I shot my first reloads about a week ago and thought I'd write something about the reloading experience with an eye toward raising newbie type questions. I had some concerns and questions some of which I was able to gleen answers and insights from the board.
I decided to give reloading a try mostly for financial reasons. I shoot .45 and figure I can reload for half the cost of bargain commercial ammo. Sure, if I spent reloading time at work I'd make enough to just buy what I need. But my situation doesn't lend itself to additional work hours. Besides, there is also the motivation to learn something new, do something hands-on and add a hobby related to an existing one. Who knows, maybe I'll even be a good enough shot some day so that accurate reloads would make a difference. For now I'm just content to be able to save some money and shoot slightly milder loads.
I chose the Lee Aniversary Kit as this seemed the least expensive for start up. I saw lots of advice to start with a single stage press and will not be cranking out lots of cartridges. Just enough for a couple of range sessions and an IDPA match a month. I got the Modern Reloading book with the kit. This was pretty useful as an intro to reloading. There's a lot of information there which is not really necessary for reloading 45 ACP (lots on pressure and reloading for rifle), but useful background anyways. At the same time, I purchased a box of 100 Rainier copper plated bullets which are about as inexpensive as I'm likely to find. I'm shooting a Glock with stock barrel, so no lead bullets.
I planned to use the work bench in the garage for reloading. I didn't want the press and other equipment permanently on the bench, so I mounted the press and powder measure stand on one inch particle board I had on hand and bought a pair of C-clamps to mount it to the bench. When I'm done, everything gets stacked on the reloading platform and placed up and out of the way on the shelf.
I have been a bit concerned about storage of powder and primers. I wanted to keep them in the garage, but it can get hot in there during the summer months and I worry about the powder going bad. Also, one of the kids' rooms is directly above the garage. In the event of a fire I'd prefer the flammables be away from sleeping quarters. The best location from this standpoint is the kitchen and I'm not comfortable with it there. For now, its in the garage.
Speaking of primers and powder, there were some issues. I didn't realize that there is a large hazardous materials fee associated with shipping of primers and powder. So, it seems that unless purchasing powder in bulk, its more cost effective to buy these from a local source. Trouble was, the only local source I had available was unable to restock standard large pistol primers of any brand for some reason. I was finally able, after a few weeks, to locate an outlet of the store chain which had a few boxes of CCI primers and bought two, leaving a couple boxes for the next poor soul searching for primers.
The primer problem left me with some additional time to contemplate which powder I should start with. After a first reading of the Lee book, I knew a couple of things about powder. They burn at different rates and generate different pressures over time in the cartridge. A faster powder generates pressure more quickly and generally requires less powder than a slower powder. So it can be somewhat more cost effective to use faster powders for lighter target loads as they require less powder per charge.
Being new to reloading, I've been mostly concerned about safety. So I decided on using a powder with an intermediate burn rate rather than one of the faster powders. The larger amount of powder in each charge does two things. First it gives a larger margin of error in a given charge, and second, it helps make double charges more noticable as a double charge would fill most of the case.
In looking at the load charts, it appeared that the powder with the largest powder charge by weight was Accurate #7. But when I first went to buy powder and primers, not only did they not have primers in stock, they didn't carry Accurate powders. So I had to go back over the load charts and chose another powder. In the process, I noticed something that I didn't on the first reading. The powders also have different density; that is to say, a given volume of various powders have different weights. So, a lighter measure of one powder can fill the case more than a heavier measure of another. So I set about finding another powder that would fill the case if double charged and settled on Hodgdon Universal with Alliant Unique as a backup.
So, everything is finally coming together, having been a bit more difficult than I had expected. Oops. I need some brass! I had set aside some Winchester white box from when I'd first started shooting and had half a box of PMC purchased locally when I'd run out of mail order bargan stuff. Off to the range to shoot and collect the cases.
When I got home and started cleaning up the brass, I noticed a few things. First, the Winchester cases were a lot dirtier. Second, the PMC cases seemed in better shape and appeared a bit thicker at the case mouth. I assumed the Winchester would be of better quality, but to the untrained eye, the PMC looks better.
The other thing I noticed was residue in the primer pocket and I worried about pressing new primers into the stuff. I found a thread here about cleaning primer pockets and the concensus was that its generally unnecessary unless the highest in consistency and reliability is required. I went ahead and cleaned the pockets anyway. On the second reloading, I did not clean them and noticed no difference in seating by feel or appearence.
Speaking of seating primers, this turned out to be the most stressful part of the process. Primers seem to be the most volitile element, so I set out to be most careful with them. But I had no idea what the seating operation should feel like. There were some details in the Lee book about reloaders crushing primers using the Auto Prime tool and that one should stop pressing when you feel the primer bottom out. Then again, I wanted to make sure the primer was seated well enough that it did not protrude from the case head. Turns out that it doesn't take much pressure to seat the primer and once seated, there is no need to apply any significant pressure to ensure proper seating.
