Reloading - The ultimate firearms accessory.

[magman454]

A few of our members have expressed an interest in getting into reloading, so I thought that I would offer them some sage advice. I could write a small book on the subject, and some will say that I have here. I know that I did not cover everything, loading bottleneck rounds for example, but I think I gave you a good introduction.

I know that it can be a bit intimidating. Stories of bad loads blowing up guns or mishaps at the bench that result in huge fireballs are not hard to find. However, just as with negligent discharges, it can almost always be traced to something that the individual did wrong. If you follow basic safety procedures, and have at least a little bit of common sense, you'll be fine. I can tell you from experience that once you take that first step, you will not regret it. To my way of thinking, the facts that it is a hobby that can pay for itself, and gives you the ability to keep shooting even when the stores are out of ammo, are big reasons to get into this little hobby.

A lot of people will tell you that you need an expensive progressive press from Redding, Lyman, or Dillon to get started. Their reasoning is that you'll eventually want to go to a progressive press, and you would be better served buying one up front rather than spending money on tools that you will replace eventually anyway. If you want to load 1,000 rounds in an evening, then they have a point. However, if you are happy with 50 - 200 rounds an hour, then much less costly equipment can be had, and it will produce at least equivalent quality ammo, if not better.

Others will tell you to get a single stage press. Their reasoning is that a progressive press is too complicated to operate for a newbie; that progressive presses don’t produce ammo of the same quality that can be obtained from a single stage press; and that using a single stage press makes you concentrate on each operation. This has the effect of making common mistakes less likely to occur. You also my not like it once you’ve tried it, and will get more of your money back from a single stage press if you decide to get out. I stand somewhere in the middle.

I have been reloading for over a decade now, and every single load has come off of a Lee 4-hole Turret press that costs less than $70.00. I've found loads for my .270 that regularly shoot into 1/2" or less at 100 yards, so quality ammo can be produced on a low rent rig. You can spend more money, and there is nothing wrong with any of the higher priced presses, but Lee products work just as well as the other guys, and they cost less. Kind of like Kel-Tec firearms.

The following are my equipment recommendations for a beginner to reloading. I would consider the top 4 to be necessities. The rest will just make things easier, and loading rounds quicker:

1. The Lee 4-hole Turret Press
2. Lee carbide dies for whatever caliber you wish to load
3. A good electronic powder scale
4. At least one reloading manual
5. Extra turrets for the press for every caliber for which you are loading
6. The Lee Auto Prime XR
7. A set of shell holders for the Auto Prime XR
8. The Lee Perfect Powder Measure

[magman454]

Now for the reasoning behind my recommendations:

The Lee 4-hole turret press can be used as a semi-progressive press, or as a single stage press that does not require that the dies be swapped and adjusted at the beginning of each operation. It also gives you the ability to change turrets, and thus, change calibers in seconds. I have a separate turret for each caliber that I load. The dies are all properly adjusted and, with the possible exceptions of slight adjustments to the seating and crimping dies, never have to be messed with again.

If left as it comes from the factory, the turret automatically advances with each stroke of the lever. With 4 dies in the turret, (Sizing-decapping, Expanding, Seating, and Crimping.) assuming that they have all been properly adjusted, the operation is as follows:

Place the empty brass beneath the Sizing – decapping die. When you run the lever through it’s stroke, the primer is pushed out and the case is properly sized. When you pull the lever back up, the turret automatically rotates to the Expansion die. Place a primer on the priming arm, and push the lever down just enough to move the priming arm into position. Then push the lever up to seat the new primer. Once the primer is seated, measure your powder charge. Push the lever fully down to expand the case mouth. While in the expansion die, pour your powder through the top of the die and into the case. Push the lever fully to the top of it’s stroke, rotating the seating die into position. Place a bullet I position at the top of the case, and push the lever fully downward to seat the bullet. Pull the lever fully up to rotate the crimping die into position. Push the lever fully down to crimp the round. Push the lever all the way up, remove the round from the press, and start all over again. It takes less time to actually do it than it does to read about it. 4 full strokes of the lever, and you have a loaded round.

