tell me about reloading

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headbangerJD

New member
Due to the cost of ammo, I do not shoot my handguns as much as I want/need to. This is especially true since I bought my .44 :D. I am thinking about starting to 'roll my own'. Would you guys mind educating me on the subject? How much does a basic setup cost? How long does it take to turn out, say, 500 bullets? etc...

Thanks everyone
 
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GP100man

New member
HBJD

Look rite above this thread theres some stikys to read on the subject .

On the other side I never have regretted starting reloading or casting bullets!!!!

:cool::cool:
 
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Jim243

New member
Headbanger

GP100man has a good suggestion. With the cost of all the equipment you will need to get started, you will not save much or anything reloading your own pistol ammo the first year of two. Now rifle ammo that is a different story (big savings) if you shoot a lot.

A lot of people have gone into reload and the cost of supplies and equipment have doubled in the last 12 months.

Reloading is a hobby all it's own, I find myself doing more reloading than shooting, just because I enjoy producing my own ammo. I very seldom purchase commercial ammo at all now, I like my stuff much better.

I started out on rifle 270, 30-06 and 45 ACP for pistol. That was 5 years ago, and I now do 12 different calibers in both rifle and pistol. To give you an idea I stock about $400.00 of bullets, $500.00 of powder, $525 of primers and $900 in cases. And that is just for supplies on hand. Equipment about $3,000 for my presses, scales, powder measures, dies, speicalized tools, etc... And now do .380, 9mm, 38 Spl, 357 Mag, 40 S&W and 45ACP for pistol. And .223 Rem, 243 Win, 7.62x39 Russan, 270, 35 Rem and 30-06 for rifle. And I an a small reloader.

If you get into reloading, you are taking a serious step into cash outlay and a addiction to better and better shooting ammo.

Getting a good reloading manual is your first step, about a $24.95 outlay but it is a must.

I wish you well, but I am still looking for a "Reloaders Anonimous" it is really is addictive.

Jim
 
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medalguy

New member
There's an excellent book that will answer all your questions on reloading and at the same time give you a basic education on the subject. It's called "The ABC's of Reloading" and it can be obtained from most any good gun shop, most of the on-line reloading suppliers, or Amazon.com. It's a great place to start, before you buy the first of what should be several reloading manuals.

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

Jim, if you locate that support group, let me know PLEASE!:p
 
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Jim243

New member
No problem Metalguy, I really have to stop walking out of Cabela's with another 40 to 50 dollars of bullets each time. Have to go now, Midway USA is having a sale on 270 brass.

Shoot straight and have fun.

Jim
 
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studman5578

New member
I agree with all the above about statements. To start with, if you're even considering loading, get the abc of reloading. Depending on your budget, mine is pretty conservative, you could consider getting lee's second edition, not because of the book pricing, but because of the directions in there. It explains how to load using lee equipment. IMO, lee equipment is just as good as everything else, and you save a ton of money on equipment. After equipment, your cost to make 500 of 223 rem, is about 135 ( assuming u have ur own brass already) I don't buy factory any more myself. If you have the black gun for 223, they make brass catchers you attach to ur gun, havent used one yet, but definitely wil. Also -06 costs me about 5$ to make a box. I save a ton on 357 mag as well because 1) the brass is very easy to save, 2) you can reuse it for a very long time, 3) you can make 50 for less than 7 or 8 dollars, even if u buy ur own bullets rather than cast.

Reloading time depends heavily on your press. If you get a progressive, you can power through ammo like you wouldn't believe (this is mainly for pistol). The most time consuming steps by far are measuring powder and triming brass. I use lee powder measure scoops, for rifle ammo, for plinking and normal target ammo, and weigh the charges with a scale for hunting and high percision ammunition. There are a ton of different ways to measure ur powder so look closely and consider all before choosing. For pistols, the auto disc powder measure that mounts to the press is pretty good for me. To make 50 223, It takes me about 45 min or so. I'm probably slower because I use the lee zip trim and champfer and deburr (sp?) each case with hand tools. Pistol, you can do 50 in 15 minutes easy if your brass is pre processed (trimmed etc) as I store mine.
 
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studman5578

New member
if u start loading, get the most current lymans reloading book. its great. I got the 'everything you need for loading the..." book for 30-06 and its a great one too, it has anything anybody still publishes for that load.
 
L

longranger

New member
Buy the best equipment you can afford.Nobody buys RCBS,Redding,Lyman wishing they had bought Lee stuff. Lee dies suck:barf:
 
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mongoose33

New member
+1 on LoneRanger's comment about quality stuff.

