Introduction

DRPC treasurer Ian Jamieson takes a look at why it's worth 'rolling your own'

So you want to start reloading – why?

Let me say straight away that these few words are not a treatise on the whys and wherefores of reloading but merely a light-hearted (hopefully) reflection of some of the things and pitfalls that I have discovered, and I write as no expert because I consider myself as fairly new to this and still have plenty to learn, but I hope that it will save you some heartache even if it causes you more.

As I say above, the first question to ask yourself is why you want to reload, and the stock answers seem to be “cheaper ammo, more consistency/accuracy with the loads” and so forth. The first answer I would give to you would be to talk to the club “old timers” and those who still reload, and the second would be look on t’internet – a great source of information (at times).

For myself, it was firstly a case of wondering if I could make something that would go bang properly without causing any damage to me, but then became necessary because I fell for a 45.70, bought it, then found that it was impossible, certainly at that time, to buy ammo in this area for it, so had no option if I was to shoot the rifle. After obtaining the necessary gear, the joy and elation of producing that first live bullet was amazing and when shot it went downrange – great! Hooked like a scavenging crab.

I then found that I actually got a lot of pleasure from seeing that used mucky horrible shell magically transformed into a shiny usable brass cartridge case ready for a new load. The search was now on, like the ever optimistic (or gullible?) angler, for the newer/improved/better/cheaper/make your own version of the brass cleaner. But believe me that like the wheel, it’s all been done before somewhere in the world, then reworded/resized/repackaged/ re-priced with a 2000% markup  – just a case of finding what works for you. And if you are using FMJ bullets, the matching of brass to glistening copper is just brilliant, but if you use something like ‘A’ Max heads the result is a wonder to behold – like all weapons, the end result can be literally heavenly – but that’s another story.

I digress – let’s take a quick look at consistency. Whenever I have heard this spoken about, it seems to me that people mean that they are bound to produce hand loads that are better than factory ammo, but is it?

When you consider the billions of rounds produced around the world, it is surprising how relatively few seem to malfunction. A shooter will naturally remember and focus on these duff rounds in discussion forgetting all the hundreds that he has shot with some success. If you reflect on the fact that these are mass produced under SAMMI specifications to cater for dozens of different makes of rifles (also mass produced) and allowance has got to be built into the spec to cater for wear and tear on the rifle bore. It’s rather like that Dutch dyke that you poke your finger in – what was once a reasonable fit for your pinky now – after hundreds of insertions, bangs and withdrawals – has worn away so you need to stuff in your middle finger for a comfy fit.

In other words, that SAMMI spec for your 7.62 has to cater not only for machine gun use with ammo rattling through at a rate of knots, to your lovely Remmy 700 straight out of the box. The production machinery will also be subject to wear and adjustment which leads to quality control (ie conscientious workers/companies versus profits) as to the standard of finished product. The usual problem that you may come across seems to be one of being unable to chamber the round. This is likely to be caused by the ammo being over long. If you measure any 20 box sample you may be lucky to find 5 or 6 that are the same length. But don’t think that it’s just that dodgy 7.62 “military surplus” made in some back street in Egypt that you bought off some guy on the range. On a whim, I measured some NORMA 308 I had left over from a shoot and found that 2 of the five were shorter than the others! I’ve also measured PMC and other “quality” brands and found the same.

Although it sounds serious it is not necessarily a problem. The oversized stuff often shoots fine in my Browning and the club’s P14 but won’t chamber in other club members’ rifles. A lot depends on the “cut” of your rifle’s chamber – a slack one will probably be OK, but if you have just bought a 3 grand target rifle it’s likely to have a tight chamber and you will need “high spec” ammo. Another example would be not long after getting into the reloading thing, I was sold a load of “once fired” primed cases for the 45.70. This seemed a cheap alternative (half the price of new cases), but on trying them in the Sharps, they were really tight fit. Even fired cases are slack in the chamber and when resized positively rattle about until the lead is fitted and can actually be slid in by gravity if the rifle is tilted. My guess is that these were fire formed in a Marlin with a more powerful charge than I use and so stretched just that tad more – same 45.70 spec – few thou actual difference in size.

