Whilst I have been shooting for some 40 years, mainly in the military, it was only when I took up competitive pistol shooting in civilian life that the reality of paying for ammunition became apparent. So, financial reality dictated that reloading would become part of my shooting pastime. The recent shortage of ammunition has brought the necessity of reloading to many shooters who in the past considered it a chore, and not worthy of the expense or the time required.
Having enjoyed many TAG articles, finding a topic which I could embrace and write about, which could put something back into our little community, was somewhat of a challenge. No one seemed to be addressing reloading, so here we are. My ulterior motive is to plant subliminal messages every couple of weeks into the brain of a certain lady firearms journo, which might get her started into reloading. Well, it’s worth a try.
What I DON’T plan to do is reproduce the myriad of information which is available in the many excellent publications on reloading, but rather to present a series of articles which deal with reloading issues which are either not addressed in the manuals, or which seem to have scant coverage. Largely this will be based on the mistakes I have made along the way, and the lessons I have learnt from them.
I am hopeful that this will stimulate discussion on reloading within the TAG community. I am by no means an expert, and fully expect to learn something along the way as well.
Whilst my focus will be on large volume ammunition production for hand guns, a lot of the discussion will be relevant to loading ammunition for rifles as well. For those of you with experience in reloading for rifles, please jump in if I say something that you disagree with, as this should be a learning experience for us all.
In my next article I will discuss the basics of reloading, what is involved and what the final product should look like. I hope you enjoy the articles. I look forward to your feedback.
Featured image of the Hornady Lock N Load Auto-Progressive Reloading Press courtesy of Hornady, via amazon.com.
protias I still do not have a progressive press. It is easy to load hundreds or rounds at a time just by doing one stage of reloading at a time.
hartcreekArtillery Go Boom I might be wrong but it appears that a Bench Rest shooter can get by with fewer features on a scope than a tactical shooter. Its difficult to get everyone headed in the same direction and go to the range but this time of year here is ideal so we will get there. Same range has Cowboy shooting too. I don’t want to complain about having to many choices but I have to explore in detail what I’m getting into before I can hit anything.
Artillery Go Boom hartcreek You are correct fot tactical shooting my scope would not work as its Field of View is more restricted then what is required……I just havent found a tactical scope that I like in my price range so I use what I have. For elk hunting it works fine but not for when you also have to see something coming at you……..
protias Rock chuckers are expensive….RCBS has other press kits that are less expensive as does Lee. I wore out my first press a RCBS reloader 3 so I have turned it into a dedicated press for resizing 12 gage shotgun hulls as soon as RCBS makes their 12 gage shell holder again I can get several loads worked up fo my Marlin Model 19 12 gage which uses 2 1/2 inch shells.
protias I was just picking up a few tools yesterday at Cabellas and was talking to a guy that used a Lee Progressive and he was having a heck of a time getting all the parts he needed for this specific task. He was wanting to load .223 progressively and could not find a 4 die set so he could drop his powder through a die.
A lady firearms journo, you say? Never heard of one 0:]
I’ve been reloading rifle ammo since my dad bought his first rifles, a couple of years before I got my license. I’ve also started to reload pistol ammo (only the 45ACP so far) about 4 years ago, with a progressive press.
Reloading for handguns it’s ridiculously cost saving! I think for those who shot a lot it’s essential.
Reloading for rifle… I think that with all the money I’ve spent trying to find the “perfect load”, I could have stockpiled a pretty good amount of match commercial ammo 😀 However, the satisfaction of seeing “your” bullet going downrange and hitting the target is priceless!
I’m looking forward to this guide, for what concern pistol ammo, because I’m far from perfect in the reloading of them 😉
Artillery Go Boom hartcreek You should check out a Leatherwood ART set up. It would be much easier for you tp play with and you could use it on a tactical course.
hartcreekArtillery Go Boom I recently visited the FNH site and they have a “Balista” bolt gun that offers interchangeable barrels. A 308 a 300 and a 338 Lapua. I idea is to save on just having one scope, but geez its gota be some scope. Always good talking to ya take care.