Reloading ammo?

Question

I think i want to start reloading my ammunition but i have a few questions before i start. Does reloading ammo yourself decrease the quality of bullets or is it the same? What are the differences from the ones you buy in a single cartridge and the ones you reload youself? How do you know when you have engouh powder in the shell? Thanks. I'm going to stick with federal hydrashock for my carry though. I'm not reloading that.

Answer 1

If you are on a limited budget, I'd suggest that you start with a Lee press, dies, etc. They are available as a kit and if you buy tham that way, you will save over buying them separately. While there is nothing wrong with the "Lee Loader", that is not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is the bench mounted press, changable dies, etc. Lee Precision makes good stuff for the money. Nothing wrong with Lee but if you have enough money, I'd go for something like RCBS. More money but good stuff.

It is difficult to beat the quality of factory ammo. They know their jobs and do them quite well. Factory ammo is really good stuff. But with care you can do as well and save a good bit of money in the process. One advantage of doing your own loading is that you can custom craft ammo that is specific for what your gun shoots best. Guns seem to have personal preferences for which bullet they shoot best, what powder and what charge they shoot best. With a good bit of experimenting, you can find exactly what your gun shoots best and, using quality components, produce a round that will out perform factory loads in your particular gun. Sometimes you cannot buy the bullets that a manufacturer loads his ammo with. Like all businesses, ammo manufacturers have proprietary components that they manufacture or have manufactured for them exclusively that are unavailable to you. This gives them the edge in the ammo market. However, there are still plenty of bullets and powders available to the handloader so that you can produce ammo that is equal to or in many cases, better than the commercial ammo.

When you ask "How you know when you have enough powder in the shell?", I'm not sure what you are asking. If you are asking how do you know how much to put into the shell, this is gotten from loading manuals. You will need to buy one when you buy your loading kit. Do not attempt to load ammo without one. The manuals have recommended loading data for each of the calibers. You simply look up your particular caliber and see what bullets, powders and loads they recommend. If you are asking how you measure the powder, you will need a way to do this. The Lee kit comes with a powder measure that will reliably and repeatedly dispense whatever powder charge you set it for. If you are asking how you set your powder measure, you need a powder scale for this. I beleive it is also included in the Lee kit. You set your powder measure and then check it with the scale by weighing several charges of powder from your measure. Once you have the powder measure set, you can just fill one shell after another with the amount of powder that you have the measure set for. As a safety procedure and to assure accuracy, I make it a habit of weighing every tenth powder charge to be sure that I am still dispensing what I intend. If I find that the powder in one of the weighed shells is off, I empty all of the ten preceeding shells and recharge them after resetting the powder measure. Fortunately, this very seldom happens.

You are absloutely correct in using only factory loads in your carry gun. Not only is it a safety issue but, in case you ever had to shoot an attacker, you could be dragged over the coals in the courtroom if you have used handloaded ammo. The lawyers will make it look as if you custom crafted some devil inspired cartridge that was intended to cause incredible suffering and pain to his client. You don't need that, so continue to use factory loads in your carry gun. In the courtroom, when asked what your intentions were when you shot your assailant, never say that you shot to kill him or to wound him, always say that you shot to STOP him. That was your only intention...... STOP him.

Answer 2

Get a decent, but not high priced, reloading set including an "O" frame single stage press, a powder scale, a Lee Autoprime, a dial caliper, a case trimmer and deburring tool. Then get a die set for your favorite rifle, and at least one reloading manual, I'd suggest Sierra's to start with, but also like Nosler's and the little paperback by Accurate that some gun stores will give you if you buy any powder. If you have a 30 caliber bolt action you want to reload for, start with the Hornady 150 grain soft point boat tail (catalog #3033). It's a good cheap bullet that loads easy and is accurate in all five of my .308s and my .300 Winchester Magnum.
You can make better ammo for your rifles than any factory loads. The only factory loads I use now are for my .22s and since I have three .223s, I don't shoot .22s much.
Reloads are far better than factory loads, and once you have the equipment, reloads cost about 1/3 what factory loads cost, so you also save money.

Answer 3

Reloaded ammunition is (or at least) can be better--much better than the stuff you buy in the store. Bullets are available in more styles and weights than factory loaded ammunition--and once you figure out what works best for a particular firearm you can replicate it over and over again--almost exactly, matching bullet weights and powder charges with greater precision than is available from factory ammunition. The NRA has a class you can take that teaches you about reloading. And, while I wouldn't suggest it, guys have learned how to reload by just reading the directions in a reloading manual. A local gun shop should be able to help. A local gun club may be able to point you in the right direction or even provide instruction. A side benefit is also that you can produce "practice" rounds of sufficient quality at a much lower price than you can buy them.

Answer 4

Factory ammo is made to perform in any firearm in that caliber. These range from a short barreled pistol to a rifle. Reloading will allow you to taylor your ammo to your gun, and possibly result very small groups. Most reloading manuals have a lot of information about ammunition, firearms, and what happens when a round is fired, in addition to the reloading charts that show how much powder to use with each bullet weight for a given caliber. The quality of the ammo can be increased by reloading, depending on the components used. The ones you reload yourself will have the case machined to match your gun, the powder and primer combination that provides the best results, and the bullet weight and seating depth that works the best in your firearm. One powder amount may provide ammunition with less recoil and enable you to shoot more with less fatigue, while another may give the velocity required to give the best penetration and expansion of your bullet.

Answer 5

The other people who have answered have given you good advise. I have been reloading over 30 years now, and currently have about 25,000 reloaded rounds in my stash. I've killed about 70 deer with my reloads and have not used a factory load for a deer since my grandfather gave me my first reloading set when I was 14. I immediately saw that my reloads were more accurate than factory loads, and later when I got a chronograph I was pleased with the velocity my reloads get, usually better than factory loads. You can customize your load for each gun and that will always make the gun more accurate. After you have been reloading a while you will learn to duplicate the factory pistol ammo you now say you will stick with. I reload for all of my Glocks, and usually carry my Glock 20 (10mm), with 190 grain bullets that chronograph at 1225 feet per second, giving my 10mm almost double the power of the average .45 acp. Not only do I consider the possibility of having to defend myself from a criminal, but where I live there are mountain lions, and coyotes, and bears. I wouldn't go outside with a factory load in my Glock...

Answer 6

Actually you can increase the efficiency of your ammo by reloading. Each weapon has a 'taste' of it's own. In other words what shoots well in your Mod. 700 .30/06 may not shoot well in mine. By reloading you can change the components to find what your weapon 'likes'.
As far as knowing how much powder is enough, you will be using a reloading manual that will provide you with a starting and a maximum load range. By carefully monitoring your cartridge cases as you fire each round you will be able to see signs on the cartridge to tell you when you are reaching a maximum safe level for your weapon.
As far as your carry ammo, a lot of people do rely upon factory for that purpose. I however trust my ammo as much as theirs, but to each their own.
Also the saves you will realize in reloading your own ammo will allow you to practice more at a lower cost.

Good Luck

Answer 7

I mostly handload for rifles, and for each rifle I have several loads that perform much better than anything I could get in a factory load. I also weigh each powder charge individually.
For your autoloading pistol, it'll be somewhat different, but you can certainly match the factory loads, and if you're producing fairly large numbers of cartridges, you'll probably set your powder dispenser and use "thrown loads" rather than measure each one. Once you set your dispenser, it should load the same amount of powder in each case, give or take about a tenth of a grain, the same way they do it in the factory.

Answer 8

Those reloads are defective! Id find the scoundrel that was responsible for such a dispicable act and yell at him a whole bunch! Golly gee. Wonders never cease.