VII. Reloading Information

Part 1: Introduction

I am no expert at reloading, and if anybody catches me in a mistake, please e-mail me and I will update this FAQ. We gain information by sharing it. There is nothing new here, this covers just the basics. If I have not explained something to your satisfaction, e-mail me or ask on rec.guns. I also describe some things in a humorous light. I do that so you will remember what I am trying to tell you. Don't confuse my humor for a lack of seriousness.

First of all, reloading is a fun pastime that gets you out of the house (or locked up into your reloading room) more to reload, and out to the range to test your reloads. It also gives you a chance to spend more money on reloading tools and supplies. Here are the main "Aw,c'mon Honey!" reasons that reloaders try to float past their spouses.

1. It saves in cost. Reusing your brass and purchasing components to reload save an average of 30-50% and up to 70-80% over factory ammo.
2. Flexibility. You will be able to load your ammo the way you like it.
3. Wildcats. Wildcats are non-commercially made cartridges. Please do not attempt this until you have aquired a lot reloading experience.
4. It keeps you out from under your spouses feet in the house.

Part 2: Safety Rules and Equipment

SAFETY RULES

1. Store and keep primers and powder separate.
2. Do not smoke while reloading (hey, there are people who smoke while siphoning gas).
3. Wear eye and ear protection. Prescription glasses are okay, as long as they are shatter resistant.
4. Keep distractions to a minimum. I don't want to hear about someone overcharging a round because they were too busy saying "Right on, Rush!"
5. If you are using a single stage, do each step to the lot you are reloading before moving on to the next step.
6. Follow all recipes exactly.Like Beakman says, "No substitutions allowed." Never improvise or guess about the loading data.
7. Start new loads at 10% under maximum and increase slowly.
8. Read the instruction manual for each piece of equipment you have,and keep it handy for later reference.
9. Weigh the powder charge in at least 10% of your loads to make sure you are dropping the proper amount of powder.
10. Keep a pound of common sense in your pocket at all times.

• Reloading Press
• Dies appropriate for the caliber(s) you will be reloading
• Updated reloading book
• Powder scale
• Safety glasses (VERY IMPORTANT)
• Hearing protection
• Calipers
• Case lube kit (for rifles)

Some 'nice to have' stuff

• Hand primer
• Powder measure/trickler
• Case trimmer & Deburring tool
• Loading tray
• Brass tumbler
• Tumbling media
• Check weights
• Die Lock Nuts
• Chronograph
• Kinetic Bullet Puller
• Logbook

Part 3: Reloading Steps

PISTOL

1. Toss brass into tumbler for cleaning. Tumble until brass is clean. How long depends upon the amount of brass, amount and type of media,etc. Tumbling media comes in two flavors, corncob or walnut. Generally, the walnut lasts longer than corncob, because it is harder. No matter what you use, you can extend the life of your media by using media reactivator, which you pour into used media to restore its cleaning power.

2. Inspect, resize and deprime brass. This is done with your first die, the one with the little pin sticking out below the die. Beforere sizing, check the brass for cracks, dents, case separation, empty case, etc. I include empty case because every now and then you will find a smaller brass jammed into one of your brass, and crammed in with media. Make sure the case is in good condition. Dispose of it if there areanycracks or flaws.

3. Reprime.I mentioned the hand primer as a 'Nice to Have' item because most single stage presses will come with a repriming accessory. With a hand press, you can prime your brass in your easy chair inside where it's warm. It is important to have eye and ear protection at this point, and please don't look down into the case while pressing the primer home. Primers contain lead styphanate, which is an explosive. You would be suprised how much fire comes out of one primer and how far it spits out.

4. Bell. This uses the second die, the one that has the opening in the middle. This flares the case mouth to make bullet seating easier. If you have the kind of die that allows you to, you can dump your powder down thru the die and into the case at this time while you're belling it.

5. Powder. There are two different ways of doing this, by ladle or measure. Using a calibrated dipper, you can spoon the powder into the case. Using a bench mounted powder measure you can just put the case upagainst the drop tube, move the handle up and down, and have a charge dropped in. Using the powder measure is faster by having your cases in a shell holder, you just go right down the line dropping powder in.