But worry you not if this non-chamberable stuff is all you have on the day of the shoot. There are a couple of things you could do. During a break in shooting you could always run the rounds through a portable seating die if you have the time. Alternatively, out of sight of the RCO, you could tap the head in with a hammer or whack it on the road/rifle barrel to seat it deeper – just don’t complain to me if you then need to hammer your bolt free, or you part with a couple of fingers, eyes or the odd hand.

Another item often quoted against surplus ammo, is that of misfires. I know that some of my colleagues often seem to have this problem, but for myself I can only recall 2 full-bore misfires, and these were both with reloads! The first was a few months ago when I was testing a friends .303 on the chronograph. When I got back home, I dismantled the round only to find a grave lack of powder – a senior citizen moment? answering the phone? who knows but it happens to all of us at some time. The second was recently when the beloved 45.70 failed to go off – oh horror! That great 405 grain lump of lead failed to ejaculate from the 32” barrel – it lay there sterile, bereft of all usefulness – why? The previous 20 or so shots functioned as did the next 20, so what went wrong? Can only be the primer. All the rounds used primers from a new pack of 100 which in turn came from a batch of 1000. So as about 800 have so far been used without problem I suppose that one duff primer is not a bad average, but it shows that nothing can be guaranteed perfect.

In my humble opinion, I don’t believe that the above either matters or is noticeable to the average shooter. The ammo generally does what it is designed to do – go bang and hit a target roughly in the area to which it is aimed, which is what that average shooter wants. Any inconsistencies in the quality etc of the rounds, are probably compensated by the weather, rifle and shooters ability – and what shooter is going to admit that he is a rotten shot? He possibly isn’t, but may need further/some/any training or practice.

Because you have chosen to reload do not think that will solve your problems – they have merely begun!

For a start, you would imagine that new brass would be to spec. Well no, it ain’t necessarily so! Again for the average rifle it may well be OK for one or two loadings, but take a look at it before you start. There will undoubtedly be some that have a dent in the side or head may be slightly squashed. Measure them and you will find that they are not necessarily to length – make sure you have a case length gauge from day one. It is even possible that the primer pocket could be malformed – discard any that are. Run the cases through the resizing die to ensure that necks are round. The fanatics/perfectionists will measure the neck thickness for consistency and symmetry, and if necessary will have a neck turning die to shave off minute quantities of brass. I can see the point to this and can aspire to doing it, although present circumstances do not warrant such dedication. If the neck is thicker on one side, then the bullet will not sit centrally in the case, and will therefore crash down the barrel at an angle, maybe ending up on another range; perhaps this was the origin of the Kennedy “magic bullet”?

You would think that one size brand of shell is the same as another. However, I’ve found that my NORMA 308 is thicker brass than, eg, PMC and polishes up nicer – you can feel the difference just by picking them up. However, I’ve also found that the NORMA also has a tendency to stretch more – again I can tell which is which just by the act of trimming – no need to look at name on the base.  I have found no obvious difference in the 45.70 cases, but feel that the Winchester may be just a shade thinner material. However I have never weighed them to be certain – nor have I tried to measure water cc capacity! I have, however, measured samples to check on the bullet seating depth/compression of black-powder/wad filler – again no major difference.

Next, the subject of bullets. What can be wrong here, you ask?
Again, with the trusty 308, when I have been able to weigh a batch before buying, I discarded over 200 before getting a batch of 100 to weigh in at 155gr +/- 1gr. Even a free sample of ‘A’Max had 2 of the 5 underweight.

