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Reloading Tips and Hints
THERE ARE OLD RELOADERS AND THERE ARE BOLD RELOADERS BUT THERE ARE NO
OLD BOLD RELOADERS!
A good friend called me today (4-13-01) and told me this page
was badly
out of date. I was reminded that what I’m doing today isn’t really the
same as what I was doing when I first wrote this section back about ’96
or ’97 for the first time. I really hadn’t thought too much about it
until that call. I visited it today and ya know what, she was right. So
I have now revised it to reflect what I’m doing now as opposed to what I
was doing back then. Procedure wise I haven’t made a lot of changes
since I wrote it but equipment wise I sure have.
The process of reloading one’s empty hulls to create new ammo for firing
in your guns has many advantages to recommend it but it can be fraught
with danger if you don’t pay close attention to detail and do things
correctly. Below are a few tips and hints that I have learned in my over
30 years of reloading to make your efforts a bit safer and the ammo more
consistent.
Before you buy your first piece of reloading equipment or the first
supplies do yourself the biggest favor you ever can in learning to
reload ammo. Buy yourself at least two reloading manuals. No, I didn’t
say buy a reloading manual. I said to buy two or better yet more. I
think the Lyman Manual has arguably the best reloading data section of
all the manuals I own and I own a lot of manuals. Read and understand
the data section and reloading how to before you even buy your first
equipment and supplies. I feel the minimum number of reloading manuals
you should own if you are going to reload ammo consists of the Lyman
Manual, the manual by the bullet maker you plan to use most (if you plan
to use more than one bullet brand then get the manuals of all you plan
to use), and the manual by the maker of the powder you plan to use (if
you plan to use more than one brand of powder then get the manuals by
all of them). Yes, that is potentially a lot of manuals and yes I do own
them and feel you should too. All the powder companies put out free
brochure manuals you can get and I recommend you do so. Many of them
also have online manuals you can use from your computer. There is no
such thing as too many reloading manuals. When the new editions come out
buy them. Using old data can get you in trouble. From time to time the
manufacturers do change the characteristics of their powders and the
only way to know this change has happened it to have new manuals.
Avoid distractions and load only when you are in a good mood and feeling
rested. Don’t allow other people especially your wife/husband or
children in the loading area while you are reloading. If others are
present and talking with you sooner or later you are going to make a
mistake that can prove dangerous or even deadly. Once in my early days
of reloading before I learned this lesson my wife walked into the
reloading room and asked me some question. I was in the process of
charging .45 acp cases with Bullseye powder at the time. I was using my
Powder Measure to meter the charges into the case. The interruption was
enough to allow me to double charge two cases in the loading block. A
double charge of Bullseye in a .45 acp case was probably enough to cause
the gun to come unglued since I was already using a maximum charge.
This brings up the next tip which I had already learned at the time
luckily. After dropping charges into cases in a loading block always tip
the block to allow you to peer inside each case in turn using a good
light source. If any of the cases don’t look the same then dump the ones
that don’t look right and dispense those charges again. How did I learn
that trick? I blew up a TC Contender .44 magnum barrel. Yep, I said blew
it up. I was loading a mixed lot of brass using a maximum charge of W296
powder. One particular case with an S&W headstamp didn’t look right. It
appeared to have too much powder. I dumped the powder and dropped
another charge into it. It still didn’t look right so I weighted the
powder. The charge was correct. I made the mistake of not throwing that
case away right then. I loaded it and fired it later at the range. At
the explosion the Pachmayer forend on the TC came off and flew about 20
feet in front of me and the barrel dropped to the open position. The
barrel was bulged upward at the screw holes for the rear sight and
permanently damaged. To their credit TC replaced that barrel at no
charge even after I told them what happened.
That brings us to the next tip. If after you verify that the charge in
the case is correct and it still doesn’t look right distort and dispose
of the case so it never finds its way onto your reloading bench again.
Take a pair of pliers or a vise and mash the mouth closed so you and
everyone else who might ever see it knows not to use it.
