Thank God (and this forum),I started reloading 9mm

I'm in the shoulda, woulda crowd. I got brass, FMJ's, molds, lead, primers n powder, and Dillon 450 conversion stuff, but never got around to buying a set of dies. Kept thinking, I needed to get a set just in case, but didn't. They were always everywhere and always available. Until this shortage.

I absolutely refuse to pay fleabay $200 plus prices so I ordered those expensive (to me) Dillon die sets and now I sit and wait. Eventually they will arrive. In the meantime I am honing my casting and powder coating skills.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2704.jpg
    IMG_2704.jpg
    169.7 KB · Views: 29
Its all panic buying, just a few months ago it was toilet paper, now you can get all the toilet paper you want, if fact, it's sitting on the store shelves. This will pass as well, just hold on, and wait.
 
Its all panic buying, just a few months ago it was toilet paper, now you can get all the toilet paper you want, if fact, it's sitting on the store shelves. This will pass as well, just hold on, and wait.
Click to expand...

I hope you are correct because that means there should be a lot of previously owned but never/barely used reloading equipment for we frugal shoppers.
 
"...when a “why load 9mm” went around..." Or .223. Reloading is about the quality of the ammo you use. You won't save much if any money, but you'll shoot more and use ammo that's tailored to your firearm. Only cartridges I don't reload is .22 LR, .303 Brit. and 12 gauge. Can't reload the former. Don't shoot enough of the latter two to bother with it. Have multiple bayonets for both Lee-Enfield rifles anyway. snicker.
"...months ago it was toilet paper..." A year ago. I still wonder what people thought they needed a couple hundred rolls of TP. And where they were going to store it.
 
...And inflammation if you buy a soft brand. A friend in Colorado says he knows a guy who got seriously caught up in the TP Panic, and who sheepishly admitted to him that when he counted the supply in his attic, he probably had enough for about four years. He has since stopped buying.

Just to steer our attention away from the part of your body you normally want to cover, reloading 9 mm or anything else is a positive capacity to maintain security. I look at extra supplies sort of like having a backup generator at your house. It may even be worth having a bit of extra emergency stock. Primers seem to keep essentially indefinitely. Powder will keep for several lifetimes in a freezer (if your wife will let you keep it there). I would seal both in heat-sealed freezer bags for the long term. Just keep in mind that even plastic has a finite water vapor transmission rate, so the freezer will eventually tend to dry out your powder and that increases the burn rate, so using such a supply means warming the bag until there is no condensation, then leaving the powder out to equilibrate with your normal humidity level before using it. Just weigh a sample on a flat piece of paper and keep watching until the weight doesn't change any more.
 
Just keep in mind that even plastic has a finite water vapor transmission rate, so the freezer will eventually tend to dry out your powder and that increases the burn rate
Click to expand...

Are you saying keeping your powder in a working freezer ? What about every time you open it up and all that condensation and what appears to be moisture and fog and/or whatever you see coming out of your freezer . Doesn’t moisture go both ways when it comes to plastic , will it really dry out your powder being in the freezer ?
 
We have seen with this boom and bust panic economy being prepared is always best! I fear that the days of buying guns and ammo without a lot of hassle are over!
 
Metal god said:
Are you saying keeping your powder in a working freezer ? What about every time you open it up and all that condensation and what appears to be moisture and fog and/or whatever you see coming out of your freezer . Doesn’t moisture go both ways when it comes to plastic , will it really dry out your powder being in the freezer ?
Click to expand...
I think he meant for long term storage; not meant for "working stock".
 
Correct. A sealed bag will prevent condensation making direct contact with the powder. What dries out the freezer is it's defrosting heater. It's why your ice cubes slowly shrink if you don't use them. That will, over a very long period, gradually dry out anything in there.
 
Interesting, never would of thought powder in a working freezer is a good idea . I was asking because I have a 13qu-ft stand up freezer being delivered next week and was thinking I’ll just fill one of the shelves with powder . I’ll likely be going in it a few times a month . Would that be a problem or if I’m storing powder in there I should open it as little as possible?
 
BondoBob said:
Initially I thought I'd only ever reload 357/38 for both pistol and lever action riffle. I mean why bother with 9mm? It was only $00.11 per round at the time for factory ammo. 380 was maybe $00.14 per round.

I saw no point in doing it. Except that as a new reloader it was fun to me. This community gave me a lot of help and support with the challenges I had seating 9mm properly. For that I say "Thank you all". I had to get some better dies than the Lee set I started with but now I can crank out fine 9mm rounds.

Today I notice 9mm is up to $1.20 per round on the high end and lowest is $.70. Looks like I learned the craft, tooled up and stocked up just in time.

At a buck a round I simply would not be able to train on a regular basis, just couldn't afford it. I'm sharing this to inspire anyone who is on the fence about getting into reloading. Even with this shortage, I'm still able to get components at a fairly reasonable price and keep shooting, retaining my stockpile for when/if it gets even worse. And I would say if you reload anything now, start reloading for all the calibers you own.

Thanks again.
Bondo Bob.
Click to expand...
I did it before the shortage, I just love spending time downstairs tinkering with loads, my guns, and surfing the web. I have never considered it a waste of my time. It's therapeutic. And now, I am reaping the benefits of over 10 years of buying a couple of pounds of powder here, a couple thousand primers there, a sock full of bullets from Hoosier. I will get thru the shortage and it's not because I'm a hoarder.
 
MG,

Opening and closing the door probably won't matter. As long as you have it in heat-sealed freezer bags, condensation won't bother it. As far as warming up, though, I would expect to take one of those bags out and let it sit 24 hours to be sure it had equilibrated with the outside temperature before opening it. If it has been in there for years, you want to do as I described above, and be sure it has equilibrated with outside humidity before loading it. The Norma print manual says burn rate of bone-dry powder is about 12% higher than powder that is kept in 80% RH, as an extreme example. Anyway, I wouldn't want my powder's burn rate to differ during load development from what I will get using it as working stock. The working stock should be left out on a shelf and not in the freezer unless you aren't going to use it again for a number of years.

Incidentally, that burn rate issue applies to loaded ammunition, too. The Norma print manual shows a loaded cartridge (no sealant, I presume) will have its powder pick up ambient RH over a period of about a year. Water molecules are very small and can find their way in through surface imperfections in brass and bullet and primer cup surfaces that are smaller than a wavelength of visible light, and therefore not visible even under an optical microscope. So you never want to store loaded cartridges with a desiccant or in the freezer for long periods.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top