How to get started reloading ammunition

[westcliffe01]

On the cost side of things, to offer a comparison:

In the midst of the "ammo crisis" when 308 ammo was basically unavailable at any price, I managed to get unfired Lake City brass for 31.8c/shell which I then had to clean and anneal. About 2% had split necks from the factory. A CCI 200 large rifle primer adds about 3c. Hodgdon Varget powder was running about $32/lb = 7000 grain so at 44gr per shell = 20c. Grafs had Sierra Match King bullets in 175gr (same as is used in sniper ammo) listed as a "Grafs bullet brand" for 28c each. Adding that up: 31.8 + 3 + 20 + 28 = 82.8c/round. This particular load shot a 1/4" group at 100 yards. Even if I could have bought it, factory ammo with like components would cost $28 - $38/box of 20 rounds compared to $16.80 that I paid. Of course I'm not counting my time, and as I said before, it is likely that factory ammo would shoot a 3/4 - 1.25" group as opposed to the 1/4" group that I got by adjusting the bullet seating depth and powder charge until it was optimized.

At 100 yards, the factory ammo will probably be fine, but at 400 + yards, every bit counts.

 

[Gunny]

But whichever way you go equipment wise, it's a great hobby.

Set your equipment up somewhere where you won't be distracted, attention to detail is important, so don't set it up in the corner of the TV room!

The work area can get a little messy, spent primers, powder spills, etc, so make sure you have hardwood or linoleum flooring, or a large rubber mat. Good lighting is also important. I also have two powder scales, one a beam scale, the other a nice digital, just so I can double check something that just doesn't "look right".

I do all of my reloading during the winter months, I usually start in December and go through February or March. That leaves the warms months open for shooting!

Be wary of some online places when buying powder or primers. Both have a hazmat charge added to shipping and there are a couple of places if you buy both primers and powders on one order, they combine them for the hazmat charge, some will ship the powder from one warehouse, the primers from another, so you get hit with two hazmat charges.

Unless you are absolutely sure which powder you'll be using for a particular caliber, start buying in 1 pound cans, if you like it and decide to stay with it, then buy 8 pound cans. Usually when I buy primers online, I'll order at least 5K to minimize the hazmat charge per primer.
Unless you have a buddy you absolutely trust give you a recommendation, don't buy anything until you've read up on it and you're confident that you're ordering what you want.

I do go online a lot for load data and preferences, but remember that the person posting online is unknown to you and may or may not be trustworthy, so doublecheck before you jump.

Try this site: Brian Enos - Competition Shooting Books, Slide-Glide, DVDs & Reloading

There is a great forum for reloaders on it and there's a lot of good information in it, general and specific. Also a good place to get advice on Dillon equipment and even buy it there, if you decide to go that route.

Like I said, it is a great hobby, I love sitting there in the winter and cranking out all those nice tailor made rounds, thinking about how much fun I'm going to have once it gets warm.

Oh, by the way, try to remember what you were thinking when you fire your first reload!

 

[rtimgray]

Hey, thanks for all of the advice everybody. It's going to take me a few days to even get this information sorted out. I'm going to check into the pricing/availability of the recommended presses and work from there.

At this point, I really don't shoot too much, but I'm sure that can change. One of the guys that reloads 9mm says that his cost per round is about 8 cents - not counting his brass. He also casts his own bullets from scrap wheel weights. That is basically a 1/3 of the cost of "cheap" 9mm these days, cheap obviously being a relative term.

Most likely, that is the same caliber that I'll get started with. I also plan on picking up a couple of the books mentioned to try to understand more fully where I might want to start and where I want to go from there.

Thanks again for all the help and recommendations.

 

[charlz]

A little late to the thread and I see there are tons of replies so I didn't read all of them. I started reloading about 2 years ago. I found a local shooting board that provided me tons of info and even invites to come reload a few on different set ups. Since I primarily shoot pistol I took their advice and went straight to a progressive press. In my case a Dillon 550B. Having now reloaded a few thousand rounds I can say that I cannot imagine doing lots of rounds on a single stage press.

Pistol is pretty easy to start, rifle requires more steps and a few more items. If you shoot enough reloading will in theory pay for itself but what really happens is you end up shooting more for the same amount of money

 

[dmccarty]

To the original poster you might note, that the various points of view are related to the particular field of the shooting sports that the participant is involved in. To the person that does precision reloading of rifle cartridges to wring the last bit of accuracy out of a cartridge and buys primers by the hundreds and would have a 1000 maybe in stock, then a precision single stage press is what he will likely have and use. To the volume pistol and rifle shooter that wants gobs of pistol and .223 and/or .308 ammo then he will have a Dillon or other progressive press and and would not even think of buying less than 5000 primers at a time, and would likely have many more, and buys his powder in twin 8 lb kegs and will likely possess 10,000 cases of any given caliber.. It is all relative to your point of view. One is trying to surpass factory loads, and the other is trying to duplicate factory loads with perhaps a change in power factor. The progressive reloader guy was a lot of good ammo. The precision guy wants a little bit of Great ammo.

