Want to get set up to reload.

[Tom Foolery]

I'm looking at getting set up to reload for my 270W and possibly my 223. The guy at my LGS suggested the Hornady kit as a good place to start. Should go trust his advice? Maybe start with a good manual? What advice would you give to a virgin?

[AusTac]

Get a manual and read read read and google and youtube, then look at all the kits avaliable and go with what you want, people will say this that but you'll make up your own mind, good luck would be interested to know what kit you end up with

[Gwion]

If you can afford the price of a starter kit then go for it. Get a few different manuals and read them all a few times. Go slow to start and stick to the basics. It's not hard but you just need to concentrate. Screw ups can be costly and dangerous. Not the sort of thing you do while chatting with a mate over a beer (or having your partner interrupt you every five minutes).

[Oldbloke]

I would go a Lee Classic or Anniversary Kit they are really well priced and have nearly everything you need except dies. The more expensive presses aren't really needed. There are manuals on the net and plenty of good you tube vids to get you started. a lot of the so called manuals are just loading data that is not much good as they use different powders to what we have available. the best place to get your load data is simply from the ADI website for the particular cartridge you are loading.

+1

This link to another topic will provide links to a couple of free manuals off the www

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7963

[valkyrie]

I shopped around and got some second hand stuff over about 6 months. Ended up spending about 300 bucks and i have everything to load .308 now. You can do it very cheaply if you arent in a rush

[Noisydad]

i have presses made Lee, RCBS, Simplex, Lyman and me and they are all good.

[vmaxaust]

Are you mechanically minded? Are you a hands on person with tools? I find many people who are pencil pushers with zero mechanical aptitude get into reloading and struggle with it. Assuming you are at least somewhat handy with mechanical things you will have no problem learning the process.
You need to think about several things first...

1) Realistically what volume of reloading will you do? Do you shoot several hundred rounds a month, much more or much less? The volume of shooting would determine whether you buy a single stage or progressive press. Think hard about this and make a value judgement based on the future of your shooting volume as well as current volume. I know all the manuals and experts advise one begin with a simple single stage press. If your volume will never be large then that's the way to go. If your volume is growing and will increase, the progressive is the way to go. What the experts often don't tell you is that you can use a progressive press virtually as a single stage when first starting out so you are not overwhelmed by the mass production potential of the progressive.
2) Case cleaning: Wet tumbling with stainless steel pins is the only way to go in my opinion.
3) If your volume is up there by a good powered case trimmer or at least a manual one that can be powered by a small hand drill. Case trimming is essential for rifle cases and is very time consuming if you are up there in your volume of shooting.
4) Brands...I have three Hornady progressive presses and love them. However I think everyone has a favourite brand and I don't think the brand is critical these days. Try to see if anyone at your range or area could show you their setup. If you were in Melbourne I would show you my setup and run through the process. It's a good idea to do this with any locals willing to do this with you. Some of the clubs have reloading workshops to show people the ins and outs of the process. Reading and looking at Youtube is important but actually being in a reloaders workshop to be shown everything first hand is the ultimate training tool.
5) Cost...realise what you are getting into. Despite the cheap looking little kits offered, I can assure you you'll spend much more in the longer term as you realise you should have invested in equipment to SPEED up the process. You want to go shooting and not take up more time than necessary in reloading. Look at everything carefully and ask questions.

Sam

[brett1868]

If you're in Sydney and don't mind a drive to the Hills district you're welcome to come over on a Saturday and I can run you through the reloading process. It's not what I'd call complicated by any means but you do need to focus on the task and develop a routine that's consistent and safe.

[superdave]

I would go a Lee Classic or Anniversary Kit they are really well priced and have nearly everything you need except dies. The more expensive presses aren't really needed. There are manuals on the net and plenty of good you tube vids to get you started. a lot of the so called manuals are just loading data that is not much good as they use different powders to what we have available. the best place to get your load data is simply from the ADI website for the particular cartridge you are loading.

