Reloading Rifle Ammo

[The Conservative]

Are there any handload guys in the upstate that will show me how to do it correctly? I don't mind attempting to make my own handloads, but I'm scared that doing it incorrectly could cause a major problem. I would love to meet someone one afternoon and get educated.

[The Conservative]

And I will be loading 7-08 and 300wm... What equipment/dies do I need to order, and what is the best brand?

[tprice]

I am in Anderson and have been reloading for 30+ years, don't shoot as much as I used too but still reload for myself as well as couple hunting partners and nephew

If you have questions ask away

I have been using a Lee Press for all these years and all Lee Dies

I honestly like the way the RCBS and other presses are built but as they say if it ain't broke don't fix it

These are the dies I have(from memory without looking) 41 mag, 44 mag, 357 mag, 243,308,270,30/06,7 Mag, 300 Win Mag, 300 Weatherby mag, 45/70

I really do not load pistol cartridges much anymore but do have a supply of 44 mags I loaded for my Dan Wesson 44

Things that will really help you, decent set of scales(I have rcbs and lee), powder charger (mine is set up beside my press), loading block, trimmer set up(you can get away without this for a while if just starting), I have a new case cleaner that uses solvent(Christmas present last year) since my old tumbler that used media died. Still like the media cleaner better

Also good to have some type of system to keep all components separate if you have multiple calibers

It is really pretty simple, I will run through my steps


1-lube cases

2-deprime/resize

3-clean primer pocket out

4-this is where you check the length but you can shoot a shell 3-4 times before it needs trimming.

if/when you trim you need one of those little tools that smooths edges(think they call in chamfer tool) inside and out of shell where bullet goes. Again small cheap tool

5-reprime all cases--I normally do about 25 at a time. DO NOT GET IN A HURRYfi

6- Fill each case with equal amount of powder,

7- I will randomly take a case or two out and dump in scales to double check

DOUBLE CHECK ALL CASES IN YOUR LOADING BLOCK WHEN THEY ALL HAVE POWDER in them, quick look and they should all look the same

8-seat your bullets


VERY IMPORTANT is NO DISTRACTIONS WHILE RELOADING(NO PHONES, WIVES, KIDS-till you get a pattern down then you will be ok)

The dies are pretty easy to set up, just use a factory loaded shell to get length correct. Once you have the dies set you really never have to move them

I am NOT A BENCH REST SHOOTER. I reload for hunting.

I do not really experiment with different loads/powders. I know what works for me and I stick with it.

You are welcome to come to my house and I can show you my simple set up but I am slammed in my office the next 4 months(tax season) and will not be at home much at all except Sunday afternoons.

Trust me I am not exactly mechanically inclined that much or a fix it myself type of person. I can assure you it is not that hard at all

DON'T HESITATE TO ASK QUESTIONS ANYTIME

I love sitting at my bench and loading but just don't do it as much anymore. I have taught several people how to do it including one of my nephews, in fact he got reloading equipment for Christmas this year


By the way if you want to clean your brass you do it after you have deprimed them before you put new primers in

[The Conservative]

Wow! Thank you Tprice

I'll take you up on the education, I really appreciate the offer. We will figure out a time to get together, I'm very interested in learning

[tprice]

No problem, just let me know

I have not looked but I am sure plenty of youtube stuff on it as well but if you are like me it is easier to see someone do it and ask questions .

Are you going to load for pistols or just rifles ?

If pistols and for a lot of shooting you would want a progressive press, this is one that once it is set up it spits out a loaded round with each pull of the arm. No need for this for rifles unless shooting an AR a LOT

If just rifles and single stage press is all you need, I do like that on my Lee it has a disk that my whole die set fits in. You have one die for deprime/resizing and another for bullet seating. When I get all my brass deprimed, sized and primers seated then all I do is spin the disk and there is my bullet seating die. Lot of the single stages presses you have to unscrew one and then screw the other in

Not a big deal since I do all of what I am going to do and then move to the next stage.

Not uncommon for me to go out to my building and deprime/size a BUNCH of brass and then bag them up in a zip lock bag and then when I am ready to sit down and load some I will pick out however many I need and then charge them with powder and seat the bullets

[The Conservative]

That's pretty neat. Its just something I want to know how to do and a hobby I want to pick up. I'm looking forward to learning

[tprice]

You can buy reloading manuals but most all of it is online now

Also I will tell you this, don't get too caught up in all these technical guys do about types of powders and small changes in loads. For hunting purposes most of it is a BUNCH OF CRAP

I use the same loads so much that are written on my loading bench and most I almost know by heart.