6. Bullet seating.Now you get to use the third die and seat the bullet, completing the process. Most dies also have a crimp feature so while the bullet is being seated, a crimp is applied at the same time. The crimp is important for several reasons. It keeps the bullet from falling out of the case and it holds the bullet long enough for proper pressure to build up. If you over crimp, this will cause an overpressure situation by holding the bullet for too long, which can result in a disastrous situation. Don't be afraid to throw out your first few rounds until you get the die set correctly. My first reloaded round is in a prominent place on my book shelf because the bullet is so far down in the case that you almost can't see it.

RIFLE

These steps are almost identical to reloading a pistol round, so for the sake of brevity, I elaborate only on those steps which are different.

1. Toss brass into tumbler for cleaning.

2. Inspect, lubricate, resize and deprime brass. You must lubricate your rifle brass, or you won't be able to pull it out of the die. You can either roll the case on a lube pad, or use a spray on lube. More on that later.

3. Trim the case to specs. You will need a caliper or trim gauge to make sure the case is of the proper length. Trim it back, then use the deburring tool to clean the inside and outside lips of the case before measuring. Repeat as necessary. After I get the case the way I like it,then I remove the lube with a handrag.

4. Reprime.

5. Powder.

6. Bullet seating. Now would be a good time to whip out the calipersagain to check the overall length (OAL).

7. Crimp. This step is optional. if you want something to plink with,you can skip it. If you are looking to see how many rounds you can fitinto the same hole, this becomes important for the uniform pressuring in the case during firing.

SHOTSHELL

Most of the processes are the same for shotshells.

1. Inspect, resize and deprime shell. Make sure the hull is in good condition. Dispose if there are any cracks in the crimp area or holes in the hull.

2. Reprime.

3. Powder.

4. Seat the wad. The wad is what keeps the shot together, and also acts as a shock absorber for the shot, so it doesn't deform from the acceleration while it's going down the barrel.

5. Shot dropping. For bird shot, this is easy because the shot is small and there is no filler. For buck or steel shot, the pellets must be dropped in carefully so all of them will fit, and the proper amount of buffer must also be dropped in so no deformation occurs.

6. Crimp. This takes three stations to properly make the crimp. The first crimp is designed for the specific shell. If you mix 6 point and 8 point shotshells, the crimps will be deformed for the incorrect type. Trying to crimp an 8 point shell with a 6 point crimp will get you poor performance because the crimp will not hold long enough for the proper pressure to build.The second crimp closes the crimp and the final crimp compresses the crimp into the shell.

Part 4: In-depth Equipment Descriptions.

Reloading Press

The two different flavors of reloading presses are Single Stage and Progressive. With a single stage you are limited to one operation at a time. To go from deprime to belling you will have to pull one die out and put the other one in. Progressives have all of the dies and the powder measure set up together. For each pull of the handle the round will go thru each step. The true power of the progressive means that you can have a shell going thru each step at the same time. Once all of the stations are filled, you will turn out a completed round for each crank of the handle. The main factor in deciding which way to go is the scale of reloading. I have a progressive shothell reloader and a single stage for pistol and rifle. I reload shotshells by the thousands for Skeet and Trap, but for my rifle and pistol shooting, I normally only load up what I'm going to use at the range that day.

Dies

You can get dies in almost any caliber you want. Each die andtheir function I have already discussed, but there is one more pointyou need to know. Whenever possible, get carbide dies for your pistolbecause with carbide dies, case lubing is not necessary. The lube is required only for necked cartridges for rifles, even if you can get carbide dies for them.

Reloading book

This is the most important accessory you must have. Without this information, you do not know what is a safe or unsafe load is. Always keep current editions, because like paint formulas on cars change from year to year, so does the powder formulas. Whenever you goto your local gun store to get some powder, get their reloading handout as well. If you have a reloading manual, such as Speer's of Hornadys,make sure you have the current edition. If you don't have the current edition, start saving up for it.

Scale

The best way to check how accurate the amount of powder going into your rounds is to weigh it. Skimping is not an option here. You need a scale that you know will stay accurate and is easy to read. It must also be accurate down to .1 grain at a minimum. If you work near maximum loads, that .1 grain can be the difference between a tack driver and a very expensive club. I recommend a mid range scale, suchas the RCBS 5-0-5 scale. Dillon sells the same scale in Dillon Blue.The high priced electronic scales are extremely accurate, but can also be finicky. In some instances the mid-range scale can be better than the digital scales. Digital scales are a suppliment, not a replacement of balance scales.

