So, you’ve decided that reloading your own ammo may be what you need to shoot more rounds, for less money? But will you have better ammo than what the factory can provide? Well, certainly, you can have a better variety of bullets than the factory can provide. And, no doubt, you can assemble that ammo for less money. Will the ammo be better than the factory can make? I’m not so sure any more, and I have been reloading for a long time. Some factory ammo will shoot really well, depending on caliber, load, and the firearm you intend to shoot it in. Factory ammo seems to be getting better all the time and the price seems to be coming down as well. But if you are like me and countless others, and want to shoot different bullets; try other combinations of loads to find what works better (maybe); have a need for a lot of ammo for competition; or eventually want to try some of those wildcats that have so much appeal; then reloading your own ammunition is the only way you will be able to do this.
To better understand the process you are about to undertake, is what this article is about. Many find reloading a most enjoyable hobby of and by itself. I will only touch on the basics of reloading here, as there will be more to it as experience and progress dictate. What follows is information on producing ammunition, similar to what the factories would produce; more information on bench rest techniques and wildcats will be found in more detailed publications. For those that already reload, maybe I can touch on some things that we do, as refresher info, for what we like to do to enhance our shooting interests.
First and foremost, get an understanding of what you are about to do and why. Having a mature attitude for what you are about to undertake, is paramount. One would not start to drive a car, without first finding out how and what makes the car do what it does. So it goes with reloading; know the steps it takes to making good, quality and safe ammunition for whatever firearm you are going to load for. The following may not be all there is to this enjoyable pastime, but the basics are, well, basic. And after a while, you will find what works best for you by modifying or adding things that get the results that you want without compromising the end result—quality and safe ammunition. And if you are not sure about something along the way, stop what you are doing and ask questions. The people here on Specialty Pistols are mighty fine folks and will share their knowledge of reloading, I’m certain. And there is no such thing as a dumb question—only dumb answers.
The first thing you should do is purchase (or borrow from someone who reloads), a good reloading manual. This manual will have a multitude of information and should be read several times to fully understand your first steps in reloading. Lyman, Speer, Sierra, Hornady, Accurate, Hodgdon and Nosler all have manuals that provide a place to start. The manual also has the ‘data’ required to load any number of standard calibers as well as a few you may never use. Follow this recipe exactly as stated in the manual with the same components, and if any component is changed, reduce powder charge by 10%, and work back up again.
As experience is gained, a more thorough understanding of this process will become evident. Taking the NRA Basic Reloading Course should not be overlooked as a means of getting hands-on experience with certain equipment used in reloading as well as having a fully qualified individual show and tell you how to use this equipment in a safe manner; also to answer any questions you may have pursuing this hobby. The Varmint Hunters Association and Midway USA have a 2 volume video on reloading featuring Jim Carmichael, noted firearm authority; and Sierra Bullets produces a 2 volume video on reloading, one for rifles and one for pistols.
In lieu of that, I will try to touch on the high points of reloading, so if one wants to further pursue this most enjoyable hobby, one may do so with at least a bit of knowledge to go to a place that sells various items for reloading.
Next on the list: a good reloading press in which the dies are installed; a set of dies and shell holder for the particular caliber one wishes to load for; a reloading scale that is accurate to 1/10th grain; 6” capacity dial calipers to read to .001”, to check case lengths, overall lengths, bullet diameters and a host of other things that need measured; a case trimmer to make sure your cases do not get too long; cartridge blocks to hold cases and loaded rounds; powder trickler or dribbler; powder funnel; case mouth de-burring tool; case neck brush and primer pocket brush; case lube pad and case lube (unless carbide dies are used for pistol cases, then not necessary); priming tool……and this is just the beginning.
Depending on what discipline is pursued, in shooting, will depend on what other equipment may be needed. For example: bench rest shooting. More equipment and better components are used and costs pretty much go out the window in pursuit of that one-hole group. If one looks around at gun shows, various ads in thrift papers, talking to others in this hobby, various gun shops that have equipment and such, one should be able to find all these items for $300 or less. Sometimes, a lot less. But if you have some money to invest, buy the best you can afford, because these items will last nearly a lifetime. I have a press I’m still using, and I bought it in 1970; and some of my dies are nearly as old. If you maintain this equipment, it will serve your needs for many years. RCBS, Lyman, Hornady, Redding, Forster and Lee are companies that make all the above equipment and for various prices. Upon looking at what is available from whom and at what cost, one can determine which would be best for your wallet and pursuit. Other tools, such as a case tumbler and media, can be purchased later. RCBS makes a real fine case prep center that makes case preparation a lot simpler chore as well.
