How long to make 50 rounds?

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Prof Young

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Out of curiosity I timed how long it takes me to make 50 rounds. I did this with 9mm and 380. Using a turret press I can crank out 50 round in about 18 minutes. And this is at the non-rushed, enjoy the process speed.

The next time I load a taller round I need to time it again. Given my set, up if the brass has any height to it, I have to remove the brass from the press to visually confirm that the powder dropped and is in the brass. This is true for all rifle rounds plus 38 and 357. So the taller rounds will take a touch longer. With 9mm and 380 I can visually inspect the powder without moving the brass.

Life is good
Prof Young
 
To turn 50 pieces fired brass into loaded ammo, it will take me an hour no less.

I trickle each charge to +/-0.02gr. That alone takes more than 20 min. Too expensive to shoot fast, so I slow down to make each round count more.

-TL

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Back when I ran a single stage press, throwing charges, I could load around 50rnds of 9mm in about 20min.

Currently, with primed brass, on my Hornady Lock n load progressive, I can typically turn out around 1000rnds of 9mm in 4hrs comfortably.

Last time I ran a batch of 223, with primed brass, I ran 500 in about 2 1/2 hours.
 
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I never bothered to time my "pace". I load slow enough to make sure I've got powder in my cases, primers are seating correctly and my bullets are getting seated correctly. I load rifle on a single stage press with trays and pistol on a progressive. With the rifle rounds, I've adopted the habit of tumbling sized cases to get the lube off and then making sure my primer pockets are clean before priming. Then when I'm ready to actually load, I just have to drop powder and add a bullet. For pistol I use carbide dies and cleaned cases. When I load a "batch" of pistol ammo I try to load 1000 rounds and then shoot that up over a long period of time. I will test a small batch to make sure the load is good and then crank out the rest for long term use. It may take me a couple of days with breaks to load a "batch", and years to shoot it all up.
 
I'm in no hurry. Never have been. That said . . .

About eight years ago or so, I did a time study on 100 rounds of 357 Mag.

On a progressive press, it timed out to 100 minutes (give or take a few). I don't remember the details, but I do remember that it came out surprisingly close to one minute/round.

If that sounds like a long time, this may be a factor:

Yes, I run a progressive (Dillon 550 BL). But I do case prep and the actual reloading in two discrete steps, with a wet tumble in ss pins in between. I also hand prime and hand charge.

This would take me longer now, in the "case" (pun intended) of 357 and 44 Magnum, because I measure, then trim as needed. I didn't back then.

I've considered doing a time study on .223 Rem. That's more involved if one counts primer pocket swaging, trim/chamfer/deburr, and such. Not to mention that I load 223 on my single-stage. And the going is just slower all-around. I slowly perform the resize (small-base FL) to mitigate the chances of a stuck case. Check every loaded round in a chamber check. It's just a slower process - as one would expect. Probably twice as long - or more.
 
Not counting case prep, but sizing, priming, charging, seating, and crimping any pistol ammo on my Lee Classic Cast Turret it takes me about 45 minutes/100 rounds. I take my time, I’m sure if I’d get in a rhythm and pushed it a little I could do it in about 35 minutes. On my 550 without pushing too hard it takes about 15-20 minutes/100. I’m only loading 9mm on the Dillon, all my .38sp, .357mag, and .41mag gets loaded on the turret.
 
I take as much time as I need to do it right.

I don't see why the actual minutes matter, and why is no one including case prep? If you are doing it, it IS part of the loading process.

I said goodbye to my progressive decades ago, went back to my roots, single stage press, and I work in batches. If you want to count time, count the time spent measuring, cleaning, trimming cases as needed, and the time spent setting up the press, adjusting dies, powder measure, and all the other tools used in your loading process for that production run. For the next run, with no changes, there's nothing to count, but if you change bullet, or powder charge, or anything else you ought to count time spent adjusting your settings. Its ALL part of the process.

I work in batches, and do things as time and my preferences allow. I rarely load ammo from start to finish in a single fired case to loaded round operation.

I will size a quantity of brass in one sitting. Flare case mouths (when needed) in another. Prime in another. the only parts I do in one sitting are charge powder and seat bullets.