Of that first batch of 100, it became obvious that some were longer than others – confirmed by measurement. For a quick fix of the first 50 or so rounds that I needed, I sorted these into small batches of about 10 with each in the batch being of almost the same length. These shot OK and in fact I had an exceptional good day at Peatfell range. With the next lot made, I neglected to sort into same size groups and whipped them through the seating die. Needless to say, all sorts of problems were encountered. The first would be seated to the size whilst the next may be right, over or under-length. I constantly had to adjust the seating die until I realised what was going wrong. Those that were longer with a more pointed end were contacting the seater sooner in the process, causing the bullet to seat deeper, but also occasionally pushing the internal seater off-centre, making it jam. Those less pointed ones with a fatter ogive (the bit were the bullet shank curves to the point) would take longer for the seater plug to contact the bullet before pushing it into the shell, causing the finished round to be overlong. Naturally this created a rather frustrating day as well as a rather blue atmosphere. All these undersized ones needed easing out with the kinetic hammer then gingerly reseating to length a bit at time, rather than with just one pull of the press handle.

Again, these shot adequately for my needs, but what a f**t on. Would they have shot any better had they been sorted into batches of similar size, weight etc, or if I had used say Sierra Match Kings at more than twice the price? Who knows? Probably yes, but for my needs, would I have noticed?

Powder

I’ve not particularly experimented with this, staying with those recommended to me and not just by dealers trying to sell whatever they have handy.

For the 308, I use 43.1gr of Vihtavuori N140. This was a quantity recommended to me as giving good results and I cannot deny that fact. I have used 155gr tracer to some 1000 yds and hit a tank. Granted I had to aim off because the scope ran out of clicks, but the bullet did the distance and there has been no trouble to 600 yds. As my Browning is really a hunting rifle rather than a heavy-barrelled target rifle, I also see no point in making a hotter load – both to save my poor shoulder and as far as I am concerned, it would also be a waste of powder. I know some people fill the space between powder and bullet in shouldered cases with tissue paper, but I have never tried this yet and have had no problems.

For the 45.70, I use 29gr Hogdgon H4198 with a 405gr bullet. This is a halfway charge between minimum and maximum recommended in the catalogue. I find that the air gap is just the right size for the wads I was given and then bought for my BP revolver. I couldn’t seem to get right how much tissue paper to stuff in, and ciggie filters are too thin, (some ladies’ personal materials are a reasonable fit and are also good for bore cleaning use, but expensive).

I use this load as relatively shoulder friendly for a lot of shooting or if I don’t feel inclined to be doing too much barrel cleaning. It is good for 600 yds and I feel certain, without being able to prove it, that it goes the 1000 (there was no sand/bare earth to see fall of shot). I have shot some hot loads with 300gr bullets (powder quantity unknown) and had to retrieve my shoulder from the rear of the firing point – not recommended!

With black powder, I’ve used various quantities from 63 to 70 gr. Black is great insofar as there seems to be no limit to the amount that you can shovel into the case. Don’t forget though that the original 70 case was thinner and the head wasn’t as thick so that quantity of powder loaded easily. Now it needs ideally a drop tube and compression die – it’s compressed almost ¼” to get that full 70 gr in. I have settled at present for 65 gr and this gives a similar performance to the nitro – it’s done the 600 yds no problem, and hardly any difference in sight setting. The last shoot, though, had some of the bullets going wild, which may have been caused by them having voids in. Don’t know for certain as my scales don’t go this high so cannot check weigh the batch, but am collecting lead to make my own at some time.

The main problem using black-powder is cleaning. When I first used BP the barrel was mostly clogged up with carbon which was fairly rapidly cleared with a bronze brush. Lately however I have experienced more of a grease build up, so I reckon the supplier is using a different lube formula on the bullet bands, so I have taken to using boiling water – that shoving of the brush down the bore not as difficult but still takes time to rod the barrel dry. One trouble with such a large calibre is that it takes 3 layers of 2x4 round the jag. The cartridge cases also need a good soaking in soapy water and take a lot more cleaning than with nitro.