A suitable area to pursue this hobby, along with a somewhat heavier table or bench of a comfortable height, will go a long way to making your reloading experience a most enjoyable one. The table in your kitchen may be a place to start, but if you are married with children, the lady of the house will no doubt frown on this newfound hobby of yours. The National Reloading Manufacturers Association, NRMA.com., has more information on building your own bench. Have an area that you can be in that is quiet and somewhat private, with few distractions. A spare room, in the home or in the garage, is a likely candidate. Better still is an area that can be secured or locked so that only you can have access. Powder and primers used in reloading should be secured, when you are not around, along with your reloaded ammo. And by all means, do not smoke while reloading. Put up NO SMOKING signs in your area. One should wear safety glasses anytime you are reloading. Powder is a flammable solid and primers can be detonated with heat or compression. Having food and drinks near where you reload, is not a good idea and may detract/distract you from what you are doing and should be limited so you may concentrate on what you are about to do. You may even want to limit or not allow anyone in this area.
By now, I’ll bet you’re thinking this seems like a lot to do, to make ammunition. Well, yes it is. There are a lot of details involved here. Making each round like the previous round-uniformly- is the main focus. And you should want to make sure it’s done correctly AND safely. Reloading ammunition can be a most enjoyable hobby, of and by itself, yet needs to be done in a safe and sane manner.
Now that you have your bench in an area to work from, mount the press as suggested by the manufacturer and install the sizing die accordingly. Different die companies make the dies somewhat differently, so follow the instructions with your die set. The shell holder will generally work with a variety of presses, but to save confusion, buy the shell holder from the press/die maker. Arrange your case blocks around the press/bench area to make the flow of cases from one operation to another flow smoothly.
If you start out with new cases, inspect them to be sure the necks are fairly round; the flash hole is fully formed; the case is fully formed and the overall aspect of the cases are suitable to load. Use a center punch or nail punch, to re-form an out of round case mouth by inserting the punch into the neck (the shank is tapered) and moving it side to side, or use some other tapered shaft that will go into the neck of the case. For flash holes that are not fully formed, a flash-hole uniformer tool, is very useful. It also cleans the flashed brass that is left on the inside of the case at the flash hole, after the factory has punched it. And for no flash hole (hey it happens), a .081 drill, to drill one centered in the primer pocket. Then use the flash-hole uniformer tool. A primer pocket uniformer tool is also useful, at times, to make sure the depth of the primer pocket is not too shallow and square up the sides of the hole. For cases that are not fully formed, toss them in a small bucket, after crushing the neck with pliers, to further eliminate the possibility of ever using this brass. After awhile, in reloading, one may accumulate enough to take to a scrap dealer to sell.
If you start with once fired brass, the procedure is somewhat different. Inspect cases as with new, but now what you are looking for is dented necks, non-rounded case mouths along with splits in cases as well as primer gas escapes. Looking at your fired brass can reveal a lot about the condition of your firearm as well. Most likely you will find that all you have to deal with is powder residue left on the necks, assuming the ammo shot was factory rounds. If you have not purchased a case tumbler yet, cleaning the case neck of the powder residue on the outside with 4/0 steel wool, and the inside of the neck with a few brisk strokes with the proper caliber brush, is all that can be done for now.
