Ammo Reloading Thread

[Lieutenant Rasczak]

In this thread. We discuss ammo reloading. For those who aren't familiar with the subject, here's a basic guide.

 

[Obeah Mon]

I live in Las Vegas, in the past you wouldnt believe how much brass was left in the desert. During Obama, i went out every other day collecting brass and lead for exercise. I reloaded or cast bullets almost every day. I was laughed at for being cheap , but I have a fuckton of ammo while they have a box of Wolf. Plus if you have any friends you can create an assembly line.

 

[Mutley]

A couple of good programs for reloading (you can find copies on the internet) are :

Quickload - Been using this for years and its clunky and with an average interface but it works for internal ballistics to get an ideas of how your load will perform before loading up a few rounds and doing a ladder test

Gordons Reloading Tools (GRT) - Haven't played with it to much but its a free alternative to quickload

 

[Cactus Nibba]

Warning - reloading is something you shouldn't try to half-ass or cut corners on. Make sure you're sober and paying close attention to what you're doing, or you'll turn your handgun into a hand grenade.

P.S. Thanks for the thread I planned on making one if it didn't already exist lol

I live in constant fear of squibs

 

[WhoBusTank69]

Warning - reloading is something you shouldn't try to half-ass or cut corners on. Make sure you're sober and paying close attention to what you're doing, or you'll turn your handgun into a hand grenade.

This, it's an offshoot of chemistry. While there is some room for error, it is not great depending on the ingredients used and which recipe you're following for what ammunition. There are many different kinds of powders and not understanding their intended use can be catastrophic. Adjusting your loads should be done very, very gradually and slowly, as large adjustments can cause a spike or drop in pressure. Poor quality primers can also fuck you, so make sure you read reviews and reviews that don't out themselves as user-error.

To begin I would recommend a Lee Loader kit that's fairly inexpensive and forces you to pay attention. Purchase an up-to-date manual, do not look up handloading recipes from 20 year old forum posts.

Understand the concept of what you're doing before you move on to proper equipment that costs hundreds of dollars.

 

[Apis Mellifica]

It's staggering how many stories I've heard of old timers around here fucking around when reloading, mixing powders subbing pistol powders in rifle cases, all kinds of crazy shit. The worst I've heard was from a guy who took his father's .30-06 and reloaded it with a compressed load of half pistol and half rifle powder. He told me it burst the case to shit and he had to mortar the gun open with a mallet, so naturally he loaded up twenty more like it and fired them all in sequence. Somehow he didn't die or even have the gun blow up on him.

 

[Crisis Instigator]

Warning - reloading is something you shouldn't try to half-ass or cut corners on. Make sure you're sober and paying close attention to what you're doing, or you'll turn your handgun into a hand grenade.

P.S. Thanks for the thread I planned on making one if it didn't already exist lol

I live in constant fear of squibs

I to am always fearful of that. I've got a bunch of 308 for my M1 and even though I triple checked everything is perfect I'm still leary about using them.

Also for anyone who wants well defined case specs just Google the round in question along with SAAMI specs. They have very detailed measurements.

 

[Ghost of Biden]

>if the brass hit the ground it’s mine.

How the fuck did he get away with theft for so long?

 

[Pure Autism]

Some resources for reloading:

ABCs Of Reloading
Modern Reloading
Lyman Reloading Handbook
Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook
Cartridges Of The World
The Complete Reloading Manual For The 308 Winchester
The Complete Reloading Manual For The 243 Winchester
The Complete Reloading Manual For The 45 Colt

 

[Club Sandwich]

buy a decent caliper for measuring things (mitutoyo or starrett or mahr) and to make life easy, a digital caliper is easier to read but requires batteries while a dial caliper can be more precise and needs no batteries and is sometimes cheaper than the digital ones. brass trimmers generally don't need sharpening but should be inspected for chips/burrs sometimes. a de-capping tool and a few silicone mats are super handy too. i also have a little cheap dustbuster thing to clean up the reloading bench area every few months to avoid any loose powder, but a synthetic wide paint brush works just as well. i like to also keep a lidded disposal bin explicitly for reloading waste so it's separated from normal trash.

lastly, it's easier and cheaper to dump a suspect charge, or pull a bullet and re-do than fix a busted gun or a missing finger/hand. measure and be sure - any doubt and just do-over.

while it's possible to mix powders, it's strongly not recommended unless you know what you're doing and even then it's not recommended. people have been injured or killed with duplex loads.

