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Reloading Newb......

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thetoolman

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Joined
Aug 23, 2005
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Location
Charlotte, Tennessee
Well I have been hunting for a long time and something that has always intrigued me is reloading my own cartridges. I finally decided I wanted to give it a shot so I have the equipment and I have read some books, articles, how to's, and manuals. Some of the terms used I am not real familiar with. I have read many of the forum topics on here and I have found that many of you seem to know what your talking about so I have came to you for advice... :)I will mainly be reloading rifle cartridges but may also try some pistol cartridges in the future. What are some books or DVD's that you recommend that can show me the do's and don't(s) of the trade. I know you can learn quite a bit from books and DVD's, but none of that can tell you real life experiences from someone who knows what they are doing. If anyone is in the Nashville or Dickson area and wouldn't mind spending an afternoon showing me some of the tricks of the trade I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance for all your help and I look forward to learning what I can from the people who know best.

Thanks,
Tim
 
My advise now would be to use the Internet for a lot of information you are looking for. I gained most of my knowledge from reading several reloading manuals over and over, and trail and error. You can not have too many manuals. I have 7 to date

A few of my tips would be:
Work your loads up carefully and heed max charges, not enough powder can be bad also, double charge, etc) and eyeball your powder charges before seating bullets.
I usually work up in 1/2 grain increments.
Too much case lube is bad. It takes a wile to get this right.
Get a good micrometer for measuring your cases and total length.
Do not bell (expand) your pistol case mouth too much.
Learn to adjust your dies in some instances (back off) so your brass will last longer, less stress.
Have fun!
You will enjoy reloading, and the fruits of your effort probably more than you think.

I live in Nashville
I and others here I'm sure would be glad to help you out if needed.
You can always post your questions, and "Welcome to Tn DEER"
 
Great-you will get a lot of satisfaction from loading, shooting, and hunting with ammo you have loaded yourself. You will not save any money!!-but you will get a lot more shooting for the same money. Plus you can load goal-specific ammo that is much more suited to your rifle and your needs.

My suggestions would be to get several manuals for comparative purposes so you know your selected recipe is in the ball park. Plus they will have different bullets, bullet wts, and powders to select from. Ken Waters' Pet Loads is a must have for anyone seriously interested in reloading imo. It is written more like an information manual with safe thoroughly tested loads than the typical reloading manual-though you should have them too.

A caliper for measuring cases and oal to the nearest .001 is a must have too. So is a quality 1" micrometer necessary for measuring diameters of case heads, bullets, and etc. A .277 looks a lot like a .284 and so on if you are reloading multiple calibers.

Keep ONE powder out on the reloading bench at any one time and make sure it is the one that you want for your recipe. Try to avoid distractions during the reloading process. Keep a neat reloading table top(Man that is hard to do for me!!).

A Lee hand priming tool is a must have for me also. They are cheap and work well-allowing a good 'feel' when seating a primer.

Keep cases trimmed to their proper length.

Visually check EVERY charged case in the cartridge block before seating bullets. They should all look the same with no noticable variation in powder levels.

Make sure your cartridge oal is within specs and fits the magazine of your rifle. I use a light crimp on ammo for semiautos or tubular magazines. I don't usually crimp any for my typical bolt rifles.

I generally start with the mid range loads listed and compared from several sources and work up gradually a couple of tenths to a half grain at a time depending on the case capacity.

DON'T TRY TO MAKE YOUR RIFLE A FIRE BREATHING DRAGON--IF YOU NEED MORE VELOCITY THAN IS SAFE FOR A PARTICULAR CARTRIDGE--GET A BIGGER CARTRIDGE. You can probably safely improve typical factory ballistics in some cartridges but not by much.

I am no reloading expert by any stretch of the imagination. However I have been reloading probably 30 or more rifle calibers since 1968 with no disasters so I do have some experience. I never cared much for reloading pistol ammo and have never loaded shotgun ammo either. Because I don't shoot them much I reckon. Have fun. Plateau Hunter
 
Everything Plateau Hunter said and then check and double check everything he said again. You can't be too careful. Common sense will go a long ways.
Plateau Hunter said:
DON'T TRY TO MAKE YOUR RIFLE A FIRE BREATHING DRAGON--IF YOU NEED MORE VELOCITY THAN IS SAFE FOR A PARTICULAR CARTRIDGE--GET A BIGGER CARTRIDGE. Plateau Hunter
Click to expand...
What you can do is load the bullets,powder, cases, and primers you want and vary your loads to get the best accuracy possible in your particular rifle and the satisfaction of a job well done when it all comes together.