The next step, before sizing, is to apply some lubrication to your cases unless you are using carbide dies for that straight wall case. Most bottle necked case dies are not carbide, and quite a few straight wall case dies are not either. Without this lubrication, you will most likely end up with a stuck case in the size die, and it will be some time before you get it back from the manufacturer to use again. Don’t forget to lube your cases! If you haven’t lubed your cases by the spray method (one can opt for one of the many spray lubes and a different case block), roll a case on the lube pad that has been saturated with case lube, to pick up enough lube on the outside of the case, but not too much, to allow sizing die to do its work, and, if you prefer, use a q-tip to apply a little lube to the inside of the case neck. I normally push the case neck into the lube pad, to pick up a little lube that way. Another method used, is powdered white graphite or mica applied to the inside of case necks, to allow the inside neck sizer, in sizer die, a smooth transition out of the case mouth. Try not to allow too much lube on the case in the shoulder area, or you will put a dent in the case after running it up into the sizer die. After allowing some lube inside case neck, I rub excess lube on the outside of the neck around with my fingers, so excess won’t flow toward shoulder when pushing case into sizer die with up stoke on press. Place case in shell holder after lubing. I have a rag handy at the same time to rub lube off my fingers, before sizing case. (The spray method is simpler, and less messy, but I found one has to work with it a bit, just as with pad lubing, to find out how much lube to spray on. I’ve found the spray method also costs more.) Now, push handle down on press to allow ram to push case into sizer die. This is where you will appreciate the heavy bench/table. At the point of full up stroke, if the case has a fired primer in it, the spent primer will pop out with a ‘chink’, otherwise, primer punch will have to be adjusted. Don’t go too far with punch; just enough to punch primer out. Now, withdraw case (raise press handle), to allow inside neck sizer, to size inside of neck. At the bottom of ram stroke, up stoke of handle, remove case from shell holder, and place case in load block on opposite side of press. Now, repeat this entire process for however many cases, you have.
After case sizing, use a clean rag or paper towel, and wipe off excess case lube from the outside of your cases. Use a clean q-tip to remove the small amount of lube that may be on the inside of case necks. Another way is to use a clean neck brush to do that chore, and clean brush every 5 cases or so with carb cleaner or some other similar solvent such as starting fluid. Just remember these solvents are extremely flammable, and doing that outside with plenty of ventilation is best.
The next operation is to clean primer pockets (if once fired) of primer/powder residue. I use the RCBS primer pocket cleaner in my case prep center, although the brush can be attached to a handle and used that way. Other types and styles are available from different manufacturers.
With that done, it’s time to check case length, to find out if they are too long (this should be done with new cases as well as every time after firing). Check your loading manual to find out what the trim-to-length should be, and use your calipers to find out, within one-thousandth of an inch, what yours measure. Check several to get an idea what that length is. Once fired cases generally do not require trimming, but check them anyway. New cases should be uniformed to the trim-to-length dimension found in the loading manual (a few thousandths shorter than that dimension is still ok). Trimming needs to be done to eliminate any cases being too long to fit into the chamber of your firearm and also to make them the same length. Some cases that would be overly long, could create an over pressure condition in your firearm when the round is fired. That is something we want to prevent with the checking and trimming of cases. After trimming, de-burr the inside and outside of the case mouth, by putting a slight chamfer there. Don’t get carried away here. We don’t need a sharp edge on that case mouth.
The next step is to put a primer in the empty case, with the correct primer for what you are going to load. Follow the ‘recipe’ for your load that you want to make from the data in your manual. I use a hand held priming tool made by RCBS (others make a similar tool). I like the RCBS tool because it uses the same shell holders as the press and I can feel the primer go to the bottom of the primer pocket easier than using the primer arm on the press set-up. This primer-seating tool has both small and large primer feeds and punches as well. Seat primers in all cases at this time. And check as you go, that each primer is somewhat below flush with the bottom of the case.
Powder is the next consideration here. Again, check your manual for the correct amount of the given powder for the load you want to make and have this powder the only powder on the bench at this time. To get the correct amount of powder in the case, the scale needs to be set up and calibrated, then set for the amount you wish to load. It helps if you can put the scale at eye level to better read the divisions on it. An electronic scale is available, but the cost is something to consider. Pick a starting load amount here and as you get familiar with reloading and experience dictates what to do, you can proceed differently. I use a small spoon, initially, to put a smaller amount of powder in the scale pan. Then I use the powder dribbler, or trickler, to bring the amount in the pan up to where I want it to be on the scale. I then place the powder funnel over the case mouth and take the scale pan with the correct amount of powder in it, and allow the powder from the pan to flow into the case. Watch how each case gets powder and, if the charge is small, don’t double charge a case with powder. That would result in some catastrophic actions; to seat a bullet then fire such a load in your gun. The gun could possibly be destroyed, or you may be severely injured or killed with such an oversight! Pay attention to all the details and everything will be ok. Fill all cases with the correct charge at this time, and place them back into the loading block. Others, that I’ve read about, seat a bullet immediately after charging a case with powder, to prevent the above action. If that’s what works for you, then by all means follow that procedure. Of course, one can also set up a powder measure to throw the correct amount of powder in each case, also. Just remember to check the weight of your charges every 10 rounds or so, to make sure the measure is dispensing properly. It won’t take long, after loading a while, to invest in a powder measure. Although you could get along quite nicely without one, the convenience factor will prove it’s worth in the long run, especially if you load a number of rounds. An auto powder measure, using digital technology is available, but costs will prevail.
