How to get started reloading ammunition

[k0ua]

At least the lady in the video is respectfully dressed, even if she is, uh.. well "stacked"...

All of the Dillon Girls, are respectfully dressed, but they are all beautiful.

 

[Soundguy]

For a 223 or other .224 caliber, about the cheapest bullets are the 55gr Hornady soft point bullets Graf & Sons - HRN 22c (.224) 55gr SP BULLET w/Cannel. PER 100 They are $89/1000 so it is hard to imagine how one could do a bullet cheaper. .

yep.. as many of us mentioned. the larger the bulk you buy in, the cheaper per unit the reload gets.

 

[Soundguy]

I'll just add one comment, I've never trimmed any brass in my life. I've reloaded a lot of 223 and I never had a piece of brass that checked to long and needed trimming. At that point, I'll just throw it out.

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IMHO that's BAD advice to give out to someone starting reloading.

1, every relaod manual I've ever read.. Lee, hornady, speer, sierra, lyman, etc... shows the steps you go thru to work up safe and reliable loads. Measuring and trimming bottleneck brass is mentioned in EVERY one of the current manuals I just mentioned, and it would be good practice for a new reloader to go by the rules.

Bottleneck brass can grow upon fire and resize.

It may grow a little.. or alot.

My 30-06 brass grows enough to measure with a gauge or caliper on 1 fireing, on 2 fireings it grows enough to shed brass flakes when chucked into a pre adjusted trimmer.

If you use a factory crimp, brass length at the neck is LESS important.. but still important. Roll crimping will be inconsistant with brass that is not trimmed uniform to the roll crimp setting. if you set your roll crimp to crimp on the tall pieces, the short pieces may recieve insufficient or no crimp. if you set for the short pieces, the tall pieces may recieve excessive crimp. setting in the middle allows for a little of both.. None of those are good options.

As the brass grows enough, you may get chambering issues.

Autoloaders will be the most sensitive to this, vs manual actions like bolt and lever. Brass shot thru those can be neck sized only in many cases, and this leads to longer brass life. les shoulder bumping and brass forming.. STILL you need to check them as neck sizing can still induce growth.

And to sugest that you toss bras that grows is gross waste. it's good brass. you simply trim it to the published 'trim to' length in the manuals. that's why they published those details and that's why they make trimmers. It's not some big secret SCAM on reloaders..


Straight walled and non bottleneck case shooters will rarely if ever see this issue ( trimming ).

Owning a good .xxx in reading caliper and if possible, a case gauge is nothing but GOOD advice to a starting out reloader.

 

[dmccarty]

At least the lady in the video is respectfully dressed, even if she is, uh.. well "stacked"...

All of the Dillon Girls, are respectfully dressed, but they are all beautiful.

I have never noticed how the Dillon Girls were dressed nor the stackable attributes. I have always looked at the "gun stuff."

That is my story and I AM sticking with it. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Are the Dillion Girls pretty or something?

Later,
Dan

 

[dodge man]

I've got a gauge for my 223 ammo. You just drop it in the gauge and see if any of the brass is sticking out. Its sort of a go, no-go gauge. I think it is a Dillon product. I guess I do check my brass, but have never had a piece that was too long. I personally think all the checking of the weight of the brass, getting all the brass the same length, etc is a waste of time unless you are a very serious bench rest shooter. I remember reading an article several years ago where they did all the exact reloading techniques and tested the ammo, then did the same thing without doing anything with the brass in terms of case weight and length, and they really couldn't tell the difference.

 

[charlz]

yep.. as many of us mentioned. the larger the bulk you buy in, the cheaper per unit the reload gets.

Which is another good reason to find a local shooting board... ours does bulk buys of components on occasion and you can really save some money although you also have to plunk down a fair amount all at once.

 

[westcliffe01]

If one allows every variable to drift a little, then the result would contain a sufficient level of chaos that changing only a single variable would not have a significant impact. But when one is trying to achieve the best you can, and you control all the other variables with sufficient precision, then the effect of different weight brass would be comparable to changing the headspacing or diameter of the chamber in so much as it would raise or lower the pressure and thereby produce more or less velocity.

The bench rest guys go further than weighing brass, they trim them to identical length, after firing them the first time in the chamber and then fill the cases with water to measure the internal volume. So in my view, weighing is just a "gross" level control, doesn't take very long and only gets done once. After that the brass has been "binned" and as long as one uses brass from the same "bucket" it will perform the same.

If you have been experienced with statistical process control, it would be clear that the same methods/controls are used to produce everything we take for granted today.

 

[k0ua]

You might want to take a look at this guys point of view:

Reloading Basics (Decisions To Make) - YouTube

 

[Soundguy]

I've got a gauge for my 223 ammo. You just drop it in the gauge and see if any of the brass is sticking out. Its sort of a go, no-go gauge. I think it is a Dillon product. I guess I do check my brass,

Big difference In 'i never check'. and Oh. I DO check.

I personally think all the checking of the weight of the brass, getting all the brass the same length, etc is a waste of time unless you are a very serious bench rest shooter. .

I don't sort my cases by weight. some do. Some DO sort by milsurp or not as well due case volume issues / pressure issues.

As for trimming. it is everything but a waste. If you roll crimp, haveing uniform length is 100% critical. if you factory crimp.. it is less critical, and not an issue till you hit chamber size limitations

 

[Soundguy]

PS.. dodge man. I'm not trying to tell another relaoder how to do his relaods. I'm making a general statement for the new / prospective relaoders lurking there to keep to 'book' protocal untill they know what they are doing and know enough to be able to safely deviate from 'book' procedure. So.. I'm not trying to get into an argument with you.. etc. just makignthe post more for the begineer..e tc..