New to reloading - what powders to look for?

[Sam Kinard]

It should be noted that I personally never saved a dime by reloading, but I did allow myself to shoot 3-4x as much when I used to put 10,000 rounds a year just through a S&W K38 and another 10-15,000 through a 1911. Cast bullets and low pressures have allowed me to maximize every dollar spent. I have 45acp cases that have been loaded 40+ times and still work like a brand new or once-fired piece of brass.

I spent yesterday evening gas-checking 1,000 .357mag bullets from a Lyman 358156 that has dropped tens of thousands of bullets for me. While performing this chore that some(most) would call tedious, I was able to ponder upon such things as "Why is something that is full of awe called aweSOME and something that is full of dread called awFUL? Shouldn't it be the other way around?" and "Dancing With The Stars sure does restore my faith in mankind." or "How can pressing and depressing a button be the same thing?". For certain, enlightenment and solutions to the worlds troubles can be found at the reloading bench.

 

[rutilate]

Asserting that someone should only learn to reload with a single stage press is like asserting we should all learn to operate a slide rule before using a calculator or that we should all learn to ride a horse before driving a car. If you are looking for absolute precision for extreme distance shooting, or if you simply can't afford a progressive press then by all means go ahead and start out that way.

If you want to get on with the business of shooting, go for a progressive press. Use the advances to your advantage! For most ammo they produce very fine product. Get the powder checks and only use powders with sufficient volume to overflow if you are worried you are easily distractible. But get back to shooting!

 

[Mikej]

[QUOTE="Sam Kinard, post: 1169196, member: 37236"

I spent yesterday evening gas-checking 1,000 .357mag bullets from a Lyman 358156 that has dropped tens of thousands of bullets for me. While performing this chore that some(most) would call tedious, I was able to ponder upon such things as "Why is something that is full of awe called aweSOME and something that is full of dread called awFUL? Shouldn't it be the other way around?" and "Dancing With The Stars sure does restore my faith in mankind." or "How can pressing and depressing a button be the same thing?". For certain, enlightenment and solutions to the worlds troubles can be found at the reloading bench.[/QUOTE]

That would drive me NUTS! I'd end up catching my fingers between the ram and the dies all the time.

Golden oldies, REAL classic country or big band for me when loading. None of that "Pondering the Mysteries of the Universe" crap for me....

"AwFUL/AwSOME LOL

Mike

 

[Sam Kinard]

Asserting that someone should only learn to reload with a single stage press is like asserting we should all learn to operate a slide rule before using a calculator or that we should all learn to ride a horse before driving a car. If you are looking for absolute precision for extreme distance shooting, or if you simply can't afford a progressive press then by all means go ahead and start out that way.

If you want to get on with the business of shooting, go for a progressive press. Use the advances to your advantage! For most ammo they produce very fine product. Get the powder checks and only use powders with sufficient volume to overflow if you are worried you are easily distractible. But get back to shooting!

Actually, asserting that someone should start with a single stage is like asserting that we have training wheels before we get on a speed bike and like asserting that we get a Learner's Permit before we get the Driver's License. If you value the safety of your face and the others around you, you will put safety before "gettin' back to shootin'!"

Sometimes safety should be considered. Reloading what are small explosions that you purposely detonate very close to your face is nothing like a slide rule, but hey, apples and oranges get a lot of comparison around here.

 

[Lilhigbee]

There are people who can load their first round on a Dillon 1050 and be perfectly safe and there are others who have been reloading for years who shouldn't even be loading a CO2 pellet gun. The most important and most difficult factor is to know your own limitations and not get in over your head.

 

[Sam Kinard]

Knowing your limitations and not getting in over your head is exactly what I am talking about. In a perfect world, everybody would know people with reloading equipment and experience so that they could try it before they buy it.

 

[Gunner3456]

My Lee Load-Master Progressive Press will switch to single stage and back to progressive in the blink of an eye. I don't know about other brands.

 

[NoFlinch]

I started reloading about 20 years ago.

Bought a used 550 Dillon, and a TON of dies, etc. for $350.00 from a friend who reloaded commercially.

With a little instruction, I went home, mounted the press, played with it, and proceeded to reload 400 rounds per hour, like I was told I could do.

I set it up in front of the TV, cracked open a beer (or 2...) and started pumping out 45's.

After about 500-600 rounds, I took some out to the range to shoot through my almost new G30.

About 5 mags into it, BOOM!!!!

Blew that G30 all to hell..........Luckily, those guns are engineered to blow.....not too much damage to my hand.,,,MAJOR damage to the Glock

Glock replaced the gun for $250.00,,,,,.....A credit to them!

