Beginning RELOADING

[Kevin Thomas]

No, no reloading stuff, aside from brass, bullets and powder (Vihtavuori). Use a pretty good bit and always willing to share an opinion or two. What sort of stuff are you looking for right now?

Kevin Thomas
Lapua USA

 

[etisll40]

I'm going to reload for 6.5x55 and 7mm WSM for now. I've got 2 great guns and will probably load them just under the max. I'd like to get the 6.5x55 up to 2900 and use a 140 grain bullet.

I'm just now trying to figure out what is top notch in equipment that will last and if I decide not to reload down the road, resell it. I can afford good stuff.

Ed

 

[Kevin Thomas]

Overall, I have a pretty strong preference for Redding, but don't get locked into a particular brand. Each of them seems to make some things better than the others, or something just a bit different than anyone else. As a result, most of my bench is a pretty eclectic collection of brands; Redding RCBS, Lee, Forster, Sinclair (lots from them!), Giraud, and Dillon, among others. They all have their strong points, and locking yourself into just one brand will cause you to miss much.

Go slow on the equipment and start with the basics. Don't worry about benchrest techniques for now, just turn out 1) safe ammo, and 2) ammo that equals or improves accuracy of what the factory stuff is showing in your rifle. That's a tall enough order to start, and you can worry about refining these specs a bit more later on down the road. No progressives for now, either. They constitute a type of advanced handloading, and you'll wnat to have the basics down pat before you need to start worrying about what's going on in four or five stations simultaneously. I use these presses extensively (Dillon RL 450, RL 550 and RL 1050s) and would hate to be without them. But I only use them for certain things, and I don't "reload" rifle ammo on them: I assemble rifle ammo on progressives. May sound strange, but I fully resize and set neck tension on a single stage press (followed by tumbling and a full case inspection) before using the progressives to seat primers, charge powder and seat bullets. This may not be what you think of when we talk of "progressive" reloading, but I'm more interested in proper ammo than merely large quantities of lower quality stuff. You'll see what I mean . . .

Hope this helps,

Kevin Thomas
Lapua USA

 

[Fitch]

I'm going to reload for 6.5x55 and 7mm WSM for now. I've got 2 great guns and will probably load them just under the max. I'd like to get the 6.5x55 up to 2900 and use a 140 grain bullet.

I'm just now trying to figure out what is top notch in equipment that will last and if I decide not to reload down the road, resell it. I can afford good stuff.

Ed

Oh oh. I have to say this:

Start at least 10% below max and work up to max. Do not ever just load the max load in the manual with out working up. There are several reasons for this. First, the max load worked in the test rifle of the person who furnished the data, but it may not work in your rifle. Your rifle is the one that counts. If you change powder lots or brass manufacturers, drop back and work up again. Safety is the number one priority. A load near max in one manufacturer's brass can go well over in another manufacturer's brass.

For example, loads of 4007SSC that are just below max for 75g Hornady BTHP match bullets in Winchester Brass, and work fine for 8 or 10 reloads of the brass, in my .22-250 are over max (to the point of loosening primers and blowing out primers) in Nosler brass. I have to back off almost 2 grains with Nosler brass. Same bullet, same powder, same COL, but ~2g less powder.

Second, what you are looking for in a handload is minimum repeatable group size (i.e. the most accuracy). That will be the most accurate load. Accuracy is everything, especially at long ranges. The load/velocity at which your rifle is most accurate with the desired bullet is the one to use. Some load recipies (powder/charge wt./bullet/primer/brass/COL) will give a smallest group at higher velocities than other powders. That is why one tries more than one load combination.

Highly recommended that you get Bryan Litz's book "Applied Ballistics for Long Range Shooting" and read it from the front cover to the last printed word on the back cover including the appendicies. You "need" to know what is in it.

Why? Handloading is the process for creating ammunition that meets the requirements developed from an understanding of the Ballistics as they apply to prospective shooting situations. The requirements that the handloading must meet in the field need to be well understood. Bryan's book will go a long way to providing that understanding.

Books on handloading, like the Speer manual I recommended in an earlier reply, deal with the process of making ammunition. This is important, and the basics must be learned, but it is only only one part of a bigger picture.

Myself, I hunt with the load combination that gives me the most accuracy of the load combinations I've tested with the bullet I want to use to kill the game I'm going to be hunting where I'm going to be hunting it.


That sentence sums up the following process:

1. Decide on the game to be hunted.
2. Analyze the conditions under which it will be hunted (range, distances the rifle will be carried, terrain, weather) and pick a bullet and cartridge suitable for those hunting conditions based on killing power, trajectory, recoil tolerance, etc.
3. Pick a rifle system (rifle, support, scope, sling, etc.) to shoot the cartridge.
4. Do the research on powders and loads for the cartridge to get an initial starting point (bullet, brass, powder, primer, COL, etc.).
5. Go through the load development process to arrive at a load with accuracy sufficient for the game at the range intended.
6. Work through the process of developing drop tables and scope settings to cover point blank to maximum planned range.
7. Go hunting.

