Is it worth reloading?

[bladeracer]

It’s definitely doable in Tas, especially when the local shop has nothing on the shelves!
Not sure if the rest of the country was as bad as it was down here, but during the ammo drought we struggled to get regular supplies of all the 2s (22, 22-250, 222, 223, 243 etc). Was definitely glad I had the basic reloading gear stashed away, along with primers, powder and projectiles...
Hang on, is this the prepping forum?

How do you guys get powders now? I read that nobody can currently courier it across the gap from the mainland? I assume that reps and licenced firearm owners can still transport as much powder as they want though, so I guess reps just take large loads across on the ferry? Have powder prices risen?

[Gwion]

Yes but as you say above, you are not taking time off work to reload and unless you are a complete nong or have a very cushy job, you are not reloading when you would otherwise be earning.

Free time IS more and more valuable as our lives get busier but do you charge your family restaurant prices when you cook them a meal? Do you have a taxi meter in your car for all the time you spend running around on personal or family business?

In real terms it does save money because you are not shelling out and you are only counting hypothetical earnings.
Yes, if you are really time poor you wouldn't reload but in that case you probably wouldn't put much time into hobbies and probably be happy shooting 1" groups at the range once a month or a couple of times a year. Mind you, you might spend a LOT of time and money trialing ammo to find a round that your rifle likes.

Totally agree you need to factor in the time but not so much that the time has a fiscal value unless it impacts your earning time.

As for case prep, etc, i do that while watching a movie, which i like to do in down time anyway. The only time i find inconvenient is the actual loading because it's tedious, repetitive and mind numbingly boring. I can think of quite a few things I'd rather do for 'contemplation' than reloading.

The only point I'm making is that if you are reloading purely to "save money", then it's a false economy.

Obviously that goes for anything we do, but the difference is we don't usually choose our hobbies or past-times to save money. It's like making your own beer or bread - you're probably not saving as much money as you think, but ultimately the pleasure is in the process of making something enjoyable that you can't necessarily buy off the shelf.

In that respect, I agree. After all, I reload myself!

[Sergeant Hartman]

Any how, my new projectile in 308 will cost me 0.36 cents. It's supposed to be pretty good. For me to practice my 308 round will cost me 72 cents. Plus time. Damn my next trip to little river will cost me nearly 200 bucks, makes me think my car hobby was cheaper (well track day was 180 entry)

Compared to my cz that is very happy shooting eley standard works out about 15cents a round...

[Southpaw]

It’s definitely doable in Tas, especially when the local shop has nothing on the shelves!
Not sure if the rest of the country was as bad as it was down here, but during the ammo drought we struggled to get regular supplies of all the 2s (22, 22-250, 222, 223, 243 etc). Was definitely glad I had the basic reloading gear stashed away, along with primers, powder and projectiles...
Hang on, is this the prepping forum?

How do you guys get powders now? I read that nobody can currently courier it across the gap from the mainland? I assume that reps and licenced firearm owners can still transport as much powder as they want though, so I guess reps just take large loads across on the ferry? Have powder prices risen?

We get powder at the local gun shop like everyone else
But yeah as far as I know it’s still a killer to try and buy any reloading components on the net that go bang. No one will send it over here, at least not affordably anyway.
All our shops here are well stocked, but we do pay more it seems when comparing ours to mainland prices. (The most expensive stretch of water in the world apparently...)
The biggest pain now is the ferry has limited us to 5kgs, doesn’t really effect me, but a lot of the comp blokes traveling over and taking their own ammo find it a right pain...

[in2anity]

Any how, my new projectile in 308 will cost me 0.36 cents. It's supposed to be pretty good. For me to practice my 308 round will cost me 72 cents. Plus time. Damn my next trip to little river will cost me nearly 200 bucks, makes me think my car hobby was cheaper (well track day was 180 entry)

Compared to my cz that is very happy shooting eley standard works out about 15cents a round...

Have you tried cast 30cal pills over TB in your 308w?

[brett1868]

Is reloading worth it....from a satisfaction and accuracy viewpoint, definitely. As an economical argument, that depends on how much you shoot. Not counting brass the average CF rifle reloading cost is roughly around %50-%60 the price of buying factory. Based on a .308 using mid spec components you're saving about a dollar per round so you can extrapolate the saving per round against the cost f your reloading kit to calculate the break even point. Assuming $600 was spent on kit you'll need to load and shoot 545 rounds to break even. How long it takes you to shoot that many rounds will be the deciding factor if "saving money" is the sole reason to reload. I turned my reloading into a small business, my gear has now fully paid for itself and I'm making just enough to cover the operating costs.