+1. That is, if you are genuinely interested in reloading and have time to spare to devote to it.

There's a marginal area for some guys who don't shoot a lot where buying a reloading setup and consumables like powder primers and projectiles vs spending the same amount on a bulk buy of ammo is nearly the same.

Having said that the fact that you're gonna load .270w will save you money in the long run.

Having owned both, I prefer Lee classic kit over the anniversary kit. Once set up, there's far less stuffing around changing dies with the classic kit. It's faster, more flexible, and saves a lot of time.

[wrenchman]

i have a lyman press my dies are lee

[Gwion]

My reloading set up has paid for itself at least twice in the 3 years i have been reloading.

223rem locally averages $16-24 for 20 rounds. Depending on the load i put them together for between $0.30-0.52 per round. I've loaded & shot about 1500 rounds.

7mm-08rem locally costs just under $70 for 20 rounds. I put them together for about $1 per round. I've loaded & shot about 450 rounds in the last year.

My initial kit cost around $500 and i've probably spent an extra $300-400 on extra bits a pieces.

Reloading has saved me a total of around $1650 over factory loads and cost $800-900 to set up. That's not even going into the fact that my best load for each rifle shoot well under 0.5MOA consistently and the best i have got from factory is about 0.9MOA but more like 1-1.2MOA. OK, so the difference in accuracy for general hunting may not be a big deal but for varminting at range and target work it can be the difference between a hit and a miss.

[bladeracer]

Even cheaper - 137 .243 bullets from $7 worth of lead shot

[pete1]

Probably a silly question whats the cost of reloading .270w excluding all the equipment. Question is out of curiosity.

[bladeracer]

Probably a silly question whats the cost of reloading .270w excluding all the equipment. Question is out of curiosity.

Depends on the price of the bullet primarily, but buying your components on special or in bulk can also reduce costs.

I work on $100 per kg of powder or 15,400gns.
Looking at ADI's figures - http://www.adi-powders.com.au/handloaders/rifle.asp?Calibre=270+Winchester - you could be using anywhere from 40gn to 60gn of powder pushing a 140gn bullet, so AR2217 will cost you 50% more to run than AR2206H for example. Say 250-380 rds per kg, or 26c to 40c per round for powder. For Trailboss you'd be loading something like 15-20gns - 750-1000rds per kg..

If you stay away from max loads the brass will last a very long time, if you push it hard it'll wear out quicker, as will the barrel. Good brass I allow $1 a piece but you can often find cheaper stuff. If you get 20 loads each then add 5c per round, if you only get 10 loads then add 10c per round.

Primers I allow 8c a piece.

Bullets can be anything from 50c to $1.50 each for hunting bullets, or several bucks each for monolithic target bullets.

Or you can cast your own from lead shot for around $10 a kg, or 110 140gn bullets- about 7c a piece.
If you want to push them hard then add 10c a piece for gas checks.

So, roughly:
Light loads, 140gn VMax with AR2206H - something like 90c to $1.10 a piece.
Heavier loads, Nosler Partition on AR2217 - something closer to $2.00 maybe.
Trailboss loads with cast lead bullets - probably 40-50c a piece.

[superdave]

Probably a silly question whats the cost of reloading .270w excluding all the equipment. Question is out of curiosity.

Not a silly question,it's a valid part of the process of figuring out whether it's worth it to dive into reloading.

Assuming a bulk hornady pill and an ADI powder like 2206H, What's it cost to reload some of the more garden variety stuff like 223, 308, 3006 over there in Oz?

[Gwion]

Using brass from factory loads when i first got the rifle an Sierra SuperRoo bullets it costs me about 27c to reload the 223rem at full velocity (from memory).

Zmax hornady (27c each) with BM8208 (based on $110 a kg and 650 odd rounds per kg or 17c per round) and CCI (7c each) small rifle primers is around 51c(ish).

