How much do you reload?

Reloading equipment, methods, load data, powder and projectile information.

How much do you reload?

Post by juststarting » 10 May 2016, 7:51 pm

Something I've been thinking about...

Not intentionally, but I tend to reload few days before I go shooting, for that occasion. I always have a pack per caliber sitting around, but generally, in quantities that I shoot, I reload just before a shooting trip.

N.B. This is in context of a bolt action rifles, I would assume that semi auto anything would be completely different...

So my question is, do people reload in batches or just what they need on the day? And in case of batches, how often/how many?
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by yoshie » 10 May 2016, 8:04 pm

Fair bit, pistols usually get done on a progressive so once you set it up you pretty well want to crank out as many as you can. I usually save up 300 brass as a minimum but try to do 1000 at once, then change over to another cal. I've done 1000 38s, 500 9mm and 400 44 mag in one day (RDO) then loaded up a spred for 6.5x284 for load development.
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by juststarting » 10 May 2016, 8:33 pm

Yeah, pistols would be different, I am more interested in rifles though, on a single stage ( since that's what I have).
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by on_one_wheel » 10 May 2016, 8:47 pm

I use to reload around 200 and wait until I'm down to around 25 before I think about reloading again.

Now I keep my batches much smaller, 50 / 60 rounds so the same brass is being used more often making it easier to track, and it's easier to bin 50 than it is to bin 200 when wear and tear rears it's ugly head.

I also worry about performance when big batches take a while to use and they've been subjected to extreme temperatures.

Another advantage of smaller batches is If I decide to change my recipe, I can do it without having hundreds of my previous load to worry about.
So in a nutshell I'm reloading less more often.
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by gunnnie » 10 May 2016, 10:16 pm

I reload in batches of 50 for rifle and 100 for pistol. Makes it easy to regulate case batches and prevents loads sitting for too long.
I try to keep on top of my ammo stocks so I dont get caught out with no ammo for a specific rifle.
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by David Brown » 10 May 2016, 10:25 pm

50 in larger rifle at a time. 100-200 in 223, and 1000 for pistol.

I can't load fast enough for 12G so I buy it :-)
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by WayneO » 10 May 2016, 11:58 pm

For big bore I always keep at least 40 rounds on hand and in general I load up around 60 rounds at a time. (.458 Lott, .404 .375 and 9.6x62)
For the medium calibers I load up in batches of no less than 100 at a time
For the .223 I load on the Dillon and then its 600 to 1000 at a time which is about the same as what i load for 9mm.
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by pomemax » 11 May 2016, 12:52 am

juststarting wrote:Yeah, pistols would be different, I am more interested in rifles though, on a single stage ( since that's what I have).


I found out that if i Argue with the mrs on a Saturday after the range I can get 1000 9mm done on a sunday on a single stage press
thats depriming resizing sonic cleaning and batches of 400 and tumble drying them for 30m flareing and primming by hand then using the charge master and seating a pill from 8 in morning till 10 at night after I have deducted 1/2 hour for lunch and same at dinner time funny what you can do when left alone. ( put head phones on and listen to music as im doing it gr8)
On avarage i normally get to do about 2/300 a week different cals for bolt action.
I HATE DOING 9mm so I tend to leave till i have a few. next purchase is a dillon I think
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by No1Mk3 » 11 May 2016, 3:47 am

The Mrs and I both shoot regular rifle and handgun comps, so I need to reload in batches. I do 2 rifle per year at 1300 a time, and 4 pistol a year at 1400 a time. I also do a range of "odd" calibers in between. I currently have 39 calibers I load for. I only use the single stage (Lee) and the RCBS turret for short run calibers, like 577/450 and 577 Snider, and do everthing else on Lee Loadmasters for pistol and Hornady LnL AP progressive for rifle. Cheers.
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by Noisydad » 11 May 2016, 7:17 am

Usually batches of 50 but I have to add in casting bullets for nine BP rifles which I guess could add thousands to the list as well as making bullet lube and lubing and sizing bullets and cutting milk carton and tissue paper wads.....I do something reloading related most evenings. It's all done on 3 single stages presses which are nothing special - just an RCBS Partner press, a little Lee "C" press and my heavy duty, homemade "C" press which does most of the work. Lucky I love the whole process!
Last edited by Noisydad on 11 May 2016, 3:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by TheDude » 11 May 2016, 8:49 am

I reload for 12 different calibres, 4 of those I cast for plus 3 calibres cast for muzzle loaders.

For most of the modern stuff I have a couple of hundred cases for each that I keep in 100 round batches to keep track of times fired since last anneal. 375 H&H Is only new so still working up a load but will probably only do smaller batches.

