Reloading- Here I go...

[ukerduker]

Well I have been reading up on this for several months now and I am finally making the moves towards reloading my first of many rounds. After talking with Musicman and Rightwinger, I bought my press kit. I toyed with the idea of beginning with a progressive setup, but settled for the RCBS Rock Chucker. Everything I have read showed all presses have pros and cons, but I always heard one particular comment. "I got a Rock Chucker years ago, and I am still using it today." For a person just starting off, The Chucker seemed like an excellent choice.

I ordered my press kit, 223 REM dies, and the other necessary items from MidwayUsa. Today I went out to the Reloaders Bench in Mount Juliet. Casey, one of their employees answered all my questions and made some good recommendations for starting out. I bought a pound of smokeless power (Accurate 2230), some primers (Winchester small rifle), and 500 55grain 223REM FMJ to start out.

I wanted to have a dedicated area for my reloading, so I built a decent size work bench: 2x4ft.

It's not much, but it will work for me. I plan to mount my press on the right front corner.

I plan to purchase a digital scale, tumbler/media separater, and a few other items in the coming weeks. I will continue to post as I complete my setup and begin to press my first few rounds.

Edited January 3, 2009 by ukerduker

[Fadex]

Sweet!! My press and dies are on the way. I hope to be set up by the end of the month myself!

[Guest cjr]

Congrats Uker on the start,I have been starting mine tomorrow for about 6 months now.

[ukerduker]

I do look forward to this. I have been working to reload for along time, but never could get past the "thinking about it" stage". The one thing I do like is the overall cost savings. From the bullets, powder, and primers I bought, I will be reloading at the cost of buying Wolf brand steel cased 223 ammo. I suspect this cost will vary with different powders and bullets, but still cheaper in the long run.

[Guest cjr]

I would have to agree!

[kckndrgn]

Congrats, reloading is very addictive, I know!

[ukerduker]

Congrats, reloading is very addictive, I know!

Once I get the 223 REM down to a science, I plan to reload .40 S&W and maybe 9mm. Either way, I collect every bit of brass I can when I am at the range. Lately there has been a ton available. The other day I ran out of room to put the loose brass.

I did have a question on reloading FMJ verses JHP bullets. Can the same dies be used or is there a separate die need for hollow points?

[Okey]

Hey uker.. was good to met you today. After watching you leave with an arm full of stuff I had to go back and stock up on .223 supplies.

Okey

[enfield]

You can use the same dies for FMJ and HP bullets. You just need to adjust the seating die to get the right seating depth for the differently-shaped bullet.

[ukerduker]

Hey uker.. was good to met you today. After watching you leave with an arm full of stuff I had to go back and stock up on .223 supplies.

Okey

Okey, good to meet you also! After I left I had a feeling that I didn't buy enough. I finally figured out how to post pictures on here so I will be posting several more once I get setup.

You can use the same dies for FMJ and HP bullets. You just need to adjust the seating die to get the right seating depth for the differently-shaped bullet.

Thanks enfield.

[ukerduker]

Okey,

I guess my eagerness got the better of me today. I went back to the Reloaders Bench and bought my dillion digital scale, some more bullets and that flash hole tool that Casey showed us.

I also put another order to MidwayUSA for a primer pocket brush set, a powder trickler, and the Hornady reloading manual. I will now have a 3 books to reference and compare powder charge loads. The only items I am missing is the tumbler, media separator, and case trimmer.

Too bad all these items will be delivered to my house in the coming week and I will be working in Vermont until the end of January.

[Guest 04heritage]

You should enjoy reloading and the accuracy that comes with it i cant buy ammo that shoots as good as reloaded

[SpacemanSpiff]

I only started reloading in 2008. I bought the Frankford Arsenal tumbler/media separator kit. I've used corn cob media with Flitz brass polish. Brass comes out nice and shiny. I later bought a media separator from Berrys Mfg (http://www.berrysmfg.com/237.php) because the one with the Frankford had an open top which kicked up a lot of dust.

Seems like you're well on your way with the equipment. It's good to have multiple books for reference.

[Rightwinger]

Hey Uker,

Your well on your way. Only two things for followup.

