"Easy round to reload for"

[Varminterror]

If you ever read ME in particular talking about a cartridge being “easy to load,” it has absolutely everything to do with ballistic performance, nothing to do with physical size or complexity in sourcing reloading components. If a small bullet with a short bearing surface is difficult to handle for square seating like 380 auto, then I’ll say seating is difficult. If making brass is a tedious process, like 7 Valkyrie, I’ll say making brass is burdensome. If components are readily available like 223rem, I’ll say components are readily available...

But if you could drop 50 cases into a bowl full of powder, shake it all up, pull them out and seat bullets, then deliver 1/2moa groups with single digit SD’s, like 6 Dasher, then I’ll say the cartridge is easy to load for.

 

[Random 8]

When I think of "easy to load for," I think of several factors.
Widely available data and bullet selections tested and proven to be sound options. .308, .38 Special, .223 definitely fit into this category, such as .41 Mag, 6.5 Carcano, most any wildcat or obsolete round do not.
Cartridge (and available firearms) perform with a wide range of powders/bullets. Once again, .308, .38 and .223.
No special tricks or techniques, such as minimal case capacity requiring short bullets, or unusually thick brass, special sizing for different rifles, etc. I consider such rounds as .300 Sav, 7.5 Swiss, 7.62x54R, and 6.5x50 Japanese to fall into this category of difficulty, disqualifying them as "easy".

 

[entropy]

Short-necked rifles round using long bullets can be problematic to load.(the aforementioned .300 Savage being a prime example) Small bottle necked rounds (5.7, not even mentioning the coating the cases require, .22 Hornet, 218 Bee, 5.7 Johnson) can be harder to load.

 

[Armored farmer]

Is there is something out there easier to reload than. 45colt/255gr swc/unique.....?

 

[jmorris]

.22 Hornet is the most picky.

Quite a bit of variation between manufacturers, thin walls, chambers that seem to be all over the place. I guess for an 89 year old round, I might be too harsh .

 

[BigBore44]

I would say difficult would be 22 Hornet (George P stated correctly) and I’d add 577/450 to that list. I think where most people screw up is they run the press too fast.

 

[BigBore44]

Is there is something out there easier to reload than. 45colt/255gr swc/unique.....?

Yes. A BB gun.

 

[coondogger]

If you do what I do for .270 and trickle powder from a dixie cup to an empty 16ga shell to weigh it then that makes .270 a somewhat difficult cartridge to reload for...
Not to mention trimming the case with a deburring tool while I wait for a lyman pilot backordered on brownells.

I've found .270 to be a challenging cartridge to reload with or without a dixie cup.

 

[Olon]

I've found .270 to be a challenging cartridge to reload with or without a dixie cup.

What makes you say that? Only issue I've had so far is when I very first started I was screwing in the crimp part of the seating die when I meant to do the bullet seater... funny how OAL stayed the same until I got a caved in case

 

[red rick]

The caliber that got me into reloading , 45 Colt is easy . I heard 44/40 was a hard caliber to reload , so that was the main reason I chose 45c over 44/40 .

 

[Mostly Lead]

45 acp in my Ruger Blackhawk revolver gave me fits for a bit. Seating and crimping with one die just wouldn't dial in for me no matter how light a crimp I tried. Rounds were happy in my semi-auto, but wouldn't always seat flush in the revolver. A little macro-photography finally confirmed what I suspected, just the slightest bit of lead pealed off on the lip of the brass that I couldn't see by eye. Switched to Lee Factory Crimp die and two separate steps - all was fine. Spent a bit of time on that one though...

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

I load quite a few different cartridges none are hard to load. Some can be more time consuming, like bottle neck rounds that like course powder.
On my progressive press 38 spl slows me down some compared to 9, 40, 45 just because they tip easily.

 

[jmorris]

Maybe someone can explain, or name a cartridge that's difficult to reload.

A lot of people crank the die down until it contacts the shell holder and start cranking out ammunition.

Straight walled ammunition is obviously going to be less problematic with this method, without a little luck.

 

[rskent]

“Easy round to reload for”

Easy in comparison to some other cartridge. For me 45acp is/was easy in comparison to 9mm. Seems like every 45acp load worked great out of the box. Loading was easy. Finding powders that I liked, easy. Getting the crimp was easy. Easy peasy.

9mm, not so much. It took me a fairly long time to get loads that I was at all satisfied with and getting the crimp right also took some time. Not hard, just took some time to get it right. Now that I have been loading 9mm for some time, I have loads that work great and are easy to load, but not at first.

 

[Doc7]

If you do what I do for .270 and trickle powder from a dixie cup to an empty 16ga shell to weigh it then that makes .270 a somewhat difficult cartridge to reload for...
Not to mention trimming the case with a deburring tool while I wait for a lyman pilot backordered on brownells.