 

[Cactus Nibba]

It's staggering how many stories I've heard of old timers around here fucking around when reloading, mixing powders subbing pistol powders in rifle cases, all kinds of crazy shit. The worst I've heard was from a guy who took his father's .30-06 and reloaded it with a compressed load of half pistol and half rifle powder. He told me it burst the case to shit and he had to mortar the gun open with a mallet, so naturally he loaded up twenty more like it and fired them all in sequence. Somehow he didn't die or even have the gun blow up on him.

My grandfather spent a couple hours most evenings reloading while watching TV and smoking. He died of cancer in his 80's, and I'm forced to conclude he had divine protection.

This, it's an offshoot of chemistry. While there is some room for error, it is not great depending on the ingredients used and which recipe you're following for what ammunition. There are many different kinds of powders and not understanding their intended use can be catastrophic. Adjusting your loads should be done very, very gradually and slowly, as large adjustments can cause a spike or drop in pressure. Poor quality primers can also fuck you, so make sure you read reviews and reviews that don't out themselves as user-error.

To begin I would recommend a Lee Loader kit that's fairly inexpensive and forces you to pay attention. Purchase an up-to-date manual, do not look up handloading recipes from 20 year old forum posts.
View attachment 6150095
Understand the concept of what you're doing before you move on to proper equipment that costs hundreds of dollars.

Seconded. Don't buy something like a progressive loading press until you're comfortable doing each step in the process by hand. Most of my equipment is from Lee.

I live in Las Vegas, in the past you wouldnt believe how much brass was left in the desert. During Obama, i went out every other day collecting brass and lead for exercise. I reloaded or cast bullets almost every day. I was laughed at for being cheap , but I have a fuckton of ammo while they have a box of Wolf. Plus if you have any friends you can create an assembly line.

I swipe a lot of brass from my local indoor ranges. I also try to buy once-fired military brass because it's usually cheaper than new cases.

buy a decent caliper for measuring things (mitutoyo or starrett or mahr) and to make life easy, a digital caliper is easier to read but requires barries while a dial caliper can be more precise and needs no batteries and is sometimes cheaper than the digital ones. brass trimmers generally don't need sharpening but should be inspected for chips/burrs sometimes. a decapping tool and a few silicone mats are super handy too. i also have a little cheap dustbuster thing to clean up the reloading bench area every few months to avoid any loose powder, but a synthetic wide paint brush works just as well. i like to also keep a lidded disposal bin explicitly for reloading waste so it's separated from normal trash.

lastly, it's easier and cheaper to dump a suspect charge, or pull a bullet and re-do than fix a busted gun or a missing finger/hand. measure and be sure - any doubt and just do-over.

while it's possible to mix powders, it's strongly not recommended unless you know what you're doing and even then it's not recommended. people have been injured or killed with duplex loads.

Good equipment advice.

On the subject of dumping a suspect charge, you should also be checking your work frequently at every step. I check every round for something when it's reasonable to do so, and at minimum I do quality control every 15 rounds. Might be overkill, but I haven't blown up yet lmao

If you need to ask for help mixing duplex loads, you shouldn't be mixing duplex loads. IMO you shouldn't even consider trying it unless you're a professional organic chemist. You stand to gain almost nothing by mixing the powders - just use a different product or adjust the amount.

Also for anyone who wants well defined case specs just Google the round in question along with SAAMI specs. They have very detailed measurements.

You can buy a block cut to the exact size (within VERY tight tolerances) as the official ammo standard to check your loads against. I bought a 9mm one after an issue with setting my bullets deep enough.

 

[Obeah Mon]

A Lee powder dipper kit is very handy. say you want a 5 gr load, use the dipper for 5 grains, dump it in you powder measure, run up the piston finger tight. now your close to your load and just have to fine adjust. And fuck Lee presses & powder measures. get a used 60's Saeco of ebay..precision ground cast iron by Union labor at its peak. I used to collect & sell powder measures.

