I think I'm in love.

[Sandman]

I just finished reloading my first round of ammunition. It took me forever to set everything up, figure out how to use it, and I only finished out 10 rounds. I'm gonna shoot my ten rounds tomorrow and make adjustments as necessary. Nonetheless, I love it. I like the meticulous method to it. Range report to follow. If I don't post within a few days, I didn't load it correctly and I'm in the hospital.

[gregintenn]

What's really cool is killing dinner with ammo you loaded. What's cooler than that is supervising your child while reloading ammo he kills a deer with. You're about to spend a lot of money and have a lot of fun!!!

[Trekbike]

Congrats. What's the details of what you loaded (caliber, powder, and bullet, etc)? I started reloading about 25+ years ago and still enjoy it.

[SpacemanSpiff]

It really won't save you money because I found once I started to reload, I shot more often and more rounds. But it does cost less per round.

Edited July 4, 2010 by SpacemanSpiff
bad grammar :-)

[Dolomite_supafly]

You will also be amazed at the quality of the ammunition. There is no ammunition I can buy that compares to my handloads. When you compare quality you are getting a huge deal. For me it would cost me over $1 each to buy the rounds I make for 28 cents each. My primary rifle when I started reloading would shoot around 3/4"-1" at 100 yards and when I dialed in a handload the same gun shot .3's regularly.

Like SpacemanSpiff said, you will not save any money by reloading but what you get to do is shoot more often with better quality ammunition.

If you have any questions feel free to ask, there is plenty of knowledge on this board.

Dolomite

[gregintenn]

Spaceman's right. No savings, but more shooting.

[Sandman]

Ok so I'm back from the range. I loaded .308 with IMR4064. Here's how the day went. I take three bullets that I loaded and lay prone on the ground. Boom. Boom. Boom. I'm feeling good because the ammo I made is working! Take the next three...load it...but the bolt won't close on the first one...get the bullet out, put a different one in...same thing. The bolt won't close. So out of the 10 I made. 6 loaded and fired. 4 did not load (bolt would not close). I finished shooting a factory box off and left a little discouraged. I got home, measured the non loading bullets and all were under 2.8 which is the maximum for the .308. So...any suggestions? What did I do wrong? I made all ten by doing one step to all of them, then the next step to all of them, etc...I never skipped around. So why would 6 work and 4 would not? Any help would be appreciated.

[gregintenn]

Probably need to screw your sizing die in a bit. Most of what I reload is pretty tight in the chamber, making the bolt stiff to close. That close tolerance, in my opinion, aids accuracy. Put one in and use some force to close the bolt. I'll bet you can close it with a bit of persuasion. Don't be discouraged. You need to consult your instructions, but I believe the procedure is to pull your handle on the press all the way down, screw in the die until it touches the ram, pull the ram back up, screw the die in another 1/4 turn, and lock it down. Please check the directions with your dies before taking my word for it.

[ukerduker]

Are you using a case gage to verify your rounds after you load them? Using these gages can detect incorrectly sized rounds before you get to the range. Here is a link to the gage I'm referring to: Dillon Precision: Reloaders, Reloading Equipment, Bullet Reloading, Bullet Reloaders

These simple items can save you a lot of headaches.

[roverboy]

I'm gonna agree with GreginTenn and Ukerduker. I think you need to adjust your sizer to size a little more. I've ran into the same problem before.

[USMCJG]

Yep. gregintenn, ukerduker, and roverboy are right. Your die isn't pushing the shoulder back enough and it's causing your bolt to be hard to close. The following is how I set up my sizing dies to size my cases so that they are tight in the chamber without making the bolt hard to close:

1) Set your die up per your die instructions.

2) Lube up several fired cases and run one into your sizing die on the press. Assuming you are using a full length sizing die, when you get the handle all the way down check and see if you have a gap between the shellholder and the bottom of the die. If you do have a gap, which I suspect you do, then that's good- you have room to move.

3) Next, put the case you just sized in your rifle and see if it chambers without significant resistance. If it does, size another case and chamber it to confirm that it is good and you are done. If it doesn't, move to the next step.

4) Turn your die down 1/16th-1/8th turn and size another case. Put the sized case in your rifle and see if it chambers without significant resistance. Repeat this step until your case chambers without a lot of resistance and you're good.

Cliff

Edited July 5, 2010 by USMCJG