There are adaptors that allow you to mount a powder measure directly to the expansion die that automatically dump the powder while expanding the case. If you load for more than one caliber: you will either have to remove the powder measure from one expansion die, and mount it to another every time you change calibers; Have powder measures mounted to all of your expansion dies; or bench mount the powder measure, and pour them in with a funnel at the top of the die. I obviously do the latter. Also, there are expansion dies that do not have the ability to pour powder through them, In which case you would have to load the powder directly into the case after expanding the case mouth.

I disabled the auto-indexing feature on my press. My loading procedure is as follows:

Place 50 pieces of used brass in a loading tray to the left of the press. Run each piece through the sizing-decapping die, and move it to an empty loading tray to the right of the press. Once all 50 rounds have been sized and de-primed, I manually rotate the turret to the expansion die. I then run each piece through the expansion die and place them in the tray on the left. Then, from left to right, top to bottom, I load the weighed powder charges into the cases. The next step is to rotate the seating die into position and seat the bullets, moving the cases from the left tray to the right tray as I go. The final step is to rotate the crimping die into position, and crimp the bullets into place as I move them from the tray on the right to the tray on the left. I now have 50 rounds ready to be boxed up.

[magman454]

Not rushing things, I can do this in 45 minutes to an hour. If I’m in a hurry, I can get it done in a half hour. I am sure that once I get the Auto Prime XR and the Perfect Powder measure, will be able to cut that time in half. The Auto Prime tool will handle 100 primers at once, automatically orienting them, and feeding them into the tool for insertion into the cases. No more handling them one at a time. The perfect powder measure is easily adjustable, and can be locked into position once the proper weight of powder is being thrown. No more weighing every charge. Every tenth will suffice.

I use Lee carbide dies for two reasons: 1. They are less expensive than most of the other manufacturer’s dies. 2. Carbide dies, in everything but bottleneck cases, allow you to size the cases without the need to lube them first.

A quick side note about dies: Although most bullet seating dies also have a provision for crimping the bullet at the same time it is seated, I find it easier to use a separate die for crimping. It is a bit of a pain to get both operations in the same die adjusted properly. If you are only loading one bullet weight or type, that is fine. Once it is adjusted, it does not need to change. But if you change bullet weight, or go from a 200 gr. JHP to a 200gr. Semi-wad cutter, you will need to change both the seating depth and the crimp. I just find it easier to adjust two different dies. Also, while not all rounds even call for a crimp (.45 ACP, for example), I crimp all of my rounds, as it makes them less susceptible to set-back while chambering. It also may help in uniform combustion of the powder, but I have no proof of that.

A good electronic scale is invaluable. Precise weight measurements are a necessity for being a safe reloader. You will be measuring down to a tenth of a grain for your powder measurements. They also come in handy for checking bullet weights and for checking your loaded ammo for missed or double charges. A balance beam scale will do just as good a job, but takes up to ten times as long to use.

Reputable loading data is readily available on the web. Don’t use any recipes that you might find here or on other gun forums without first checking them out. Most powder and bullet manufacturers have recipes for their products available on their sites. Let’s say you are using Speer bullets and Hogdon powder. There are plenty of recipes on those sites for you to try that have been tested for compliance with SAMMI specifications for the round for which you are loading. By the way, I’ve found that I usually get the best accuracy from loads that are about 3% to 5% below the listed maximums.

That being said, I do have the 13th edition of the Speer reloading manual on my bench. There are several reloading manuals available, and no one is really any better than the others. You can even make one yourself by printing the pages from the manufacturer’s web sites, and putting them in a notebook. Since I don’t have a computer at my loading bench, it is a quicker reference in the heat of the moment. It also works weather or not the power is out, or the FIOS is down. Finally, I take it with me to the gun shows when I’m looking for powder. They don’t always have what I have been using, and that gives me a way to see if what they do have will suit my needs.

Other items such as tumblers or vibrators and media separators can be added as you develop a need or desire for them.

I hope that I haven’t bored you too much. For those that are interested, please feel free to ask me any questions that you may have. I don’t know everything, my fiancé will readily tell you that, but I can usually at least point you in the right direction.