I use a Hornady Lock-N-Load powder measure to dispense just about all
the loads I develop. (Why the Hornady? Because it is as accurate as any
I’ve tried and has the available option of the Lock-N-Load Drain
Metering Insert which with the push of a button lets you remove your
metering insert and install an instant drain insert to empty the powder
tube with zero hassle. This feature alone puts it head and shoulders
above all the others in my eyes. I also have both the Rifle and Pistol
Micrometer Metering Inserts and highly recommend them over the standard
metering insert that comes with the measure.) I don’t spend my time
weighting powder charges into the brass. The bench rest crowd are
satisfied with measured powder charges and so am I. Now some stick
powders don’t meter very well throughout some measures and you may have
to weight them and trickle the final charge into them. If you must then
you must. I don’t even with the coarse stick powders unless I am loading
a near maximum charge where a little more might be TOO MUCH more. I
haven’t found the small variations that dropping charges from a measure
makes a noticeable difference on the target unless you have guns that
shoot sub half inch 100 yard groups. If you do then you already know
more about reloading than I’m going to tell you here.
When using a measure to dispense powder I always put all my primed hulls
into a properly fitted loading block. As I drop the powder charge I
count the cases. When I get to the end of a row if the number I’ve
counted doesn’t equal the number of cases I know the block holds I stop
immediately and see what is wrong. The count continues from row to row
until all the cases in the block have been charged with powder and the
final count must match the number of hulls in the block. If not, I stop
and recheck everything to see what is wrong. These steps can prevent you
from double charging or not charging a case and loading it without
power. I began the counting procedure after finding a loaded shell that
didn’t have powder. I was firing an S&W Model 19 .357 Magnum revolver
using relative light charges in .38 special cases and using full wad
cutter bullets. So recoil was almost non existent. I had on hearing
muffs so the noise was quite muffled. I had the misfire that resulted
when only the primer fired with no powder in the case. The bullet was
stuck part way into the barrel and froze up the action so it couldn’t
cycle to fire the next round. Just think what could have happened if the
bullet had gone forward into the barrel and I hadn’t realized it. Not a
pretty thought. After that I began to count every time the handle is
pulled on the measure and the number has to match the number of cases in
the loading block. I also implemented the procedure of peering into the
cases to double check that all have one charge and only one charge in
them as stated above.
I like RCBS equipment. Their warranty is as good as it gets, as is their
product quality. I have damaged RCBS equipment through my own negligence
and still they replace it at no charge. What more can you ask of a
company? Nowadays however I am moving toward more and more Hornady
reloading equipment. I have sold my tired old RCBS JR press to a new
reloader at a cheap price and am now using the Hornady Lock-N-Load
Single Stage Press exclusively. I personally could do without the L-N-L
feature as I don’t really ever get in a hurry with my reloading but you
might find it to be the cat’s meow. It can speed up the time required to
change out dies but the down side is the need for an L-N-L insert for
each die. If you don’t have them then you save no time. I have probably
30 or more die sets and don’t have enough L-N-L inserts so I use them on
some of the most frequently used dies and for the others I just use an
insert in the press and screw the other dies in as with a conventional
press. You really can have it both ways. One thing I’ve really changed
on lately is the dies I use. In the past I almost always bought RCBS
dies. When I got my .358 JDJ barrel SSK send Hornady dies. To be honest
I was disappointed they weren’t RCBS. But then I used them and low and
behold I decided I kinda liked them. The more I used them the more I
liked them. The one feature I like most is the bullet seater die. It is
easily adjustable without a wrench unlike most as it comes from the
factory but if you’ll get the optional MicroJust Seating Stem you have
the best seating die I’ve run across. It is my favorite of them all and
I hate to seat bullets without it these days. Now when I get a gun in a
caliber that is new to me and I don’t have a set of dies already on hand
for it the first thing I do is get on the phone and order me up a set of
Hornady dies for it. There are other good companies in the business but
I have come to trust and rely on Hornady and RCBS for most of my
reloading equipment above all others. One exception to this is the Lee
Auto Prime tool. In my opinion this is the best of the tools available
for the job of priming cases. I haven’t put a primer in a case without
using the handy little Lee Auto Prime in over 20 years. This one is a
keeper folks. Now I’ll admit I haven’t tried the new Hornady or RCBS
tools now on the market that do this function similarly to the Lee Tool.