[madang55]

Definitely the therapeutic value. I'm allowed time to myself in the garage and I'm not disturbed because when the wife asks me what I'm doing, she just rolls her eyes. Add the satisfaction of that occasional 1 hole group, and confidence in where yr shot is going. There is expensive factory ammo out there which can always be hand-loaded a little cheaper.

[Gwion]

My best groups at 300yd yesterday were 76mm, 56mm, 35mm & 17mm: roughly .9, .7, .4 & .2 MOA. 50gn zmax 223rem with BM8208.

My goal for the day was to shoot a 300yd group under 1". Fired about 40 rounds. 35mm & 17mm groups were 3rd & 2nd last group of the day. 56mm group was shot rapid fire and last group of the day.

Shot off a cheap hunting bi-pod with a sock full of rice for a rear bag.
The groups i shot with no rear rest were 1.5-2 MOA.

I think reloading is worth it...

[bigrich]

well, i shot my first reloaded 6.5x55 rounds today. just did a batch of ten. went with a mid range powder load. bin shooting 156gr norma factory for around 1" at 100. got some reload advice from on this forum ( can't remember who, marksman , bladeracer or gwion. thanks anyways ) . loaded 42 gr of 2209, 140 gr nosler partitions with federal primers. i got my last three shots down to 15.99 mm centre to centre, then blew the group by shooting a last fourth round. is reloading worth it ? hell yeah ! gunna creep up slowly to the max load of 44 gr and see if things tighten up. anyone shooting 6.5 swede got any feedback on hornady projectiles ?

[Jon79]

What's the thoughts on the Lee reloading kits? thinking I might actually dip my toe in the reloading waters and it might be a cheaper way to see if its for me or not and could upgrade if i catch the bug.....would be reloading 223, 243 & 308 ammo

[sungazer]

I load all those cals and have lee dies for them. I have also tried the Hornady dies which I think are not so good. The lee powder thrower is really good and used by heaps of people it has also been incorporated into the Autotrickler a high end auto power device. The Lee Press is really good. The Lee hand prime is ok to good. The Lee scales are pretty crappy. I bought the kit and dont regret it, It gets you into the game and you learn from there really only upgrades are the scales and a good trickler the Redding is really good.

[bladeracer]

What's the thoughts on the Lee reloading kits? thinking I might actually dip my toe in the reloading waters and it might be a cheaper way to see if its for me or not and could upgrade if i catch the bug.....would be reloading 223, 243 & 308 ammo

The Lee Breachlock kits and Lee dies are brilliant.
I'm loading from .38 Special up to .30-06 and 8x57mm on it. I have four Lee presses, two of the O-Frame, a C-Frame and the Hand Press.
Get the kit with the Hand Primer in it, although you might decide to get the bench-mounted primer later on. The hand primer can cause cramps for me after a few hundred cases. I don't like the press-mounted priming system. If I decide to prime on the press I just put the primer into the ram by hand.

You will need additional Breachlock bushings to save having to unscrew the dies. If you're not planning to load lots of different calibers you might prefer the Lock-Ring Eliminator bushings ($12 each), but the standard bushings ($8.50 each) do work fine, and are cheaper. You can use the Hornady Lock-N-Load lock rings ($11 each) if you prefer, but you still need the bushings so it's a lot more expensive option than the Eliminators.

[Sergeant Hartman]

I have just started myself, got the lee classic turret with the auto drum throw, I find it's accuracy is +-0.2 grain, the lee scale are fiddly but I trust their accuracy moe than electronic scales but that's just the old school in me. Don't tell anyone but with a $20 drill I am moe than happy with lee case trimmer and chamber tool. On Google heaps of ppl love the lee collet neck sizing die.

What I don't like, manuals are s**t, sometimes don't make sense until you work out, le how much to love the handle to work some of the dies. And the auto primer sometimes doesn't feed out the primer.

I have some ppu brass that's 4 times shot but still going and no issues, will see how theygo after today. Note that have only run about 200 rounds through it in total

[Diesel]

In some cases it is in others? Well I am currently about two thirds of the way through 1000 rounds of PPU 174 grain FMJ .303. Including freight it worked out at 95 cents a round about 20 cents a round dearer than reloading AND I didn't spend hours in the shed AND I don't have to be overly fussed if I lose a case or two. The biggest bonus: I sold 500 cases for $200 or 40 cents each which if I do the same for them all makes the individual round cost only 55 cents a shot- much cheaper than reloading and a lot less fuss.


General use .223 is very similar at the moment.

