What is your favorite round/caliber to reload for and why

ArchAngelCD said:

Wow, cool, you reload the .22LR. I thought that was very hard to do if at all?

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I guess there are people that wildcat 22 rimfire ammunition. Never understood that one.

Matt

Kyle M said:

I'm curious what extra precision have you found to be required when reloading .40 S&W?

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It's a high-pressure, low-volume cartridge, so powder weight is more critical than with most handgun rounds. The fired brass is often more difficult to resize fully because of having been fired in some early .40 cal pistols with less fully-supported chambers; an extra step is often required. I often shoot .40cal with a third party barrel and load rounds to work with either, so I must plink test with both (ok, that's not universally applicable to loading .40cal). Is that enough?

You didn't ask about .257 Roberts specifically, but the added level of complexity for me it loading long enough to be close to the lands yet short enough to fit in the magazine of my short-action rifle. That can involve making powder charge adjustments because longer bullets seated deeper to stay off the lands can push case volume below what would be considered normal.

Hard to say exactly, except it is definitely for my handguns, as I create my own high quality hollowpoint bullets and reloading for them is little more than the cost of rimfire ammo.

Don

.45 ACP



.45 Colt



.38/.357

9mm 'cause I shoot a lot of it; 30-06 'cause otherwise it would be too expensive

308 and 17 rem fireball, they're just plain easy

I like the reloads I have killed animals with:
17Rem [prairie dogs]
223 [prairie dogs, ground squirrels]
220 Swift [prairie dogs]
243 [prairie dogs]
257RAI [deer]
270 [deer]
7mmRM [deer, antelope]
45/70 [raccoons]
50CB [raccoons]

.38 Spl - it's the first handgun I bought & it's the easiest to reload.
My press runs smooth as butter doing this caliber.

2nd would have to be 45 Colt.
Nice large hole & a SAA is just so historic & simplistic in it's design & function.

41 Mag lights my fire. Take my revolver and Marlin 1894 FG to the range and blast away.

44 special because I can actually hit something with my S&W 629 with 4" barrel and 45 Colt because it works well with a variety of bullet weights and powders and it makes great big holes.

Clark: 45/70 on raccoons? I bet that was interesting!

.45acp, Because it's probably the easiest I reload and the it's the round I enjoy shooting the most.

SlowFuse Clark: 45/70 on raccoons? I bet that was interesting!

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1 gr Red Dot 150 gr .458" cast bullet.
440 fps.
Sounds like a BB gun.
Stops raccoons with a body shot.
Gotta get the expansion ratio up to get the velocity up and yet the muzzle pressure down to one atmosphere above ambient, the threshold of super sonic gas escapement.
The other raccoons hang around waiting to get shot, too.

I am faily new to reloading. My current favorite is .45 because it is what I enjoy shooting. However, I think 10mm may become my favorite as I shoot my new 1911 10mm more.

45 ACP and 45 Colt are my favorites. BUT, I enjoy each round no matter what caliber (rifle or pistol).

Just Saying.

The Dove

45ACP. It's sooo easy.

30-30 win and .357 mag. The first two I started with. 30-06 a close second.

.44 Magnum.

I love the versatility of the round and find it aesthetically appealing.

For handgun .38 spl. target wadcutters to +P hollow point varmit S&W M-14

for serious varmit and plinking in a rifle gimme my .223 Rem Tikka T3

For big game my A-Bolt 300 Win. Mag

SlowFuse said:

Clark: 45/70 on raccoons? I bet that was interesting!

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Before I saw the special loads I was thinking it was probably about the same as the time I hit a chicken with a 58 Cal muzzle loader.


Michael Grace

I began loading the 357mag over 40 years ago, still my favorite.

Whatever caliber I happen to be loading at the current time. Because I just love reloading.

44 magnum makes it all add up so much quicker. I can make the equivalent of $36 a box ammo for $15, and if I dont mind smoke I can get that down to around $8.50 or $9 for lead with Unique. Love shooting the red bullseye out of a target to where you can see daylight through the backboard.

Same thrill for me first time my .223 reloads shot a 5 shot group that were all touching.

.40 or .45 ACP, because the cases and projectiles are big enough to hold onto and see into to check powder levels.

.380 is a PITA.

44 magnum. With my own cast slugs and range brass i can load for about $4 a box of 50 which is roughly 90 percent discount.

1KPerDay said:

.40 or .45 ACP, because the cases and projectiles are big enough to hold onto and see into to check powder levels.

.380 is a PITA.

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You think .380 is bad I reloaded 1,000 .32's, and 1,000 .25,s for a friend who collects pocket pistols. That was a royal nightmare.