Reloading: getting started- take II

[davidlt89]

OK! I was home sick today so I decided to give this a try. I have made all the edits and put in suggestions. I have no idea if this makes sense:smiley: . But I feel we are one step closer to going to the presses. all suggestions are welcome! God bless.
 
 
 
Let's start with the 'bare bones' and work our way "up" from there.

Wracking my feeble brain for the absolute minimum that a person would need to get started reloading, I get the following:

1) A Lee Loader in the cartridge of interest - let's say .30-06. (Less than $30 - permanent use.)
2) A hammer - preferably a wooden mallet. (Less than $10, free if you have one - permanent use.)
3) A pound of powder. The INSTRUCTIONS that COME WITH the Lee Loader will recommend a few powders. Select one. (Less than $28 - consumable.)
4) Some bullets. Since it has become 'fashionable' to sell bullets in lots of 50, buy a box of bullets of the type and weight you want to shoot, whether they come in 50 to the box or 100. (Less than $30 - consumable.)
5) Buy a 'flat' (100) of "rifle" (as opposed to "pistol" or "magnum") primers. Follow THE INSTRUCTIONS that COME WITH the Lee Loader in selecting a primer. (less than $5 - consumable.)
6) Buy some cases, or use range pickups or spent factory cases you have from buying and shooting factory ammo. (Less than $40 for 100, but "free" if using range pickups or spent factory cases you have on hand.)

Total comes to less than $150 if you spend the max on everything. The 'consumables' are going to cost you about $60, if you have cases on hand, and there's not much getting around that cost. That leaves the Lee Loader and the hammer/mallet. If you've already got a hammer/mallet, you could get into reloading for $85 to $90.

Your "basic" reloading set up is COMPLETE. Follow the instructions that come with the Lee Loader, and you can load ammunition fully capable of minute of angle accuracy.

As you might imagine, one can go UP - WAY UP - from this 'bare bones' kit. But... This setup WILL get you reloading, and the ammo produced is just as good as the VAST MAJORITY of that produced by those that have all the "other stuff".
Equipment

Manual
"Moving up" from "bare bones"... means probably getting one of hte popular reloading manuals. Pick one you like.

Presses
The basic piece of equipment for handloading is the press. A press is a device that uses compound leverage to push the cases into the dies that perform the loading operations.[4] Presses vary from simple, inexpensive single stage models, to complex progressive models that will eject a loaded cartridge with each pull of a lever, at rates of 10 rounds a minute.

Presses are often categorized by the letter of the alphabet that they most resemble: "O", "C", and "H". The sturdiest presses, suitable for bullet swaging functions as well as for normal reloading die usage, are of the "O" type. Heavy steel completely encloses the single die on these presses. Equally sturdy presses for all but bullet swaging use often resemble the letter "C". Both steel and aluminum construction are seen with "C" presses. Some users prefer "C" style presses over "O" presses, as there is more room to place bullets into cartridge mouths on "C" presses. Shotshell style presses, intended for non-batch use, for which each shotshell or cartridge is cycled through the dies before commencing onto the next shotshell or cartridge to be reloaded, commonly resemble the letter "H".

Single stage presses, generally of the "O" or "C" types, are the simplest. They perform one step on one case at a time. When using a single stage press, cases are loaded in batches, one step for each cartridge per batch at a time. Batches are kept small, about 20-50 cases at a time, so that a batch is never left in a partially-completed state, as high humidity and light can degrade the powder. Single stage presses are commonly most used for high-precision rifle cartridge handloading, but may be used for high-precision reloading of all cartridge types, and for working up loads (developing loading recipes) for ultimately manufacturing large numbers of cartridges on a progressive press.

Turret presses, most commonly of the "C" type, are similar to single stage presses, but permit mounting all of the dies for one cartridge (or sometimes two cartridges) simultaneously, with each die being installed and correctly locked in position with lock rings onto the press at the same time. Batch operations are performed similar as to on a single stage press, but to switch dies, the turret is simply rotated, placing another die in position. Although turret presses operate much like single stage presses, they eliminate much of the setup time required in positioning individual dies correctly.

Progressive presses handle several shells at once, with each pull of the lever performing a single step on all the cases at once. Progressive presses hold all the dies needed, plus a powder measure and a primer feed, and often also include an additional station where the powder levels are checked, to prevent over or under charges. Progressive presses also often feature case feeds that will hold hundreds of cases to be loaded, and all the user has to do is hold the bullet in place over the appropriate case mouth, and pull the lever.
 