[bladeracer]

In some cases it is in others? Well I am currently about two thirds of the way through 1000 rounds of PPU 174 grain FMJ .303. Including freight it worked out at 95 cents a round about 20 cents a round dearer than reloading AND I didn't spend hours in the shed AND I don't have to be overly fussed if I lose a case or two. The biggest bonus: I sold 500 cases for $200 or 40 cents each which if I do the same for them all makes the individual round cost only 55 cents a shot- much cheaper than reloading and a lot less fuss.

I take it you are target shooting with this stuff? What sort of accuracy are you getting with it?

[Diesel]

In some cases it is in others? Well I am currently about two thirds of the way through 1000 rounds of PPU 174 grain FMJ .303. Including freight it worked out at 95 cents a round about 20 cents a round dearer than reloading AND I didn't spend hours in the shed AND I don't have to be overly fussed if I lose a case or two. The biggest bonus: I sold 500 cases for $200 or 40 cents each which if I do the same for them all makes the individual round cost only 55 cents a shot- much cheaper than reloading and a lot less fuss.

I take it you are target shooting with this stuff? What sort of accuracy are you getting with it?

Only 100-200 yard stuff over open sights, seems fine.

[SCJ429]

Diesel, you must be single and not married if you don't want to spend hours in the shed.

[Bills Shed]

We all need shed time.
I have always reloaded and am getting deeper into it everyday. Today I built some 30 gn projectiles that are .550" long. Sat them on top of 8gn of Trailboss in a 223 case. Will run them this week to get some velocity readings. You can not buy that.
Is it worth it..yep

Bill

[Rod_outbak]

Sorry to keep re-visiting this...

Yesterday evening, I finished the first batch of loaded rounds for my Ruger Precision Rifle.
Some once-fired OSA brass is being loaded with 125 Gn Hornady SST's, to see how they share the love with the grasshoppers..
Only 35 rounds completed by the time I called it quits last night, but I have another 64 cases prepped, and another 200 Federal cases drying after tumbling.
I should be able to crank out the remaining 64 from this batch later today.
But 35 gives me enough to go for my sunrise walk & pokk, which is happening in the next few minutes!
VERY satisfying to see new ammo loaded and ready to go.

That OSA .308 brass seems to be pretty good. Inspecting it while running it through the case trimmer yesterday, I think it's better quality and consistency, compared to the Federal brass. Lapua & Norma brass is probably slightly better, but not by much.

I can just see outside; time to go pokk..

[SCJ429]

So, did you manage to get 35 shots off? You must be a faster butcher than reloader if you did.

I find OSA brass needs much less preparation than Federal, Winchester or Remington. I like it and the Tikka brass for free brass.

[Rod_outbak]

No; only pokked 13 grasshoppers for 14 rounds expended on this mornings walk of 2kms. Most were around 120 metres, though I think one would have been over 220 metres. The SST's seem to perform really well.

Think I saw a cat when I was pokking a grasshopper, but he vanished at speed, so didnt get a bead on the cute furry little tyke...

Loaded another 50 cartridges up this arvo, so I have a few days worth of pokking on hand. Have to do a grocery run to town tomorrow, so it'll be Thursday before I get back to some more reloading.
Regarding OSA brass:
As part of my final check when reloading, I weigh every cartridge. I note the whole 80 rounds are within 2 grains of each other for total weight.
Last time I did Federal brass, I recall the variation was around 10 grains or so.
I noticed the same consistency when last loading up new OSA .223 brass about 7 months back.

Also, last time I ran Federal brass through the Giraud case trimmer, it's very inconsistent as to how much is trimmed on each case(ie more variation in case length).
With the OSA brass, the trimmer seems to be engaged/cutting about the same time for each case.

[SCJ429]

Good work, you won't have to buy any meat when you get those groceries. Good luck with that feral cat next time you are out.

I weigh the brass after trimming to weight sort them, for OSA and Tikka brass there seems no need to clean up the little kernel of brass on the inside of the flash hole. For Winchester or Remington the flash hole is punched and getting rid of this kernel makes a big difference.

[Rod_outbak]

Yeah....Not shooting grasshoppers for meat.
Shooting them to reduce the plague that tries to attack me in my own garden when I walk around at night.
Year 7 of the worst drought in recorded history, and the grasshoppers are still breeding like crazy....sigh.
[And also because pokking grasshoppers sunrise & sunset is a freaking awesome exercise routine...]

I do have a good 70+ kite hawks who think I'm Father Christmas, though...Some of them seem too fat to fly any more.