Then, after knowing that it was just a "fluke" that I had double charged a load, I shot many more rounds without incident.

I proceeded to load more, enjoying my favorite beer and TV programs.

Then, BOOM!!!!!!!!!

2nd G30 blow up.

"OK, MAYBE I'm doing something wrong", I said to myself

Needless to say, I've learned a LOT since then, the most important being "CONCENTRATE on what you're doing".

I now have a designated loading room, NO TV, radio, telephone, no visitors, etc.

I mounted a mirror on my Dillon, and physically glance at EVERY LOAD for powder level.

Haven't had a problem since, thousands of rounds of different calibers.

The point of all this is; Read, talk with reloaders, watch vids, learn as much as you can before beginning.

GO SLOW!! in the beginning. On a good day, I'll crank out 300 rounds in an hour. On a bad day,1.

I learn something new every time I read a reloading thread.....

And LUCKILY, I still have all 11 fingers

 

[Lilhigbee]

Doing math in base 8 is a lot easier for a sloppy reloader.

 

[NoFlinch]

Doing math in base 8 is a lot easier for a sloppy reloader.

What do you refer to.......this base 8 you speak of???

 

[Sabertooth]

Manuals I have, Sierra, Hornady, Speer, RCBS, Lyman cast bullet, Alliant, and some other powder company specific manuals.
For .38, .357, .44mag, I use 2400. For 30-06, 308 - IMR 4350, for .257 Roberts, 22-250 H3031 for now 9mm and 40 S&W 700x. Going to try H 570 for my 7mm Rem Mag.
GET A MANUAL SO YOU DON'T BLOW UP YOU GUN!!.

 

[sjmahe]

Hey y'all,

I want to eventually get set up for reloading. (.38sp, .357mag, .308win, 9mm)

I have nothing and want to stock up on powders first, then buy bullets and the reloading equipment.

What powders should I look for specifically? I'm having a hard time getting started and wanted to see if I could get some real basic advice.

Thanks!

Joe

 

[sjmahe]

Hey y'all,

I want to eventually get set up for reloading. (.38sp, .357mag, .308win, 9mm)

I have nothing and want to stock up on powders first, then buy bullets and the reloading equipment.

What powders should I look for specifically? I'm having a hard time getting started and wanted to see if I could get some real basic advice.

Thanks!

Joe

Joe, if your loading for 308win I may have some powder for you if interested. [email protected]

 

[etrain16]

Thought I'd pop this old thread back up again. As an also newbie reloader, I've been reading through threads and taking notes. You guys have given out some great advice. It really makes the process of getting started much easier. And, Joe13, I'm curious to hear your next update when you take another step in this process.

I may be going about things a bit backwards as I bought my equipment first, powder and bullets will come in just a bit. I had a chance to get a new kit and had the cash from a recent sale, so I figured I should do it now rather than spend the money on something else. I ended up going with the Lee Classic Turret press. After reading many reviews and threads, for the money, it seemed a nice way to go. I can run it as a single stage by pulling out the advancing rod, or run it like a semi-progressive as I work up my speed. Since I'll likely never need to load 400 rounds/hour, this is great for me. I'll be starting with 9mm and .45, later moving to .40 and .223/5.56 First die set to arrive will be 9mm, .45 will likely be shortly after.

I hand loaded 12 gauge for my father when I was younger. The process looks very similar to pistol, so I've got some background I can apply to the new process. The press didn't auto-index, you had to move each shell to each station - de-prime, prime, powder, wadding and shot, pre-crimp, final crimp. I learned then that losing concentration could have some bad (though not catastrophic) consequences as my father had to correct me more than once when I accidentally dropped powder or shot on an empty loading slot. I think dropping a load of #7 shot all over the table and floor - at least the powder would stay in a fairly neat pile. I agree with what was said before, getting distracted can be a problem. Never had a problem with any loads being too hot or too weak.

I'm looking forward to adding this into my gun hobby. My main reason for doing it isn't to save money, but to learn more about ammo and loading, and, should it happen again, be able to keep shooting when all the commercial ammo is gone just as it was post SH. My goal will be to have enough shells, bullets and powder that I could keep myself happily going for a while during times like that. And since I don't shoot 500 round each time I go out, that should be easy to do.

I like to learn new things, I can follow steps, and I've always been good at repetitive tasks, so this should work well for me

Thanks to all those who offer their advice in this and other threads. As one person noted earlier, there is always a chance there are 'lurkers' out there gathering up your sage advice and putting it into practice.

And Joe, keep us up to date on your progress.

 

[Joe13]

Absolutely!

I will be getting together with a member here and he has offered to walk me thru the process and practice loading some rounds on his equipment (free labor ).