To be honest I just don’t like the looks of the RCBS and ain’t gonna try
it probably because of it. I don’t like the idea of the strips the
primers go in either. I like a tray I can just dump 100 primers in,
jiggle them around a bit to get them all correctly oriented and start
priming. Now just looking at the photos of the Hornady tool it looks
like it just might do this as well as the Lee with the added benefit of
not requiring the special shell holders. This one I need to try so I can
report on it. Before I leave this subject let me mention a pet peeve of
mine and that is the size of the trays primers come in these days. Most
of them look like they are trying to prevent shop lifting by making the
trays too big to hide and get out of the store. I use and recommend
mostly CCI primers because they haven’t fallen for the oversize tray
yet. I can easily dump 100 primers from their trays into the Lee Auto
Prime tool or any other standard size primer flipper tray without
spilling any. Can’t do that with most of the others and Federal is the
worst offender. Now I’m not saying one brand of primers is superior to
another. Nope I really haven’t noticed any real different in the primers
themselves. All are really good. I make my decision on which to buy
based on the packaging and what’s available to me locally. I can usually
find Winchester everywhere, Federal in some places and CCI in most
places. The others are hardly ever seen in my area.
Since I’ve talked about primers lets talk bullets a minute. A long long
time ago when I first started reloading there was one and only one place
to buy reloading components or equipment locally. Mr. CC Gauldin’s shop
was that place. CC carried Hornady bullets, Pacific reloading presses,
Remington guns and primers and Hercules (Alliant), Dupont (IMR) and
Hodgdon powders. How I ended up with a MEC shotshell press and RCBS
centerfire press I don’t even remember but I had to have gone elsewhere
to get them. Bullets I always bought there and that meant Hornady as
that was all he had. Ya know it wasn’t a handicap at all. They worked!
And still do. I’ve probably loaded and shot more Hornady bullets than
all other jacketed bullets put together, partly because of that early
start and partly because I find them to be competitively priced,
accurate and they work when the bullet hits the game. I’ve probably used
fewer Speer bullets than any other. Not because there is anything wrong
with them but just that hardly anyone locally carries them and so I just
don’t see them that often. I sure do like their TNT varmint bullets
however. I’ve used a lot of Noslers and still do. I like them a lot too.
Sierra bullets are probably second behind Hornady in the number I’ve
used. Of them all I can honestly say that when I used a bullet for the
job for which the manufacturer intended it to be used I never had what
I’d call a bullet failure with any of the brands.
If you are going to reload centerfire ammo you really need to clean the
cases. For a more professional look to your loaded ammo you should also
polish them. There are several ways to do this. IOSSO makes a kit with a
liquid for the purpose for those who deal in real small quantities and
don’t want to get a tumbler. If you reload a lot thought I’d suggest a
case tumbler and these days that almost automatically means a vibratory
tumbler. I have two I use. The older one is a Midway which is filled
with walnut media with red rouge polish. I use it for the initial
cleaning and polishing of really dirty cases, especially those fired
with cast bullets. The other is a Hornady which I don’t see in their
latest catalog so I’m not sure if it is still in production. In it I
have corn cob media without rouge. When I size a case using the spray
lube which is the only kind I do use, I then toss it in the Hornady
tumbler for the corn cob to remove the lube for me. I end up with good
clean cases that look like new and are easier to load and work with.
I’ll add more later but for now I’ll close by saying that as time rolls
along I seem to try more new products and often find that I like them
even better than some of the old tried and true stuff. Don’t always mean
one is better but it does mean that what I’m using today is what I find
the most favor with right now. You too will no doubt find your
preferences will change from time to time as you try new products or
brands.