Reloading for a beginner.

[jayvav]

A few pointers I learned the hard way:
1 if you’re reloading for accuracy skip on the digital scales. They are all Chinese crap and you have to pay a minimum of $600 to graduate past +or- 1/10th grain accuracy. Use a beam scale and set it up so you can read it eye level and you will have all the accuracy you need. For speed I use a powder throw set up several kernels light then trickle up.
2 skip the manual and use load data from your powder manufacturer or bullet manufacturer. If you call berger they will send you recipes for specific bullets and powder combos.
3 do plenty of research and gain a basic understanding of every step of the process before you start tinkering. Understand that there are different methods and extra steps depending on your goals. If you want plinking ammo you can keep it really simple but if you want accuracy you are going to have to dive down the rabbit hole and experiment with what extra steps actually make a difference for your load. I recommend Erik cortina on YouTube and he also runs a reloading forum.
Good luck

 

[Farmerj]

View attachment 235582

It twitched

 

[The Hedgehog]

I did. Stocked up when Obama got elected. And have kept up since. Not jealous at all. But, I can handload more economically than buying factory. mtmuley

Bet I can make you jealous. I was offered this combo for $300 yesterday, but gave him $350 instead. I'm that nice.

 

[mtmuley]

Bet I can make you jealous. I was offered this combo for $300 yesterday, but gave him $350 instead. I'm that nice.
View attachment 235658

Have plenty of the primers. So... All that 26 free up some 25? mtmuley

 

[The Hedgehog]

I load up ammo because I enjoy it and you can make superb ammo. No doubt - it's way more expensive and time consuming, but not after you make the initial investment on equipment.

My advice for somebody not looking primarily to "save a buck" is to skip the rock chuck idea and start with a coax press. Go straight to good dies too, bushing and mandrels,

I've rarely seen a rifle that truly shoots "sub-MOA" with factory loaded crap, which at $50/box these days is total garbage in my opinion.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Have plenty of the primers. So... All that 26 free up some 25? mtmuley

I'm hanging onto my stockpile of slow burning powder incase the zombies invade and i have to load other stuff. Stuff is very hard to find and I may want it someday. I would trade for Fed 210 or 210M primers though.. maybe.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

I picked up two pounds of RL16 for a buddy yesterday, $130 with hazmat and shipping. Hopefully he tips me some Cold Smoke.

 

[mtmuley]

I'm hanging onto my stockpile of slow burning powder incase the zombies invade and i have to load other stuff. Stuff is very hard to find and I may want it someday. I would trade for Fed 210 or 210M primers though.. maybe.

Can't spare my 210's. Use them in three rifles. Let me know if things change. mtmuley

 

[The Hedgehog]

I've been reloading for almost 40 years, but still am kind of a novice at it compared to a lot of people. Here's there recent 5 shot groups at 204 yards. The middle group is Hornady Match factory ammo. The outside groups are identical loads in all ways, with the exception of dies I used and likely are tiny changes in neck tension and concentricity. I haven't played with powder charges but regardless I can't see or shoot any better than that left group. Only gain would be to get a slightly lower ES, I'm seeing around 20fps. Either way, I'm set for a 7lb total hunting rifle.

One other minor detail is both the outside groups are new brass, so when I set my die to just push shoulder a couple thousands back, the next batch with that brass will be certainly better.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I would trust load data from specific members of an internet forum before most reloading manuals. There are laughable discrepancies in data and that's among current electronic data published online, not just an old manual. For the most part I still think they offer a safe starting point but there are exceptions. My berger manual has listed starting loads for 300 NM that were over pressure in a chamber that should handle more powder than a SAAMI chamber and that aligns with what I see others using too. Berger's data was bad.

The key is understanding what causes pressure. Brass case capacity can vary greatly between different manufacturers or even different runs from the same manufacturer. Bore diameter and rifling configuration can vary significantly. Chamber tightness and freebore can vary significantly. Powder can vary quite a bit lot to lot. I've had powder that wasn't sealed off from humidity become significantly slower burning.. There are many variables so unless you understand them and a load manual has sufficient detail on the components used, they can be way off from what you're seeing.

Per the original post - I wouldn't dick around with a balance scale, RCBS chargemaster or better.

Forster FL sizing dies (with honed necks) work great and are quite a bit cheaper than bushing dies.

I'm happy with a cheap lee classic cast press.

 

[Don Fischer]

I load up ammo because I enjoy it and you can make superb ammo. No doubt - it's way more expensive and time consuming, but not after you make the initial investment on equipment.

My advice for somebody not looking primarily to "save a buck" is to skip the rock chuck idea and start with a coax press. Go straight to good dies too, bushing and mandrels,

I've rarely seen a rifle that truly shoots "sub-MOA" with factory loaded crap, which at $50/box these days is total garbage in my opinion.

