Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Getting started reloading

Reloading is my favorite thing. I got started as a young lad with my dad in the mid 80s and I latched on right away. One thing I know helped me was to get reloading manuals and read them for more than just the load data. About half of each manual has a lot of direction and illustrations that are a big help and really should be required reading. One cool thing my mom would do is for Christmas, is get us a reloading manual. She wasn’t into hand loading, so we helped her pick the book, and she would write something nice to us boys on the blank page. Kind of cool to see the history over time. Another thing is to not ignore used items. I have plenty of used items I purchased or was given over the years that include presses, dies, scales etc. Even plastic ammo cases help. I end up with two or more items that do the same thing, but it helps to have a few extra trimmers so that one can be made into a dedicated trimmer for your 30-06 and it’s always ready and never has to be adjusted. Just set it and leave it. Extra dies could provide you the piece of mind of having one ready in case you get one stuck in the sizing die. Extra calipers, powder measures, brass cleaners, shell holders, chamfer/de-burr tools and whatever else you can think of will keep you reloading if anything gets lost or broken because otherwise you have to stop and either order or hit the road and buy a new one and everyone knows how expensive and unavailable things are now.

Highly addictive hobby beware

I have looked at the different reloading manuals but have not purchased...which one should a guy get first or which is better for the "old school" calibers I have?
Thanks for all the info!

Painted desert. That is a wonderful memory. Reminds me of my childhood...mom and dad didn't have much to give but mom always made it special.

All the bullet makers have very good loading manuals but after many years of reloading, I would say Lyman's manual is a must.

Check your local library to see which ones are available. In OH, we can do a statewide search, & have stuff delivered to our local place in a week or less.

I was able to bring in all of the major reloading manuals (if not the most recent editions), & got a lot of good info out of all of 'em. I then decided which one I liked best, & bought my own copies.

FC

Probably the Lyman manual first (best basic info for a beginner IMO)... But the Nosler manual is my favorite for the way they lay out the load data on the page... For advanced handloading tech info for beginners, The Western Powders Handloading Guide is my favorite, Hands Down... I think? it's out of print, But "Mule Deer" aka John Barsness may? have some available on his website... For true "old school" cartridges and old school powders only, i'd pick up an old Lyman or Speer manual from the 70's or 80's... I started with an old Lyman #45 manual... The max loads in these old manuals are usually much hotter (higher velocity & pressure) than current data and i learned to read pressure signs and that i had to be careful when approaching max loads... The downside is these old manuals don't include modern powders... So their usefulness is limited...

Lyman. It's also a good idea to have a couple to cross-reference. Be careful of blindly accepting what people post online for their own loads.

If you need load data, you can also gather authoritative information online:

Hodgdon: https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/
Nosler: https://www.nosler.com/load-data/caliber-and-cartridge-data.html
Alliant: https://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/default.aspx?page=/reloaders/index.aspx&
Speer: https://www.speer.com/reloading/

Definitely get a few to cross reference like was mentioned before me. Sometimes you find that only one has the info you need. I like to get the Hodgdons manual that comes out every year. It’s great for data, but other than that, it’s like a magazine more than a book and not much there for training or learning like the manuals have. I’m slowly getting electronic about it now. There’s apps, downloads, and websites that are full of data. Hornady, Nosler, and Hodgdons have those things. When I’m gathering data for a load, I look through a few books, then I go to the electric sources. You will find different max loads in a few of them, so it forces you to use caution.

It doesn't hurt to have many paper manuals on hand, I do like the website Databases though. Having paper manuals over time gives you an archive to go back in history.

I found Hornady data to be so bad that I thew away all the books... and constantly recommend same.

Old Lee books are not to be ignored IMHO.

Lots of books on EBay

I've been on this web site since 2004. You've got some good info, from guys I have a lot of respect for, that have chimed in on this thread.

I'm pretty much self taught at the reload bench... I learned every way one can think of, on HOW NOT to do it... but then my granddad use to tell us boys when we were kids, that there is no greater teacher than pain... Some of the things I do have a reputation of being off the beaten path , so I'll let some of the guys on this thread, guide you on paying attention to some of the things I do, and loads I develop. I've learned to do a lot toward economy, that you may not find in some load manual, but it will stretch out your resources. As I have said on here often, one does not need a 500 yd load capable of killing an elk, to take down some blacktail or whitetail at 100 yds... That is considering that anywhere on the planet, 90% of all game is taken at under a 100 yds., and 99% is taken under 200 yds...

My background is learning to economize, just in case times like these roll around... which they do when we get a democRat in the White House..
I've also been a shooting instructor for Boy Scouts. And developed loads for the gun that grandpa gives his 12 yr old grandson, that beats the crap out of the poor kid, and gets dad all mad his son "isn't a real man!" because he cries after shooting grandpa's 30/06 or 300 Win Mag...

I've learned ways to get 50 to 100 plus reloads out of a piece of brass, if I have to... was a highly trained Military Medic, and can take care of all sorts of wounds... so its easy to reverse engineer that, by knowing what you need to make a load, that can be real effective on taking down game... an example being say using a 223, I can load a full power military equivalent load, with a 55 gr bullet having a muzzle velocity of 3150 fps. shoot it at a steel plate at 100 yds, and have it bounce off of it.... yet come up with a load for the same bullet, giving an MV of only 2500 fps, that will penetrate the same steel plate at 100 yds... every time. I think out of the box...

