New to reloading?

Some confidence in handloading is mandatory, if you have any mechanical aptitude you will soon be looking forward to the practice of from components making ammunition for your guns. Attention to detail to the 99th level is not going to get you anywhere but frustrated, this is real life and you must accept boo-boo's and losing a few components, but enough attention must be paid so you do not lose apendages. A primer seated wrong will be crushed,,a case will be lost now and then and you WILL spill some powder guaranteed. Accept these losses and move on. You are not doing rocket science in handloading, these are all mechanical steps handled deftly by machines daily producing literally billions of cartridges around the world.
Easy to comprehend steps will be inderstoof when you realize that when you fire a round you are consuming 3 of the 4 components of a loaded cartridge, the bullet which goes downrange, the powder which is ignited by the primer leaving you the fired cartridge case which must expand when the gases produced burn. If the cases did not expand in the chamber it would be a bomb, a bad thing, there must be room for the case to expand in order to release the bullet down the barrel.

All of the above means you are left with a fired, slightly swollen case with a expended primer.
Step one in reloading "sizes" the fired case back to the pre-fired specification.
Step one usually also "de-caps" the fired primer, leaving the primer pocket open to accept a replacement.
Step two, replaces the fired primer, in the case of a revolver (straight wall) case step two also puts a slight bell in the case mouth, not so in bottleneck cases for the beginner.
Step three charges the case with a specified charge of powder.
Step four seats a new bullet and for the revolver, straightens the case and puts the crimp in the case mouth to securely hold that bullet to resist movement. Very important when you fire the first round that the rest do not move forward and bind up the gun, its also important it does not get moved further into the case spiking the pressure beyond the desired range.

All simple, mechanical steps that most people enjoy beyond the basics, shooting ammo you created with your own skill set is very satisfying.

I have been reloading since the mid 80's and consider myself barely beyond beginner status because I know there are people that have been at it longer than I have been alive. I do understand it , enjoy it and am quite capable of producing accurate ammo for my guns.

Step one for anyone considering it should be the purchase of at least 2 reloading manuals weeks if not months in advance of actually starting unless you have a mentor on hand to show you the ropes and keep you thinking "why" instead of "git-r-dun".

There are many people to help ,,,,,this is just another nickles worth of bandwidth.

I would appreciate any feedback and tips for the beginner here.
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Looks like sound, easy to understand advice to me. Also, this may help to encourage anybody who is shy of intruding into the "experts" playhouse. I just ran a few 9mm rounds through my Dillon Square Deal progressive today. Despite 40+ years of experience I spilled a powder charge, then later skipped loading a bullrt and had to stop and start all over again. Notice to new guys: even those of limited coordination like me can successfully load ammunition.

Reloading for handguns is easy easy easy! Anyone, including me can do it. Minute of paper plate at 50 feet is easily attainable by the neophyte. In my case, the experience gained reloading for handguns, is what gave me the confidence needed to tackle rifle reloading, where minute of paper plate at 100 yards is much more difficult.

For the novice, it might be worth purchasing a handgun, just to get the basics down pat.

Ken

Maybe we can get a "helper list" going over here like on SP Ken. Give some mentoring to new loaders in our areas if it is wanted. Mark

I think some stickies on basic care and feeding of dies, presses, case trimming and prep, case forming for wildcats etc. would provide great reading for all of us.

Is there a way to make a single post editable by the group? so each could contribute to it ?

With all due respect wiljen, 90% of what you're asking for is covered by the request by 45nut to purchase 2 or 3 reloading manuals, and study them at length before embarking. It's all the small details that make huge differences in the finished product. In my case, my competition rounds (.308 Win.) exhibit way, way too much runout. Bonanza press with lots of slop in the system (which is a good thing as a press perfectly plumb, parallel and perpendicular would cost much more than anyone would be willing to pay), and RCBS competition dies with micrometer seater.

I know that this is a topic for a separate thread, so please feel free not to answer. My point is that mine is the type of question that goes unanswered in manuals designed to suck in the uninformed by making them think reloading is child's play.

Ken

I think the proliferation of safety warnings prompted by company lawyers trying to avoid the last tiny chance of a liability suit (and those sermons by those individuals who have to be seen as more concerned about safety than the rest of humanity) have definitely served to intimidate a lot of would-be handloaders.

You have to be careful, you have to have the proper tools, you have to concentrate and focus your attention on the job at hand, you have to be knowledgable, and you have to have the patience to get fully grounded in the basics before even thinking about any pushing of the envelope. For all that, reloading is no more hazardous than driving in traffic, and we all do that. The vast majority of shooting practice can be done with less-than top loadings and minimal case preparation. The knowledge can be gained by reading about 1/40th of the verbiage that it takes to find out how to operate your latest digital electronic purchase.

