Who else reloads

[AirForce]

I'm thinking I might start out reloading shotgun shells, especially .410's as they have got pricey. Then I'd move up to the 454 casulls after I get my feet good and wet. (and eliminate my pesky apple eating squirrels)

 

[Greg Meyer]

I gotta be real honest... I do not know anyone who reloads and saves net dollars.... I do knogrw they all shoot ,more!!!

Also, I do know that as soon you start reloading you realize how much more versatile your firearms become. If I didn't reload my plinking would be limited to .22LR. I reload 140gr Flat Nose cast lead bullets in my .357 (38 Spl). Primers 3 cents bullets 500/$35 7 cents and powder 2000/pound @ $22 so say 11 cents... total cost is $11 /50. It makes a 150 round day $33 nice price for a nice day of a lot of shooting.... Low cost fun one reason

In my rifles.... Take my .257 Roberts, I have different loads worked up for small whitetail deer in Kentucky than I use in Missouri river bottom whitetails.... And, when I was up to it (the walking) , the same rifle using a lighter but tough bullet was perfect for pronghorn at 300-400 yards.... Take that inflexible factory ammo...... Second reason versatility

And, the best reason.... It is something that is shared by me with my son, daughter-in-law, daughter, and (for now, only) one grandson (8 yrs old...he in in charge of tumbling brass and depriming cases). Family time with a reward.

 

[rbstern]

Greg, for me, the real savings comes with casting bullets. With the supplies I've bought over the years (much it surplus or estate sale stuff), along with scrounging free lead, my 38 special plinkers cost less per round than 22LR. And being able to control the hardness of the bullets via the alloy and casting process opens up yet another world of ammo customization. It's a yet another time investment, but quite enjoyable.

 

[Greg Meyer]

Greg, for me, the real savings comes with casting bullets. With the supplies I've bought over the years (much it surplus or estate sale stuff), along with scrounging free lead, my 38 special plinkers cost less per round than 22LR. And being able to control the hardness of the bullets via the alloy and casting process opens up yet another world of ammo customization. It's a yet another time investment, but quite enjoyable.

i

I load cast lead (almost exclusively Missouri Bullet with some Meister) for handguns. No lead rifle loads... for inexpensive I buy a lot of Nosler Blems or Midway bulk. I use a wide variety of bullets for specific purposes in specific calibers in my rifles for hunting. I have spent the time to develop the various loads for evrything.... load for .222, .223, .257R, 7mm Mag, .30-06, .308, .300WM, .338 WM, 7.65 Arg Mauser...

 

[TritonGlenn]

"I'm thinking I might start out reloading shotgun shells, especially .410's as they have got pricey."

Yeah... I thought that too when I started reloading .410 shells for my son. I don't think that point has ever been reached.
First it was just reloading XX Winchester hulls. Then I wanted more empties to reload, so I bought a bulk bag of primed Cheddite hulls. Then I started playing with different wads. Then my son (10 years old) started wanting to do it himself (with my supervision), so we will load 100 at a time "just for fun". Then he goes to the range and shoots them all because he loves to shoot that .410, even if he isn't hitting nearly as many as he would with a 20 or 28 gauge.

It's nice to reload shotgun shells if you shoot a lot of skeet / trap / sporting clays though, which I have been doing more and more lately since the National Shooting Complex is 5 minutes from my house - 670 acres of clay shooting awesomeness.

All the best,
Glenn

 

[Donald Prater]

Don't reload but I do pour a lot of fishing weights.

 

[Greg Meyer]

225 Win, 22-250 7MMWM 7-30 Waters .30-30 Win .308 Win 30-06 300 Win Mag 357 mag 44 mag

Wayne, just re-read this and saw the .225 reference. About 25 years ago I had a chance to buy a Win Mdl 70 featherweight in .225 and passed (dumb me). That had to have been a "Custom Shop" offering since it was not a cataloged offering. That goes into the missed opportunities file. I presume you have a supply of brass. That has to be an easy round to load and perfect since it is rimmed. What twist rate?

 

[Wayne P.]

Wayne, just re-read this and saw the .225 reference. About 25 years ago I had a chance to buy a Win Mdl 70 featherweight in .225 and passed (dumb me). That had to have been a "Custom Shop" offering since it was not a cataloged offering. That goes into the missed opportunities file. I presume you have a supply of brass. That has to be an easy round to load and perfect since it is rimmed. What twist rate?

I don't have that rifle now, the rate of twist is 1-14. I kept some dummy loads I used for headspecing and load length.
I used to just do neck resizing instead of full length even though I had dies for both--just gave the dies away about 2 weeks ago.
The rimmed cases made them popular for some custom single shot firearms, but the case dimension is based on head spec.
I trashed all of the brass since all were multi-reloaded, trimmed, etc.
No, it was not a custom. It was a factory caliber at the time I bought it at a gun shop in the early 1960's in their regular inventory. Model 70 standard weight barrel.
I had a Weaver 10X on it and I didn't use the factory loads with 55 gr. bullets. I loaded 50 gr Sierras at about 3,900 fps
Very accurate.

If you do a web search for Winchester 225, you will find quite a lot about it.

I recently also sold my Weatherby Mark V 7MMWM, and Savage 111 in .308 as well as a Winchester 9422 XTR.
Quit hunting, but not fishing.