(press pictures of different presses)

Dies

Dies are generally sold in sets of two or three dies. many pistol die sets and dies sets for straight-walled rifle cartridges have four dies in them, depending on the shape of the case.
Die sets for straight-walled cases, typically come with three or four dies, while bottlenecked cases typically have two or three dies. (The third die is a neck only, a "factory crimp" or a "collet" resizing die.)
The first die performs the resizing and decapping operation. The second die in a
straight-walled set is used to expand the case mouth so that soft lead bullets can enter the mouth without shaving lead off, or to keep unchamfered mouths from getting crushed. In a bottle-necked die set, the second die is usually the bullet seater. In a straight-walled case, the third die is often the bullet seater. The last die in the set seats the bullet and may apply a roll crimp. Special crimping dies are often used to apply a stronger crimp after the bullet is seated. Progressive presses sometimes use an additional "die" to meter powder into the case.
Standard dies are made from hardened steel, and require that the case be lubricated, for the resizing operation, which requires a large amount of force. Rifle cartridges require lubrication of every case, due to the large amount of force required, while smaller, thinner handgun cartridges can get away with alternating lubricated and unlubricated cases. Carbide dies have a ring of tungsten carbide, which is far harder and slicker than tool steel, and so carbide dies do not require lubrication.

Modern reloading dies are standardized with 7/8-14 (or, for the case of .50 BMG dies, with 1-1/4x12) threads and are interchangeable with all common brands of presses.
Dies for bottlenecked cases usually are supplied in sets of at least two dies, though sometimes a third is added for crimping or neck-only resizing. This is an extra operation and is not needed unless a gun's magazine or action design requires crimped ammunition for safe operation, such as autoloading firearms, where the cycling of the action may push the bullet back in the case, resulting in poor accuracy and increased pressures. Crimping is also sometimes recommended to achieve full velocity for bullets, through increasing pressures so as to make powders burn more efficiently, and for heavy recoiling loads, to prevent bullets from moving under recoil. For FMJ bullets mounted in bottle neck cases, roll crimping is generally not ever used unless a cannelure is present on the bullet, to prevent causing bullet deformation when crimping. Rimless, straight wall cases, on the other hand, require a taper crimp, because they headspace on the case mouth; roll crimping causes headspacing problems on these cartridges. Rimmed, belted, or bottleneck cartridges, however, generally can safely be roll crimped when needed. Three dies are normally supplied for straight walled cases, with an optional fourth die for crimping. Crimps for straight wall cases may be taper crimps, suitable for rimless cartridges used in autoloaders, or roll crimps, which are best for rimmed cartridges such as are used in revolvers.

There are also some specialty dies worth mentioning. Bump dies are designed to move the shoulder of a bottleneck case back just a bit to facilitate chambering. These are frequently used in conjunction with neck dies, as the bump die itself does not manipulate the neck of the case whatsoever. A bump die can be a very useful tool to anyone who owns a fine shooting rifle with a chamber that is cut to minimum headspace dimensions, as the die allows the case to be fitted to this unique chamber.[10] Another die is the "hand die". A hand die has no threads and is operated - as the name suggests - by hand or by use of a hand operated arbor press. Hand dies are available for most popular cartridges, and although available as full-length resizing dies, they are most commonly seen as neck sizing dies. These use an interchangeable insert to size the neck, and these inserts come in .001 steps so that the user can custom fit the neck of the case to his own chamber or have greater control over neck tension on the bullet.

Figure 2. Two typical dies for reloading a bottlenecked cartridge, and two shellholders. The decapper/resizer die is on the right, and the bullet seat is on the left.
 
(die pictures)

Shellholders
A shellholder, generally sold separately (except in Lee dies sets), is needed to hold the case in place as it is forced into and out of the dies. The reason shellholders are sold separately is that many cartridges share the same base dimensions, and a single shellholder can service many different cases. Shellholders are also specialized, and will generally only fit a certain make of reloading press, while modern dies are standardized and will fit a wide variety of presses. Different shell holders than used for dies are also required for use with some hand priming tools (e.g., Lee Autoprime tool.)

Scales
A good scale is a good idea for precision reloading. While it is possible to load using nothing but a powder measure and a weight to volume conversion chart, this greatly limits the options one has to adjust loads. This has the potential to increase the danger of accidentally overloading cartridges with powder for loads that start out near or at the maximum safe load. With a powder scale, an adjustable powder measure can be calibrated more precisely for the powder in question, and spot checks can be made during loading to make sure that the measure is not drifting. With a powder trickler, a charge can be measured directly into the scale, giving the most consistent measure.

A scale also allows bullets and cases to be sorted by weight, which can increase consistency further. Except in the case of hand-cast lead bullets, sorting bullets by weight has questionable benefits because today's manufacturers have quality control standards that yield bullet weight variances usually smaller than can be measured on typical reloading scales.. Sorting cases by weight is done to group cases by case wall thickness, and hopefully match cases with similar interior volumes. Military cases, for example, tend to be thicker, while cases that have been reloaded numerous times will have thinner walls due to brass flowing forward under firing, and excess case length being later trimmed from the case mouth. (I wouldn't object to this staying in the text, but I have serious doubts about the reality of a case's capacity being measureably changed by "brass flow".)