1. Choose your position on your bench for the press carefully and since I can't see under it, make sure its highly reinforced. You probably won't generate a lot of force working with .223 or the pistol brass but if you work up to magnum rifle brass, you'll crank on a few of them and you don't want your press to work loose or the whole bench shifting!

2. You may have already thought of it, but with open trays like you have plus the open bench area, get an old sheet and when your done drape the whole thing under it. Keep the dust off your equipment and supplies.

Holler when you get back in town when your ready to roll some.

[ukerduker]

Hey Uker,

Your well on your way. Only two things for followup.

1. Choose your position on your bench for the press carefully and since I can't see under it, make sure its highly reinforced. You probably won't generate a lot of force working with .223 or the pistol brass but if you work up to magnum rifle brass, you'll crank on a few of them and you don't want your press to work loose or the whole bench shifting!

2. You may have already thought of it, but with open trays like you have plus the open bench area, get an old sheet and when your done drape the whole thing under it. Keep the dust off your equipment and supplies.

Holler when you get back in town when your ready to roll some.

Thanks Rightwinger! My bench is very strong. I plan to put a shelf on the portion of my bench for my tumbler and media separtor. I haven't thought about the idea of covering everything, but that will help in 2 ways: keep everything dust free and keep my boys from getting into something they don't need to. Honestly I probably won't have any time to reload until late March because of my work schedule. Until then, I will continue to slowly build my required bench/reloading items.

I stumbled upon something that I need more info, bullet cannelure. The 223 REM bullets I purchased from the Reloaders Bench are 55gr FMJ and smooth (no cannelure). After Googling, I see there are tools available to create the cannelure. Is this something people are doing or using? What is the benefit? Does it seat the bullet better or more firmly?

[Rightwinger]

Don't sweat the cannellure. Properly seated bullets generally don't need anything but the neck tension to secure them as your putting more bullet in the case than is exposed in most cases. If you have a really "tight" rifle that doesn't feed really smoothly, you may want to apply a touch of taper or roll crimp depending on the bullet and force needed to keep it there.

Best way to determine it....sacrifice a case and a bullet. Seat to your expected depth as shown in the load data, mark a thin line at the junction of bullet and mouth of case, then run it through your rifle or pistol. Clearly IDENTIFY this round as a dummy (drilling out the primer pocket so it will never hold powder or a primer is a good way to do this) and still treat the rifle as loaded.

Run it through the gun several times letting the action strip it out of the magazine. If your line is still visible, neck tension is going to be all you need. If the bullet sets back into the case, you'll need to add a touch, just a touch of crimp. Lee has a wonderful factory crimp die if you go that way. I haven't found the need to crimp anything yet but I don't put much of a bell on the case when seating. Play with it and find out what works for you.

[ukerduker]

I'm reading up on how to determine the performance of your reloads. I see that a chronograph is the key to measuring the velocity of the bullet.

What is a good entry level chronograph?

[Guest db99wj]

Seems very overwhelming to me.......for now, I am still in the research phase.

.223 and .40... I have the workshop, even though it is full of crap that we need to sell in a garage sale, but I have work bench's already set up.

What do ranges think of folks picking up random brass? Also, is their a place to buy brass?

Cost effective, if you are having to buy brass too, is it still cost effective? How many rounds do you have to produce before you see the cost savings of the initial equipment purchase?

[kckndrgn]

db99wj,

I'll be doing some loading up Wed night if you want to come over and see just how easy it is.

Some ranges it's ok to pick up brass some might not allow it at all, while other will say, pick up only your brass.

Cost effective if you have to purchase your own? Yes, it is just not as much. However, since you can reload the same brass several times (the number of times will depend on how hot you load), if you can reclaim all of your used brass then the cost for that brass would be spread out.

Here's a need tool for calculating how long it will take you to recoup the cost of your setup:

http://10xshooters.com/calculators/Handgun_Reloading_Cost_Calculator.htm

[Guest Mugster]

I'm reading up on how to determine the performance of your reloads. I see that a chronograph is the key to measuring the velocity of the bullet.

What is a good entry level chronograph?

A chronograph is pretty much a chronograph. I'm not sure some are better than others. I have a previous rendition of one of these and like it well enough. Occasionally it won't read on dark days:

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=852429

I do not have the indoor screens for it. I don't shoot indoor either, but if you do, might be worth the bucks.

