It’s funny you mention it buddy. I have been hammering away since I was 13, 44 now.
I’m moving houses, my reloading gear is packed away and I have zero interest of rushing into a new reloading set up at the new place. My fix, I bought a plain Jane 7mm Rem Mag, I’ll mount a good scope in good mounts. I bought 3 different types of factory ammo I’ll try in the gun. I’ll pick the one that shoots best, zero at 250. Then I’ll order 100-200 rounds and just have fun shooting this summer without the worry of messing with brass prep, loading, dribbling powder, etc.
If I really get the need to load something I’ll go to my brothers and load something on his press but I don’t see it happening.
Sometimes there’s a little fun in just shooting and not worrying about a 1/4” or 50 FPS…. At least that is what I’m telling myself now.
That's where I am as well. If I can buy rifles in common calibers with abundant ammo, I do. Which has kept 308 as one of the main things I shoot because I can buy loaded match ammo for almost the same cost per round as loading it.
But if the OP wants to reduce frustration in reloading, what probably helped me the most at the rifle reloading bench was getting the tools to measure exactly what I was doing, before taking the ammo to the range. Namely: hornady gauge and modified cases to check bullet jump to the throat, a set of inserts (hornady or whomever) to measure shoulder setback with calipers, and a concentricity gauge to see if my practices were making roughly straight ammo or not. All of which lead me to Lee Collet Dies to the point that I've had them make me several custom ones in calibers they don't normally do.
Agreed with that TX. It’s not that I don’t like to load ammo, cause man I have all the gear and do enjoy my time, but right now it ain’t worth pulling it all out to hastily set up right now.
In common stuff like the 270, 30-06, 308, 7 Rem Mag, 300 Win there is still a good selection of ammo that isn’t crazy priced for a hunting gun.
I’ll let my Mashburn and 300 RUM take the season off.
That's where I am as well. If I can buy rifles in common calibers with abundant ammo, I do. Which has kept 308 as one of the main things I shoot because I can buy loaded match ammo for almost the same cost per round as loading it.
For the first loading. Next time around that Lapua case halved in cost per shot. Then 1/3, 1/4, et cetera.
That's where I am as well. If I can buy rifles in common calibers with abundant ammo, I do. Which has kept 308 as one of the main things I shoot because I can buy loaded match ammo for almost the same cost per round as loading it.
For the first loading. Next time around that Lapua case halved in cost per shot. Then 1/3, 1/4, et cetera.
Agreed on the components MM. How much is your time worth though?
If you’re retired and have little else to do it’s free. But if not you’re taking time away from work or family time.
Just like the cartridges we shoot and the bullets we fight about, everyone views it differently.
I find it pretty worry free. I first loaded for a .300 Savage. I was 12 using a press at Foster's sporting goods. You buy the components there and you could use their tools. They taught me basics and watched me pretty close. I will be forever grateul to that place. It let me shoot enought to be competent.
I took less than top loads out of the manual for 100 gr Half Jackets and 150 gr SP's. I used BallC-2 for both loads and CCI Large rifle primers (not magnums). I seated the 150's so I could crimp them. Pretty much my current MO.
After a couple of years I bought a Rock Chucker which I still have.
I mostly load to duplicate factory velocities and trajectories. I usually have only a few pet loads per chambering. I adjust them to work well in my main rifles and check them in the rest. Once established I tend to stay with the loads until component availibility changes. I load the most for .223, .30-06 and .338 Win Mag. The .243, 6.5 CM, .308 Win, and .308 Norma also get a lot of business. Other , less common rounds where I have to fabricate cases, special order dies, trim, neck ream etc. are pretty tedious but I don't shoot them much.
In common stuff like the 270, 30-06, 308, 7 Rem Mag, 300 Win there is still a good selection of ammo that isn’t crazy priced for a hunting gun.
I’ll let my Mashburn and 300 RUM take the season off.
Even for the common stuff I roll my own. I don't even go in the ammo section of the store. Well, now I stroll thru to look at the prices. I am kinda finding the "standard" cals are getting boring. Not that they are bad, ineffective or won't kill, I would just rather use something a bit less mainstream. I didn't draw an elk tag this year, so the 9.3x64 Brenneke (maybe factory ammo can be had with enough $$ and waiting) will get a rest. Deer and antelope will be chased with a 6.5x47 Lapua (I don't know if there is factory ammo available for this) and a 26 Nosler (factory ammo is stupidly expensive). Other than a partial box of oddball stuff here or there at gunshows, the last time I bought ammo was about 12 years ago when I bought a 7x57R drillings. S&B ammo was $17 a box and that was cheaper/easier than me making it out of 444 Marlin brass. A 5 box purchase then will provide me with a lifetime of brass for that gun.
