Reloading FAQ

are large rifle and large pistol primers interchangeable?

hes right tho

if they were, dont you think they would just call them "large primers"

no

ok, fair enough

Only worthwhile if you reload on a progressive or shoot big gucci rounds.

t. Shot 2,700 rounds of 9mm this weekend for uspsa and practice.

exactly what im doing right now. living in canada, and maybe 308 is expensive here. but now i have all the equipment im starting to save an alright amount. well worth it

If hording ammo is your thing, just buy off the shelf ammo. You'll need somewhere around $700 to get into reloading. That can buy a lot of 556. Reloading is best saved for expensive cartridges, maximizing accuracy and as a general hobby.

Really makes sense when you get into less common calibers. 44mag, 6.5 Creedmoor. I'm reading 10mm for about half what commercial is, 300 blk for 30-50 cents a round, and 30-30 for 50 cents a round.

If you're trying to reload from a 308 bolt action rifle I recommend you buy the lee classic loader, its pretty much the bare minimum and more than enough to get your feet wet on wether reloading is for you or not. Remember that reloading dosent really save you a lot of money, but rather gives you more bang for your buck.

>it looks like alot of dirty and tedious shit.

Attached: bitchass anon hands.jpg (655x635, 126K)

No. Right now the only guns I own are in fairly common/cheap calibers and I only go shooting like once a month or so, so ammo cost isn't high enough for it to be my time to start reloading. I don't do any match shooting either, so I'm not concerned with getting some kind of .5 MOA loads. Also I live in a fairly small apartment so I don't really have room for a proper reloading setup.

Same, .308 around me had gone up ~%50 in stores over the last year. Reloading has saved my ass.

Buying a Lee will get you into reloading instantly, and pay for itself within a single range trip. I did this and it was great, but I can say with certainty I wish I had just sprung for a basic press instead.

If you're curious about the Lee, all you need to reload with one is a rubber mallet, a basic micrometer, and the kit itself, which can be found for around ~$25. I would still advise you buy a press instead, though.
youtube.com/watch?v=UeEl9wZyabc

Jesus FUCKING CHRIST YOU NIGGER
FUCKING READ.

Buying ammo off the shelf is fucking stupid.
And so are you. Fuck you

Also 308 reloading for 308 LIKE THE FUCKING OP SAYS

>cast
>reload
>shoot
The cycle continues

Fuck casting

>$700
What?

You can get a REALLY good single-stage press with a few unnecessary goodies for $300. The floor cost to get into reloading is a $20 Lee kit and nothing more.

Some people get into reloading to save money or for precision. Depends on your goal.

If you are just pressing out mass amounts of shit on a Dillion auto press then you will save money. It will be the home version of the same shit ammo stores have but you will save in the long long run. Doesn’t even take a lot of knowledge. You are missing out on the magic of precision though.

I am in it for precision. I hand reload to get sub-moa performance that you cannot buy anywhere. Hand reloading does not really save money when you factor time in and cost of specialized tools unless loading unusual or large calibers. Once again costs are amortized over years. Some people ignore the time factor, and I enjoy tooling around, but I have other shit to do and would rather be at the range. And once you go hard into precision you actually shoot less. It’s not about throwing metal down range as fast as you can. It’s about one perfect moment.

I agree with other posters here that you should get a cheap reloading kit and see if you can handle it. Then pick a direction and buy the kit you really want. My current kit is WAY different than my starter kit.

Yes 700. That covers press, non shit scale, dies, hand primer tool, brass tumbler, case unfucker tool, book to not blow your gun up, misc plastic stuff to hold cases, funnel, bullet pullet hammer thing, super accurately magic ruler and your first set of primers, propelent, and brass. 700.

Fuck. I forgot bullets.. those too. I also forgot case lube and go no go gauges and probably a shit ton more. Sure you can half ass it if you want. But fuck that. Taming an explosion in front of your eyeball should be taken a bit seriously.

Op here

Shit thats a good point. No good reason to half ass it

You should still buy 556 off the shelf.

You should fuckoff.

(But im going to have to regardless no way im strictly reloading)

Hahahaha what?
Just like, get Lee nigger.
>used Classic Cast Single stage O-frame or turret - 150
>used Perfect Powder measure 20-30
>Lee press mounted safety prime feed 10? 15?
>Die set 40-60
>digital calipers 15
>digital fine scale off amazon 10

You don't need a tumbler if you don't shoot in mud.

Just did 220 rounds of .223 for a coworker for $60.00. A little cheaper than most bulk prices plus no taxes and shipping for him. Lots of time involved but my hobbies are reloading & shooting so no biggie. I find it fun.

