Beginner to reloading..

[JE3146]

I know the obvious dangers of reloading(too much powder and.. boom..).. but I was curious to how hard it actually is to learn, and how expensive it is to get started... I saw in cabelas as 13$ reloading set by Lee, and I from what I've heard about Lee, its bottom of the barell, and was wondering if it was something worth getting to become aquainted with reloading.

Anything else I should know.. I'm a complete newbie on the topic other than knowing what the various peices of equipment are that I'd need.. well most.. as for how they work. that'd take some figuring out... but it just seems like a cheaper alternative than spending money on premade stuff.. I dont do any real target shooting... I just do more plinking and maybe the occasional rabit hunt. Would reloading be economical for me considering the cost of milsurp in my area is like 4$ per 20 for Federal XM193, or not?

and also is Federal XM193 brass reloadable?.. its fairly obvious its been shot once before.. maybe more..... was curious to the durability of brass and how many times it can be reloaded..

thanx

[MAUSER88]

Lee makes an kit for under a $100.00. I think www.midwayusa.com has them in stock.

The Federal brass is reloadable but it may have a primer crimp that has to be removed before you can re-prime them. My brass usually last's 6-7 times before developing a crack in the neck.

You'll need a case trimmer and a digital caliper is a must.

Buy a book with reloading data, like Hornady or Speer or Sierra.

[Noah Zark]

Mauser88 covered the basics to get started.

The benefits to reloading are the ability to fine-tune loads for accuracy or velocity, and the potential savings.

The drawback is it takes $$ to get tooled up, and lots of time. Time in learning, and time to actually do the reloading. With a single-stage press from start to finish it takes about an hour to load 50 rounds fo pistol ammo, as a rule of thumb. With a progressive reloader that is set up, you can do fifty rounds as fast as you can pull the press lever. But progressive presses are a couple hundred to $1000, depending on features. For the Federal XM193 cases, there is a one-time operation required to remove the primer crimp by reaming or swaging with a special die and punch, but they are very reloadable.

The most expensive component is the brass case, and that is what is reused when reloading. Primers are about 1.2 to 1.5 cents each, jacketed bullets are say 15 cents each (12 to 20 depending on make and style), and powder might be three to six cents per round depending on powder type and quantity used. Adding that up and your components are about 21 to 22 cents a round or so. But being selective, using economical powders, and buying cheap jacketed bullets you might get that down to 17 cents a round, but that is without your time figured. You can buy Federal XM193 for 20 cents a round. Saving three cents a round, you would have to reload 3,333 rounds to pay for every $100 spent on reloading equipment. There are other reasons beside economy to reload as I mentioned earlier, but economy should not be your driving motivation for reloading unless you are using cheap cast bullets in a handgun.

I've been reloading for almost 35 years, and IMO for .223, 7.62x39, and other military calibers there is just too much surplus and new manufactured imported ammo to bother spending the time reloading if all you do is plink.

JMO,

Noah

Noah

[JE3146]

thanx for the replies.. i figured as much... economical reasons are up there, and I figured money couldn't be saved with all the surplus, but...... figure the surplus can't last forevor.. either that.. or I get into target shooting.. or something.. and reloading has always been something I've had an interest in... kinda just curious about it and facinated at the same time... I guess its the same reason I'm building my AR instead of just buying it....

kinda wierd like that I guess... but.. I may be able to score some reloading equipment for cheap.. my grandpa is an ex-cop and hasn't used his RCBS ( i get that right?) equipment for many years... its prolly 15 year old equipment.. but for the press and stuff that cost the majority of the money.. I'd think it'd work just fine.. right?.. then I'd invest in some modern dies, primer tools, and powder measurers to keep things on the safer side.. and as for brass, I have 700 rounds unfired of XM193 ammo, so.. thats enough brass to last a while.. that and I guess I could try and coax my 2 other friends with AR's to start collecting their brass and giving it to me :)

but.. plinking is a fun thing to do with friends around here.. and I did target shooting at college on the rifle team, but its only with rimfire .22's... guess if I had a place to do it, I'd spend time with real target shooting... with something just a little more powerful

[Noah Zark]

Your granddad's equipment is just fine. I have a 30+ year old Rockchucker press, a 50+ uear old Belding & Mull powder measure, a 40+ year old Lyman 55 powder measure, and a couple Lee Auto-Prime priming tools for my frequently-loaded chamberings. For the ones that I infrequently load, I have sets of Lyman 310 tool dies and handles. That device only neck sizes and is great for bolt and lever guns, but semi-autos really require full-length resizing to properly function. That is especially true if you use brass fired in another weapon.

Talk to your grandfather; he may be interested in seeing the equipment passed on in the family, and he will likely be a valuable source of know-how and experience on the subject. Plus, us old farts get a kick out of helping our kids and grandkids.

Noah

[Poodleshooter]

Originally posted by JE3146
Would reloading be economical for me considering the cost of milsurp in my area is like 4$ per 20 for Federal XM193, or not?


Reloading may be economical depending on the availability of primers and powder in your area. For me costs are as follows for 1000 rds of 55gr FMJ not including my labor:
1000 55gr Winchester FMJs- $40 (pulldown M193's are about $37)
1000 Winchester primers- $15.50
25grs ea of WC846 military pulldown powder x1000=25,000grs.
25,000grs/56000 grs per 8# keg at $80 including Hazmat= $36

Your cases are free, and should last several reloadings.
Anyway, that means cost for 1k of .223 FMJ should be about $91.50. Wolf .223 is available for about $110 per 1k. Your labor for those 1k rounds will be a hell of a lot of time if you have a single stage press as included in the Lee kit.
The trick with reloading is that you can make REALLY NICE ammo for not much more than FMJ. So, if you want to make cheap blasting ammo, I'd stick with Wolf or something along those lines. If you want to make hunting ammo, match ammo, or just higher quality blasting ammo (if you don't shoot wolf for example), then take up reloading.

[JE3146]

haven't tried wolf yet.. but I may... I have a 5.56 chamber which.. people say is looser than a .223.. so hopefully the wolf wont stick to it and cause jams..

I'll prolly pick up a box in a few weeks and give it a go.. if it works then I see no problem with using it..... course the M193's are fun to blast away with... nice and loud and accurate as I'll ever need it to be


but thanx for the time spent estimating costs.. that gives me a really good idea of what it'd be like :)

[Dafapa]

I have only reloaded for .38 spcl. Based on my estimations I can reload it for about 1/3 - 1/2 the cost of commercial ammo from wally world.

Using cast bullets cuts down the price a little. I spent 10.00 less per 500 bullets switching to cast. I'm told if you cast your own bullets you can make them even cheaper. For my load, I figure about 1 cent per primer, 1 cent per powder charge, and 4 cent per bullet. So about 6 cent per round. Compare that to about 16 - 18 cent per round at wally world. I don't know about rifle ammo, but for handgun ammo you can definately save cash. If you can scrounge other people's brass I don't think you have a good excuse not to reload. As far as I can tell my load is about as accurate as factory ammunition, and I really haven't done any fine tuning.


I got Lees anniversary kit, and so far everything in it works fine, except for the powder dispenser. Its junk. For the most part Lee's stuff is fine. Don't let people tell you its junk just because Lee makes it. You should check out midway online for reloading stuff. You can read product reviews there.