I've one batch of Remington brass that I bought new (unprimed) for the 7mm-08, and I've had to deep-six the whole lot. Kept getting primers falling out, on the second loading.. At the same time, the Federal brass(resized down from .308), and the Norma, brass are both on their 5th reload, and only just starting to see the occasional split neck in the Federals.
Some of the Hornady 'Match' .308 ammo seems to have a crimp to keep the primer in, which makes them 'sticky' when de-priming the fired case. Not overly impressed with that, but I have enough brass these days that I dont need to buy any more of the Hornady gear, and once they've been reloaded, you've sorted it out anyway.
One surprise has been the Highland/PPU brass. It's pretty rough when you first reload it, but once it's been resized and trimmed etc, it seems to last well, and is solidly built.
Not sure if it'd be consistent enough for match ammo, but for everyday pokking, it's decent brass.
Sure as eggs I'd be buying it before I'll buy any more Remington brass!

I havent seen any Tikka brass in the flesh; I'll have to keep an eye out for it.
Sako used to make really nice brass, but I havent seen any of that for decades.

[SCJ429]

Thank goodness for blokes like you spending your time and money to provide supplementary feed for the local raptors. Well done.

I have a mate who loves his range scrap Federal brass, he reloads them ten times and then chucks them. I give him everything I find and he has over 1000 cases that have not cost him a cent. The primers seem to have some sealant that makes them harder to deprime.

[bladeracer]

Thank goodness for blokes like you spending your time and money to provide supplementary feed for the local raptors. Well done.

I have a mate who loves his range scrap Federal brass, he reloads them ten times and then chucks them. I give him everything I find and he has over 1000 cases that have not cost him a cent. The primers seem to have some sealant that makes them harder to deprime.

If it's .223 or .308 Federal generally crimps the primers. I assume it's churned out on the same production line as their military ammo. Pain in the arse it is. I got 200+ .303 Federal cases yesterday that aren't crimped - prepping them now.

[SCJ429]

It has this blue sealer goop that makes the primer pocket waterproof I assume. They seem to shoot well enough for a hunting rifle with minimal case preparation, around .8. He uses 308 cases, plenty of them left on the ground at the range. He only throws them away after 10 reloads as he figures they are starting to get fairly work hardened. Has the occasional split neck along the way.
I have used PPU brass before, it is not the worst I have found. If it was all I could get I would be happy with it. Better than some big name US brass.

[Rod_outbak]

I have around 1300 federal .308 cases; all bought new in the past 5 years. They all have the blue sealer goop on the primer, but I havent found any of them to be crimped. None of these cases have been difficult in removing primers at all.
These were from the 130gn 'Vital-Shok' ammo I bought(the first 1000 through a special at the time), which is supposed to be made for Australian shooting(they have an Aussie flag on the box).
So not sure if they dont crimp the primers as a result, but I havent found any crimped, or hard to de-prime.

A couple of LGS people have told me these cases are renowned for early failures, and supposedly even splits appearing after the first firing. But my experience is I have found this brass to be as good as any of the Highland and Winchester brass I have bought. Not in the same league as the Lapua or Norma brass, but good enough once you prep it. Some of my Federal brass would be on it's fifth or sixth firing, and I'm only just starting to see case failures. Given I bought most of this ammo for $1.17 per loaded round, I reckon I've got my moneys worth from it..
Even the 300 cases I re-sized down to 7mm-08 are lasting over 5 reloads before I'm seeing failures.
Again; not the worlds best brass, but good enough for knock-about use.

[bladeracer]

Interesting, maybe it's only their .223 that's crimped then.
I had no trouble depriming them at all, but getting new primers in was impossible. I drilled out the crimp but still had to run a uniformer through them as the top of the pockets were under-size from the crimping. Once that was done they primed just fine, but not something I ever want to do again.

[Sergeant Hartman]

Hi guys a strange issue I been dealing with maybe someone can help me. So reloding 308 with ppu brass (I also have adi brass but I don't remember if I was having same issue, my thinking is I wan't).

During extraction some cases are harder to uncock pulling back is fine. So I can move the bolt to unlock the action, then it gets hard to move but once it's fully unlocked then not come out easy.

Thre are no signs of pressure, and it might do a few fine but every 3 or 4rd round it ws doing similar. The powder charge has been measured each round as I am doing load dev. So say 42grain I might get 1 or 2 out of 6 rounds with this issue. Then say 42.5g I might get the same, but nothing on 43, maybe 43.5g I might get 1... it seems random

No drama loading the round.

edit. All are fired through my rifle, and every one has been chamfered/debured and neck sized via the collet lee die

[sungazer]

is it possible that the chamber has some oil from when you cleaned the gun or there may be some oil contaminate (water) on the ammo?