It really bugs me when some pilgrim comes to a site asking for advice on loading equipment and people recommend that he get a Dillon or other brand of progressive loader. I think the proper tooling for a new reloader is a Lee Loader, or a Lyman Tong Tool. What the new reloader needs is a governor on the speed of the operation, so he can get what he's doing ingrained into his mind. The next step would then be a single-stage press, and then after much time spent on that (and a lot of reloads) then he can decide on whether he wants a progressive. He should reload for one rifle or pistol only for a while, before proliferating to the rest of the collection.

Yes, he'll spend extra money on these equipment upgrades, which he will "lose." All the tuition money and lab fees I ever spent was "lost," too--and worth every penny. I have had exactly two "kabooms" since I started reloading in 1976 or so. One was a friend's .45 SA Colt that he was loading for with his just-acquired crank-type powder measure, and one was a factory .250 Savage round which let go in the back of the web. So far, so good on my own reloads; and I know that could change tomorrow if I start doing dumb stuff like watching television while weighing powder, mixing cases up in the tumbler, grabbing a box of bullets without checking the weight, or primers without checking the application, or a hundred other thoughtless things.

If you're willing to stick to published, moderate loadings, a set of Lee scoops (with chart and load data) will do for powder. Any experimentation at all with powder or different bullets than the recipe requires a set of scales and extra loading recommendations. Any attempt to speed the powder charging process will require a powder measure and a set of scales, and constant vigilance. Get a loading block and a flashlight and get used to looking in each shell before and after charging with powder.

I would say another necessary item is a caliper of some sort, and the awareness that cases can lengthen upon reloading, increasing pressure. If they do, a case trimmer is necessary. A bent wire and the ability to recognize when cases are thinning at the web is needed also.

The reloader can get by for a long time without case tumblers, digital powder dispensers, neck turners, primer pocket reformers, case lube dies, and the host of other things that technology offers us.

great post there!

Start single stage and you will learn there are lots of things that can go wrong. Enough so,I don't want to go progressive. Single stage,you'll probably catch these errors. Progressive where a bunch of stuff is happening---you might not.

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Originally Posted by monadnock#5

With all due respect wiljen, 90% of what you're asking for is covered by the request by 45nut to purchase 2 or 3 reloading manuals, and study them at length before embarking. It's all the small details that make huge differences in the finished product. In my case, my competition rounds (.308 Win.) exhibit way, way too much runout. Bonanza press with lots of slop in the system (which is a good thing as a press perfectly plumb, parallel and perpendicular would cost much more than anyone would be willing to pay), and RCBS competition dies with micrometer seater.

I know that this is a topic for a separate thread, so please feel free not to answer. My point is that mine is the type of question that goes unanswered in manuals designed to suck in the uninformed by making them think reloading is child's play.

Ken

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No offense taken at all, and I do understand that we don't want to re-answer the stuff covered in manuals. I guess it all depends on what you call basic and what tips you can't find in any of the books.

I think a good description of using a dial micrometer the proper way would be a great addition to most manuals. To my mind, its a basic question that is not generally covered adequately (if at all).

Another example, which loading manual do you have that covers Runout? Is that case or bullet or both?

Yet a third, "why do I need a competition seater die and a RCBS Precision Mic for my varmint loads?" I use both but have no references to use of either in any of the manuals I checked.

My questions about the use of these are pretty basic questions as I don't consider myself an expert. I have yet to find a really good explanation of several things like that, that I would think are essential to handloading accurate rounds. I was lucky in that I had a good mentor who showed me how to use the precision mic and competition dies to the best effect he knew but am always open to learning more.


Wiljen

I know a couple of people who have resisted my suggestions that they get manuals and study them because "I can find all the data on the internet". This frightens me because the manuals have always been our basic training manuals and this is avoided when we rely solely on the internet.

Thanks, 45nut. Sometimes I think I've outlived my era. Used to be you could buy a 50-lb box of dynamite and in it was a 10-page leaflet that described how one could remove stumps, dig ditches and perform most routine mining and demolition operations. The vast presumption implicit here was that the buyer could read English and had the intelligence of the average person. Now you generally have to go to school and get a certification and insurance, and sometimes hire a seismograph technician before you can do the same thing. Nothing has changed; the powder, caps and initiation drill is the same, it's only our collective IQ points that have suffered from inflation so a bunch of tort lawyers and a few idiots could profit by their foolishness. Same with reloading. I fear someday our "progressive" legislators will propose a licensing for reloaders and their equipment. Just to ensure that it's "safe." After all, some handloaders themselves say it's dangerous!

Wiljen--You might take a look at Glen Zediker's "Handloading for Competition--Making the Target Bigger" (Zediker publishing, PO Box 1497, Oxford Miss. 38655 www.zediker.com He gets into a lot of the kind of stuff you are asking about, borrowing from the benchresters and varminters the techniques that work for his across-the-course shooting while avoiding becoming a benchrest competitor himself.