 

[Greg Meyer]

I don't have that rifle now, the rate of twist is 1-14. I kept some dummy loads I used for headspecing and load length.
I used to just do neck resizing instead of full length even though I had dies for both--just gave the dies away about 2 weeks ago.
The rimmed cases made them popular for some custom single shot firearms, but the case dimension is based on head spec.
I trashed all of the brass since all were multi-reloaded, trimmed, etc.
No, it was not a custom. It was a factory caliber at the time I bought it at a gun shop in the early 1960's in their regular inventory. Model 70 standard weight barrel.
I had a Weaver 10X on it and I didn't use the factory loads with 55 gr. bullets. I loaded 50 gr Sierras at about 3,900 fps
Very accurate.

If you do a web search for Winchester 225, you will find quite a lot about it.

I recently also sold my Weatherby Mark V 7MMWM, and Savage 111 in .308 as well as a Winchester 9422 XTR.
Quit hunting, but not fishing.

Did you keep your reloading equipment? In case you get the itch...

And, I notice you didn't sell the .25-20. What is that? My friend has a virtually like new Winchester Lever 92 in .25-20 that is downright beautiful...

 

[Wayne P.]

Did you keep your reloading equipment? In case you get the itch...

And, I notice you didn't sell the .25-20. What is that? My friend has a virtually like new Winchester Lever 92 in .25-20 that is downright beautiful...

25-20 was not in my list. Not familiar with the caliber.

 

[Greg Meyer]

25-20 was not in my list. Not familiar with the caliber.

LOL .25-20 OR .22-250; WHEN YOU AREN'T WEARING YOUR GLASSES!!! I was using my phone and the print is small enough but without my glasses.... Oh well....

I like reloading and find it relaxing to just concentrate of the process to get away from work and everything else. The added benefit is that your ammo is as good as it gets. Look a Mac, $3 a piece for >270 WBY Mag. For $3 a round I can create "perfect" ammo using CNC lathe turned solid copper banded bullets from GS Custom in my 7mm RM an shrink my 600 yrd groups by 1/3 to 1/2.

Fatrap if you read this google up GS Custom and order a few and try them (target bullets) in the .300 after you get it settled down.

 

[fatrap]

I'll take a look at it. Just loaded up 30 208 grain hornady's but now it's 16 freeky degrees outside. I'm not going to the range until it gets a few degrees warmer.

 

[Greg Meyer]

Santa brought us (my son and I) a new Lyman Case Prep Express machine. Wow, am I feeling dumb! Should have had one years ago. The machine is great and the primer pocket uniformers are fantastic. I have tons of surplus .223 and .308 and it used to be a pain to ream out the primer crimps, "not any more man!"

 

[TritonGlenn]

Oh yeah! Great present. I have the RCBS version. I don't think it matters though - Lyman, Hornady, RCBS - all of the case prep machines are awesome tools. I have the two sizes of primer pocket reamers, two sizes of primer pocket brushes, neck brushes, and the chamfering and deburring heads. What a time saver! I hope you enjoy it!
All the best,
Glenn

 

[Greg Meyer]

Oh yeah! Great present. I have the RCBS version. I don't think it matters though - Lyman, Hornady, RCBS - all of the case prep machines are awesome tools. I have the two sizes of primer pocket reamers, two sizes of primer pocket brushes, neck brushes, and the chamfering and deburring heads. What a time saver! I hope you enjoy it!
All the best,
Glenn

If you use the Lee case length tools check this item out... http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEE-RCBS-HO...209?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item460f5c0b79

Just found this and ordered one of both sizes... Saving money, reloading, hahahahaha Just spent over $100 on "tools" for the Case Prep machine!!!!

 

[TritonGlenn]

Hmmm... Interesting. I just might have to get one. Let me know how you like that. I would jump on it now, but I just finished buying the last of my add-on tools for my current (Hornady) case trimmer, and it would be a shame not to at least use it for a while!
All the best,
Glenn

 

[Greg Meyer]

My new policy is to have "plenty" of my usual components on hand. So, when my friend called to tell me that Cabelas had Federal 209A shotshell primers, I launched myself out of my comfy chair and drove there. Could not find any and got depressed :-(... Then in a most unlikely spot I found 12,000... bought 2,000 (their limit). Happy, happy, happy!!! We shoot between 2 and 3,000 a year so this togther with the 2,300 already on hand I have my one year plus supply.

It has been about 4 months since they had any... And, they were on sale, $5 off, $37.99/1000

 

[TritonGlenn]

I've found out just how lucky I am when it comes to shotshell reloading. The National Shooting Complex is about 5 minutes from my house, and when they have their big competitions all the vendors come out. Pretty easy to get some really good deals on bulk supplies. Lead shot, primers, hulls, wads, etc... You name it, they probably have it.

It can be bad too. I see all those high dollar custom shotguns and start drooling. Takes a lot of willpower to get back to my truck and leave before I do something that my wife will beat me for.

All the best,
Glenn

 

[Greg Meyer]

My wife and I have a standing "date" every third Thursday of the month... I show up and she beats me... That way we don't have to go through all the fighting, yelling etc. We just assume that I deserve a beating at least once a month!

Just walked away from Cabelas this afternoon, and walked away from at least four guns that would have earned a severe beating on a different day than our standing date...lol

 

[cq]

Sounds like my household.

cq