I don't reload shotgun anymore, so I do purchase any 12, 16, 20 ga ammo that I might need. It has been better than 20 years but I do purchase 7.62x39, as I won't reload for a gun that will never be accurate (no matter what I do on my end).
Some is Good---More is Better----Too Much is Just Right
The first edition of the Western Powders Load Manual is currently available directly off the Hodgdon website for only $4.99 per manual with free shipping: https://shop.hodgdon.com/official-gear/western-powders-load-manual That seems like too good of a deal to pass up...
Thanks for the head's up... ordered a couple copies.
“Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away” Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I didn't start handloading until the 1980's, so not as long as some. I don't enjoy it anymore (probably never really did) but I've always kept it simple. I don't weigh or sort brass, don't turn necks, and don't use a run-out gauge. About the only thing fancy I do is anneal brass every 4th loading, and I do use a Hornady O.A.L. comparator gauge (I used to just use a sharpie to get lands sorted).
I do think the basic $100 Pro-Chrono chronograph is a smart and safe bit of kit for every handloader.
“Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away” Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Hornady's case comparator setup and a quality dial caliper should be the first tooling the new reloaded should invest in.
Good shootin' -Al
Excellent advise, but have you tried getting the modified cases lately. I've been measuring to the lands using old school methods because I can't find the cases in the chambers that I need. Been tryin' bout 8 months now.
Last edited by eaglemountainman; 06/12/22.
My heart's in the mountains, my heart is not here. My heart's in the mountains, chasing the deer.
Might also mention that some of the most "affordable" and simplest loading dies can produce the most accurate ammo.
Absolutely. For example, people would be surprised to see what many real Benchrest competitors use for loading gear.
Good shootin' -Al
I agree that most people would be surprised at some of the BR equipment used. Seaters, for example. The Wilson seater - not the the micrometer model - is a great and inexpensive tool that works much the same as a Lee Loader. They are about $60 at Brownells. Used in conjunction with an arbor press, they are capable of producing straight cartridges for about $10 less than a Forster or other std seater. They are slower than a bench mounted seating die, but not everything needs to be cranked out in volume.
Now now Steve don’t exaggerate. Wilson dies are great but when you say that it’s less than the cost of a normal seater you done stretched the truth some. You should have thrown in the cost of the Arbor press to even use them right. That Bald Eagle mini at the moment is just under 100 bucks from Grizzly or 115.00 at Midway or 125.00 bucks from Amazon. So the true cost is ~175.00-200.00 for that particular seater. All that stuff got sold in 2004 when the Bench gun got sold and I gave up short range BR.
I don't think I stretched the truth at all. That would be true if you had to buy an arbor press for every seater. You don't. An arbor press is a one time deal, just like a reloading press. I'll take an inline seater any time over a regular reloading press for my bolts or single shots. That's because I don't load 500 or a thousand cartridges at a time.
I suppose that in addition to being slower, the only other shortcoming of the Lee Loader can be neck tension. I had a couple that sized the neck down a couple of thou too much and that made seating difficult. Still, the Lee Loader is the tool Oddball from Kelly's Heroes would like. You get to stop and smell the roses. No need to rush. It allows you the time to check everything. Lee Loaders worked in most rifles for years before hunters caught wind of the BR shooters tool catalogues.
ditto!! reloading is like a lot of things in life...it's as complicated as you want it to be. beginners should start out simple. of course, we are living in abnormal times...i hope.
If you're not having fun; you're not doing it right!
Gave the marlin 30-30 another try and the ammo I loaded didn't even go bang. On inspection it appears my firing pin is broken as it didn't make a mark on the primers. See the luck I have.
Fortunately I had my Ruger Hawkeye 270 and again stellar results from that rifle and case thus far. No matter if it's factory ammo it's awesome but my reloads flat out are amazing. I can't say that for other cartridges I've tried.
I still need to learn more about the internals and components making up dies and the tooling.
That's where I am as well. If I can buy rifles in common calibers with abundant ammo, I do. Which has kept 308 as one of the main things I shoot because I can buy loaded match ammo for almost the same cost per round as loading it.
For the first loading. Next time around that Lapua case halved in cost per shot. Then 1/3, 1/4, et cetera.
Right now it's just the time. I like reloading, but I like shooting more.
The reloading is OK and sometimes a pain, and the shooting is kinda meh. The shooting for me is more of a tool I use or a means to hunt predators, sometimes game and I can pack in my leverguns on walk in trips to roadless areas. Currently though I've been practicing field shooting and unsupported or slung up. It's a big challenge in terrain and the reload part makes it possible. I struggle with some of the terms and tooling at times but I'm trying
I started with a Rockchucker kit many years ago. Add components and dies, and it had everything you needed, sans maybe a dial caliper. I believe they are still sold?