Of course, everybody has to measure what is "basic" to their own facet of shooting. To the average shooter with a factory rifle, the amount of bullet runout delivered by the average loading die would likely not have a consistent effect on the target. Zediker gets into such things because he refuses to lose a point to equipment. And his idea of a "factory rifle" is a Tubb 2000 space gun.

Thxs Bent! I just looked it up and it does look like a good read. I do think that discussing bullet runout when we are discussing cast boolits is probably spitting into the wind as other variables probably have way more impact (pun intended) on accuracy. I do load for a couple of guns that are capable of better accuracy than I am and I'd like to do my part to get all I can out of them.

Wiljen.

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Originally Posted by Wayne Smith

I know a couple of people who have resisted my suggestions that they get manuals and study them because "I can find all the data on the internet". This frightens me because the manuals have always been our basic training manuals and this is avoided when we rely solely on the internet.

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Personally, I feel that anyone with that attitude shouldn't be loading anything.

BTW, there are good articles and information on the Gunloads Home Page, too.

I currently teach loading, and have taught a good number over the years, but I will not teach it to everyone. You have to be fairly intelligent, reasonably mature, able to listen, have some basic mechanical aptitude, and you have to be a person who enjoys paying close attention to details. You've got to have the right attitude.

I have no time for those who already know everything, are never wrong, have to outdo everyone else, or who are in so much of a hurry that they have to know it all yesterday because they have eighteen guns to load for and they just can't wait..... I figure Darwin will catch up with them sooner or later, hopefully when I am out of flying shrapnel range. [smilie=1:

Two manuals are the minimum, three or four is best. All my students use nothing but single stage presses, and I feel they should stick with them for at least a year before even thinking about upgrading. While you all know that there is nothing particularly difficult about any given operation in the process, there is an awful lot of data to be digested, and nobody can learn it all at once. Each step in the process should be learned one at a time, unhurried, and be reasonably well understood before moving to the next step. I like the idea of the Lee Loader or tong tool, but a single stage keeps the pace at a safe speed for beginners.

The hardest point to get across sometimes is the idea of being able to work undisturbed, telling other family members they aren't available for phone calls, answering the door, having idle conversation, watering the lawn, walking the dog - that they have to be left alone and able to concentrate fully upon what they are doing without distraction because while little mistakes like spilled powder or crushed cases are inevitable, big ones like multiple charges or the wrong powder can be fatal and any conditions which can result in them are totally unacceptable. Later, when they have their routines established and know when they can take a break without mixing anything up, when they've done it enough to be aware, that may ease up a bit, but families and roommates, etc., have to be made to understand from the outset what the dangers and consequences are if the loader is interrupted at the wrong time. Some lives and households are just too busy and full of those distractions that even if the person is tempermentally suited to loading, their living situation is not, and they have to be realistic about it.

I may sound like a broken record (anybody remember what those were?), but I am a buy and read a manual guy. Over and over again, that is what I tell people.

Well, why there is the Internet? Well, yes, but the reliability and safety of that information is always questionable. You get what you pay for, and when it comes to life, eyesight and safety, free may be too cheap.

I really appreciate the content here,,,and totally agree with having printed material on hand,,,there may be a day the internet is gone and all the hopes of those souls counting on it being available will be dashed.
I have at least 15 printed sources of load data,,,probably double that and I never rely on one to be mistake free. Always double checking against a independent source IE:
Bullet manuals vs those printed by powder manufacturers.
I never go blindly rushing into a recommended load via a post on a forum. Each and every gun is indeed a unique piece of machinery and should be treated as such.

A hands on mentor by my side would have helped greatly, but with a clear mind and a KISS approach handloading is a rewarding adjunct to owning and shooting your guns.

I simply do not understand why anyone would really want to have a limited library.

To be honest about it, I just resent someone wanting free, right now, what it took me 40 years to learn. That's a lot of hours of reading, loading, making mistakes, and starting over. I really resent it that someone wants all that product for free. Yes, I believe in helping them but not flat-out giving them the answers. Like today's kids with calculators that can't multiply or divide.

Hola, I have been reloading for 20 years and I know it ALL. He He Even so I still will read my MANUALS like I am reloading for the first time, and you know what I learn something new every time. If you don't have time to read, do it when you go to the bathroom as at that time you are not interrupted and can better capture any new info. In conclusion read to know it all and then go back and read the manual again and by golly you will find that only the Lord is Infallible and we should just stick to reloading, casting and shooting.Gracias for my two centavos and I hope i did not offend.