A thing I like about using BP is that after pulling the trigger, you have time to have a cuppa and ciggie then take a look to see were the bullet kicks up the sand – something over 1 sec for the 600 and clocking on for 2.3 sec at 1000 yds – would love to see the trajectory using a tracer round. It’s also great having those large clouds of smoke drifting over the range giving rise to various comments from other shooters! (Beats wind flags anytime - ed)

In conclusion then to this section, it seems to me that as an individual you can undoubtedly produce adequate ammo that will shoot equal or better than factory made for general target use with relatively little effort and give plenty of shooting pleasure.
Or if you so desire, then get right into the subject and produce top notch stuff to go with your beautiful tailor made rifle, that will shoot every round into the same hole (if you are also capable). If you decide to do this, you will need dies such as Forster which can be precision set to 1 thou of an inch or better – around 50 quid for the seater die.  Yer pays yer money and yer takes yer choice – to each his own – happy reloading.  

Cost


To my mind cost is subjective in that there are all sorts of variables, and like all hobbies it depends how much you want to get into it, your circumstances and so on.

You can build up from second-hand gear that will still give years of service to going for the bells and whistles of the Rock-chuckers. I would suggest that you watch a reloader go through the process and maybe have a go under supervision before making a final decision on doing your own.

Let’s for this exercise suppose that you are going to reload .308, that you shoot say 50 rounds per meeting at 10 meets per year for 10 years. Also ignore any price increases and legal requirements for powder acquirement and so – just to keep it simple.

This means that you will need 5000 bullets, 5000 primers and some 32 lb of powder (at say 45 gr per load and 7000 gr per lb). With luck and management a cartridge should be good for 10 reloads so you will need 500 shells (of course if you have already used some factory ammo you’ve saved the shells for re-use haven’t you?)

5000 bullets - 155 gr competition at say 25p each 1250.00
5000 primers £30.00 per 1000 150.00
Powder - at 2.2 lb /kilo £65.00 per kilo 945.00
500 Shells - Winchester is  approx
(NORMA about £400.00)		 £150.00 per 500 150.00
  Total Cost 2495.00
  each 49p
  Per 20 £9.98
  Per 100 £49.90

Bit different to that club / shop-bought box of surplus!

Of course the above are average prices for good mid-range items – you could for example obtain “surplus” FMJBT bullets for about 10p each but Matchkings are around 30p. Be warned, however, if you do go for say 45.70 the shells are at least 50p each for some reason!

If you are fortunate enough to have the readies, or you’re a Yank you could always buy a bulk supply and maybe get a bit of discount.

What seems to be often overlooked is the cost of the hardware – press, dies etc. However, these will sometimes be available from shop trade-ins, “in the know”, cheap or even free from fellow club members wanting to keep the gear in the “circuit” especially if you buy a rifle from them. There is also good old e-bay – home and abroad – but remember postage costs.

As mentioned previously, a fortune can be paid for some of these brands, but as many of us have had no trouble with the “cheapy” Lee gear, let’s base our costs on these.

If you go for the Lee Anniversary Kit it contains “everything” needed to reload – even a tube of sizing lube! You will also need a set of dies and case length gauge with shell holder. Also, although not mentioned in the “everything”, a tumble cleaner.

The good things with this lot are that, (although the press is single stage, it is perfectly adequate for average use) when you go to reloading other calibres, you only need the relevant dies and length gauges, and there will be a re-sale value if you pack in.

For this purpose we shall, as the Americans say “amortise” the hardware over the ten year period.

Anniversary Kit   £100.00
Set of dies – Pacesetter   £25.00
Case length gauge   £5.00
Sizing lube Say 5 tubes £15.00
Tumbler   £70.00
Bullet Puller   £20.00
Measuring calipers   £25.00
Sundries – tumbler media, cleaning materials
Other bits and bobs you will probably buy		 allow £150.00
(seems remarkably cheap – have I missed something?) Total Cost £410.00
  Per round 0.082p

 
If we add the two prices together £2495.00 + £410.00 = £2905.00 or 58p per round.