45-70 BP I'll do few hundred at a time. Don't resize the cases so don't worry about batching them.

the snider I batch in 25 round lots (brass is $7 a piece and it's a 140 year old rifle so don't put a lot through it).

Use a Lee classic for the big stuff, Lyman turret mainly for the 45-70, a Lee pro 1000 for 357 mag and a Forster coax for everything else.
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by Gwion » 11 May 2016, 10:52 am

Similar to to others.
I usually load 50 at a time for the 7-08, which gives me 2 sessions for club F-class. Occasionally i get motivated and load 100 at a time. I have 20 hunting loads for fallow, which in Tas could last a number of years as the fallow take is ridiculously heavily controlled.
For 223, i usually load 100 at a time in high velocity rounds, and 50 in low velocity (size of the ammo box) and so have 150 rounds max at any one time. The high velocity loads could take 3-6 months to shoot since i don't use it for target practice much any more. The low velocity loads (1850fps on average) could last as little as 1 night or as long as a few months, depending on the time of year and if i'm helping out on neighbouring culls or not in that time.
2 years ago i put over 1000 rounds through the 223 in the one year, last year it would have been about 400 or so: the rifle was in pieces being rebuilt for quite a time. None the less, my reloading gear has saved me it's purchase cost in ammo, probably twice over, since buying it in late 2013.
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by Lorgar » 11 May 2016, 11:30 am

Used to be a lot when I started shooting; a few trips to the range a month and a few hundred rounds per trip... You do the math.

These days I only hunt, or make the rare trip to the range to take a non-shooting friend there for the experience/introduction.

I go hunting 10-12 time a year now, might fire a dozen shots on a trip, might fire none. At the moment I have 250 rounds or so loaded which will likely last me years. My reloading gear is in a box in the shed in fact :lol:
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by WayneO » 11 May 2016, 8:41 pm

pomemax wrote:
juststarting wrote:Yeah, pistols would be different, I am more interested in rifles though, on a single stage ( since that's what I have).


I found out that if i Argue with the mrs on a Saturday after the range I can get 1000 9mm done on a sunday on a single stage press
thats depriming resizing sonic cleaning and batches of 400 and tumble drying them for 30m flareing and primming by hand then using the charge master and seating a pill from 8 in morning till 10 at night after I have deducted 1/2 hour for lunch and same at dinner time funny what you can do when left alone. ( put head phones on and listen to music as im doing it gr8)
On avarage i normally get to do about 2/300 a week different cals for bolt action.
I HATE DOING 9mm so I tend to leave till i have a few. next purchase is a dillon I think


I used to load 9mm on a single stage, but that was just mind numbing. I then got the Lee Pro 1000 and after swearing, punching doors, head butting floors and slapping myself i final got it running out at 350 rounds an hour. A few years latter on, and I got myself a Dillon 650 with case feeder and have never wanted a time machine more. If I could go back to me all those years ago, I would kick my own ass for wasting so much time on junk.
Simply put, there is nothing, like a Dillon.
Same as my Lyman T Mag II reloading press. I have a number of different heads with different dies in them, because i cant stand removing and refitting dies.
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by brett1868 » 11 May 2016, 10:10 pm

WayneO, if you find a time machine can you go back in time and kick my ass as well please...twice!! :D I did exactly the same thing, did 9mm on a single stage then bought a pair of Lee Pro 1000's before giving myself 2 uppercuts and buying the Dillon XL650. I've got 9 heads for it now and my only issue is that I can't keep up with its appetite for empty cases.
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by animalpest » 11 May 2016, 11:35 pm

Hmmmm... let me see, I reload for my 5 different center-fire calibres that are used by my 6 professional shooters on permanent staff. Seems they are always running out of ammo and the job we have tomorrow needs more 222, 223 , 22.250, 243, 25.06, 308 or 375 ammo for some particular need, but never the ammo we have already loaded! (got fox loads, but not wild dog loads, or camel loads but not feral goat loads etc.)
Hand-loading ammo can be a chore when it needs to be done, or it can be when I enjoy working up a particular load that is accurate.
I don't reload like pistol shooters do. But maybe 100 rounds for a days/nights shoot would be enough. For that job.
Most of my rifles shoot handloads, with the exceptions being the 308's which may burn through a few thousand rounds in a week and reloading doesn't make sense when the animals are only 20-50m away.
All of my accurate rifles have tailor-made hand-loads built to order for their work. And the work and science that goes into making these consistently accurate is still a buzz after 35 years!
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by WayneO » 12 May 2016, 5:44 pm

brett1868 wrote:WayneO, if you find a time machine can you go back in time and kick my ass as well please...twice!! :D I did exactly the same thing, did 9mm on a single stage then bought a pair of Lee Pro 1000's before giving myself 2 uppercuts and buying the Dillon XL650. I've got 9 heads for it now and my only issue is that I can't keep up with its appetite for empty cases.