I started out in '95 with a Lee Loadmaster! It may be a wonderful tool in the hands of someone else but in my mitts it was a disaster! I wanted it all and I wanted it now! The price was right and I was off to town.
The primer mechanism was designed by Rube Goldberg! I hate to diss anybody who has one and is happy with it but this thing drove me crazy. I had powder all over the place from when the silly thing missed feeding a primer. So much was going on at one time that I missed seating the primer by not having that experience of seating a primer with a single stage press. I regularly failed to put powder in cases because of interruptions in the process caused by outside influences. I had so many squib loads during the first year that I always had a chunk of rod and a hammer handy to pound out my mistakes! It is a wonder that I did not blow myself up.
Finally I realised that I had bitten off more than I could chew. I bought a single stage press and primed all my cases by hand first and then ran them through the Lee Loadmaster sans a decapping pin!. This worked for a while and then after about 3 years of this I was gifted a Dillon 550 by a friend whose interests had waned in reloading. I was ready for it and I have not looked back since.
I have given away the Lee Loadmaster but I have a Lee hand press, Challenger and another solid cast steel single press. I use all of them for various purposes. The challenger is set up to decap cases only. Since I am always picking up military .223's at the range I decap, clean and swage those with the challenger and the dillon case swager; and then full size them and reload for my CZ on my 550. After that I keep them seperate and only neck size and shoot in my .223. I use the cast iron single stage to prime my .223 cases, reform 30-06 cases to 8 x 57 and make small batches of experimental rounds. The Dillon is used to mass produce .45's both ACP and LC, 9 MM's, 38's and 40's. I have recently upgraded to a casefeeder and once I learned how to use it I wonder how I have done without it for so long.
This reloading thing is my hobby. I would rather do this than watch TV or any other activity around the house other than tending to my Roses. I love the casting end of this and I do watch TV while resizing and lubing cases on my SAECO as this mindless activity lends itself to that pastime. When I am reloading however....the phone is turned off...no radio...no tv....no conversation...no nothing...this is a serious business and my mistake can hurt somebody or even me. This whole scenario has increased my shooting pleasure by a large factor, increased my self confidence and saved me cash. Well not really since I shoot more and I am always buying more shooting irons to match the molds I cannot resist buying. It does keep me out of bars, away from slow horses and fast women however and I do keep on running into people with integrity and generosity whom I would love to meet personally on this forum.

Reading Reloading Manuals while using the "Depthchargitorium" is an overlooked example of "multi-tasking!"

I would like to add that one of the first purchases should be a bullet puller. The beginner needs to learn that if there is any, ANY!!, doubt as to what powder, charge weight, bullet weight, etc. went into those cartridges...........pull them. The way to find out if you've made a mistake is not by pulling the trigger. Perhaps that temptation is lessened if there is a way, at hand, to start over without losing the components.

I have only been reloading for a couple of years. I am not a youngster. I am 67. I have many reloading manuals. I do however routinely go to the internet to learn or take "shortcuts" as it were. What good is knowledge if you can't pass it along. The internet is a fantastic learning device if used correctly.

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Originally Posted by Estacado

I have only been reloading for a couple of years. I am not a youngster. I am 67. I have many reloading manuals. I do however routinely go to the internet to learn or take "shortcuts" as it were. What good is knowledge if you can't pass it along. The internet is a fantastic learning device if used correctly.

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As long as you take the info published on the www. with a grain of salt. Like eye witness testimony in a traffic accident or robbery, load info found on the internet needs to be corroborated by at least two other sources, preferably a book or books.

I have been handloading for 65 yrs. and I still don't know everything. However, I am amazed at some of the irresponsible info put on the www. An accident looking for a place to happen. Get all of the manuals you can. Sometimes even the manuals don't agree on a powder charge. Start with a good single stage press. I have 3 and would not use a progressive if you gave me one. I do not load ammo to save money, I handload because I like to and to make my ammo better than the factories.
You can save a little bit of money but if you blow up a $800.00 gun or lose a hand or eye you have not saved anything. Handloading is not hard but you do need to pay attention to details [manuals] and forget about speed.
Handloaders load to shoot more accurate. Reloaders load to shoot more. I have always been a handloader!
Larry

FREE online.
3rd edition Lyman Cast Bullets.
just Google it and you can easily download it into your Computer's memory.

"Gettin' started" is a heavy function of "where yer coming from".
GONRA (like, I suspect most of ya'll) just turned out (bad genes?
cosmic ray hit one of Dad's Sperm Cells? ????) "to be a "gun nut".
Parents sure hated guns, but the local librarian Mrs. Schumacker
(husband's Corp. made yer battery charger) always told
Mom when a new gun book came into the Village Library
'cause she knew I ate up this stuff......
Read 'em cover-to-cover....

Phil Sharps (library book) + Lyman reloading manual
provided all to get started.