New reloader with questions

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sam05

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I've loaded shotshells for awhile now, and have a couple manuals for shotshells, and am currently on the hunt for a metallic cartridge manual. I have not loaded any metallic rounds, still in the process of collecting equipment, and had a question about cases. Does it matter what brand of cases you have or are they all the same?

Btw, I'm looking to load 30-30 win, 9 mm, and 45 acp

Thanks
Sam
 
mostly the same, but you might develop a prefernce over time.

fc, winchester, speer, pmc, rp. --- all good

I won't, however use RP in 44mag.

have fun!

edfardos
 
I've loaded shotshells for awhile now, and have a couple manuals for shotshells, and am currently on the hunt for a metallic cartridge manual. I have not loaded any metallic rounds, still in the process of collecting equipment, and had a question about cases. Does it matter what brand of cases you have or are they all the same?

Btw, I'm looking to load 30-30 win, 9 mm, and 45 acp

Thanks
Sam
Most people that I know of, including me, immediately cull and recycle any AMERC cases. I've never seen them in 9mm, but any I get in .45 immediately get squished with pliers and tossed in the recycle bin. The problem I have with them is a complete lack of neck tension and/or the primer pockets are loose. It just seems like their tolerances are absolute CRAP.
http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-234688.html
 
Awesome, thank you for the quick information, i knew shotshell hulls were different, but looks like I'm good to go once I get a couple of manuals and all of my equipment!


Thanks
Sam
 
For your first manual, I suggest the Lyman 49th Edition. For brass, I primarily use Winchester followed by Remington. However, I've also used Federal, Speer, Magtech, and S&W with no problems.
 
Sam, I like to use the same brand of brass for all of a given load, especially in rifle brass. For instance, use all Winchester for your 30/30. I like Winchester, but Remington and Federal work just fine too. Just don't mix em. You can for pistols, but I don't.
 
Also cull any armscorp USA brass. I prefer starline, and it is less expensive. But I will use rp win fed or hornady
 
I have several boxes of Remington factory loads, so i should be good there, also have some federal brass. How do you guys determine which cases you like best?

Thanks

Sam
 
The Lyman 49 has good "how to" information as well as load data.

Most of the mainline bullet manufacturers, Speer, Hornady, Sierra, et al, have good manuals for their products as well as some "how to" sections.

"ABCs of Reloading" is a good "how to" manual but does not have any load data.

There are a number of "load only" sources out there. Most of the powder manufacturers/distributers have load data for their products. Much of it is accessible via the internet. Hodgdon including Winchester and IMR, Alliant and Western powders comes to mind.

I like having a number or sources for data. Good for comparison and some sources have the powder/bullet you are looking for while others do not.

Unlike shot shells where it is recommended to load exactly to the load recipe, cartridge loading is a bit more flexible as long as you stay within the published limits.

I am happy with Remington, Winchester, Magtech and Starline brass as well as US military surplus. I am too cheap to buy Lapua and Norma.

I agree with others, AMERC is good for scrap.

Enjoy your new endeavor. Hope this helps.
 
How do you guys determine which cases you like best?

By whatever factory ammo I get, shoot and save the brass from, and range pick ups of other shooters.

Part of the savings of reloading, unless you are fine tuning BR shooting and buying the expensive stuff.
 
I guess I've been lucky in life. I've never run across any of that AMERC. But I'll keep my eyes open for it now.

I have different philosophies with pistol and rifle brass. For pistols, I'll shoot just about anything, any brand and any number of firings. Maybe if I was going to try and shoot some kind of competition I'd be a little more picky. But otherwise if it goes bang it's all good, unless I start getting loose primer pockets in which case I'd put them in a pile to be left on the ground next time. The only pistol brass that ever gave me any problems came from some factory 9mm Speer Lawman ammo I bought once. That stuff was so soft that the bullets would all get set back just by cycling in any of my semi-autos.

Rifle brass is a whole 'nother story. I always segregate by brand and by the number of firings, even by lot within the same brand. I can tell you where I got it, what prep work has been done to it and when, how may times it's been fired, when and if it's been annealed, what gun it's been shot in......its whole life history.

Sam, you'll find that not all brands of rifle brass are the same at all. Some have thicker neck walls, some are thicker all over, almost all have different alloy properties even within the same brand, etc, etc... These kinds of things will affect how much powder to use, what kind of prep work to do, what kind of accuracy you can expect, and so on. And unlike straight walled pistol brass, rifle brass has a much more certain life expectancy before it's best to just leave it on the ground. When that is depends on a lot of factors like how hot it's been loaded, what kind of gun it's been shot in, etc.

