What situation was your break through moment in reloading?

[iclick]

Since I don't think any of us were born reloading, we all started somewhere with a particular rifle. Just thought it would be interesting to know some of your break through or enlightenmet moments when you first started reloading and in particular reloading for a difficult rifle and your break through to get it shooting accurately. Im sure that some of you first started reloading for a rifle that was easy to find an accurate load for but at some point most of us struggled with a particular rifle.

I have been reloading for about 50 years. My biggest breakthrough moment was when I 1st bought the Quickload program and learned how to use it. Since then all my rifle and handgun reloads have improved for every weapon I own.

 

[5.56×250]

For me it was bullet run out. Years ago, I started reloading for a savage I rebarreled to 223. Just a fun gun to impress myself with on a 100yd bench i setup in my back yard. Crows in a 1500acre field behind my property also called to me and that gun.
All I used was the most basic RCBS dies and a partner kit. For a while I could group 3 of 5 in a ragged hole and yje others would open me up to 1/2" group or so. One day I was just examining a few of my loads and rolled them across a glass table. Some rolled and looked like they were still sitting still and others would show the end of the bullet bouncing up and down. I did some testing by eyeballing loads rolled across the table and putting them in lots. The ones that didnt wobble would be in one group and the wobblers in another. Sat down at the bench and commenced to shooting groups that would measure in the .10-.20s with the straight ones and groups over 3/4" with the bad ones ! I bought a run out checker from RCBS and actually STRAIGHTENED my loaded rounds from there on out by rolling them on the gauge, finding the high side and gently pushing the bullet the other way, check, repeat, till they all spun true. I would load 25 rounds every weekend and shoot 5 5 shot groups just to see the groups . That gun AVERAGED under 1/4" consistently over several hundred rounds.
So, runout was the big turning point for me in the quest for accurate handloads.

 

[crkckr]

I started reloading when I got my first revolver at age 19, a S&W Model 19, which I used to start shooting "combat." Not matches and timed by hand with a stop watch but it sure was fun! It took exactly 1 evening of shooting to realize I couldn't afford to buy ammo at the rate I was shooting the stuff up! I purchased a Lee "basher" kit, some lead bullets and a pound of powder and started loading .38's (and a few .357's) as fast as I could pound them out. No scale, no real tools & just following the directions in the kit. The next addition was an M1 Carbine. Between the .38/357 and M1, I loaded over 10,000 rounds with those two Lee kits in the first year! I bought a scale pretty quickly, too. The Carbine was a lot more problematic than the pistol rounds. Anyway I looked at it, I was shooting the ammo up a whole lot faster than I was loading it! Then I got a 1911 and was forced to get a press, an RCBS Jr. That thing was in constant use as I progressed to .44 Mag, .308 and more. I learned as I went along, reading and asking questions of friends and mentors. Today, nearly 50 years later, I reload .380, 9mm, .38/357, .45 Auto, .44 Mag., .223, .22 CheetaH, .243, .270, .30-30, .308, and .338 WM for myself, plus .222, .222 RM, 32-20, .32 Auto, .45 Colt, 45-70 and .300 RUM for friends. I actually enjoy reloading and due to owning a commercial operation for a while, I've loaded well over 1 million rounds, for which I pulled the handle on every round. It's been a great ride and I'm still learning new stuff all the time! Next up will probably be a 10mm.
Cheers,
crkckr

 

[Greyfox]

At not yet drinking age in the early 70's I acquired an old Model 70 Winchester in 30-06. Typical 100 yard groups with my Weaver K4, and take your pick of Factory ammo, groups were 2-3", not much better then my Model 94 30-30 with irons. At a local gun shop I bought a a used Lee Hand Loader Kit for about $3, a box of Speer 150 SP's, a 1lb can of IMR4064, and a 100 pack of CCI primers. Using a plastic hammer to deprime, size, and seat along with the provided plastic scoop to measure the appropriate powder charge, I loaded 20 rounds of ammo. Having no idea of what to expect, I fired 10 shots into a quarter sized group at 100 yards........the rest is history.

 

[Greg Page]

I started reloading in my early teens, when my dad and I combined forces and bought a lightly used 700BDL in 7RM. Working after school at the local gun shop for $1.65/hr, I could not afford to feed that beast. So I invested $9.95 in a Lee Loader, and another $11-ish for a can of H4831, a box of primers, and 100 Sierra 140gr SPBT bullets. I lubed cases with mom's crisco, and POUNDED those big belted cases into the FL resizer with a hammer. How I avoided blowing myself up is a mystery to this day. But I will say that 64gr of H4831 behind that 140gr Sierra is STILL my go to precision load, shooting around .5 MOA three shot groups in that beautiful old rifle.