Check weights

These go hand in hand with the scale(s), so you can verify the accuracy of your scale. These are precision weights in various denominations, from .5 grain to 20 for a basic set. If you have a bottom end scale, you dump the check weights equal to your target weight into the scale and zero based on that. Then you also periodically re-weigh your check weights to make sure the scale is still set properly. Check weights for the mid and high end scales you use at the start of your session to verify the accuracy before you begin.

Calipers

This instrument is used to make sure the case or the finished product is within the necessary lengths. All three grades, plastic, steel dial and steel digital are all readable down to .001". Here you want to gofor the mid-range steel caliper with a dial gauge. The digital's do the same job in a "cooler" way with a higher price tag.

Hand primer

If you use a single stage press, you can use this invention to prime the cases from the comfort and warmth of your easy chair. While there, it would be a good idea to keep a towel in your lap to catch any dropped primers. You don't want your anti-gun mother-in-law to sit in your chair and pop a dropped primer when she kicks back in it.

Powder Measure/Trickler

The measure is for you to use volumetric measurement when charging cases. it's not perfect, but it is generally within .1 grain and faster than using the calibrated ladles. If you are working with extremely accurate handloads, or near max powder, what you need to do is set the measure a little low, and drop the powder into the scale pan. Then you use your trickler to drop the last few powder granules into the scale pan to make sure the weight is exact.

Trimmer/Deburring Tool

Whenever you resize a rifle case, you actually stretch the case. If it is too long, the case could get pinched between the bullet and the rifling, resulting in an overpressure situation. You use the trimmer to shave the case, then the deburring tool to get rid of the flat edge and create a slight bell for the bullet to go in. Remember to deburr the inside and the outside of the case before checking it on the caliper. Repeat as necessary.

Loading tray

This handy accessory keeps your incomplete cases neatly organized. This way you don't accidentally bump a rifle case that's full of powder and watch all 50 of them fall over like dominoes.

Tumbler

This is another item you don't skimp on. Get the draining tumbler, trust me on this one. The sieve that sits on top of the bowl is not easy to get the media out of the bowl and into your holding container. The only other product is sold by Dillon where you dump it into a rotating sieve and the media falls into a tub. You don't want to find out how long it takes to handpick 200 cases out of a tumbler full of media.

Die Lock Nuts

These are nuts that have an allen screw to tighten down and lock the nut to the die. This saves you the time of adjusting the dies every time. This is very important if you have a single stage press, since you are constantly switching dies out.

Case lube

This is a grease that you use on necked cartridges during the resizing process. Make sure you remove the lube before dropping the powder in. You can get either a lube pad, where you roll your case around, then swab the neck with a brush, or you can use a Dillon spray on lube. Spray some on, wait a couple of minutes for it to coat the entire case, then resize. The best course of action is a compromise, where you spray on the exterior lube, then spray a neck brush to swab the inside. If there is too much lube on the case or in the die, you will get an oil dent which is a small dent near the neck from the trapped lube is compressed into the shoulder of the case, denting it. With that dent, the case is unuseable because the reduced case volume can cause an over pressure situation.

Chronograph

This is one of the most expensive parts you will get, but it provides you the feedback on how your reloads are performing. This will let you know how fast your bullets are, and depending on the model, you can get average speed, high/low, standard deviation and so on.

Log Book

Why have a log book? because one load can be a tack driver in one gun, and not even print on paper with another gun of the same model and caliber. Each gun is individual, and this let's us know what has worked and has not in the past.
This book is second in importance only to the recipie book. This is your memory. The logbook is where I keep all of my loading information, as well as chronograph reports. For every batch I make, I record the date made and batch number, along with primer type, powder type and weight, and the bullet type and weight. Once the batch is loaded, I take the log book out to the range and record the speed of up to 50 rounds in the batch. Based upon those recordings, I record the highest and lowest speeds, the average and the standard deviation. The SD is a necessary number because it tells you how consistant in speed your load is. These four numbers I also record on the front of the log sheet so I don't have to look on the back all of the time to see how good my loads are.

Kinetic Bullet Puller

This device is for those "oops!" that come upoccasionally. You insert the bullet into this item, then rap it like a hammer on a hard surface. It knocks the bullet out so you can recover the components and try again on the round.

Thank you for contributions:

This page and all articles are © 1996 Mark G. Havener unless otherwise noted. Any reposting, redistribution or publishing in any media without the express written permission of Mark G. Havener will earn the offender a visit from Marks friend Vyto from Chicago.