[Oldbloke]

Link still works. A few ph calls for prices and you can work it out for your self.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qx02amlb5at33 ... .xlsx?dl=0

[in2anity]

Here yu go: https://youtu.be/IHpU1wwr7Jk

[bladeracer]

It can be a bit more thou than Bladracer and Gwion have stated they are giving prices for specials and bulk and not necessarily top brass such as Lapua that will set you back a bit more and may not get you that many more reloads depending if you anneal it or not which again adds cost.
Retail prices can be $60 for 500g of AR2206H at the LGS if you can buy from the VRA and get a 4kg it works out probably the cheapest.
Lapua cases for 308 about $150-$170 for 100 for a 243 they are $170-200
CCI Primers $60/1000
Projectiles I normally find the ones I want are about $55-$90/100 some are $260/500 a Sierra 180gr can be $89/100
On the other hand you can get Remington Core lokit for $34/20 or Hornday Precision Hunter for $65/20 and even up from there. So it really depends on your wants/needs .

It can be a great deal more expensive than the figures I used, and also quite a lot cheaper, but they weren't special or bulk prices.

I like Norma brass, but often it's too expensive for my needs. For something like the .204 which I shoot hot and a lot, then the Norma is worth while, but for the milsurps in which I generally shoot fairly relaxed loads, I use cheaper brass - but never Winchester - that stuff is garbage. Lapua is totally unnecessary in my opinion, unless you're shooting for extreme accuracy. Annealing doesn't cost anything that I'm aware of, perhaps a little propane?

I've never bothered asking for prices on 4kg powders as it's too hard to store several of them in the safe. But I have a lot of empty 500's now so I could transfer a 4kg into eight 500gm bottles. I have AR2206H, AR2209, BM8208, Trailboss and blackpowder currently. The last two are cheaper than the normal $60/500gm, which is why I use a figure of $100/kg as an average.
What do the 4kg bottles cost, and do you actually save anything?

For bullets I'll buy several different types for testing a new caliber, generally looking for a slow heavy bullet and a fast light bullet, and perhaps something in between if the range is wide. Plus a few types of the cheapest bullets for Trailboss loads.

[brett1868]

The 4kg bottles of 2218 generally run around $350 so you're effectively getting .5kg for free. I try to buy 12-16kg at a time for even better price and because 4kgs doesn't go far when loading 225gr a round. I do the same with AP50 when doing a big run of 9mm and buy 6-8kgs but back to the OP's position, a 500gm bottle may last some months. Much will depend on how much the OP shoots, budget and how obsessed they get with accuracy.

A couple of simple calculators from Dillon
Cost per round
https://www.dillonprecision.com/calculator.html

Break even calculator
http://dillonprecision.net/break-even-calculator/

[Gwion]

Link still works. A few ph calls for prices and you can work it out for your self.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qx02amlb5at33 ... .xlsx?dl=0

Thanks for reposting, OB. I had lost that spreadsheet.

[Tom Foolery]

Big thankyou for all the replies and apologies for not getting back here sooner. There is alot of food for thought there.

Cost is a factor. I'm not a fan of spending money but as I will likely be going halves with a mate I can afford to spend what's required for a decent setup, with a view to saving time/making the process simpler and repeatable but the setup has to be robust enough to handle 300WSM and possibly full length size 358 or 375 somewhere down the track. May mean a higher initial investment but will be worth it in the long run I'm sure.

I'm a tradie and have worked as an electronics tech so I'm pretty confident I can handle that side of it. (Hand skills)

Can't give a definite answer on shooting volume. Right now the benefit would be considered marginal I suppose, but I'm currently in the process of upgrading my license to include target so volume will definitely increase, possibly by a lot knowing me.

So far I'd be happy to shoot sub MOA at 100m. I'm still learning but I know the rifle is capable as it's bedded, floating barrel and reinforced Howa factory stock and my mate (who was a pro shooter) loves it and can hit with it using factory ammo out to around 400m no worries.