 

[ofbandg]

In the mid-70's I got a job as forest fire lookout on top of a mountain. The access was by a rugged road only a jacked-up four wheel drive truck could manage and I got very few visitors. I needed a rifle on the lookout because of the abundant bears and few cougars, one of which regularly hung out on a bench below my tower. On one of my trips out for supplies I bought a Lee Loader (seems to be a common thread here), for my .270 and began hand loading. I set up a target at 300 yards because that was the only flat spot around and when I finished making up a load I would step outside the tower, lean over the rail and let fly at the target. It was fun and relatively cheap which was just as important so I kept it up. Like most beginners I had no idea what it would grow in to.

 

[huntintoo]

In 1974 Dad and I went halves on a RCBS reloader and a Speer book to load his .30-30 & .30-06. Middle of the speed loads and any brass would do.
Turning point was when my Military sniper friends got me to turn .300 H&H brass into .300 Weatherby Brass (Fire Formed) and find the exact load for my rifle (84.0 grns of IMR 7828)
Now I have a process with all my rifles for the tightest group I can get from each.
Makes me laugh and my 14 year old reloading antics.
But I had to start somewhere! I just never would have dreamed I would get this Anal about brass weight, neck wall thickness, primer seating depth etc...
But a .25" group just makes me smile!!

 

[Lonestar41]

For me there were three milestones in my rifle journey. First was being able to hit a 6-inch plate at 100yds, next came an 8-inch plate at 500yds, and most recently a 12-inch plate at 1000yds. I am 78yrs old and considered myself blessed that I am still able to shoot, especially out to 1000yds. Life is good.

 

[dok7mm]

45 years of reloading, but the light came on with my first chronograph, as poor as it was.

Always upgrading my equipment over the years and testing at increasing ranges finally got me to my happy place. I have to give the credit to LabRadar, AMP annealers, fx120i scales and mastering consistent neck tension.

It's been a long learning curve from my original .243 model 788 to the components we have today. It's been a fun ride, but a very expensive one.

 

[DJ Fergus]

If I have determined that everything is setup appropriately for a specific rifle and it comes down to not being able to find a load, then I get rid of the rifle. Something is not right and I will likely fight with it from now on. You can easily spend as much on ammo as the rifle is worth chasing a load. In truth it is usually possible to get most rifles to group well but when that load has a very narrow margin for error with one specific formula it becomes counterproductive to continually try to match/maintain that load.

I am with you on that statement. I have worked hard in the past to make a finicky rifle shoot but I don't do that anymore.

 

[John Klingenberg]

My first batch of quality brass. I usually build my own stuff mostly on a budget. I had a Remington 600 someone had set up pretty well in .308. I walked into my local country gunshop (he has an amazing array of harder to find ammo for a tiny place) and noticed two boxes of Remington 6br and bought them. I'd been enamored with 6br for years. Went home, did some research and ordered a barrel. I barreled the Remmy and ordered some Lapua brass. I'm pretty meticulous at the reloading bench but have never loaded better ammo or shot a better rifle. My extreme spreads are about 4fps! Perfect in my book and it shoots really tiny little clusters. This rifle has taught me a great deal about brass. Before, I used and reused brass, shot range pickup stuff and used odd brass to reform Wildcats. Now I pay more attention to my brass, sort it, inspect it more, weigh it, pay attention to neck tension, trim lengths etc on all my calibers. Brass makes a HUGE difference! I shoot more consistent loads with better results on target. Funny thing is, I never shot any out of the two boxes I bought that spurred me on to build the rifle.

 

[tmmcampbell]

I'm not a kid, and I stuck the bolt on my 338 WM so many times lol

Isn't that why all kits come with a wooden mallet?

 

[Overkill338]

Isn't that why all kits come with a wooden mallet?

Yeah, good point!

 

[K1LON]

In 1965, my dad brought home a 22/250 that he bought from a friend. He also brought home a Pacific C press, 22/250 dies, powder scale and powder measure, a Speer reloading manual, a bottle of case lube, plus 10 boxes of Hornady 52 gr HP bullets, an 8 pound keg of H-4895 and a pile of 250 Savage brass. He explained that 22/250 was a wildcat round, and we could not buy ammo for it, we had to build our own. I was 13 at the time, had just gotten out of school, and had the whole summer to learn how to make ammo that worked. He was busy, so I read the reloading manual from cover to cover and started to try to load some rounds. On Saturdays we would go out and shoot the rounds that I had created during the week. I made all kinds of mistakes, but I learned so much about reloading that has kept it a favorite hobby for my entire life. We had great success with that rifle, and I dhot my first deer with it, a long, long time ago. We have continually tried new cartridges and rifles, cases, bullets, powders and primers to find the best loads. And we keep improving our equipment. Back then, I did not have the knowledge to weigh the cases after they had been sized, trimmed and cleaned up, weigh the bullets and load them in batches that match each cartridge in weight of components to improve accuracy, but we have had much, much fun with that rifle. My dad is no longer around, but I still have that old Model 70 rifle and it has been rebarreled 3 different times because it has been shot so much. But this project dad got me into has been the source of much fun, and I have had the chance to introduce many friends and family to reloading and help countless others improve their ammunition. Love it, love it, love it!