Also have been loading 165gr .308 nosler hunting ballistic tips for one of my durr rifles. $16.50 loaded for 20 rounds. Same ammo retails for $36.00. Can do basic bitch nato for cheap too.

Unless you are trying to chase the precision dragon or go hunting every other weekend for the calibers you listed, reloading really is not financially worth it.
Sure you can save a few pennies per round but your startup costs are going to take a long time to recoup.

If you get a gun that is chambered in a round that is not one of the common calibers, it then can start to make financial sense to reload.

reload because it is fun and you like doing it.

but if you think you are going to save lots of money, you are dreaming. savings worth mentioning only kick in if you are shooting A LOT of rounds per month.

put together a simple spreadsheet, account for your time, and capital investment in dies, press, powder feeder, scales, etc, and you will see what I mean.

Thoughts on turret presses?

I'm a beginner wanting to get into reloading and turrets seemed like a nice compromise between forgiveness during learning of a single stage and speed of a progressive.

I was looking at the Lyman T-Mag 2 and the Redding t7. I was also looking at the CH4D 444-X press, although that's not a turret and I could probably get a progressive press for that kind of money.

I'm trying to load .41 Magnum if that makes a difference.

Attached: 444-X.png (135x300, 37K)

Contemplating taking the reloading pill. Should I dry tumble or wet tumble? Right now I'm leaning towards dry tumble because it seems more convenient. Also If I dry tumble should I de-prime the brass first?

1. Size/Deprime
2. Clean
3. Case prep/trim
4. Clean
5. Prime, powder, seat bullet

If the cases are real dirty or were shot suppressed I'll clean them before I size.

With the case tumbler just make sure your flash holes dont have media in them.

Worst of both worlds and completely pointless.

If youre going to horde ammunition for happening and want to make use of loading equipment in those calibers Id suggest finding the type of brass you nornally run for that caliber and sticking to it, load premium match or hunting bullets, and use a temp stable powder.
Something like hornady 75 grain match bthp is equivalent to their 75 grain TAP only at 20c a bullet and for 308 consider 178gr eldx for expansion + mushrooming or another time of longer ranged fragmenting bullet that penetrates deep enough on game animals to reliably kill (many fragmenters dont)

this+accuracy are the best use of handloading equipment if youre doing it for common calibers.
Loading premium bullets with meticulous attention a mass producing machine cant match for half the price.
Also, the ability to load bullet types that may not be offered in a factory loading in your caliber

I always deprime first so that the primer pockets get cleaned a little better

They sacrifice precision for absolutely nothing.

If you have a decent bushing set, there is no difference in speed.

Way to completely dodge addressing my point.

>$20 Lee kit
>$5 Rubber mallet
>$ 15 Micrometer

If you want to call someone a poorfag, go for it, but don't bullshit about actual entry costs.

Bingo.

I tumble, then resize & decap, Then tumble again to remove case lube. (Dry tumble) RCBS has a universal decap die that will work & you dont have to worry about dirt in your other dies. Wet tumbling w/ stainless is the best option though.

Imo, if you're loading for a semi auto, get a progressive press. I can consistently get about 1k rounds/hr on my 650, saving even 3 cents a round reloading 9mm, that's like 30$ an hour. Rifle calibers it's often over 100$ an hour.

>With the case tumbler just make sure your flash holes dont have media in them.
This is the 2nd most tedious and annoying part of the whole process (trimming is 1st).

>Should I dry tumble or wet tumble?
Why not both?
I use a universal decaping die, wet tumble, full length resize and then dry tumble.

Buy I just like having really shiny brass.

Some people value their time.

>Do you stand around and stare at the tumbler?
While my brass is tumbling I am often:
Asleep
At work
Out shooting
Chilling with friends
Watching some TV
Playing some vidya

The tumbler does not need to be babysat. The extra 5 min of dumping my brass into my media separator and spinning it around is really nothing.

Anyone have an alternative to the Lee auto-drum?

amazon.com/Lee-LP90811-Auto-Drum-Powder/dp/B000N8MURA/
$42 is great and all, but it doesn't seem very well made.

Cleaning primer pockets, chamfering and deburring is the worst. Trimming is pretty nice, I have a Wilson and it pleases my autism in a number of ways.

I would even start off, like so many others have said, and get a kit from RCBS/Hornady and then go from there.

My wife got me one for Christmas a couple years ago and slowly I got better equipment than some of the basic stuff in the kit.

Also Jewtube and hands on with a family member helped me understand more. Tibosaurous Rex has some fairly good videos worth watching.