 (scale picture, balance beam and digital)
 
Priming tools
Single stage presses often do not provide an easy way to prime cases. Various add-on tools can be used for priming the case on the down-stroke, or a separate tool can be used. A purpose made tool is also often more consistent than a model that fits on a single stage press, resulting in a more consistent primer seating depth.
 
(primer tool pics)

Powder measures
Beginning reloading kits often include a weight to volume conversion chart for a selection of common powders, and a set of powder volume measures graduated in small increments. By adding the various measures of powder a desired charge can be measured out with a safe degree of accuracy. However, since multiple measures of powder are often needed, and since powder lots may vary slightly in density, a scale accurate to 0.10 grain (6.5 mg) is desirable.

Figure 5. A typical powder meter mounted on an "O" type press. More often, meters are mounted on the bench adjacent to the press. This way the meter can throw a charge into the case before the case is seated in the press for bullet seating.

(picture of powder measure)

Bullet puller
Like any complex process, mistakes in handloading are easy to make. A bullet puller allows the handloader to disassemble mistakes or just disassemble cases from which he wants components, wants to change components, or wants to salvage components. Most pullers use inertia to pull the bullet; they are shaped like hammers, and the case is locked in place inside. A sharp blow on a hard surface will suddenly stop the case, and the inertia of the heavy bullet will pull it free of the case in a few blows, trapping the powder and bullet in the body of the puller. Collet type pullers are also available, which use a caliber-specific clamp to grip the bullet, while the loading press is used to pull the case downwards. It is essential that the collet be a good match for the bullet diameter, because a poor match can result in significant deformation of the bullet.

Bullet pullers are also used to disassemble loaded ammunition of questionable provenance or undesirable configuration, so that the components can be salvaged for re-use. Surplus military ammunition is often pulled for components, particularly the cartridge cases, which are often difficult to obtain for older foreign military rifles. Military ammunition is often tightly sealed, to make it resistant to water and rough handling, such as in machine gun feeding mechanisms. In this case, the seal between the bullet and cartridge can prevent an inertial bullet puller from functioning. Pushing the bullet into the case slightly with a seating die will break the seal, and allow the bullet to be "pulled" with an inertial "puller".
Primers are a more problematic issue. If a primer is not seated deeply enough, the cartridge (if loaded) can be pulled, the BULLET can be pulled and the powder removed and THEN the primer reseated with a reseating tool.
Primers that must be removed are frequently deactivated first—either firing the primed case in the appropriate firearm, or soaking in penetrating oil, which penetrates the water resistant coatings in the primer.

Components pulled from loaded cartridges should be reused with care. Unknown or potentially contaminated powders, contaminated primers, and bullets that are damaged or incorrectly sized can all cause dangerous conditions upon firing. It is wisest to NEVER resuse "salvaged" powder unless YOU are the one that loaded the cartridge and you KNOW FOR CERTAIN what powder you used.
Figure 6. A typical intertia type bullet puller.
Case trimmers
Cases, especially bottleneck cases, will stretch upon firing if the headspace of the chamber isn't perfect. How much stretch is based on headspace. Typically, "high performance" cartridges ("magnums" especially), need periodically trimming to bring them back into proper specifications. Most reloading manuals list both a trim size and a max length. Long cases can create a safety hazard by reducing the amount of space between the bullet and the case wall. If the case gets long enough, seriously increased pressure will be the result.
Several kinds of case trimmers are available. Die-based trimmers have an open top, and allow the case to be trimmed with a file during the loading process. Manual trimmers usually have a base that has a shellholder or collet at one end and a cutting bit at the opposite end, with a locking mechanism to hold the case tight and in alignment with the axis of the cutter, similar to a small lathe. Typically the devices is cranked by hand, but sometimes they have attachments to allow the use of a drill or powered screwdriver. Powered case trimmers are also available. They usually consist of a motor (electric drills are sometimes used) and special dies or fittings that hold the case to be trimmed at the appropriate length, letting the motor do the work of trimming.

Figure 7. A typical hand-operated case trimmer. (picture)
 
Primer pocket tools
Primer pocket cleaning tools are used to remove residual combustion debris remaining in the primer pocket; both brush designs and single blade designs are commonly used. Dirty primer pockets can prevent setting primers at, or below, the cartridge head.

Primer pocket reamers or swagers are used to remove military crimps in primer pockets.