There are a number of reloading manuals with sections on the reloading process which will get you started. Then I recommend that for whatever cartridge you're starting with you should buy one of the little paperback "Loadbooks" for that particular cartridge. That way you can compare data from all the different powder and bullet manufacturers and be sure to stay in a safe range with your loads. Also you don't have to buy everyone's book. You can put that money into shooting. Have fun.
 
For DVD's VHS tapes check these out the RCBS is a good one.

http://www.midwayusa.com/browse/BrowseP ... **15810***


Reloading Manauls

http://www.midwayusa.com/browse/BrowseP ... **15810***

You can also use the above to find other items you might want to check out.

Good Luck and Welcome to Reloading

The only thing I can add to the above posts,

I would suggest to keep it simple to start with ie the "Basics".

Also-
And on the Manuals I would suggest you get the one/ones for the Bullets and Powder you be using frist.You can find reloading data on line at these companys web sites. Esp the powder companys,the bullets companys are sometimes spotty or only the latest bullest offering or calibers.
 
Also keep a good journal
Date
# of rounds
Caliber
Brass Mfg
Primer Mfg
Primer Type
Bullet Mfg and Type
Bullet Weight
Powder Mfg and Type
Powder Charge/Weight
Total overall length
Powder measure dial #
Notes: like accurecy, fireformed, new brass, trim length, how many fireings, etc.

One more important thing is to make up a dummy round with no powder first, to make sure everything will work in the rifle or pistol you are loading for.
Lube/size/clean/trim if Ness/debur/lube inside neck/insert bullet/check in firearm/adjust if necessary before loading up the rest.
I Keep this dummy with the total length written on the case
and keep in my die case, or storage for future reference
 
Ditto on the dummy round! I use this to set my bullet seating depth.

A few weeks ago I bought a new rifle, and loaded up some trial rounds. I set the seating depth using a factory round, instead of a dummy with the bullet I was loading. I didn't check the new loads in the rifle.

When I got to the range, none of my handloads would chamber! Turns out the ogive on the Hornady bullets is slightly different than the Remington factory loads, so the Hornady didn't seat as deep with the same die setting. Fortunately I had some factory rounds with me, and I had time to come back to the range the next day, so it wasn't a wasted trip. Good lesson learned.
 
Skynimrod, Thanks for the welcome. I have a confession though, I been a member since '05 :blush:. I tend to do quite a bit more reading than posting (I try to get on TNDEER at least once a day).... :)

I appreciate all the advice and really hope to learn and enjoy the process of reloading.

"DON'T TRY TO MAKE YOUR RIFLE A FIRE BREATHING DRAGON" lol... I don't think that will ever be a problem, but I thank you for the reminder, I have read and seen some horror stories due to "hot rounds".

On the dummy round, do you do that with each bullet you are reloading, or just with each caliber?

Another question I have, do any of you recommend getting a bullet puller. I have been looking at the ones that mount into your press. Is this a necessary tool or something that I may never use?

Again thank you for all your advice and I look forward to enjoying and sharing the rewards or reloading.
 
I make a dummy round for each different bullet, and if you do that first you should not need a bullet puller to much, all though more gadgets are a plus. One wasted round here and there is not killing me, and some times you can remove with pliers. I do not have one.

Also with my reloads after loading I will grab a few and cycle through the firearm, and then again when going hunting I will cycle them through my rifle just to make sure every thing is up to snuff with no surprises. For instance with my fire formed 270 WSM they are a hair tight when closing the bolt, and deadly accurate.
 
I say get a bullet puller. I use a momentum type puller even though it still makes me cringe every time I smack it on the concrete. They're not that expensive. If you try a lot of ranges of powder you're going to sooner or later have one or two lots of bullets that have shown pressure before you hit book maximum. You're going to want to reclaim those components rather than throw away 5 or 10 pieces of prepped brass, powder, bullets, and primers. Also, sooner or later you're going to seat a bullet deeper than you want and it helps to be able to back it out a tad. Things happen.
 

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