But don't let me spook you. Much of what I just described may not apply to 30-30 brass. That brass is a little different than most rimless calibers. But some of what I said will apply. My suggestion while you're gathering tools is to go ahead and by a Lyman reloading manual. Sit down and read it cover to cover. That will help you understand a lot of what we've been talking about.
 
My favorite brass is free brass.

+1 on that.

I use to spend a lot of time sorting brass by head stamp and making sure I was reloading all the same head stamp at one time.

For rifle I would start with 300 new cases and save each case, so sorting wasn't necessary. Well that's still true for most, but 223/5.56 I do not do that anymore. The slight differences are not worth the time. As long as you properly case prep them by checking the trim and resizing properly any difference will be minor.

For pistol, it doesn't make a hill of beans who's cases you use as long as they are brass and not steel or aluminum. You may want to check that the case is not bulged (Glocked or has been over loaded) but outside of that most brass pistol cases will work well and you will not be able to tell the difference as to manufacturer.

As always check your brass twice for defects or cracks and shoot safe.
Jim
 
In my opinion, the "top three" learning manuals are LYMAN #49 (new) or 48 (old), DBI METALLIC CARTRIDGE RELOADING 3rd ed (long out of print and stolen from most libraries that used to have it. They told you up front and no BS what was good, what was junk and what you REALLY needed!), Lee Modern Reloading 2nd ed (ignore all the lies about how great all Lee stuff is, some is, some isn't. Also the Lee warranty, mentioned 32 times in the book, is a total waste of time and a sick hoax). All three manuals look at reloading completely differently and you WILL learn a lot!

As to cases, I like Winchester rifle brass when I can get it, then Federal and Rem in that order. OK, I have not actually have had problems with Rem CF brass, but have never had any luck w/Rem .22s for the last 45 years (every year or so I buy a box, from cheapo to their best, to check and get blown rims and misfires, have for the last 45 years and every time Rem claims they had a "bad lot" and send me a new box which does the same in six different rifles and handguns) so if they can't produce a decent .22 case, do I want to mess with 50,000 psi going off in front of my face?!

As to pistol brass I don't really care. I have heard of problems with A-merc (which I don't doubt either) and bought a box of .45 to try. They all fired and reloaded fine for ME, but lots of people say they have had problems. Starting out you don't need any problems so you may want to stay away from them.

Speaking of "stay away from", avoid Lee pot metal presses like the plague too. Like A-merc cases, you don't need any more problems than you will already get and should buy a QUALITY press to begin with. Later, if you have the money and time to waste, sure buy a junk pot metal press to see why I told you to avoid them for yourself.
 
Speaking of "stay away from", avoid Lee pot metal presses like the plague too. Like A-merc cases, you don't need any more problems than you will already get and should buy a QUALITY press to begin with. Later, if you have the money and time to waste, sure buy a junk pot metal press to see why I told you to avoid them for yourself.

Does Lee make a ZAMAK press? It appears that all of their presses are either aluminum or cast iron. Which ones are "pot metal"? BTW I have the cheapest one (the Reloader press...$35 shipped) and it's great. I do all my 9mm and 30-30 reloading (including priming) on it.

Sorry but this sounds more like brand snobbery than actual facts.
 
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The OP:

Btw, I'm looking to load 30-30 win, 9 mm, and 45 acp

The open frame Lee press is more than sufficient for loading these calibers and loading them well. For $35 you can't go wrong. A press is a simple device. I would save money for all the other items you will need.

Harbor Freight or Snap-on....all you need to do is change your spark plugs...

Rifle brass is, I think, personal choice and of course whatever you can find. Be careful with range brass that may be Berdan primed.

9mm pistol brass is mostly ok but I cull S&B, WCC, Israeli, and a couple others I can't remember...mostly due to primer pocket issues or case length/headspace issues.
45 auto brass is the same. Check the primer pockets for a military crimps and of course Berdan primers.



P.S. Difference between Berdan and Boxer primed cases:

Berdan cases have (2) flash holes in the case that are off center and equal distant

Boxer cases have (1) flash hole directly in the center of the case. Our Decapping pins are setup to push the used primer out from the center of the case.

If you put a Berdan case in the shellholder and try to deprime it, you will break the decapping pin since the center of the primer pocket is solid brass.
 
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