 

[412-L]

I can heartily recommend the Garmin Xero if anyone is looking for a chronograph. I use it to check the velocities of my hand loads for an antique revolver. It's very easy to use and well-built. It is a bit pricey, but it is cheaper than damaging my gun or injuring myself.

 

[hog cranking frog]

Lee's latest progressive press is pretty cool. Six stations, you can get all the trimmings like a powder cop and auto bullet feed on that thing.

For shotshell, Mec. Got an old one from the late 70s(?) called Mec up, they sent me parts to fix it, built like a tank.

Primers seem to be coming down in price.

 

[LeroyJenkem]

It starts with buying a single stage to load up cheaper range ammo, then you end up with multiple casting furnaces, a powder coating setup, and all the fixins to do Aardvark Reloading primer recipes. Your friends just assume you need brass so you end up with totes of it by the bench. You end up with a bookshelf full of dies and manuals and hundreds of pounds of powder and thousands upon thousands of primers. You end up sinking thousands of dollars on a better press, brass prep stuff and digital powder dispensers. You start wondering if getting a bullet swage is worth the investment. You end up retarded from all the lead exposure. 10/10, it's a great hobby to get into

 

[Rekeita's Kidneys]

Any of y'all fuck with some of the 3d printable presses? I'm assuming they use Lee dies and shit etc

Also here is a very comfy reloading YT channel https://www.youtube.com/@FortuneCookie45LC

 

[TheOtherSideofMakeBelieve]

Anyone ever bought powder online? I've got my dad's old reloading charts that I want to keep using but I haven't been able to locally source the pistol powder that he used in several years at this point. It's available online at a reasonable price but I don't want to order several bottles of it and find out that they need to be shipped individually and each one gets a $200 hazardous material label or something and the websites don't have any shipping information listed even at checkout and they don't respond to emails either

 

[F-14 Tomcat]

To begin I would recommend a Lee Loader kit that's fairly inexpensive and forces you to pay attention. Purchase an up-to-date manual, do not look up handloading recipes from 20 year old forum posts.

These things kind of blow. They require far more effort and time than a single stage press while not saving *that* much money in the grand scheme of things. In my opinion they only make sense if you don't have a table sturdy enough to mount a press to. I'd recommend the next step up from Lee, their Challenger breech lock press.

This thing here was churning out match quality 6.5CM and surprisingly accurate 5.56 for about 2 years before I stepped up to a multi stage press recently.

Anyone ever bought powder online? I've got my dad's old reloading charts that I want to keep using but I haven't been able to locally source the pistol powder that he used in several years at this point. It's available online at a reasonable price but I don't want to order several bottles of it and find out that they need to be shipped individually and each one gets a $200 hazardous material label or something and the websites don't have any shipping information listed even at checkout and they don't respond to emails either

Buying powder online is fine if you're willing to accept HAZMAT charges. Every retailer I've bought from will ship in bulk and only charge you for shipping once. That being said, there's a ton of scam websites out there and it sounds like you ran across one. Look up multiple reviews of each website you buy from.

 

[MrB]

Buying powder online is fine if you're willing to accept HAZMAT charges. Every retailer I've bought from will ship in bulk and only charge you for shipping once. That being said, there's a ton of scam websites out there and it sounds like you ran across one. Look up multiple reviews of each website you buy from.

Plenty of online retailers run free HAZMAT fee promotions. Midway was running one just last week, Powder Valley does regularly.

 

[TheOtherSideofMakeBelieve]

Good to know, thanks. Any other sites you guys recommend, and kind of a ballpark estimate of how much the hazmat charges tend to run, or does it vary by weight? I've got a neighbor who made copies of my dad's charts as well and I know he wants several bottles too. If it's just a single, flat charge I'm sure he'd wanna order some with me so if we can save by ordering 10-12 bottles at once I know he'd take the opportunity

I'll keep an eye on Midway and Powder Valley. If they can afford to run free promos I imagine it's not prohibitively expensive