Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters How many do you load?

Used to buy a pound of powder, a box of bullets, and 100 primers(!). Loaded up whatever was left after picking the best combination of those components and used them until there were too few for he next season. Most were used to check the sighting and maybe a few practice pokes.

Now, with a number of rifles available, I figure I can get by with enough for any of them for a day’s hunt, and grab something else if need be. Still, I generally load about 40.

Another reason I don't load big lots of hunting bullets.....I have a tendency to buy/sell rifles more than I should. I'd rather develop loads for each and not rely on the new rifle shooting the same load equally as well.

I go overboard is loading up range and hunting ammo once a load is developed..... usually 200 to 400 rounds.

100 for every rifle that isn't a pdog rifle, pdog rifles get 200 or 300.

I typically have 200-300 cases in rotation for any particular rifle and that many more new cases set aside for a rainy day. I keep my brass separated into 50 count boxes. When I have less than 2 boxes of loaded ammo left i immediately load whatever the rest of the rotation set is for that rifle be it 2, 3, or 4 50-count boxes. Then I set the thing aside and may not load for it again for a couple years .. depends on how much practice a particular rifle demands. I'm not load-on-demand, I am load-on-opportunity.

Tom

I don’t know why but I don’t like to have too many hunting loads on hand.

.223 I load 100 at a time and I don’t mind stockpiling them.

The least I'll load is 10, for local big game hunting (which is mostly what I do anymore). Will load 50 if going on a trip.

Have only loaded 20 even for trips to Alaska or Africa, depending on how much that rifle will be used. It also depends whether I bring more than one rifle, and the length of the hunt. Brought 100 7x57s to Africa on a month-long "cull" safari, along with 50 9.3x62s.

For "colony varmint" cartridges at least 200 and sometimes 1000--depending on how many rifles are going, and for how long.

If I start with a new can of powder and work up the load I use up the whole pound. Fug that stupid 20 or 40 rd chit...mb

This. Summer is when I tend to load up. Too hot to do much outside plus no hunting going on.

A lot of the labels in my load boxes are labeled July and August.

Been a bit off this summer. 600 or so rounds loaded in the last 2 weeks.

223, 6mm Remington and 35 Remington. Need to load another 50 or 100 for the 7-08 plus load 100 or so for my cousins kids 243.

Hopefully have a new to me 700 in 222 next weekend so once I find a load for it load up a couple hundred.

Yesterday I prepped and primed 250 Starline .357 cases and managed to find the 50 I’d put “in a safe place” that were ready to go as well. I plan to load these in batches of 100 with XTP 158 HP and FN for my S&W 620/Henry SS combo, my current Geezer project. Next up is checking to see if cases sized in a Lee Loader will fit both, “pure research” as I can’t imagine a much easier chore than prepping pistol cases with carbide dies, even in a single-stage.

Also planning to test uncrimped loads for accuracy in the rifle. I’ve seen mixed opinions on that subject, and unless there’s a marked difference, the inconvenience of keeping loads separate wouldn’t be worth the trouble.

FPs are for the rifle as they’re rated to 1800fps as opposed to 1400 for the HPs.

For range-Blasters, up to 500 at time. Mostly 200 at a time, though.

For Hunting rifles, a box of 50, rotate with another for a total of 100. One box gets shot, start on #2 and load the first one.

One of the end-of-season chores is shooting the in-use box and get it loaded.

In most cartridges, I've streamlined things to enable me to load them on a 550 or 650 Dillon. I like to have brass prepped and components on-hand but other than 223's for PD's, rarely do I load more than 50 of anything at a time.

for son and my deer rifles both are 257 Weatherby mags. and same rifles Ruger #1 i try to load 40-50 cartridges and try to keep a 100 cartridges loaded on inventory. now for the rest of the family wife and daughter both have a 257 Roberts i loaded 15 boxes of 20 rds., also have 10 year old grandson who now has a 257 Roberts Ruger #1 , granddaughter in the future will also have a Ruger #1 in a 257 Roberts. its much easier if all have the same cartridges for me and them. for a trip out west i also bring 2 boxes of 20 for the hunt on big game, prarie dogs boy the sky could be the limit ? maybe 1,000 total rds. ? when i hunt deer in my home state of Minnesota my gun boot has 6 cartridges thats all i take to the stand my rifle is a single shot ,never need more than one or two catridges all season long. every year i try to now load 100 257 Roberts cartridges for the family also.

Depends on gun I am loading for. Hunting guns, I usually load 50 rounds, that way I don't have to load for a few years.
On range toys, 100 or more.

Ready for rat season.

Depends on the round/rifle. Depends on the mood I'm in. Always busy and time is usually limited. Honestly, I don't enjoy reloading....I hate trimming brass. I enjoy the end result and I like to shoot....but reloading is just a means to an end for me.

Some rifles I'll just check zero on and hunt with them. They are just hunters, not so much shooters. A little .358 win I hunt often in woods but only shoot to check zero or kill something. I'm fine having 10 of these loaded for a year.

Other's I'll shoot all year. On those I'll usually load up two 50 round boxes or a 100 round box. If I had more time, I'd load a lot more to avoid having to do it sooner. I try to limit how many I take with me when I start shooting as I'll run through all of them once I start. The thought of "having" to reload again slows me down when I get around 20 left.

I have several 100 rounds loaded for our rifles, .243 .270 .308 .30.06 300 H&H

I've never noticed a problem, maybe I missed it? Is it problem like a few think? I dont know just curious

Well I guess I'll be the odd man in this thread. In the past I've loaded like most of you, but a couple of years ago I looked at all the components on hand and decided ammo ready to go was more valuable than components. So I've been on a mission to load everything I've got.

In times past when I loaded for myself and had fewer cartridge/rifles to load for, I tailored everything to one rifle. As I've become the loader for two families I now tend to load more of what I would call a factory equivalent load. With a couple of exceptions, anyone can grab a box of ammo appropriate to their rifle and go shoot and hunt. Those exceptions being for rifles chambered in cartridges that only I have and that the rest of the family will not likely buy, such as .338 Win. and 6.5x55.

So far I'm about 1/3 way through what I want to load. When done, every rifle/cartridge will have between 500-1,000 rounds loaded. My family will be shooting my ammo long after I'm gone.

The exception to this being handgun and .223 ammo. I/we load and shoot it more than the big game rifles.

No Aboltfan not the odd man at all. I load for many different carts so when I load for something I work the load up to where I want. Then I load up as many as I can until I run out of that lot of powder. Don't care to have part cans of powder laying around..mb

Depends on how much brass I have on hand.