders in the Lee AutoPrime can be done on 3 seconds or less, that's no exaggeration. The shell holders are less than $4.00 each or less than $20.00 for the complete set. Quick and simple is the way I like to do things.

[45Badger]

Welcome to reloading. I'm in York county and would be happy to work with you to get safely started. Send a PM if you need help.

[YBNORMAL]

Thanks 45Bbadger, I will make note of that!

[dk99358]

Thanks DK, is there any reference source that will tell me how much a certain powder will fill a given case? I recall seeing in my manual a note about compressed charges in given loads, but not an over-half spec.

No volume reference that I'm aware of and it's not really a spec, it's just a safety tip to help eliminate the chance of a double charge. When charging cases, I fill all the cases in the block, then visually inspect them. Even if a double charge doesn't overflow the case, it should be way high in the case and be easily seen. A very small charge in a large case could be doubled and not seen.

I use Unique in the 38 Sp and for cast bullet plinking loads in the 44 mag. Some folks don't like it because it burns kind of dirty. Check the powder manufacturers websites, they may mention if their powder is dense or bulky. Or you can ask around. There are a whole bunch of pistol powders that I'm not familiar with.

Bullseye is a good powder but over the years, most of the double charge blow up stories I have heard involved Bullseye.

Dale

[Yoder]

Buy your .45 bullets at Precision Delta. They are the cheapest place around. The only catch is you have to buy 2k at a time and shipping is free. Here's the link:

http://www.precisiondeltasales.com/

I reload 9mm and .45 and Bullseye and Titegroup both worked great.

[max384]

You still didn't post any pics!!!