After that, I'm going to go single stage press and start with one caliber until I feel like I've mastered it and will expand my Calibers as I go.

I figure that will get my feet wet and then ican decide how much of an equipment upgrade I really need.


Starting a Frankin-AR build has my very little cash flow torn into two directions right now so I'm still just looking for powder and bullets and building up some surplus suplies.

 

[ma96782]

IMHO....

Single stage presses to start. Then, move up to the progressive.

Additionally......learn to reload a rimmed .38 Special style cartridge before loading a .45 ACP (rimless cartridge). Then, after you have mastered the pistol cartridges....move to the bottle necked/rifle cartridges.

+++++

Besides....even if you eventually move up to a progressive you can probably/always find a job to do with the single stage or sell it and get back a large part of your investment. I can remember when an RCBS Rock Chucker could be gotten for about $80 new. Have you seen the prices today?

BTW, I own a Dillion and several Lee M1000 presses and I still own my RCBS Rock Chucker. The Rock Chucker is great for small batch loading and resizing bottle neck/rifle cases. Then, because of all of the additional steps involved in reloading military brass (bottle neck/rifle cases), I actually prefer it over the Dillion. Course, YMWV.

Aloha, Mark

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

I too decided to go with the Lee classic turret, seemed to be the best value and most likely to benefit how often i shoot. Not happening for a couple of months, but this summer should see some reloading

 

[Classic]

Been reloading for years! AVOID flake type powders! Unique is a great powder but it's a flake and doesn't meter worth a dang.... I have reloaded thousands of rounds of .357 and after my 2nd squib decided to weigh "every" round. I found that Unique varied up to .6 grains! (+/- .3) At this point I switched to AA#7 for my .357 (I no longer shoot .357) and I never had an issue again because it's granular and meter dead nuts in my Dillon 550.
Some rifle powder is extruded, Varget is the perfect example. I reload .223 and love H335 and Ramshot Tac - AGAIN, GRANULAR! yes, this is the key to reloading if you don't want to weight every load.
The next thing I have to stress in the crimp... Although I have a Dillon 550 and I use the Dillon Carbide dies, I have replaced all the crimping dies with Lee Factory Crimp dies for 2 reasons:
1st: the crimp die also resizes (again) the case after the crimp
2nd: the crimp is a roll crimp unlike the Dillon crimp die which is a taper crimp. The one thing I have noticed with the Lee factory crimp is the "bang" is consistent where the taper crimp wasn't. My grouping at 15 yards was cut in half.
9mm I like to use Ramshot Sihlouette, 5.7 grains which seams like a LOT, 1.14 OAL. Consistant and accurate. I used to use 4.3 grains of AA#2 but now I just use it for my 45acp at 5.3 gr 1.25 oal. HP38 (same as Win231), Hodgdon Titegroup, H110, Alliant Pistol powder are all quality powders (and granular). I'm sure there are more but when you reload ya like to stick to a few so you're not always resetting dies and meters.
When you can find a quantity of granular powder, buy 15-20 pounds of it because 5 pounds will load 6 to 7K rounds (I shoot over 1K a month so this is a 6 month max).
You'll find that reloading wont save you a dime but you'll get ta shoot almost 3 times as much for the same price!!!
For bullets, it's tough to beat (ya don't come in contact with lead):
http://www.xtremebullets.com/
Get on their mailing list and only buy when they go on sale. Black Friday is always the best deal like 15% off and free shipping.

 

[Classic]

Lee Modern Reloader 2nd edition it the best, most comprehensive reloading book out there!!!!

 

[Steve M]

Small flake powders like Power Pistol and SR-4756 meter just fine.

All gunpowder is granular, what Classic is talking about is referred to as a "ball" powder. The granules of a ball powder are very small and mostly round which allows it to flow well through a powder measure. Large flake powders tend to form bridges that result in the occasional light charge. You can spot these fairly well with visual inspection, but it is a pain in the butt and not well suited for progressive reloading setups. Right now you shoot the powder that you can buy, even if it is Unique or 800X.

I've been slowly migrating towards ball powders for a few reasons, the most obvious being that it meters well. Another reason is that most of it is made at St. Marks Powder in Florida so it tends to be a little more affordable than imports and I am supporting a supply of powder that can't be shut off on a whim by executive order. The other is that I'm finding that there are some ball powders that are extremely well suited to some of my cartridges in that for a given velocity they operate at a lower chamber pressure or their maximum velocity is much better than other powders. For example, BL-C2 in 55gr .223, W760/H414 in 140-160gr 7mm-08, W296/H110 in 125-158gr 357 Magnum, and Longshot in 180gr 40 S&W.