Ammo reloaders

OK, I"m looking into starting to reload my ammo but I got couple questions:
1. How long does it take you guys to reload handgun ammo? Reason I'm asking is that if it takes it too long then the money savings will be lost to me due to the time consumption.
2. What do you guys have for equipment? I'm still trying to find a nice overview that lists the required/needed equipment to reload and I seem to be coming up with nothing.

Takes me about 15 seconds to load a clip, pop it in, and squeeze one out.

I looked into the cost savings vs. time equation as well some months ago, and came to the conclusion that investing in reloading equipment and the necessary supplies wasn't worth it when bulk ordering produces the same end result for around 10-15% more on average. Of course, if you're shooting something that uses an expensive round to begin with, reloading may make sense, but for the stuff you can get at Turner's in a pinch, it doesn't.

Here are the basic steps to reload from fired brass.
1. Resize brass with a resizing die this is also a good time to remove the old primer.
2. Expand the case mouth you can also decap the old primer.
3. Clean the brass, I usually wash it and put 200 rounds in a tumbler with walnut medium, noisy bugger....
4. Insert new primer, can be done on the press or while watching TV with a lee squeezer type.
5. Add powder, can be done with a measuring spoon, powder thrower and/or powder trickler. Once the thrower is setup it's accurate.
6. Put new bullet in case mouth, seat bullet to correct depth and crimp brass to make it tight. Done
Presses come in three types, single stage, turret type, progressive.
Single stage holds one die, turret holds 4-8, I have a texan that holds 8, progressive which holds the whole die set, primers, poweder thrower and pumps out one finished round per stroke, these can be manual or electric. RCBS makes single stage and turret types, Dillon makes nice progressives that won't break the bank and you generally buy it by caliber. My 'progressive' press consists of me and my two kids
When I load precision rifle I weigh bullet and powder, measure and trim case length, take alot more time than say when we are loading rounds for the SKS or M1A1. If it's for the PSS thats a different story...

I can whip out about 400 rounds per hour on my friend's Dillon progressive. .40 costs about half price of the gunshow reloads and I get to load them myself. His .45 is much more cost effective though. 9mm is really not worth reloading at this point because it's so cheap to pick up by the case.

ECKSJAY said:

I can whip out about 400 rounds per hour on my friend's Dillon progressive. .40 costs about half price of the gunshow reloads and I get to load them myself. His .45 is much more cost effective though. 9mm is really not worth reloading at this point because it's so cheap to pick up by the case.

Click to expand...

Dillon= yummy!!

It depends on your requirements as well as the cost. If you are looking for cheap ammo, maybe reloading isn't for you, but I'd think in the long run it is. For me, I prefer GOOD ammo. I can either buy GOOD rifle and postol ammo at the store whatever the cost, then try to find the same load every time I want ammo, or I can buy bulk components and create my own GOOD ammo with better consistancy for considerably lower price.

Dillon stuff is sweeeeet, nothing else to say about it.

You don't have to start with that kind of high capital cost though, get going, see if you like it and move from there. The stuff doesn't really depreciate with low use so if you don't like it you can get out of it.

For time, again it depends in what you want. On my prime hunting rifle ammo I can spend several hours simply prepping brass before I ever start the actual loading process. I don't do that for pistol ammo for the most part, but I quit shooting NRA, USA and LEG bullseye matches several years ago. Those guys spend as much time loading as shooting, and wouldn't hear of buying ammo-

I'd start with an RCBS Rock Chucker press, you can use it single stage to get used to reloading, and upgrade it to progressive later with a "piggyback" kit. Since you can use the same dies either way (they're pretty much all threaded 7/8"-14,) you don't have to lay out extra for the dies when you go progressive. You'll also have the basic press already, so it might be a little cheaper - and if you have a rifle or a competition pistol you want to load some "tackdriver" ammo for, it's a simple matter to go back to single-stage.

Dillon presses are also good (I've heard - both of my presses are RCBS, because the price was right!) and will also take pretty much any dies threaded 7/8"-14 as well. RCBS, Hornady, and Dillon dies are all very good - and you can get Redding if you want to go with serious precision.