If you want reload manuals and don't want to be in a rush, peruse used book stores, here and there... over the years I've found all sorts of stuff.. a used manual for $3.00 that a gun store would sell new for $20 or more.. or used for $15 or more... I prefer manuals that are older.. before they got overly " lawyer approved".... I prefer powders that have been around forever, and still sell because they are proven... yet don't bother with the latest greatest on the shelf at your powder dealers, because over a few years, some of them just bite the dust, for being finicky....things like powders to fill your case cartridge up with... so you burn more powder, and get a lot less out of a pound of it...

and reload manuals or direction.. the internet is full of it... and stuff you don't have to pay or subscribe to.. yet their are plenty that try to con you into taking an annual subscription for $50 a year....

Here are two I refer to often, that don't cost me a penny, and they use data from a bunch of powder manufacturer or bullet manufacturers reload data... combining a lot of sources into one... both are compiled from data from ALL manufacturers into one source. It would cost someone $100s of dollars, to compile and organize, like these two sites give you for free...

https://shootersreference.com/reloadingdata/


https://stevespages.com/page8a.htm

Reloading dies? cheapest thing on your reload bench....a pound of powder these days can run $50 to $65 easily... a good set of reloading dies can run you the same price....one is quickly gone if you shoot much... the other ( the reload dies), you can pass those down to your grandchildren...

Brands? I have multiple sets of dies, for the same caliber... RCBS for example, has a lifetime warranty... you break something, they replace it... I'm due to receive some replacement parts this week, on a couple of sets of dies that I've own 20 to 30 years now...didn't even cost me postage...

Lee Dies, I think they are the best value, even they may charge you a little bit ( like postage) to replace a part... cheap investment as they are the same cost or less of a pound of powder or a box of store ammo off the shelf...

Hope some of this may give you some ideas on how to get started...and put some thought possibilities in you head...

Last couple of months, I've been over at our local range and shooting steel plates at 300 and 400 yds...Using lowly bolt action rifles in 223...
Keep you hand to eye coordination in practice... I've been using 50, 52, 53 and 55 grain bullets, I've picked up in bulk on the internet dealers.

Burning up powder? Not really... these are loads for economic times like we get from DemocRATS in the White House.... I'm using shotgun and pistol powder in a 223 case, with either small rifle or small pistol primers ( either works just fine in these loads)... using 8.5 to 9.5 grains of powder... divide that into 7000 grains of powder in a pound...that is getting 750 + rounds out of a pound of powder... added benefit, it teaches a shooter to use the features on their scope...only a reloader can give him that sort of economical training... I'll go over to the range, in between bad weather days, and shoot 20 to 30 rounds... getting 750 reloads plus out of a pound of powder.. you can see that is a lot of practice, for the cheap...

added benefit? its not a lot of wear and tear on the barrel or the rifle... plus you never lose sight picture thru your scope, because its not that much what you'd call recoil...

Learn from other people's experiences.. it will cut your learning curve down quite a bit...

Good luck out there....

I didn't know Stevespages was still up and running. I loved it when Steve would chime in on a subject. People like him made things interesting.

I listed the data pages (and how to hack) in the link below. Others should add other pages to help out the next fella,

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/17653935

I found the data to be 100% trustworthy on the loads I developed.

It seems like a disorganized mess, but when you chase it some... it kinda becomes like a database of every load ever developed by everyone.

Been using it for years Mick....it was down a short while and one of his younger relatives took it over... I think it was only down like 90 days or so..
Think I sent him a $25 money order and have not had any problems at all...

I have a book mark for it on my task bar... I consult it regularly, if nothing else, to just double check what's in my head...
ya start to hit my age.. suddenly the mind doesn't hold onto things as much as it use to...

Thabk you to everyone for all the info. I have picked up some dies and bullets off the classifieds...still perusing presses.
I like the forster for easy die change merely bc of loading different cartridge sizes with smaller sample size for the boys and my rifles. Seems like would be a significant time reducer...

One thing I just remembered is to be very careful with the scale. By that I mean once it’s zeroed, you can’t move or bump it, in case you didn’t know. I was reloading with one of my friends and he didn’t understand this and was kind of rough with the scale when checking charges and not using soft hands and would move it a few inches away without re zeroing it. Those need to be babied or respected like you would calipers or other nice instruments. I always have two, sometimes three scales on hand when loading. I still like the RCBS 1010 scale and use the scale in the auto charger and sometimes a electronic scale. I routinely check my loads at random between the scales when loading to make sure nothing went haywire.

You'll never regret that Forster press... Buy once, Cry once... Nowhere to go from there but down IMO... The snap in/snap out die changes are a real time saver, But buy the Forster lock rings as most off brand die lock rings are thinner and don't fit in the presses die slot properly... Due to it's self aligning floating plate shell holder design, That press makes straight and accurate ammo right off the bat without a lot of futzing around like some other presses require... The built in primer installer also works well and gives proper & consistent crush in my experience... And if you decide reloading isn't for you, You'll have no trouble recouping most if not all of your $$$... I started reloading for 357 mag on my older brothers Bonanza co-ax (same as Forster) when i was a teenager in the 70's... When he lost interest in reloading, I inherited the press on the agreement i reload his ammo for life, lol... Still use it regularly and no regrets...

What Selmer posted near the beginning of this thread should become a sticky and the first response to any thread regarding getting started reloading.