Getting started - choosing brass, powder and primers

[Wrage]

Ok, I admit - I am extremely newb...

So far you all have been an awesome resource for helping me choose my equipment, then helping me to design my bench, then how to mount my stuff - I'm getting there

But now how do I go about choosing what brass to buy, what powders to use, and hardest of all what bullets to buy?

I mean I know I can look at the powder charts in the back of my manuals - but even between my manuals they all have their 'best' powder choices and those are different. How do I know which one to go with? For instance in my Lyman book for .32 special RX-7 is listed first but in the Lee book its listed last, but everyone one I talk to says to use IMR3031 (which isn't even listed in the Lee book!)

And then get into bullet choices! Nosler, Speer, Hornady - where do I even begin?

I will be reloading rifle ammo to start with, primarily for hunting and target for whitetail+ in .270, 30-06, 7mm, 300 WinMag, and .32 Special .

Thanks for allowing me to glean all of your acquired wisdom!!!

 

[Walkalong]

That is part of the fun and frustration of reloading. Lots of choices. Your rifle might like one bullet where mine likes another. Same for powders.

Good news is for any given caliber there are usually some powders that work well in 99% of guns. Same for bullets. There are so many good quality bullets these days it is pretty easy to get a good combination for your gun. You still need to try a few different bullets though. One may shoot much better than the others. I like to settle on a powder/velocity range, and then try some different bullets.

I just did the powder/velocity thing for .35 Remington in my 336. Now I am going to load 10 rounds of the bullet I chose using that powder charge. If it shoots around one inch at 100 yards, I am going to call it good. If not I'll tweak the powder a little to see what happens. (Might do that anyway) For target shooting I would try more options.

You can chase the perfect load forever if you want to.

 

[mcdonl]

Wrage, what I typically do for brass is buy good quality ammo. I like Sellior and Bellot ammo. Once fired in yoyur gun it is then formed for your rifle. As far as bullet choices I have no suggestions. I do not know enough about it.

 

[gamestalker]

Yep, this is the fun part of hand loading. But for brass I personally like Winchester. Remington brass has also served me well, but it is pretty soft and doesn't last as long for me. Federal on the oposite end of the spectrum, seems to be a harder brass, and can last as long as Winchester it your loads aren't running maximum pressures. It seems to be a bit brittle, which you may notice just above the head after resizing.
My one personal opinion though, avoid using nickel brass. It can scratch your resize die. I've also experienced higher pressures with it using the same powder charges as standard yellow brass. In my opinion it's because case capacity is a little bit less, reason being it is thicker, and it doesn't flex as much as standard yellow brass. I have two 7 mags., one does fine with it the other won't group worth a darn with it. So far as primers, I use CCI and have for many years. I've used Winchester a couple of times when the store was out of CCI and it was fine, just another personal preference of mine.

 

[bison]

I'm new too - as Walkalong said, there are lots of choices and that's part of the fun (and frustration). I have a 270 and 30-06 and had to start reloading with one powder (H414) as it's the only one I could find locally. Same with bullets - used the only ones they had (Hornady). Right off the bat my 270 shot great (less than 1 MOA), but I couldn't get the -06 to do as well. Tried different bullets and powders, then finally read on some posting something to the effect of "if a 30-06 won't shoot well with 57 grains of IMR 4350 and a 165 grain bullet, throw it away". Tried that load and shot 0.75" groups!

So I'd suggest you start with proven components that will get you "close", then play around if you need to. That means just about any decent brass, good quality bullets, and powders that seem to constantly be mentioned on these boards as good candidates for your calibers. Everyone has an opinion about what is "best", but that only means it's best for them. Start in the middle of the fairway and have fun! This hobby is an inexact science.

 

[Wrage]

Good news is for any given caliber there are usually some powders that work well in 99% of guns. Same for bullets.

So I'd suggest you start with proven components that will get you "close"

Is there a good source (i.e. website or book) that I can go to that shows a good starting point for brass/bullet/powder combinations (I have the manuals for powders) - or do I just ask here? (I don't want to be a forum leech if I don't have to - I've done enough of that already! ) I have read a good amount about certain loads and have taken notes (like the great info in the current .30-06 thread)

Is there a huge difference in brass choices that I as a newbie would notice (I assume there must be as prices are so extremely different).

Gamestalker thanks for the info on brass hardness - that is the kind of thing I want to learn! So you would recommend Winchester as a good all around brass then?

mcdonl - is that a better or cheaper way to go rather than loading from purchased brass?

You can chase the perfect load forever if you want to.

I don't need perfect just close...well at least for now, I have a feeling that I may be at the beginning of a lifelong quest!

 

[WNTFW]

On the brass: Probably the best thing to do as a newb reloader is to buy some new brass or new ammo and keep the brass.

I do use range pickup but only after being experienced and being sensible. If a case is too nasty, dented, etc I toss them. Inspecting them is necessary. You may not spot the problems as an inexperienced reloader. It also takes time. I also get some brass from known sources. The problem is someone can pickup a case that is of unknown origin along with the brass of unkown origin.

I get .308 from when a group of snipers practice. One rifle may have an out of spec chamber working the brass excessively. Rather unlikely but still possible.

Buy new to begin with. Maybe later you will skip the range pick-up all together.

 

[bison]

www.reloadammo.com is pretty good, but again offers a lot of combinations to choose from. The THR forums are a great way to get info and I wouldn't worry about asking too many questions as there's always plenty of people willing to help. Do enough of this digging and you'll find (as you are) that there are good starting points for all calibers you have. Google searches are helpful as well in seeing what info is on other boards.

The 30-06 thread is a good example, many opinions but a general opinion that 165 gn bullets and IMR 4350 are a great place to start. You'd find similar for 270 about 130 gn bullets. I'm sure others will chime in on the other calibers.

As always, take what you read on the internet with a grain of salt though and compare back to manuals and your own observations and experience.

 

[hAkron]

I just started reloading last December. I reload mostly 9mm, .38 Special, .380, 9x18 Makrov, and .45 ACP. For my first powder purchase I went with Winchester 231 because it was listed in the load data for ALL of those calibers. I bought a new bag of Winchester .38 special brass because that's what was at my local shop, and I started with Federal primers because that's what the guy handed me when I asked for primers. For bullets I bought a box of cheap lead brown box for my .38 (500 bullets for $35.00) and a box of cheap plated bullets for my 9mm ($90 for 1000) because I knew I was going to make a lot of mistakes and I didn't want to mess up expensive bullets. Other than the first bag of .38 brass that I bought all of my other brass so far has been range pickup - either my own brass that I've shot from factory bullets that I still had on hand or whatever I could scrounge off of the floor at the range. I carry in my range back 2 big ziplock freezer bags and I grab as much brass as I can off of the range floor. I've since switched to CCI primers but don't notice a difference over federal, and I have bought some Hornady XTP bullets to make some self defense rounds...but mostly I focus on range loads.

 

[gamestalker]

One final thought on brass. For me, I prefer to buy some factory ammo and use the brass from that. I prefer doing this because the brass I'm using for my loads has already been formed to my chamber characteristics. New brass is in my opinion wasting of my reloading components.

 

[cfullgraf]

One final thought on brass. For me, I prefer to buy some factory ammo and use the brass from that. I prefer doing this because the brass I'm using for my loads has already been formed to my chamber characteristics. New brass is in my opinion wasting of my reloading components.

None of my rifles shoot as well with commercial ammunition as with my handloads, even when I use new, unfired brass. So, I save the step of "unloading" the ammunition and wasting components I don't need.

Besides, I can't get commercial ammunition loaded with the bullet that I use.

But, what ever works.