One of the first primers I did was a bit difficult to seat and I didn't have enough experience to know why. Forty or so primers later, I got the same feel and backed off to figure out why. It turned out that I had two primers stacked in the channel. The first had started into the primer pocket and was stuck there so it was not possible to remove the case from the holder. I had to work the priming plunger to the proper height to gently shake the second primer out of the channel. From there the seating of the remaining primer felt normal.
My theory is that in both cases, I had started seating a primer and encountered a slight resistance and backed out, but the primer had already started into the pocket and was stuck there, and another primer was loaded into the channel under the partially seated primer. Now I always complete the seating of a primer before releasing the priming lever. If for some reason I want to back out I tilt the tool so a second primer from the holder is not fed into the priming channel.
On my first batch of reloads, I loaded five rounds each of loads ranging from a start load through a tenth of a grain under the published max load. The first four loads covered the first half of the load weight range in 0.3 grain increments. The last five loads covered the other half in 0.2 grain increments.
Each load was measured from the powder measure and then weighed on the scale. I noticed some variation in the weight of the charges being measured by the powder measure (Perfect Powder Measure). I didn't try to get the weight of each charge to determine the variation, but discarded any charge which was either overweight or significantly underweight. After a while I was able to get fairly consistent charges which were never over and seldom far under weight by tapping the measure to ensure all the powder was dispensed.
I feel comfortable that for normal or slightly lighter charges that I can measure directly from the powder measure. I wouldn't trust it for anything approaching max loadings.
I seated a bullet on each case immediately after charging. I read this recommendation somewhere and I think it prudent to prevent double charging. I had some concern about how much crimp was applied. Some of the first batch, I wasn't even sure that it was crimping at all. Some posters here have indicated that not much crimp at all is needed for 45 ACP. This batch was lightly crimped which seemed to work ok.
I was surprised at how quickly the loads reached commercial target ammo levels. I expected to be somewhere in the heavier half of the loads, but, strictly by feel, it seemed to be at that level in the middle load. The first load was very noticably light and shooting from 20 yards, was hitting a few inchs below poa. The heavier loads were a bit punishing by the time I got to the highest load. I'm going to try the loading just below what felt like my commercial target load at the next IDPA match.
As I said at the beginning of the post, I decided to start reloading to save a little money. I've run into a bit of trouble getting supplies and found some new costs associated with mail orders. It would seem that to hit the "half the cost" goal, I'll need to buy some large quantities, at least 8 lbs of powder and primers to match (thats a lot of primers). It also seems I need to find a local source for bullets. Shipping turns out to add 35% to the cost due to the weight from any source where I can currently find Rainier mail order. There's a sticky post regarding sources for reloading supplies on the forum.
I look forward to any comments and advice you all might have and that the thread might be useful for new reloaders.
Database
I decided to give reloading a try mostly for financial reasons. I shoot .45 and figure I can reload for half the cost of bargain commercial ammo. Sure, if I spent reloading time at work I'd make enough to just buy what I need. But my situation doesn't lend itself to additional work hours. Besides, there is also the motivation to learn something new, do something hands-on and add a hobby related to an existing one. Who knows, maybe I'll even be a good enough shot some day so that accurate reloads would make a difference. For now I'm just content to be able to save some money and shoot slightly milder loads.
I chose the Lee Aniversary Kit as this seemed the least expensive for start up. I saw lots of advice to start with a single stage press and will not be cranking out lots of cartridges. Just enough for a couple of range sessions and an IDPA match a month. I got the Modern Reloading book with the kit. This was pretty useful as an intro to reloading. There's a lot of information there which is not really necessary for reloading 45 ACP (lots on pressure and reloading for rifle), but useful background anyways. At the same time, I purchased a box of 100 Rainier copper plated bullets which are about as inexpensive as I'm likely to find. I'm shooting a Glock with stock barrel, so no lead bullets.
I planned to use the work bench in the garage for reloading. I didn't want the press and other equipment permanently on the bench, so I mounted the press and powder measure stand on one inch particle board I had on hand and bought a pair of C-clamps to mount it to the bench. When I'm done, everything gets stacked on the reloading platform and placed up and out of the way on the shelf.
I have been a bit concerned about storage of powder and primers. I wanted to keep them in the garage, but it can get hot in there during the summer months and I worry about the powder going bad. Also, one of the kids' rooms is directly above the garage. In the event of a fire I'd prefer the flammables be away from sleeping quarters. The best location from this standpoint is the kitchen and I'm not comfortable with it there. For now, its in the garage.
Speaking of primers and powder, there were some issues. I didn't realize that there is a large hazardous materials fee associated with shipping of primers and powder. So, it seems that unless purchasing powder in bulk, its more cost effective to buy these from a local source. Trouble was, the only local source I had available was unable to restock standard large pistol primers of any brand for some reason. I was finally able, after a few weeks, to locate an outlet of the store chain which had a few boxes of CCI primers and bought two, leaving a couple boxes for the next poor soul searching for primers.
The primer problem left me with some additional time to contemplate which powder I should start with. After a first reading of the Lee book, I knew a couple of things about powder. They burn at different rates and generate different pressures over time in the cartridge. A faster powder generates pressure more quickly and generally requires less powder than a slower powder. So it can be somewhat more cost effective to use faster powders for lighter target loads as they require less powder per charge.