The good thing with that kit, IMO, is that you had a good, basic gear as a starting point. From there, well ...
Over the years I’ve gone down the rabbit hole on various hand loading deals, as most of us have, and thankfully have come out again after having figured out what is worthwhile for the rifles and shooting I do, and what isn’t.
For example:
I don’t turn necks anymore. I don’t weigh brass anymore. I buy good brass, spotcheck for weight, and even though I probably don’t need to, on hunting ammo I recut primer pockets and deburr flashholes once, when brass is new, and then I don‘t clean primer pockets again. I only weigh charges on hunting ammo, where say 50 rounds is going to last a few seasons (or much longer). Otherwise, thrown charges are just fine, for me. I don’t sort bullets on a Juenke machine. I believe this does make a difference, but I don’t do it.
And on and on: runout, neck tension, annealing, brass sorting, bullet sorting ... you can choose a new deep-dive anytime you want and keep yourself engrossed, if you so desire, and many do. I don’t begrudge them. I enjoy reloading and understand the pull, and still play in various deep holes of my choosing.
But you can make good quality, eminently serviceable ammunition with the basics, like that contained in a Rockchucker kit.
You inherited a more “advanced” kit. Great. You might just find a lot of that stuff useful down the road. Your capacity to appreciate it may have changed.
But start at the start. As was posted above: clean and inspect cases, size and de-prime, prime, charge, seat bullets. Plenty of fun to be had in just getting those steps done correctly, and game will die just fine with nothing more complicated than that.
Put off diving into holes until later, if at all ...
And ENJOY.
Good post Mr. B. Others are pretty spot on too. Op is getting some good advice here.
Originally Posted by raybass
I try to stick with the basics, they do so well. Nothing fancy mind you, just plain jane will get it done with style.
Originally Posted by Pharmseller
You want to see an animal drop right now? Shoot him in the ear hole.
I didn't start handloading until the 1980's, so not as long as some. I don't enjoy it anymore (probably never really did) but I've always kept it simple. I don't weigh or sort brass, don't turn necks, and don't use a run-out gauge. About the only thing fancy I do is anneal brass every 4th loading, and I do use a Hornady O.A.L. comparator gauge (I used to just use a sharpie to get lands sorted).
I do think the basic $100 Pro-Chrono chronograph is a smart and safe bit of kit for every handloader.
Great points, Brad! I guess anyone can choose make reloading complicated but it seems important to remember that some/most of the precision & additional minute steps are unrelated to safe & effective ammunition for general hunting.
I bought a plain Jane 7mm Rem Mag, I’ll mount a good scope in good mounts. I bought 3 different types of factory ammo I’ll try in the gun. I’ll pick the one that shoots best, zero at 250. Then I’ll order 100-200 rounds and just have fun shooting this summer without the worry of messing with brass prep, loading, dribbling powder, etc.
You’re making me think, Scotty. Putting an all around rifle together to intentionally shoot a particular factory load would be a good thing to have in the gun rack. No muss no fuss. Hmmmm.
I bought a plain Jane 7mm Rem Mag, I’ll mount a good scope in good mounts. I bought 3 different types of factory ammo I’ll try in the gun. I’ll pick the one that shoots best, zero at 250. Then I’ll order 100-200 rounds and just have fun shooting this summer without the worry of messing with brass prep, loading, dribbling powder, etc.
You’re making me think, Scotty. Putting an all around rifle together to intentionally shoot a particular factory load would be a good thing to have in the gun rack. No muss no fuss. Hmmmm.
I blame Dober and a few others POC. He'd mentioned doing this and that and buying a case of ammo and just hunting. I said to myself "Self, that sounds kinda interesting".. With a slight push by another who showed me a rifle I didn't even know I wanted an hour before we spoke I was headed down this track. Honestly, this place is the worst/best sometimes, cause you get so many darned good ideas, it's hard to keep up sometimes..
Hornady's case comparator setup and a quality dial caliper should be the first tooling the new reloaded should invest in.
Good shootin' -Al
Excellent advise, but have you tried getting the modified cases lately. I've been measuring to the lands using old school methods because I can't find the cases in the chambers that I need. Been tryin' bout 8 months now.
The Hornady Comparator tool I'm referencing is the one used to measure shoulder set back during sizing.
I've had one of their OAL tools since they were known as Stoney Point....haven't used it for years on a bolt gun as there are better ways to find the lands. They do work nicely on falling block and break open singles shots, though.
I make my own modified cases for that tool when I need them. Let me know what modified cases you need and let's see if we can get you going.
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