Dies are available for nearly everything these days, if you look hard enough. As long as the cases are "boxer" primed, priming tools, primer removers, and new primers are easy to find as well.

Bullets? I like Speer and Hornady, and you should be able to get decent prices on most from MidwayUSA (www.midwayusa.com.) I prefer jacketed pills, because they make it a little easier to clean up after shooting and loading, but you can also get cast bullets fairly cheaply. Or, you can get moulds and cast your own - I find wheel weight metal works well for general shooting, I used to help my grandfather cast muzzleloader balls, Minie balls, and bullets from buckets of wheel weights he'd get from tyre shops. (You ever pick up a five-gallon bucket of lead alloy? It's a workout...)

Dies? MidwayUSA again for the more common stuff, CH4D Tool and Die for the oddball stuff (I don't recall the URL for them, but a Googling should turn them up fairly quickly.)

Powder? I find that ball powders meter and measure more consistently, Winchester makes good ball powder.

Primers? CCI works, and they're pretty easy to find. Buy them in blocks of 1,000, or cases of 10,000 at gun shows.

Most important - make sure you can work without distractions at first, and make sure that anyone you have helping you can follow directions QUICKLY, ACCURATELY, and TO THE LETTER. You don't want to play around with this stuff - it's quite safe if you handle it properly, but fsck up just once, and it can be a problem, I'll readily admit. DO NOT IMPROVISE! Also, get the manuals for the bullets you use, and follow them, with one small change - figure a starting load at something like 70% of the middle load listed, and read the section on "pressure signs" THOROUGHLY. Watch your brass for signs. If the starting load works well and shows no signs, I'll work up in increments of 5% of the middle load, and maybe work up to maximum load (but I don't usually feel the need to get there...)

If you have any questions, there are a bunch of us here you can ask, and we'll help you get sorted! Don't be afraid to ask, we all had to start somewhere, and it's worth doing - especially if you're into accuracy, or shoot something odd and want to save a few bucks.

5-90

Second the gun shows for powder and primers, if you buy them online you end up paying a hazmat transportation fee. When I was shooting heavy I would buy my powder in 5lb kegs at shows until I found one vendor at the show that had opened up a shop about an hour from me. He's closed now but cabellas seems to have good prices on components and plenty of them.
Storage is another thing, do not store powder in sealed steel containers, stick with tupperware, if there is a fire the powder will burn in plastic, in steel it will explode like a grenade, a sure way to piss off the fire dept.

RichP said:

Second the gun shows for powder and primers, if you buy them online you end up paying a hazmat transportation fee. When I was shooting heavy I would buy my powder in 5lb kegs at shows until I found one vendor at the show that had opened up a shop about an hour from me. He's closed now but cabellas seems to have good prices on components and plenty of them.
Storage is another thing, do not store powder in sealed steel containers, stick with tupperware, if there is a fire the powder will burn in plastic, in steel it will explode like a grenade, a sure way to piss off the fire dept.

Click to expand...

Thanks guys. I'm slowly putting my shopping list together as there is a gun show coming to town next weekend So if there are any specific units tha you guys can think of to avoid let me know

1- I can turn out 50 rounds of 45acp or 38spl from prepped cases in less than an hour, Set up time on the press may be 15 min,but these are standard loads.
2-Well you need a good reloading manual or several,a press,dies,powder scale,powder measure,loading blocks,funnel ,case length guage,case trimmer,calipers to measure the finished product.
3-primers,powder,bullets,cases
4-There are many products that will speed up the process--powder measures that are drilled for a specfic powder and weight that require 1 turn of the knob to get the correct amount of powder in the case.Case trimmers that are set for the correct length, ect.
I did an inventory several years ago of the equipment I have on hand and it was easily over $2000,that includes a P-W 800 shotshell press,and I load for 7 rifle calibers,5 hand gun and 2 shotguns.
Ask all the questions you need to,It,s a fun hobby and can be as costly as a JEEP.
Wayne

You can never have too many load manuals. Progressive loaders are the way to go if you want to crank out alot of ammo. Like mentioned earlier - you can buy a single stage press and gradually upgrade it to a progressive loader if you feel like it's not fast enough. For me the hardest part was the initial set up, but once everything is set up it's time to start cranking out ammo.