James K0UA

James is spot on.

I started with a single stage because it was all I needed and I wanted to be careful. I was doing rifle rounds were I needed match quality ammo because I was shooting rifle matches. Match ammo was about $1 a round and I needed at least 60 rounds a month. Reloading most certainly saved me money, and more importantly, increased my score. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

I looked real hard at Dillon, mainly to that I could make pistol ammo, but I ran out of time for rifle matches and my pistol ammo is ended up being paid for by the agency that employees me. Ironically, the agency buy's or used to buy, practice ammo from a guy who was a reloader who then made reloading a business. I saw his operation, in his basement of all places, one upon a time.

Robert's comment about stick powder is also worth pointing out.

The nice thing about the round I was reloading was that it was impossible to double charge a case without making a mess. No way to overlook that mistake.

Later,
Dan

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Since you want handgun rounds, which usually means shooting lots of rounds, buy a progressive. I would by Dillon.

I started reloading to compete in rifle matches so I used a single stage Rock Chucker. It was fast enough for my needs since I wanted each round to be as perfect as possible. I came real close to buying a Dillon progressive but life took me away from the rifle matches so I did not make the purchase.

Buy a couple of books on reloading itself and a couple that had loading tables. I always cross referenced my loads with multiple sources to be safe. I did NOT want to find the typeo in the loading tables the HARD way. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing: Read the books on reloading a few times and reference them as needed when you first start. Reread after you have loaded awhile to make sure you are doing things right.

The sticker on my tractor says, "Safety is a habit." The important thing is to make sure your habits are safe.

Later,
Dan

What he said. DO NOT SUBSTITUTE COMPONENTS! Get at least two reloading manuals, pick low power loads, and work your way up. Be very methodical to avoid loading a squib or something that will blow your gun up. The advantage of choosing a powder that completely fills the case is that you won't accidentally load a double charge of powder.

Quality control is all on you. Target shooters go to great pains to manufacture a uniform load competition load, using standardized cases, bullets and powder. They weigh each powder charge individually to the fraction of a grain. Even if they are just loading practice rounds, they check the powder charge from the loader every 10 rounds or so.

You will find cheap powder at gun shows that has been opened. Do not buy it. You have no idea what is in that can.

If you really want to save money, buy a lead pot, bullet mold and sizing die.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

You do not reload to save money.

I beg to differ. Try buying shells for a 28 gauge sometime.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Great thread, thanks for posting y'all!

 

[westcliffe01]

I bought a Hornady "Lock N Load press "kit"

Today it is $250 at Wideners.

It includes the press, a powder measure, a cartridge tray, a small scale for weighing powder, a metal cup for weighing the powder in that is not subject to static and a small funnel. I think it comes with 3 die bushings and more are not expensive. Forgot the hand priming tool with tray for the primers.

So to give just a single example, when I did my batch of 500 308 rounds during the "crisis" I made 500 rounds of equal quality to the benchmark Federal Gold match which are close to $40/box of 20. So I saved nearly $24/box x 25 boxes = $600 Just loading a single batch of ammo on the most basic press system that cost $250.

I could give similar examples for 222Rem, where I must have loaded at least 500 rounds before selling that rifle and I had buyers for the reloaded ammo too so I never lost anything. In the 22 centerfire ammo the components are cheap. Next example is 223 loaded with 75gr HPBT bullets. Hornady Superformance was running nearly $20/box and I reloaded mine for 16c (bullet) 3c (primer) 24c (brass) 24gr powder 11c = $10.80/20. Thats a saving of nearly 50%, no trying to find it and driving miles from shop to shop and best of all, perfectly tuned for my rifle.

Believe me, if you control your consumption and don't waste, you can save a lot of money with reloading.

 

[rtimgray]

Thanks for the excellent examples of reloading vs. purchased ammo.

Let me also clarify that I am not, nor do I have the desire to, perform in any competion, hunt at extreme ranges or engage in pinpoint accuracy in shooting. So given that, and your examples above, here's my next question:

How cheaply could I load "plinking" loads for a .223? Your example indicates a cost of about 54 cents per round for what I would assume to be a very high quality cartridge. I do most of my shooting with either surplus ammunition (seems like the "cheap" surplus is gone right now) or the Russian/eastern European steel-cased ammo. In .223, this usually seems to run anywhere between 15 and 25 cents per round, depending on how much and when I can buy. So in general, how cheaply can I expect to make cheap rounds? I assume that I could re-use some brass, althought I know most of the cases coming out of my Cetme are not going to be re-usable. I'm also assuming that I'll always have to pay for the primer and powder, but are molds for rifle bullets available as well?

I'm not ruling out that someday I might want to get into premium reloading, but for right now I would be focused more on more, cheap rounds than fewer quality rounds. Is it reasonable to believe that I can reload/handload .223 for less than 20 cents per round?

Thanks again for the information - it is very much appreciated.

PS - if I understand correctly, steel-cased ammo is generally not reloadable. Is this correct? And is this more to do with the characteristics of the cartridge or because of the type of primer used, or something else I don't know about.

Thanks - again and again.