Yip, buying cheap is buying expensive. Now days I will rather wait a few extra months until I can afford the best, than run out and buy the first thing that i can get my hands on.
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by Gwion » 12 May 2016, 10:48 pm

animalpest wrote:Hmmmm... let me see.........
All of my accurate rifles have tailor-made hand-loads built to order for their work. And the work and science that goes into making these consistently accurate is still a buzz after 35 years!
Mike


So, let's just say, you reload quite a bit then! :unknown: :D
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by headspace » 14 May 2016, 10:11 pm

I load for 4 hunting rifles and one target rifle. The hunting rifles seldom have more than 40 rounds on hand, especially the 9.3x62 which only comes out on special occasions. The target rifle ammo is kept at a level ready for the next Bench rest or now, F Class shoot and there's still some experimenting going on there. I use a Lee single stage and variety of dies. There's a set of Whidden dies coming up for the Creedmoor target rifle. I don't care how long it takes because I don't do big volume.
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by AusTac » 14 May 2016, 11:19 pm

i've gotten into the habbit of replacing the ammo i shoot that day, usually starting the process soon after i get home that said i only load for one cal and only a few boxes here and there
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by bigfellascott » 15 May 2016, 8:29 am

Depends on whether I doing culling or a bit of spotlighting/whistling type thing, if it's culling then 300 - 500 and generally hunting duties usually 200 will see me right for a while.
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by southwest shooter » 26 May 2016, 2:06 pm

Whenever I get down to my last twenty rounds , 204 ruger.
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by Rakk » 27 May 2016, 11:45 am

Usually buy 3-4 boxes of pill at a time.

Load them all.

When I'm down to the last box of handloads buy another 3-4 and repeat.
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by Mick280 » 28 May 2016, 11:21 pm

Box of 50 per caliber except for 45 LC,2 boxes of 100 for Single action!!
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by Homer » 29 May 2016, 8:14 am

G'Day Fella's,

They say "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words".
DSCN0789.JPG
DSCN0789.JPG (958.27 KiB) Viewed 3595 times


Doh!
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by sandgroperbill » 29 May 2016, 12:40 pm

animalpest wrote:Hmmmm... let me see, I reload for my 5 different center-fire calibres that are used by my 6 professional shooters on permanent staff. Seems they are always running out of ammo and the job we have tomorrow needs more 222, 223 , 22.250, 243, 25.06, 308 or 375 ammo for some particular need, but never the ammo we have already loaded! (got fox loads, but not wild dog loads, or camel loads but not feral goat loads etc.)
Hand-loading ammo can be a chore when it needs to be done, or it can be when I enjoy working up a particular load that is accurate.
I don't reload like pistol shooters do. But maybe 100 rounds for a days/nights shoot would be enough. For that job.
Most of my rifles shoot handloads, with the exceptions being the 308's which may burn through a few thousand rounds in a week and reloading doesn't make sense when the animals are only 20-50m away.
All of my accurate rifles have tailor-made hand-loads built to order for their work. And the work and science that goes into making these consistently accurate is still a buzz after 35 years!
Mike



You midwest or pilbara? I'm not sure I'd want to hunt as a career, but I'd love to get up and spend a week or so on a station in a year or two. So i envy you and don't envy you all at the same time :)
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by brett1868 » 29 May 2016, 4:41 pm

This month I've loaded a few hundred rifle which is down on average but I've loaded just over 10,000 pistol rounds. Not hard to load big numbers using the Dillon when you can punch out 400-500 per hour. I've been buying 30kg lots of once fired brass which I lube, resize and wash ready to load as seen in the picture below. Saturdays are spent preparing the brass which is then loaded over 2-3 nights during the week depending on family commitments because they come first.

25kg of brass prepared and ready to load
IMG_2326.JPG
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by petemacsydney » 29 May 2016, 6:25 pm

brett1868 wrote:This month I've loaded a few hundred rifle which is down on average but I've loaded just over 10,000 pistol rounds. Not hard to load big numbers using the Dillon when you can punch out 400-500 per hour. I've been buying 30kg lots of once fired brass which I lube, resize and wash ready to load as seen in the picture below. Saturdays are spent preparing the brass which is then loaded over 2-3 nights during the week depending on family commitments because they come first.

25kg of brass prepared and ready to load
IMG_2326.JPG



hhhhhmmmm, brass... and lots of it! Noice!
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Re: How much do you reload?

Post by Gregg » 17 Jun 2016, 1:38 pm

Looking good Brett
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