If you want some really cheap stuff, I'd be happy to sell you some of the junk I bought early on hoping to save money. :)

That said, LR is right--get the best you can. You won't regret it.

Further, the savings in reloading come when you buy components in bulk--powder in 4# or 8# kegs, primers by the brick (1000), bullets by the thousands.

That is, for me, the hidden cost of reloading savings. To get some of the best per-round costs, you have to buy around $500-worth of components to start.

Now, that's not all bad--the money you would have spent week-to-week on ammo goes back into your pocket, but the big savings are reserved for those who buy in bulk.

I buy 2k bullets at a time from Precision Delta, Missouri Bullets, or Precision Bullets. Good sources, there are others.

I don't like to buy powder in 1# containers any more unless I'm just trying something out.

And if you buy powder and/or primers online, you'll have a hazmat charge in addition to shipping of probably $22.50 per shipment. So the trick is to get powder and primers in one shipment so you can spread the hazmat fee over a lot of units. I'm still waiting for primers from Grafs that cost $109.99 per 5k; add the hazmat and shipping in and the price becomes $136/5k. That's about $27/1000, which in this day and age isn't bad.

Those are for Large Pistol Primers; I got my Small Pistol Primers (same price) from Grafs earlier this fall.
 
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rdmallory

New member
Lee Hand Loader

I started with a Lee hand loader.

And with the .44 bring a straight wall case it would not take much pressure to resize and load.
I have used the Lee dies but for a few bucks more I like the RCBS better.
I started with the dippers and a cheep scale to confirm my loads.

Again you will need at least one loading manual.

WARNING!
You will not stop with .44
After 500 rounds you will be wanting to load more sizes faster.
And out buying guns just so you have a new size to load.

Doug
 
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dmazur

New member
The Lee Hand Loader (aka "Whack a Mole") is about the minimum to get started. With that and some components, you can "get started".

I did the Lee Hand Loader thing around 1978 or so. I learned a little about reloading. I think my production rate might have been 25 rds an hour. So, at that rate, 20 hours for your goal of 500 rounds. I think the Lee Hand Loader is still available for around $30.

Many years later, I decided to jump into reloading again. I got a 550B and started loading .45ACP. After a few months of practice, I got the production rate up to around 250 rds an hour. So, at that rate, 2 hours for your goal of 500 rounds. The Dillon RL 550B goes for around $410.

I believe most folks would consider a "basic setup" to be somewhere between these two, involving a single stage press instead of hammer-operated dies or a progressive press. The stickies describe this type of equipment. I believe it is going to run around $200.

Components are the same, whether you use the simplest tools or a progressive press. Prices are up on components, and availability is down. As someone already said, it can take quite a while to "pay off" an investment in reloading equipment, in terms of saving money on ammunition.

If you're doing it to make the kind of ammo your rifle likes (for accuracy), or making pistol ammo for target or competition (where you're trying to control recoil as well as accuracy), there are other benefits besides cost...
 
C

CrustyFN

New member
Lee dies suck
Click to expand...

Wow Dillon dies must really suck then. I know more people that use Lee dies on their Dillon presses than Dillon dies.

HB,

A single stage press will get you around 50 to 75 rounds per hour. The Lee classic turret will get you close to 200 rounds per hour. I like to take my time on my classic turret and load 500 rounds in three hours. A progressive will give you 400 per hour or more depending on the press. The faster you want to load the more it will cost.

In my opinion the Lee classic turret is a great press if you don't need a progressive.
 
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studman5578

New member
The classic turret works well, it's what I use. For pistols, the lee carbide dies work well because there isn't anyblube to worry about. I have a hand press which works well if you want to load at the range or something like that. I bought mine a few months ago for 30 dollars from midwayusa.
 
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warnerwh

New member
You should be able to load .357 and .44 for about a third of what the stores want. You can also make the loads any way you want. For 2-300 dollars you can get everything you need to get going. If I didn't reload my .44 magnums wouldn't get much use because I'm not paying 33.00 for a box of ammo from anyone, that's the best price around here I know of. You can save the start up money pretty quickly with a .44 magnum. If you load anything else that will add up also. If you wait you will wish you started earlier due to the money you ended up spending on ammo. May as well start early and save the money starting now.
 
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bluetopper

New member
With a Lee set up and using cast lead bullets it will pay for itself in very short order.;)
Plus, you can load em just like you like them.
 
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NCMountain

New member
Lee is A-OK

I too have no issues with my Lee carbide dies. In fact like a few post state, Lee dies are used more than most others from what I see and read.

With that said I have a Lee Classic Turrett press with auto index which is like a poor man's progressive in my book. It works great and is well priced.
 
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