Next on the agenda for assembling those rounds, is seating a bullet. Remove the sizing die from your press and install the seating die. Again, follow the instructions of the die maker and proceed from there. I would set the die not to crimp a bullet at first. You can always set the die to do a separate crimp. Place a case with the correct powder charge and primer in the shell holder and hold a bullet just above the case mouth. Raise the press ram until the bullet just enters the die, then, let go of the bullet. The case entering the die will continue to push bullet upwards, until the bullet punch touches bullet and then forces it into case with continued ram pressure as you further push press handle down. You should have followed die set-up procedure and backed off on seating stem, so as not to push bullet too far into case. After bullet enters case, stop and see how far the bullet has been pushed into the case. Measure this overall length several times as the bullet is pushed farther into case. And stop when the overall length matches the amount in the load manual. If you have had to adjust the seating stem down each time, to seat bullet further into case, with full stroke on ram, replace the fully loaded round back into press in shell holder, and bring ram up to full stroke again. Tighten the nut on seating stem, to maintain this length, for the rest of the rounds you have to put a bullet in. Check overall length, as you seat bullets in the balance of the cases, and place them in the opposite loading block.
At this time, you have to ask yourself—do I need to crimp the bullets in these rounds? You have a few things to consider here. Generally speaking, all pistol and revolver rounds should be crimped, either from, a recoil stand point or the way the round gets chambered. All rounds for single shot actions need not be crimped; rounds that are put in a bolt gun singly need not be crimped; rounds put in lightly recoiling, magazine bolt guns, say from 6mm and smaller calibers, need not be crimped; definitely crimp, if rounds are to go in a tubular magazine lever action (do not use spitzer-type bullets here as well, due to pointed bullets lining up with primer of round on top) or any semi-auto rifle action. The combination of action type and caliber generally determine whether a round should be crimped.
Now, getting back to our rounds that just had the bullet seated. Adjust the die according to the maker for putting a crimp on that bullet, if desired. Adjust the seating stem out to where it is not touching the bullet, but the body of the die being screwed down will touch the case. Adjust a bit further, and note how the crimp is forming on the case, with an upstroke of the ram of press. Not all rifle bullets have a crimp groove, and those rounds for a semi-auto pistol usually receive a taper crimp on their bullets, which do not have a crimp groove. Most always you will find a crimp groove on a revolver bullet, and if not, a slight crimp can be used on those usually over the ogive. You will be able to tell by how the die is crimping the case with the amount of pressure that is exerted on the ram, how much crimp is enough. Also, looking at the case, will tell about the crimp. If crimped too much, round may not be able to chamber because the case has bulged at the crimp point. It’s a good idea to check overall length again after crimping, because the bullet may move some with the crimping operation, and you should find out why. Cast bullet lube may collect in seat die and allow bullet to be pushed further into case.
Ok, now what do you do with those loaded rounds?, you may ask. The rounds should be put into a sturdy ammo box, not the factory ones, as they, by now, are worthless. I buy the plastic ammo boxes from Midway, USA, or use the MTM case guard boxes. And there are others sold by Cabelas, Bass Pro and Berry’s. And on this box should be placed a permanent label, marked in pencil, showing: caliber, bullet weight, powder charge, primer, case, case length, overall length, times loaded and date with a lot number, if you want to take it that far. Have the necessary info on this label to fully identify those reloads! You have taken it this far with all this time and effort,failure to identify these loads or commit all this information to memory, is just asking for trouble. Never commit any of these things to memory or chance. Always identify the ammo you are about to shoot; it will make you a better reloader and will allow you to make adjustments to loads as you proceed further with this new hobby of yours.
One other thing you will eventually do is keep a journal of some sort (mine is a 3-ring binder with more space for more info) to keep track of your ammo as it is shot and note how well it does in your guns. Some even keep a journal for every firearm they reload for. You may eventually get a chronograph to find out, among other things, what velocity your ammo is shooting. And with these other data sheets, you may want to write the temperature down; what the wind was like the day you shot; relative humidity; barometric pressure and other pertinent aspects of shooting YOUR ammo. There’s a lot to be said for bagging game or shooting really tiny groups with ammo you loaded yourself. And it can be a lot of fun. I hope you do it safely.