[Guest Mugster]

Don't sweat the cannellure. Properly seated bullets generally don't need anything but the neck tension to secure them as your putting more bullet in the case than is exposed in most cases. If you have a really "tight" rifle that doesn't feed really smoothly, you may want to apply a touch of taper or roll crimp depending on the bullet and force needed to keep it there.

Best way to determine it....sacrifice a case and a bullet. Seat to your expected depth as shown in the load data, mark a thin line at the junction of bullet and mouth of case, then run it through your rifle or pistol. Clearly IDENTIFY this round as a dummy (drilling out the primer pocket so it will never hold powder or a primer is a good way to do this) and still treat the rifle as loaded.

Run it through the gun several times letting the action strip it out of the magazine. If your line is still visible, neck tension is going to be all you need. If the bullet sets back into the case, you'll need to add a touch, just a touch of crimp. Lee has a wonderful factory crimp die if you go that way. I haven't found the need to crimp anything yet but I don't put much of a bell on the case when seating. Play with it and find out what works for you.

While this seems reasonable, I always use the old lee factory crimp die if loading for an autoloader, and I really prefer to use cannelured bullets. I worry about that 1 bullet in a 100 that'll stuff down in the case and pop my barrel. Not so much low pressure handgun, but rifle.

I've been loading steadily for a long time and only in the past 3-4 years or so did I start handloading .223 for the mini-14 and the ar's. Anything with a floating firing pin can also be a bit iffy to handload for.

You should probably read this and make up your own mind. This guy sums up my thinking on the subject:

http://www.fulton-armory.com/ReloadingThoughts.htm

If you are talking about handloading for bolt guns...I don't crimp those myself.

[ukerduker]

Seems very overwhelming to me.......for now, I am still in the research phase.

.223 and .40... I have the workshop, even though it is full of crap that we need to sell in a garage sale, but I have work bench's already set up.

What do ranges think of folks picking up random brass? Also, is their a place to buy brass?

Cost effective, if you are having to buy brass too, is it still cost effective? How many rounds do you have to produce before you see the cost savings of the initial equipment purchase?

It's not too overwhelming now. Granted I say this without ever reloaded a round, but I have been doing alot of reading. Knowledge and taking small steps seems to be the keys to successful reloading.

As for picking up brass, I ALWAYS ask when others are shooting around me. I shoot out at Gallatin Gun Club and there are times when I simply can't collect all the brass. I tend to be a vulture. My son and I swoop in and pickup everything that isn't rusted, steel, or crushed. I tend to do this before, during and after shooting. If others are shooting, I will ask. I would hate to piss off someone by stealing brass they plan to reload. Sometimes I get lucky and they pickup the brass for me.

A chronograph is pretty much a chronograph.

Mugster- Thats what I thought, but I wanted to ask someone with more knowledge.

[Rightwinger]

Before you go dropping more money on the chrony you may want to know the the best reading on your reloads is your shot groups. I don't own a chronograph but have shot through one once. its nice to see the numbers but they don't really mean much. Faster is not always better. If you load a set that doesn't match up well with your rifling and bullet weight they can be maxing out for speed but be all over the paper. I tend to start out several grains below max load and hit 10 or 20 (depends on if they are magnum loads or smaller things like the .223) and then go shoot. If I get great patterns at 100 yards, it becomes a favorite and I keep reloading that recipie. If they fly around a bit, I drop back down. Nice tight groupings tell you your loads are good, not 2800 feet per second vs 3000 feet per second.

When you going to load that first batch? I have a couple of hundred .223s laying out in the cold right now (in the garage)

[ukerduker]

When you going to load that first batch? I have a couple of hundred .223s laying out in the cold right now (in the garage)

Thats a great question. It's one I cannot answer at this point. I am on assignment working up in Vermont until the end of March. I can't complain since I still have a job. (But the cold is brutal, -21F last week)

I will guess and say early April I will be setup and ready to reload my first few rounds. Until then, I will continue to get the necessary and helpful items I need.

I need to find a good deal on .223 bullets. I plan on celabrating tomorrow by buying a small stockpile. Just my way to help the economy!!

[Rightwinger]

Currently on back order but can be ordered.

Get these, good stuff. 500 to start you off of.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=616602