Great hobby, Mozella is taking it to the max. I do uniform my primer pockets & changed my brass cleaning to wet tumbling with stainless steel pins. Never sorted or measured primers or polished the inside of my cases. That's why I can't always get a 5 shot one hole group, just gave me another excuse.
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Happy 4th what irritates you the most about reloading
- Thread starter mrdaputer
- Start date
How to Start
That is very easy to answer (and THANK YOU for asking!):
Buy either the Lyman manual (any edition - no need for the 50th, just pick up the 49th for cheap) or Richard Lee's Modern Reloading (my favorite - has info others do not, but you do need the most current reprint of the second edition, it has changed a fair amount - just make sure the cover shows a yellow medallion touting the updated information), and READ all of the text in the book up to the beginning of the load data. Read ALL of it, even chapters that you think may not apply to you - there is much to learn that will help you understand what you do not know that you do not know, thus allowing you to spot areas that need more research in the future.
Any book by a company that also sells equipment will also try to convince you that their equipment is the best - ignore all of that at first - just read and absorb the history and concepts, and especially the cautions. Once you have done that, you will already know at least as much as 50% of the people who post on here (and quite a bit more than some!).
At that point you can begin posting intelligent questions about what equipment some people prefer and why, and your new-found knowledge will quickly allow you to sort the bonehead answers from the ones worth considering. From that point on, you can pretty much go full speed ahead. Buy good equipment, but realize that overpriced stuff in no way means that it is one bit better than other main-stream brands. When comparing one option to another, ask "how is it different", not just "what do you like". That is the key to understanding what features might be meaningful to you.
If you follow this advice, then when you do start assembling ammunition, you will be very confident with your decisions and the safety of your actions. Enjoy!
So I'm almost a newby, haven't bought any reloading gear yet.
So the question to you is, how would you or other experienced reloading experts suggest I proceed?
That is very easy to answer (and THANK YOU for asking!):
Buy either the Lyman manual (any edition - no need for the 50th, just pick up the 49th for cheap) or Richard Lee's Modern Reloading (my favorite - has info others do not, but you do need the most current reprint of the second edition, it has changed a fair amount - just make sure the cover shows a yellow medallion touting the updated information), and READ all of the text in the book up to the beginning of the load data. Read ALL of it, even chapters that you think may not apply to you - there is much to learn that will help you understand what you do not know that you do not know, thus allowing you to spot areas that need more research in the future.
Any book by a company that also sells equipment will also try to convince you that their equipment is the best - ignore all of that at first - just read and absorb the history and concepts, and especially the cautions. Once you have done that, you will already know at least as much as 50% of the people who post on here (and quite a bit more than some!).
At that point you can begin posting intelligent questions about what equipment some people prefer and why, and your new-found knowledge will quickly allow you to sort the bonehead answers from the ones worth considering. From that point on, you can pretty much go full speed ahead. Buy good equipment, but realize that overpriced stuff in no way means that it is one bit better than other main-stream brands. When comparing one option to another, ask "how is it different", not just "what do you like". That is the key to understanding what features might be meaningful to you.
If you follow this advice, then when you do start assembling ammunition, you will be very confident with your decisions and the safety of your actions. Enjoy!
Two things, brass prep and lack of access to a range to load & test rifle loads.
Brass prep is my most dreaded, hated part of reloading, because it takes forever and i can't devise a more efficient way to do it. The biggest waste of time is cleaning dirty brass. I feel there's got to be some more efficient way to clean brass in large quantities other than tumbling or washing, and it doesn't involve buying more equipment to double, triple, or quadruple the amount I can clean at any time. Because if i could do that I would have done it already!
The next biggest headache is trimming, swaging primer pockets, belling case mouths, removing lube from sizing. I can spend 10 weekends (10 hours a day) on prep without loading a single round.
The other is developing rifle loads. I can't just make ammo blindly hoping they'll be fine, I need to test them too. Developing the perfect load usually takes about 20 trips to the range with a couple different loads at a time to test. I didn't have any issues with pistol loads because the local indoor range is only 15 minutes away. But rifle loads involves a 3 hour drive and so far I've only managed to develop two 223 loads over two years of 3 hour drives each way. It's frustrating.
Brass prep is my most dreaded, hated part of reloading, because it takes forever and i can't devise a more efficient way to do it. The biggest waste of time is cleaning dirty brass. I feel there's got to be some more efficient way to clean brass in large quantities other than tumbling or washing, and it doesn't involve buying more equipment to double, triple, or quadruple the amount I can clean at any time. Because if i could do that I would have done it already!
The next biggest headache is trimming, swaging primer pockets, belling case mouths, removing lube from sizing. I can spend 10 weekends (10 hours a day) on prep without loading a single round.
The other is developing rifle loads. I can't just make ammo blindly hoping they'll be fine, I need to test them too. Developing the perfect load usually takes about 20 trips to the range with a couple different loads at a time to test. I didn't have any issues with pistol loads because the local indoor range is only 15 minutes away. But rifle loads involves a 3 hour drive and so far I've only managed to develop two 223 loads over two years of 3 hour drives each way. It's frustrating.
Happy 4th what irritates you the most about reloading
Been thinking about that......here it is 3 days later and I think I finally found 3 somethings that actually does irritate me about reloading:
not enough room in my garage/reloading room
It's something I really like to do, but I can't devote as much time to the hobby as I want....yet. (tired, but not retired yet).
Lastly......the constantly reoccurring political cycle that makes components dry up every few years, and double prices!......and it happens more often these days!
Happy 4th of July! or Independence day! I'm not anal about the name, I am anal about those who don't remember why we celebrate. It's not because we like fireworks.......as for me, I'm more than happy that the firecracker and mortar shell noise has dissipated. They mess with my sleep....in my neighborhood at least. (but I was a kid once....I put up with it....)
I never had an issue with the Federal GM Match brass I have reloaded. I just can't say if it is in fact softer.
I have no infatuation with Federal GM match brass. After it is shot it becomes 'once fired'; the different head stamp allows me to have one more way to sort brass, same for +P. My favorite head stamps are the ones with all the different dates. I did purchases brass that was to be recycled, seems the manufacturer took short cuts. By the time I found out about it I had fired 40 of them 3 times. I thought the cases were the best I had. They looked impressive with all the information on the case head. If there was more information on the case head they would have had to make the case heads larger.
Anyhow, I moved the cases to the collectable drawer. A friend called and asks me if I would clean out his shop, in his shop I found another 60 cases. He was a shooter, I have decided if the manufacturer had a problem with cases when eliminating steps in the process these cases missed the short cut.
F. Guffey
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