[pocketgun]

Excellent article magman! I think there is a lot of confusion trying to use something as complicated as a Dillon 550 as a total newb, and thus the idea that the single stage press is a good idea. But the turret press isn't really anymore complicated with the auto-indexing off, and might actually be simpler due to the dies not needing to be adjusted each time (as they would with a single stage.)

How do you clean your brass without a tumbler?

[magman454]

I am not what anyone would consider a high volume reloader. I only load about 100 - 1,000 rounds a year, depending on how often I get to the range. Most of my pistol shooting is at an indoor range where the brass lands on a relatively clean floor, and my rifle rounds never even touch the bench since I only have a bolt action at the moment. The brass does not have to be spotless to reload it if you are using Carbide dies, and since I am not a Benchrest competitor, I am not very worried about making the inside of the brass shiny. They work just fine with the carbon on the inside. I do have to clean them every now and then, and eventually I probably will get a vibrator or tumbler, but for now I use the method below.

I also have a Lee Load all on which I reload 12 Gauge shotgun shells. The shot that I used to get came in a burlap bag that had a plastic bag inside of it. I pulled the plastic bag out of the burlap bag, and use it as a sort of redneck tumbler. I dump a handful of brass inside the burlap bag, squirt a little Flitz Liquid Metal Polish on the brass, and shake the Hell out of it. After a couple of minutes of that, I dump the brass onto a cotton towel, fold the towel into a sack, and shake that. That procedure gets the brass mostly clean, and gets most of the excess polish off the brass. I will then let that brass sit overnight or until I am ready to load it. That allows any residual polish time to dry out. One more time shaking them in a clean towel is usually enough to complete the process.

If there is anything that is more difficult to remove, I will spray that piece of brass with electrical contact cleaner, and rub it with a cotton cloth. The contact cleaner dries without leaving a residue.

I use the same method to lube my .270 brass before reloading, with a little twist. I spray the inside of the bag with Rem Oil before putting the brass inside. Shaking it for a minute or two lubes the outside of the cases, without getting it inside. To remove the lube after sizing, I use the towel method mentioned above, but before I shake them, I spray them down with the contact cleaner.

The bags and towels can be washed in the washing machine to get them clean when the time comes.

[Preacher Fred]

buy a Lee loader and get started. When your wife hears all the racket as you hammer cases into the dies etc. She will gladly let you buy the rest. When I started my dealer let me trade in my Lee Loaders for new stuff at full price - He knew it would start someone else on the road to buying more and more from him.

[mr surveyor]

actually, I have been intending to buy 2-3 Lee Loaders, along with a scale, bullet puller, tumbler and a few other necessaries for several years. Since it's all such a compact set up, I could keep everything in a small case. I'm not planning to go large volume without a completely dedicated, temperature/humidity controlled work space that can be left ready to work with. So, the Lee Loaders would be fine for small volume .357 mag, .243, 30-30, etc. since I don't plan to do 9mm, .40 or .45 without the capability of large volume. Having seen several videos on the Lee Loader showing 50 rounds completed in less than an hour, I could do that until I forced myself to take on mrs surv about the conversion of our "spare bedroom" into a reloading room

[Preacher Fred]

Actually the Lee Loader is all you need to get started. Using the included dipper you can do all right if you are not into experimenting. Having a good set of scales is needful if you want to experiment. The rest of the stuff can come as you get rolling.

I went from Lee loaders to a Lee turret to a rock chucher and then to a dillon, adding scales, tumbler, bullet molds, lubrasizer, etc. as I went along. I would have real problems with Mrs if it had all been purchased the same year, much less at the same time.

[argo]

Thanks magman! you make it sound like I can do this thing!

Surv mentioned Humidity, How important is that to control? My only available space is in my unheated work shop and I live in Northern Michigan!

[mr surveyor]

I have a couple of buddies that are pretty rabid reloaders that try to keep the humidity down in their reloading rooms as we are in East Texas, where 70% humidity as the norm, 50% feels dry, and 90% is just another day. I imagine Magman has the same thing in Florida though.

What's y'alls take on the humidity issue Magman and Preacher Fred?