Reloading Primer...

(Oh yes, I just had to...)

Commenter, bloggershoot attendee, purveyor of fine toys, and all around great guy Wally sent me the following picture a while back:

Proto-boolitts!

He followed it up with a quick blurb in an attempt to kick-start me into reloading:

Jay,

I snapped a pic the other day and thought you may want to use it for a gun porn pic - or not, since there are no guns in it. I know you aren't into handloading (yet?) but I'll be glad to help get you up and running when you decide to make that leap.

I got back into handloading in October of 2008. The pic is my consumption since then. That turned into over 10k rounds without having to scurry to every wal mart in the county :)

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I asked if he'd be interested in writing a guest post on the basics of reloading, and he was kind enough to oblige:

A primer on reloading -

Jay asked if I’d guest post a quick overview on reloading. While I am an avid reader here, I never figured I’d get to give back – so I jumped at the chance. Thanks Jay!

Reloading is another facet of the shooting hobby. Not reloading as in filling magazines or stuffing cylinders – reloading as in handloading, turning the spent cartridge cases into fresh ammunition. Reloading is a pretty straightforward process with three basic steps.

The first operation is to resize the case. Upon firing, cases expand. When cases are ejected they tend to get dinged up. Resizing restores the cases to perfectly round and slightly undersize diameter. In some situations, cases tend to stretch from the pressures of firing and they must be trimmed to length.

Next, the primer is replaced. The primer is the little button on the back of the case that gets the cartridge ignited. This is a very simple press in and press out affair. Some cases have a little ridge to retain the factory primer, and that ridge also needs to be ironed out the first time the case is reloaded.

Finally, the round is assembled. The resized and primed case is charged with a suitable amount of a suitable smokeless powder and a bullet is placed atop. One final calibrated squish puts it all together into a loaded round of ammunition. There are many volumes dedicated to load recipes, but this is a pretty high level post so I'll skip getting into exact details for now.

Why reload ? Some enjoy having ammo available without driving to every gun store in the county hoping to find their favorite load - or any ammunition for that matter! If you shoot .380, remember what it is like to go a year without finding ammo on the shelves?

Some folks like to reload to find the perfect combination to wring out the last bit of accuracy from a firearm. When reloading, you aren't limited to off the shelf combinations. Try different bullet weights and profiles, types of powder, powder charges, cartridge length – and some combination is all but guaranteed to deliver some great groups at the range.

Others simply must reload if they wish to shoot some old iron in long obsolete calibers. Since this is Jay's blog I'll use the 11mm Mauser as an example. Empty 11mm brass is a bit pricey at $3 each, but the brass can be loaded many times over. Subsequent reloads would run about 35 cents per round.

And that leads us into another reason to reload – cost savings! It would be pretty reasonable to be producing 45 ACP for under $10 per box. 9mm for $8, 357sig for $9, 44mag at $11, .223 at $4, and 6.5x55 are about $8 per box by my recipes. Most of those prices are less than half of what you would be paying for loaded ammo, if you are lucky enough to find your preferred flavor.

But like everything, there is a trade off. Reloading does take time. A basic single stage press can produce 200 rounds an hour or more. Fancier presses can triple that output. Unfortunately, reloading equipment isn't free either but it does last darn near forever. My primary press is a RCBS single stage that I got as a hand me down from dad. I have no idea how many rounds it has produced in total, but since October of 2008 I have been saving empty reloading component packages, as seen in the picture. This most basic setup has produced over 14,000 rounds in two years, just an hour or two at a time.

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I know there's a lot of folks out there who reload - and a good number who, surprisingly enough, don't. I'd love to get into it, but haven't taken the plunge right now for a few reasons. First, I need the proper set-up. I've got plans for a corner of the attic to be turned into the gun room, with a 10' bench for reloading and cleaning supplies - this will get me away from overactive kids, too. Secondly, there's still just enough pictures of "reloading gone wrong" to keep me from jumping in - at least until I've had more time to practice under qualified supervision (like Wally!). And lastly, right now I'm not shooting enough that the savings in costs outweigh the expenditure of time - I figure that will change as the kids get older and I have more time...

Those of you that reload, what's your main reason for doing it? Cost? Crafting the perfect handload? Volume? Those that don't, why not? If you shoot any significant amount the savings are substantial - although, what I've heard from those that reload is that you don't actually save any money, you just get to shoot a whole lot more. One of the things I'm interested in doing once I get into it is crafting specialty rounds for certain shooting types - like .45 ACP lead round-nose bullets for shooting in the indoor range, or really hot .357 Magnums for long range shooting with the model 27.

Man, with all this talk, I think I might just pull out the box 'o' supplies and take inventory... Thanks wally!

That is all.