One thing though I did find out in recent years, I have a Browning BAR 270 and I do not load for it anymore

I had some issues with feeding and could not figure it out, had loaded case exact same length as factory ammo. I did learn that they make a small base die for loading for autoloaders but I just started buying factory ammo for that gun.

As long as they are bolt action or single shot you will have no issues

[deerslayerjohn]

I am in York county and I load and shoot 7mm-08 and have reloaded 300 Weatherby mag. Will try to help you if you have questions about procedures load information, contact me.

[Saltydog235]

In a HP rifle with stick powder, measure/weigh each and every charge. Do not rely on a powder measure to drop consistent charges with those long grain powders. Consistency from round to round is what you are after.

Case prep is important.

Be glad to answer as many questions as I can. I load .243, .223, .308, 7mm08, .308, 30'06, 7mmRM, .41 mag, .44 Mag, 9mm, .40 and .45ACP. Use to load .300 WBY and WM among others. It isn't hard, you just have to find a system that works for you. I'll resize 100-200 brass at a time, run primer pockets and chamfer, them reprime, then charge and seat by 50 or 100 at different sits.

[Bad Habit]

You can buy reloading manuals but most all of it is online now

Also I will tell you this, don't get too caught up in all these technical guys do about types of powders and small changes in loads. For hunting purposes most of it is a BUNCH OF CRAP

I use the same loads so much that are written on my loading bench and most I almost know by heart.

One thing though I did find out in recent years, I have a Browning BAR 270 and I do not load for it anymore

I had some issues with feeding and could not figure it out, had loaded case exact same length as factory ammo. I did learn that they make a small base die for loading for autoloaders but I just started buying factory ammo for that gun.

As long as they are bolt action or single shot you will have no issues

if you had read your reloading manual you would have seen that for a semi auto, you need to full length resize the brass- then it would have worked

[tprice]

if you had read your reloading manual you would have seen that for a semi auto, you need to full length resize the brass- then it would have worked

That was where I realized my problem, I do full length resizing on all cases

[tprice]

In a HP rifle with stick powder, measure/weigh each and every charge. Do not rely on a powder measure to drop consistent charges with those long grain powders. Consistency from round to round is what you are after.

Case prep is important.

Be glad to answer as many questions as I can. I load .243, .223, .308, 7mm08, .308, 30'06, 7mmRM, .41 mag, .44 Mag, 9mm, .40 and .45ACP. Use to load .300 WBY and WM among others. It isn't hard, you just have to find a system that works for you. I'll resize 100-200 brass at a time, run primer pockets and chamfer, them reprime, then charge and seat by 50 or 100 at different sits.

I will disagree with the powder measure, mine is pretty much dead on and that is why I randomly pick charged shells in each batch to double check.

I have client that reloads for bench shooting, now that is another WORLD LOL. Dang I thought I could be a little particular but man I had NO CLUE how finicky these bench shooters are


Also I meant to add BE SURE AND INSPECT CASES. If I see ANY damages or imperfections at all I just trash the case. Naturally case splits can be a no brainier but sometimes I will dimples, wrinkles etc and I just trash those

ONE time I had a case fail, it actually came apart in the gun after I shot, when I worked the bolt the base separated (funny thing was I actually had just shot a deer and it ran, before I started tracking I walked all the way back to my truck and grabbed my backup rifle(I ALWAYS keep 2 rifles in my truck during deer season) before I tracked the deer which was dead when I found it.

After the case cooled a cleaning rod knocked it right out

I talked with a gunsmith after that and his guess was the brass had been reloaded too many times so from that point on I keep up with how many times I reload a case

6/7 and I trash it and every now and then you can feel one that just does not seem to feel right when you close the bolt. I don't take any chances with those when hunting

[Saltydog235]

If my load calls for 45.5 grns of powder, that is what I want. The Powder measure may throw 45.7, 45.6, 45.2 etc in a string, it is not consistent. Hell I have a RCBS chargemaster, I correct it all the time for overthrows. I have a RCBS powder measure with those competition baffles in it, it'll throw short more than heavy but you still have to adjust the charges. I use my Chargemaster on every single cartridge.

Ball powder is a bit different, if it meters really easily, then that powder measure is normally money.

[walt4dun]

http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/p...oReloading.pdf