Primer pocket uniformer tools are used to achieve a uniform primer pocket depth. These are small endmills with a fixed depth-spacing ring attached, and are mounted either in a handle for use as a handtool, or are sometimes mounted in a battery-operated screwdriver. Some commercial cartridges (notably Sellier & Bellot) use large rifle primers that are thinner than the SAAMI standards common in the United States, and will not permit seating a Boxer primer manufactured to U.S. standards. use of a primer pocket uniformer tool on such cases avoids setting Boxer primers high when reloading, which could be a safety issue. Two sizes of primer pocket uniformer tools exist, the larger one is for large rifle (0.130" nominal depth) primer pockets and the smaller one is used for uniforming small rifle/pistol primer pockets.

Flash hole uniforming tools are used to remove any burrs, which are residual brass remaining from the manufacturing punching operation used in creating flash holes. These tools resemble primer pocket uniformer tools, except being thinner, and commonly include deburring, chamfering, and uniforming functions. The purpose of these tools is to achieve a more equal distribution of flame from the primer to ignite the powder charge, resulting in consistent ignition from case to case.


Materials required

The following materials are needed for handloading ammunition:
Cases
Brass, including nickle plated brass, work best for beginning reloaders.
Steel and aluminum cases do not have desireable qualities for reloading and are usually better avoided.



*Smokeless powder of an appropriate type. Generally, handgun cartridges and shotshells use faster powders, rifle cartridges use slower powder. Powder is generally of the "smokeless" type in modern cartridges, although on occasion the older "black" powder more commonly known as "gunpowder" may be used.

*Bullets

*Primers

Case lubricant may also be needed, depending on the dies used.

Reloading process
The operations performed when handloading are:

-Case cleaning (optional, recommended for previously-fired cases)

-Case inspection (Look for cracks or other defects, and discard visibly imperfect cases. Bent case mouths may be repaired during resizing.)

-Lubricate cases (Carbide dies do not require lubrication.)

-Size/Resize the case and prime if primer is mounted on press.
If necessary, ream or swage crimp from primer pocket, or mill the primer pocket depth using a primer pocket uniformer tool

- If necessary, measure and trim the case length.

-If necessary, deburr, ream case mouth and size case neck some bench rest shooters also do outside neck turning at this stage, to make the cartridge case neck have uniform thickness so that the bullet will be released with the most uniformity

-If necessary, clean primer pocket and do flash hole uniforming , generally, only bench rest shooters do this.

-Expand or chamfer case mouth

-Clean the lubricant from the cases
-Seat a new primer if you haven't already done it at the press. (primer pockets can become loose after multiple "hot" loadings; a lack of effort being required to seat new primers indicates a loose primer pocket; cases with loose primer pockets are usually discarded.

-Add a measured amount of powder (critical step; incorrect powder charges are extremely dangerous, both underweight as well as overweight)

-Seat the bullet in the case for the correct cartridge overall length (OAL) and for aligning bullet cannelure (if present) with case mouth if you intend to crimp in the cannelure.

-If necessary/desired, crimp the bullet in place

-Inspect cartidges visually and run your finger over the primer to make sure it is properly seated. Most importantly, BE SURE to cycle the newly-made cartridges - everyone of them - through the rifle in which they are to be used to make sure they all cycle without failure or problem. This is one of the most common errors of omission that new reloaders make. They usually only make it once though. After they miss that one opportunity at that deer because their handloads won't chamber or cycle, they never forget to do it again. When performing this test, ALWAYS do it outside and in safe surroundings.












　




　



　
　





　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　


　
　






 

[Alboy]

I will buy it.
 
The only alteration being under the SCALES listing and that not being a major stumbling block to me.
 
Military cases tend to be thicker, while commercial cases and cases that have been reloaded numerous times may have thinner walls.

[recoil junky]

Simple, direct and to the point.

Gotta love it.

RJ

[davidlt89]

were there not pictures in this thread?

[gitano]

I don't recall, but I think the comments in parenthesis regarding images was to make a place-holder for a to-be-obtained image.

Paul

[gitano]

Alboy - I have sectioned MANY military cases and have NEVER found even ONE that had thicker walls or webs. I think this is a myth. Upon careful consideration, it doesn't make sense for the military to make "thick" brass. "Thick" brass is heavy brass. That means more weight/round for shipping and carrying by the soldier.

Let's get this thread edited to final form and get it "stuck".

David - find the pictures, and format the text for easier reading. It's difficult to read small print. Therefore, I'm just going to say that all future reference library articles need to be "Times New Roman" font and size "3".

The paragraphs are too long. Read through them and find appropriate places to make paragraphs. Too many paragraphs is better than too few.

Paul

[j0e_bl0ggs (deceased)]

How about any font size 3? I really hate looking at those typewriter fonts...

[gitano]

Fine. But "3" is different depending on which font it is.

Just make it "readable".

Paul