Examples of how things can vary:

I use a .17Remingto shooting a 20g V-max to hunt ground hogs in rocky pastures at ranges out to 300 yards or so because it is important to minimize the chance for riccochets. I use a .223 shooting 40g NBT to hunt ground hogs in fields where there aren't rocks or problems with riccochets and wind isn't an issue. I use a .243Win shooting an 87g V-Max to hunt ground hogs at longer ranges in fields where wind is an issue but riccochets aren't.

And so it goes. The variations are essentially endless, the combinations and permutations mindboggling - far too many to just brute force through the process trying everything. That's why the Litz book and the reloading books are so important, and they supplement each other, and provide the understanding that allows converging on a good handload for the planned hunt within a practical development program. Neither is the whole picture.

Fitch

 

[etisll40]

I ordered Brian Litz's book. This looks like an essential reading. I already bought a book on Long Range Hunting too. It's fantastic. Thanks for taking the time to detail things for me. As a starter, I feel that a basic kit from RCBS sounds good but I like Hornady too. For a basic kit, loading 1 bullet at a time, what should I buy. Also, a good scale seems really important, which one?
Thanks,
Ed

 

[Fitch]

I ordered Brian Litz's book. This looks like an essential reading. I already bought a book on Long Range Hunting too. It's fantastic. Thanks for taking the time to detail things for me. As a starter, I feel that a basic kit from RCBS sounds good but I like Hornady too. For a basic kit, loading 1 bullet at a time, what should I buy. Also, a good scale seems really important, which one?
Thanks,
Ed

The RockChucker Supreme kits comes with an adequate beam scale. It's really all that's needed to get you going, and all some folks ever use. Hornady, Lyman, and Redding also sell "kits" that come with a press, scale, etc.

What you need:

Good cast iron D-frame press (RCBS, Hornady, Lyman, Redding - they are all good).
Beam Scale (I like the RCBS 10-10 best)
Check weights
Some sort of powder dispenser - measure - Hornady, Lyman, RCBS, Redding - they are pretty much all equally good or bad depending on your point of view.
Case Trimmer and deburring tool
One universal loading block that holds every cartridge (the mtm Case Guard universal loading tray works great - I've loaded everything from .380 to 7mm Mag using it).
Vibrating case cleaner (Dillon makes the best one IMO) and media (I use walnut hull bird bedding from PetSmart), and some sort of polish (I use Dillon - do not use Brasso)
Some sort of seperator to seperate the brass from the cleaning media - rotary type highly recommended.
Digital (recommended) or dial caliper
Case lube
Rag to wipe case lube off brass

Die set (for rifle cartridges start with a basic full length sizing die set, or a 3 die set that includes a neck only die - for straight wall handgun cartridges get the no lube carbide sizing die), bullets, brass, powder, and manuals for the bullets.

That will get you going.
Nobody sells a kit that has all the above that I know about. RCBS, Lyman, and Hornady all sell a kit that has most of it - you can add the rest. From there it's just a matter of what you learn, how much "into it" you want to get, and how anal you are about your ammo. There is a big difference between loading ammo that shoots at or just under 3/4 MOA and ammo that shoots in the 0.1 to 0.2 MOA range. For most purposes the former gets the job done to point blank ranges and then some. For distances well beyond point blank range it takes a much better system of rifle, ammo, optics, shooter to succeed. Litz's book will be a real education.

That said, some of the nice things to have:

0-1" micrometer
chronograph
seating depth measurement tools (Sinclair makes the best one)
eccentricity measuring tools (sinclair has good tools for this too)
primer socket uniformers
flash hole deburring tools
etc. etc. etc.

The list of nice things to have could fill a single space typewritten page and then some. But you can reload excellent ammo with out any of the nice to have stuff.

Fitch

 

[etisll40]

Thank you all and especially Mr. Fitch! I may be older than you... I am going to start with your basics package and I'll try Sinclair out and ask them to match up your recommendations. In about a month I'll have a few rounds to discuss. Stay posted.

Thanks,
Ed

 

[Fitch]

Ed,

You are welcome.

I was just visiting family in Rochester, NY, last weekend.

If you are older than me (I'm 68), congratulations and keep it up! Go for all the birthdays you can get. Birthdays are good!

Fitch

 

[4th_point]

I am new to reloading myself. Here's what I've learned in the past few months:

1. Reading is good, but experience is better. Be safe and cautious, but it'll start to make more sense once you actually start reloading. Even just the simple stuff like brass prep. Go slow. No need to rush.

2. I respectfully disagree with everyone that says a progressive is not good for a beginner. I have a Hornady progressive, and there's nothing keeping me from using it as a single-stage. I learned on it as a single-stage, but now use it semi-progressive for 45 ACP (I still like to seat primers off the press). Sure am glad I didn't listen to all the people that said the progressive is no good for beginners. Having a single-stage to go along with a progressive is great (I have a Lee Handpress for odd jobs), but if I could only have one press it would be a progressive.

3. Reloading handgun cartridges (45 ACP and 45 Colt) was less intimidating for me compared to rifle loads. Pressures are relatively low (not necessarily any safer though), no lube needed with carbide dies, no necks, etc. Its more intuitive and a good way to walk through the reloading process (decap/size, expand case mouth, seat, crimp). Not that rifle cartridges are hard, but for me handgun cartridges made it easy to learn.

Good luck and have fun! Its really easier than it seems. Don't make any assumptions and use good practices. Like I said, once you start it'll make much more sense.