Say what?
Well, I can a lot, usually chopped tomatoes and tomato sauce, from produce I grow. I like the better quality. I like saving money. I like the notion of (increased) self-sufficiency. And I like the look on the face of a friend when I give them some heirloom tomatoes this time of year.
And those are all the same reasons why I decided to get back into reloading about a year and a half ago.
OK, I am not an expert at this. Hardly. While I did a lot of reloading back in my high schools days, that was 35 years ago. But I'm not going to write a "how to" diary here, just a "think about this" + resources diary for your consideration.
So, why reload? Well, there are two basic reasons (not mutually exclusive, but there is some trade-off): saving money and having better quality ammo for your shooting sports.
The saving money part can be further split. Yes, you can save 50 - 60% on the typical cost of ammo, depending on what volume you buy your components at (actually the range can be from about 40% to about 75%, but you have to really work to get to either of those numbers). But you can also make sure that you have ammo to shoot when the shelves are otherwise empty during temporary shortages (rather than having to pay a premium for scare ammo.)
And if you're into high-accuracy shooting sports, 'rolling your own' can allow you to get much better ammo with more consistent results than just about anything that comes out of a factory.
So, the basics.
When you reload, you are remanufacturing a cartridge from the brass on up. This process includes the following steps:
- Clean the brass casing.
- Remove the primer.
- Resize the casing and primer hole back to spec.
- Seat a new primer.
- Add measured amount of propellant.
- Seat a bullet to the proper depth.
- Crimp the brass to the bullet to the proper tightness.
Now, you can do all of these things with very simple hand tools designed for the appropriate task, one step at a time. Or you can have a fancy set-up which allows for something akin to factory production, with most of the steps fairly automated, and crank out hundreds of rounds an hour. This is what I meant when I said that there was some trade-off between the two different reasons to reload - using equipment designed for simple hand loading provides the ability for great accuracy, and using equipment designed for rapid production provides for the greatest cost savings (because your time is worth something).
Since I primarily wanted to crank out a bunch of practice ammo, I opted for the latter course, and my set-up includes a five-stage turret press. But you can actually do just fine with a much smaller set-up, such as this portable press or these single-stage presses. If you get everything new, you can spend as little as a couple hundred dollars for a basic set-up to load one cartridge/caliber or several thousand for an elaborate system to handle most commonly available cartridges/calibers. I figure I have about $1200 in my equipment, and that includes the necessary dies to load all the center-fire handgun cartridges/calibers I shoot regularly (.38/357, 9mm, .357 Sig, .44 and .45acp). I could add other cartridges/calibers easily, including any and all center-fire rifle options, for the cost of additional dies (about $40 a set, new).
But couldn't I buy a lot of ammo for that same $1200? Yup. But this equipment should last me the rest of my life (minus some minor maintenance costs) and I can always sell it to recoup some of the cost if I need to. Furthermore, since I also buy my components (powder, primers, bullets) in bulk, this past year when some types of ammo were nowhere to be found I didn't have to limit my shooting at all, or pay through the nose for the few boxes I could find.
So, how do you get started into reloading? Well, if you don't have someone nearby who can serve as a mentor, you can do what most people do and just start reading. Most of the larger gun forums have a section devoted to reloading/handloading, and that's always a good place to start. Get the latest copy of The ABC's of Reloading - generally agreed as the perfect reference for beginners. You'll want to add one or more reloading handbooks (I like this one) which provide the necessary reloading specifications.
Once you've got a feel for the basics, at least in theory, start to consider which strategy you want for your reloading (cost savings or accuracy?) and start to browse appropriate equipment. Pay attention to the things that people say about their likes and dislikes of a given press in the various forums and product reviews. Start to shop around and compare prices. And in the meantime, start saving all your brass from every trip to the range - it won't go bad, and will save you a chunk of money down the line.
One last thing - where to buy equipment and components? Well, your local gun shop or sporting goods place (such as Bass Pro or Cabela's) probably has some stuff, but chances are you'll want to go online for the best deals. I like Midway, but then I live here where they are and can just pop over to pick up my orders. Those forums about reloading will have plenty of other sources, as well as probably some used equipment listed for sale.
Jim Downey
*RKBA is a DKos group of second amendment supporters who also have progressive and liberal values. We don't think that being a liberal means one has to be anti-gun. Some of us are extreme in our second amendment views (no licensing, no restrictions on small arms) and some of us are more moderate (licensing, restrictions on small arms.) Moderate or extreme, we hold one common belief: more gun control equals lost elections. We don't want a repeat of 1994. We are an inclusive group: if you see the Second Amendment as safeguarding our right to keep and bear arms individually, then come join us in our conversation. If you are against the right to keep and bear arms, come join our conversation. We look forward to seeing you.
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