An expensive hobby and no account taken of the cost of your time involved in the making of the ammo. Although the manufacturers will get their materials at considerably less cost, by the time their research costs, payroll, overheads and profits are added on, you can see why factory ammo is so expensive at first glance, but is probably reasonably priced compared to the above – it’s all relative.

Although the cost of the hardware above is fairly negligible, if you get really into serious reloading for accuracy, you will probably be buying equipment at least 3 times the cost or say another 16 – 20p per round. You will probably also obtain items such as neck turners, chronograph, ballistic programs, head space gauges and so on – none of which could possibly be considered as cheap.

When I bought powder last year, the cost was around £30.00 for half kilo of H4198 and £60.00 for one kilo of N140. These are now £36.00 and £65.00. Primers were about £20- £22.00 per thousand and are now £30.00. Should you have spare funds then consider stockpiling now.

This has been a useful exercise for me, as I did a similar costing when I got the 45.70. This worked out at around 48p per round when I could have shot the 7.62 for about 20p - 25p. Never kept a running check and dread to contemplate current cost.

Something else not usually mentioned or initially thought of are things like workbenches and suitable space / storage and so forth. You will need plenty of cupboard or other space as the gear can be rather bulky and you will undoubtedly collect presses, bullet containers, portable drills, cans/ bottles of cleaning fluids, 2x4, and all manner of “useful stuff”.

Jim, for instance, has a completely utilised a spare bedroom and is self-contained, with a desk to which are bolted all the necessary bits, an armchair, a port-a-loo, barbeque and 60” TV screen– he believes in comfort.

For myself, I have stuff all over – it gets stacked in bedrooms, wardrobes and anywhere Herself is not currently complaining about. For the manufacture, I put paper on the sink when I trim and polish the brass – not nice having it mixed in the veggies. I have a small piece of kitchen worktop between the sink and cupboard where I weigh the powder and charge the cases. These are then moved to the other side where I can remove a drawer and G cramp the press to the worktop.

This is OK for small runs, but gets damn tiring standing on your feet after a couple of hours. However, the smoothness of the worktop is good for wiping up spillages (believe me you will get them), but not so good when you knock half a dozen filled cases onto the floor – make a loading tray and make it so that a good half of the case length is held. I have to mop up with a damp tissue, whereas Jim has the luxury of wooden floors and a blow torch!

This leads me to the last and most important consideration for reloading. Unless you live alone, it is imperative that you have a patient and understanding wife/husband/boyfriend – whatever your inclination, and even better if they share your pastime. Without this, your partnership is doomed (but there again, more time available for shooting/reloading?)

I hope that this neither encourages nor discourages you from trying reloading. If you approach it with a try and see how you like it attitude you may really get the knack of it and if not, you will get most of your investment back. For myself, it has developed from a necessity to something I find quite absorbing and the cost has become a background consideration. Despite problems and times when I feel that I can’t be bothered, for the most part and at the end of a good day, I find it relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable, and as with most things the constant learning and seeing if I can do it is something I like.

Useful web sites


It's not necessary to buy loads of loading manuals unless you wish to read the useful article – all the powder manufacturers have data on their websites. Bullet manufacturers also show the ballistics data for their different ammo. These are usually downloadable PDFs so can be saved for later reading. I particularly like Alliant for its step-by-step guide to reloading.

Alliantpowder
Hodgdon - also has data for cowboy action loads
Leeprecision
Thegunshop - all sorts of supplies
Black Powder - part of BASC has a really good basic guide and glossary, not just for BP
NRA - has some good links to trade/club sites which in turn may also
have links

The best thing is to Google for companies which are of interest to you. Don’t forget e-bay and Amazon, and also some libraries have books on reloading and shooting or can order them in if you know the title.