What Lyman pilot do you need? I just unboxed my Lyman trimmer. 1 or 2 pilots are missing. If the 270 isn’t the same as the one needed for 7mm-08 need me to send you one? Send PM

 

[Charlie98]

"Not everyone is as skilled as you.

I always recommend .38 Special or .45 ACP as easy to load/good beginner calibers.

Why:

Straight case that is easy to size with a carbide sizer and no lube.
Trimming not needed on .45 and you don't have to on .38 Spl.
A billion recipes out there with published, tested data.
Works at low pressure so if you oops a little (A little), the case and the gun will most likely handle it with zero consequences.
Nice size to work with, no fumbling little .32 ACP cases with big fingers.
Work well with any bullet type, lead, coated lead, plated, jacketed. (Maybe even freeze dried)
Easy as falling off of a log to find an accurate load with, which builds confidence."

I was going to say very much the same as that... so I'll save my time and just copy it...

One other aspect is... new reloaders are often trying to get their equipment setup for the first time, trying to juggle that and reloading a cartridge that requires more precise technique may be too much at first. It is very difficult to go wrong with a low-pressure cartridge (loaded properly, using book data...) like the .45ACP or .38SPC, even when starting up with a progressive... unless you just mess up. I always cringe when I see a noob reloader start with a bottleneck cartridge, or something like the 9mm, even, where powder choice, bullet choice... even OAL can be quite critical. Even after 2 years of handgun cartridge reloading (.41 and .45ACP) my first bottlenecks... .30-30's... were completely unshootable. It's not that the .30-30 isn't 'easy to load for,' but it does require some advanced technique... and I wouldn't recommend it as a good idea first time out of the blocks.

 

[Varminterror]

300 win mag is one I hear guys often have issues loading. It’s no different, in process, than any other bottleneck cartridge, but it has the nuances of an exceptionally short neck, long bullets which often hang below the junction of the shoulder and body, and the infamous belt, and belt bulge, so getting precision performance from the 300wm takes more load work than say, a 308win, or 6 Dasher. It’s not particularly challenging to find sub-MOA loads in 300wm, but it’s not as easy as some other cartridges - so one gets a reputation for being easy to load for, and the other for being difficult to load. It’s a narrow spectrum, but a spectrum nonetheless.

The WSM’s are another set of cartridges for which loading to a reloader’s typical potential precision isn’t always as simple as other rounds. The shoulders are the typical culprit - trying to get a bump without springback and setting it well in the chamber takes a little more doing, compared to a high taper round with a more gentle shoulder.

This is one of those things like “inherent accuracy.” When load development for a certain round is so easy that it becomes difficult to screw up, it’s labeled as easy to load, and usually goes hand in hand with being labeled as inherently accurate.

 

[Mn Fats]

So what I'm understanding is it's all subjective. Except for the margin of error on the smaller cartridges and short necks.

 

[cfullgraf]

I guess I do not find any cartridge more difficult to physically load than any other. Some take a bit more effort than others.

For the thirty some different cartridges that I have equipment to reload...

Straight walled pistol cases tend to be less time consuming and in many cases more forgiving to variations.

Some of the smaller handgun cartridges like 25 ACP or 32 ACP take some extra care due to their small size. Old fingers just do not grip small things as well as in younger years.

Some rifle cartridges can be a bitch to get to be accurate and produce small groups.

Some cartridges like 22 Hornet, required a little care to prevent damaging the case. But, once you learn to reload with some finesse, fragile cases such as 22 Hornet are no different to load than more robust cases.

Forming cases for wildcat or obsolete cartridges is a whole different subject. Some are simple conversions, some are not so simple. But once the cases are formed, they reload just like other cartridges.

Reloading is another hobby for me. I enjoy the challenge of working with all aspects of the reloading hobby. So, maybe my opinions are skewed a bit.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I've had an issue or two during the process.
Of course the straight walled rimmed stuff is the easiest.
Bottlenecked cartridges are not necessarily harder, just more steps with trimming and such.

9mm isn't bad with jacketed rounds, but I had trouble casting and loading for it. So much so that I sold my mold.

 

[Mn Fats]

Is there is something out there easier to reload than. 45colt/255gr swc/unique.....?

Yes. It's in your avatar. A bit more messy though

 

[WestKentucky]

I have 3 that are not “easy”.

7-30 waters is not difficult at all, but the added steps of resizing 30-30 and fireforming to the chamber take it out of the easy category and into the slow and labor consuming category.

.256winmag is one of the worst because you take a .357 mag, anneal, neck it down to 30 cal, anneal again, and neck it down to .257. Once that’s done you have the pleasure of looking for bullets that haven’t been made since the late 60s or early 70s, or use a heavy slow bullet that won’t fit the magazine, or you buy the 75grain ballistic tips and build a fixture to remove the tip allowing it to fit in a mag, if your lucky because otherwise you just wasted a box of bullets.

38sw again, nothing difficult, but brass and bullets are not nearly as common as other stuff and can be tricky to locate. The added labor of searching out components takes this one out of the “easy” category.