Being new to reloading, I've been mostly concerned about safety. So I decided on using a powder with an intermediate burn rate rather than one of the faster powders. The larger amount of powder in each charge does two things. First it gives a larger margin of error in a given charge, and second, it helps make double charges more noticable as a double charge would fill most of the case.
In looking at the load charts, it appeared that the powder with the largest powder charge by weight was Accurate #7. But when I first went to buy powder and primers, not only did they not have primers in stock, they didn't carry Accurate powders. So I had to go back over the load charts and chose another powder. In the process, I noticed something that I didn't on the first reading. The powders also have different density; that is to say, a given volume of various powders have different weights. So, a lighter measure of one powder can fill the case more than a heavier measure of another. So I set about finding another powder that would fill the case if double charged and settled on Hodgdon Universal with Alliant Unique as a backup.
So, everything is finally coming together, having been a bit more difficult than I had expected. Oops. I need some brass! I had set aside some Winchester white box from when I'd first started shooting and had half a box of PMC purchased locally when I'd run out of mail order bargan stuff. Off to the range to shoot and collect the cases.
When I got home and started cleaning up the brass, I noticed a few things. First, the Winchester cases were a lot dirtier. Second, the PMC cases seemed in better shape and appeared a bit thicker at the case mouth. I assumed the Winchester would be of better quality, but to the untrained eye, the PMC looks better.
The other thing I noticed was residue in the primer pocket and I worried about pressing new primers into the stuff. I found a thread here about cleaning primer pockets and the concensus was that its generally unnecessary unless the highest in consistency and reliability is required. I went ahead and cleaned the pockets anyway. On the second reloading, I did not clean them and noticed no difference in seating by feel or appearence.
Speaking of seating primers, this turned out to be the most stressful part of the process. Primers seem to be the most volitile element, so I set out to be most careful with them. But I had no idea what the seating operation should feel like. There were some details in the Lee book about reloaders crushing primers using the Auto Prime tool and that one should stop pressing when you feel the primer bottom out. Then again, I wanted to make sure the primer was seated well enough that it did not protrude from the case head. Turns out that it doesn't take much pressure to seat the primer and once seated, there is no need to apply any significant pressure to ensure proper seating.
One of the first primers I did was a bit difficult to seat and I didn't have enough experience to know why. Forty or so primers later, I got the same feel and backed off to figure out why. It turned out that I had two primers stacked in the channel. The first had started into the primer pocket and was stuck there so it was not possible to remove the case from the holder. I had to work the priming plunger to the proper height to gently shake the second primer out of the channel. From there the seating of the remaining primer felt normal.
My theory is that in both cases, I had started seating a primer and encountered a slight resistance and backed out, but the primer had already started into the pocket and was stuck there, and another primer was loaded into the channel under the partially seated primer. Now I always complete the seating of a primer before releasing the priming lever. If for some reason I want to back out I tilt the tool so a second primer from the holder is not fed into the priming channel.
On my first batch of reloads, I loaded five rounds each of loads ranging from a start load through a tenth of a grain under the published max load. The first four loads covered the first half of the load weight range in 0.3 grain increments. The last five loads covered the other half in 0.2 grain increments.
Each load was measured from the powder measure and then weighed on the scale. I noticed some variation in the weight of the charges being measured by the powder measure (Perfect Powder Measure). I didn't try to get the weight of each charge to determine the variation, but discarded any charge which was either overweight or significantly underweight. After a while I was able to get fairly consistent charges which were never over and seldom far under weight by tapping the measure to ensure all the powder was dispensed.
I feel comfortable that for normal or slightly lighter charges that I can measure directly from the powder measure. I wouldn't trust it for anything approaching max loadings.
I seated a bullet on each case immediately after charging. I read this recommendation somewhere and I think it prudent to prevent double charging. I had some concern about how much crimp was applied. Some of the first batch, I wasn't even sure that it was crimping at all. Some posters here have indicated that not much crimp at all is needed for 45 ACP. This batch was lightly crimped which seemed to work ok.
I was surprised at how quickly the loads reached commercial target ammo levels. I expected to be somewhere in the heavier half of the loads, but, strictly by feel, it seemed to be at that level in the middle load. The first load was very noticably light and shooting from 20 yards, was hitting a few inchs below poa. The heavier loads were a bit punishing by the time I got to the highest load. I'm going to try the loading just below what felt like my commercial target load at the next IDPA match.
As I said at the beginning of the post, I decided to start reloading to save a little money. I've run into a bit of trouble getting supplies and found some new costs associated with mail orders. It would seem that to hit the "half the cost" goal, I'll need to buy some large quantities, at least 8 lbs of powder and primers to match (thats a lot of primers). It also seems I need to find a local source for bullets. Shipping turns out to add 35% to the cost due to the weight from any source where I can currently find Rainier mail order. There's a sticky post regarding sources for reloading supplies on the forum.
I look forward to any comments and advice you all might have and that the thread might be useful for new reloaders.
Database