Plan is to work up a couple of accurate and cheap loads, say one for spotlighting and another for open country work, maybe 150gr SST and then maybe a premium load for large deer and pigs, like a Woodleigh, Partition or A-Frame, which are prohibitively expensive as a factory load if available at all.

Brett, thanks for the offer I'll take you up on it if you're willing to put up with me. I'm on the Central Coast but I do get down to Baulkham Hills to visit my mum every now and then.

Thanks again everyone.

[Oldbloke]

And so the journey begins. Enjoy.

[Tom Foolery]

OK, so after a bit of research I settled in the Hornady Classic Reloader kit. I'm in the process of setting it up and reading the book etc. I'll post some pictures when I get a spare couple of minutes.

Thinking about one of the RCBS hand priming tools but I'll make an informed decision once I've had a play with the press.

Regarding case cleaning, I think I've found a use for the ultrasonic cleaner at work. Winning!

[Tom Foolery]

Right then. I had my first session at the reloading bench on Sunday but unfortunately can't post any pictures as my phone camera is out of action.

One question for you learned gentlemen if you don't mind?

I loaded some 150gn Ballistic Silvertips in 300WSM, just a small trial batch for a mate and the first test round I made chambered fine, so thinking I was all good to go, I smashed out half a dozen or so only to find out approximately half were hard (some very hard) to close the bolt on. Bugger!

I know they weren't too long (outside COAL) as I had some factory loads for comparison and measured max COAL using a cleaning rod and projectile then measured again just to make sure. Checked them over, the hard to chamber ones, and found they appear to be slightly too fat at the shoulder/case junction. Maybe this is because I sized too far down the neck using a full length die? I got pretty close to the neck/shoulder junction but was being careful not to go too far when setting up the die but maybe I wasn't careful enough and put too much pressure on the shoulder? Or maybe not enough lube, although I did lube each case pretty well or so I thought, even did inside the neck with a cotton bud, using the Hornady supplied case lube?

Would anyone like to offer a suggestion? Long post I know, thanks for reading.

[Tom Foolery]

Thanks Sungazer and no not werewolves but we have some pretty big cats!

I'm sure it's not an ogive issue as the silvertips are of anything longer and more tapered than the Win power points I compared them to. Also I couldn't find a mark on the black lubalox coating on the silvertips.

I'm leaning towards full length sizing too much and pushed the shoulder back.

Cheers

[Oldbloke]

I always check about 1 of 4 empty cases after resizing .
Then check first 3 or 4 rounds once loaded.

Best way.

[marksman]

to check for the mushroom effect from over full length sizing measure just under the shoulder

but usually with the WSM cases having this problem you need to full length size with a small base die as the brass is much thicker for these cases and there is not as much spring back causing this problem with hard chambering in wisms, maybe you will need a forster full length sizer to fix the problem, this has been the answer to this problem for myself and others who I know that have had this problem with WSM cases, they are made with tighter tolerances and work for this problem
you can also trim a bit off the bottom of your existing die or shell holder that may work but you firstly need to measure under the shoulder to make sure this is not the problem, you should really be able to see the bulge with the naked eye or even roll the case on a flat piece of glass and look for a gap under the case as you roll it, if there is no gap it's not the problem and you will need a smaller base die or the forster full length die, BRT sell them

[Tom Foolery]

I always check about 1 of 4 empty cases after resizing .
Then check first 3 or 4 rounds once loaded.

Best way.

Thanks for that Oldbloke. I think it will be the plan from now on.

[Tom Foolery]

to check for the mushroom effect from over full length sizing measure just under the shoulder.

It is the problem. Can be seen with a straight edge held against the case.

I'm hoping I can eliminate the problem by neck sizing with a proper neck die. The Hornady ones have a good reputation with the shooters I know so might give them a try.