Some times the time between me picking up a fired case and turning it back into loaded ammo can be weeks, or months, and I have more than a bit of brass partially prepped that has been sitting around for years. I have bags, boxes and coffee cans and a couple of buckets of brass with various amounts of brass for the around 30 different rifle and pistol rounds I'm able to load for. I'm in no rush.
 
I don't reload pistol, and won't until I get some sort of progressive. 50 rounds of already prepped rifle brass and previously verified data, maybe a half an hour. 50 rounds of load development a couple of hours. Prep 50 rounds of brass and reload I've never really tried.
 
44 AMP

Reason i don't count case prep time is because i do it in large batches and stages over the course of days if not weeks. Its kind of an overlapping running process. Makes it rather difficult to keep track of things.

If i had to guess most people start with sized cleaned brass, or primed brass.
 
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Reason i don't count case prep time is because i do it in large batches and stages over the course of days if not weeks. Its kind of an overlapping running process. Makes it rather difficult to keep track of things.
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This was kind of my point. How long it takes to make 50 rounds depends on where you begin your count.

If i had to guess most people start with sized cleaned brass, or primed brass.
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That may be where people start their "timer" but its not where the reloading process starts.

If all you're going to count is the time it takes you to charge powder and seat bullets, you're starting your count halfway (or more) through the process.

fastest way I know to "make" 50 rounds is go to the store and buy them. Now, do you start your timer when you get in your car to go to the store, or at the front door of the store, or when you take the box to the counter to pay for it ??? :rolleyes:
 
I'm with you, 44AMP. I rarely start from scratch unless I have a special need at the time. After shooting I immediately toss all the cases into the Vib cleaner when I come home. Then they're put into empty Hodgdon powder containers and labeled as "clean." So I have multiple containers of various calibers of "clean" cases waiting to be processed later. When I feel like it, I might just deprime one of the 7 rifle or 7 handgun calibers that I have and mark them "ready to prime. But before I do that with the rifles, I measure the cases and trim, chamfer, and deburr those that need it, then put them back in the tumbler for 20-30 minutes to get the lube off. One night I might just flare the clean handgun cases and reprime. At some point I check my inventory of loaded ammo and pull all the primed cases of a given caliber and load 50-100.

So, as 44AMP stated, at what point should I start counting the time it takes to make a finished round?
 
I usually do revolver brass 100 at time (one box) . Seems like it takes around an hour, but never have timed it. I don't toss brass into the tumbler unless it needs it, which is what ... after 6 or 7 reloads maybe....
 
I really do it in one batch at a time, mostly 20 rounds for rifle and 50 rounds for pistol. That's how much per gun I shoot during each range trip. I clean, prep, size, charge, and seat, with QA stops in between, not necessarily in one go, but it is continuous. From fired brass to loaded ammo, one minute a round sounds right. I probably can cut out 1/4 of the time if I don't trickle charge. Can't afford to do that anymore.

I see myself not a factory but a boutique shop. That's why.

-TL

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"Can't afford to do that anymore."

Is that the left radical, hidden from view, secret to ultimate gun control?
 
I am with most people here in that I break down case prep from the actual loading process. Case in point, (pun intended), .5.56mm Lake City and other mil spec brass is a pain to prep, even using the Frankford Arsenal Platinum case trimmer/chamfer machine. So, whenever I go to the reloading room, the first thing I do is pull 20-30 5.56mm brass, spray them, deprime/resize, trim/chamfer/ream the primer pocket, re prime, then toss in the ready brass baggie. After that I move on to what I really come over to do, but doing that little bit every time means I always have a decent supply of ready brass. I also like to deprime/resize/reprime pistol brass in batches, and then stash away for a lading day. However, one time I did start with dirty .38 Special brass, and from start to finish, counting tumbler time, it was about an hour, maybe a little more, for 50 rounds ready to fire, with my 1981 RCBS RS single stage press. With primed brass 50 rounds of 9mm is about 30 minutes, but I stop in the middle to inspect every single case with a flashlight three times to ensure every single one has it's load of explosive dirt - one squib is all it took for me to incorporate that step!
On the other hand, I love reloading as a relaxing, restful hobby that is both productive and fun.
 
However long it takes is an escape from the political environment that threatens all of our Constitutional rights, including the 2 A.
 
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