Have to agree it is more expensive by a long shot, but, doesn't have to be. I started out with a Lee Load All, the one you use a hammer on. Never made any ammo I could do any good in a match with but made ammo that worked fine for hunting. The reason it's so expensive without the Lee is guy's all think they need a 1/2" rifle to hit an 8" target! so they buy up every new gadget that comes along believing they are one step closer to the perfect shooter. handloading turns into a hobby of it's own. Nobody, absolutely nobody needs a 1/2" rifle to kill a deer or elk. And every excuse you use to buy a new gadget is simply that, an excuse to buy a new gadget! The frustrating thing about the Lee tool is we never stick with them long enough to see what we could really do! As I recall the sizing die is a neck die. And the bullet seater is adjustable. In theory we could make about exactly the same ammo with the Lee tool as with the most expensive bench tools you could buy!

At some point handloading becomes a hobby of it's own and has little to do with filling the needs of a hunter! I remember reading The Accurate Rifle by Warren Paige. he mentioned in it he'd just finished up loading for a hunting rifle and it was going 1 1/2" at 100yds, he called it more than good enough for hunting!

Best thing I learned after getting going handloading was better than handloading was bedding out a rifle properly, don't hear a lot about it these days. Not sure I understand why plastic stocks come out perfect and wood stocks don't unless you bed them? My 700 ADL was a gift from a woman I had to dump. I hate plastic stocks. I tried shooting it but I've never seen such a poor shooting rifle before in my lify. I had an early Mod 7 that wasn't this bad! Well reloading didn't fix a thing. Tried loosening the front guard screw to see if there was bind in the reciever and didn't show a thing. Tried paper sliding under the barrel in the channel and you couldn't have got water through there! Sort of took it apart and the thing would not come out of the stock. finally grabbed the stock and rapped the barrel on the back of the couch a number of time's and it actually came out. Who know's maybe taking it apart straighten out a bent barrel! Completely re-did the bedding, action, recoil lug and barrel and that turned out to be a fine shooting rifle. handloading would never have helped it! There's simply a lot more to getting a 1/2" rifle than simply loading the ammo!

 

[Farmerj]

I’ll agree with you on the rifle tinkering.

I love assembling a rifle that shoots circles around a production gun.

I’d considered having a custom gun made and then started talking to a few places…

“Duh…all their doing is buying components and screwing them together….” (Very simplistically put).

A true custom gun is out of my realm. And that would be totally measuring it to fit. Something I do to all my rifles now anyway.

Hand cut and fit triggers. I’d love to find a beautiful set-trigger set for savage and Remington actions. Remington is easy…. Not so much for the savage. I was able to polish and stone my stevens 200 factory Lawyer trigger to a thing of beauty. Right at 2 1/2 lbs which is about as low as I want for a hunting rifle.

Just something about a self-built rifle and ammo used for food you process yourself as well.

 

[The Hedgehog]

There's simply a lot more to getting a 1/2" rifle than simply loading the ammo!

This is true. But without it, good luck on actually getting that 1/2", or better yet 1/2" at 200 yards.. You don't need it for hunting, or shooting a deer or elk at 100-200 yards, but if you want to have the capability of making a perfect shot at double or quadruple that, you better be shooting a rifle/ammo/sight combination that makes that possible.

 

[VikingsGuy]

This is true. But without it, good luck on actually getting that 1/2", or better yet 1/2" at 200 yards.. You don't need it for hunting, or shooting a deer or elk at 100-200 yards, but if you want to have the capability of making a perfect shot at double or quadruple that, you better be shooting a rifle/ammo/sight combination that makes that possible.

I would say the getting below a real 0.75 MOA (not a 3 shot group where you conveniently leave out a shot as a “cold flier”) is more about the shooter than the tool. Not saying gear doesn’t matter, just that the best gear today is often better than the guy behind the trigger (myself included).

 

[MTTW]

The cold flier is actually the one that counts.

 

[mtmuley]

The cold flier is actually the one that counts.

The Cold Bore Challenge is pretty cool to check out. mtmuley

 

[BenInMT]

I’d be looking at Craigslist for a complete set up from someone who got into it and gave it up for whatever reason. I see whole setups on there all the time.

I reload for the same reason I tie flies and it isn’t to save money. It’s a terrible time to take it up.

 

[The Hedgehog]

I’d be looking at Craigslist for a complete set up from someone who got into it and gave it up for whatever reason. I see whole setups on there all the time.

I reload for the same reason I tie flies and it isn’t to save money. It’s a terrible time to take it up.

Indeed!

 

[mtmuley]

Indeed!

I honestly don't know if I would dive in to handloading if I wasn't already set up. Between cost and availability of components, it's a tough go these days. But so is settling for factory ammunition. mtmuley

 

[BrentD]

8N

A lot of guys will warm their gun up while sighting in and ignore the cold bore shot. When they get done their gun is not actually zeroed.

If your rifle dies not put the 1st shot into the same group as the next 10 or 20 or whatever, then you have a poorly barreled rifle or a bunch of oil in your bore. Just my experience.