Is it worth reloading?

[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?

[Sergeant Hartman]

The cases unlikely. They are all cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner then dried. Could be oil in the chamber. I'll clean it better and try to remember if the adi brass does the same for next time.

Thanks.

[Bills Shed]

So the issue is only during unlocking and primary extraction but not while extracting the case fully, and is random. Assuming all brass is the same and trimmed, I would look at crud in the bolt maybe around the caming surfaces and look at the locking lugs on the bolt and clean the area where they engage in the receiver.
Just a guess

Bill

[bladeracer]

The cost of reloading just went up ten-percent if you're buying anything out of the US. Ebay is adding the GST automatically, so I assume Paypal is as well.

[Jon79]

Ok you guys have converted me lol

I made the plunge and bought a reloading kit today, what powder would you guys reccomend for reloading say 100gr 243 rounds and 165gr 308 rounds?

[bladeracer]

Ok you guys have converted me lol

I made the plunge and bought a reloading kit today, what powder would you guys reccomend for reloading say 100gr 243 rounds and 165gr 308 rounds?

If you're only going to load heavy in .243, AR2217 is a good choice, but not as versatile as AR2206H, AR2208 or AR2209.
For both cartridges, I'd try AR2206H or AR2208.

[SCJ429]

With 107 SMK in my 243 I use 2213SC and had good results with 2225. What bullet are you planning to use? Have you got enough twist in your barrel for it?

[Oldbloke]

"For both cartridges, I'd try AR2206H or AR2208."

IMO a good choice. I use AR2208 for both 223 & 30-06 and getting good results. Very versatile.

[Jon79]

With 107 SMK in my 243 I use 2213SC and had good results with 2225. What bullet are you planning to use? Have you got enough twist in your barrel for it?

Was hoping to use the Sierra gamekings in both... they seem to go very well in my 243 & 308 both being Howa 1500’s

I might load a few lighter loads down the track when I get the the hang of things etc but for now just want to develope a nice hard hitting load for pigs or Deer for the 243 & 308 and I’ll use the 223 for the smaller stuff

[sungazer]

I have been using 2206H in my 243 and while it is working well, the case fill is not were I would like it to be. I am going to try some other powders 08, 09 maybe even 2213SC I have already bought it to try.
In the 308 2206H is probably going to be your best bet. If you had a long barrel 2208 is also a good choice. The 2206H really does work well though.

[SCJ429]

The Sierra 100 grain game King is pretty handy with a BC of 430. If you use a faster powder like 2208 you will be giving up between 150 and 200 fps over short cut or slower powders. Shot placement is critical for longer range 243 bullets and every bit of speed helps. I am using a 1:8 twist barrel and shooting the heavy 6mm projectiles the 243 compares very well to the newer 6.5mm cases.

[Tillaan]

I was another one who was quite nervous about getting into reloading. Lucky i had a mate who provided alot of guidance and gave me a free rcbs press (just bought my own dies and materials).

I purchased my first gun a Tikka t3x 223 1:8 in superlite fluted stainless. I did a lot of research and knew someone who recommended this combo. So had high hopes for it. I added a leupold vx-2 4-12 with warne rings.

My first few months with the rifle i was initially disappointed as in wasn't able to get the promised 1moa i was chasing at the range with standard factory ammo (tried 4 or 5 types and osa came close to 1moa but nothing was consistant). Tried different sizes all way up to 70gr target ammo.

I decided this was likely my fault lacking experience (still prob the case)!

After talking with my mate i got into reloaded and after loading up my first 30 rounds, using advice on here as well as his help.

Form fired ppu brass, federal primers, adi BM2 and zmax 55grs. I was able to get consistent .4" groups at 100m! I was thrilled.

Only downside was even thou i did a ladder test from 23.0 all way to 25.6 there wasn't a clear winner!! The zmax all shot well.

Im still working on a round for soft points as the 55gr super roos didn't go very well in my gun, I suspect the 1:8 twist maybe too fast. But this is the part im enjoying of finding the right combo for me and the rifle

Anyway point being i really enjoyed reloading, the load development and testing. Which improved everything to point I'm now very happy with my setup. So its not just about the money give it a crack as dont have much to lose!

[bladeracer]

My Ruger is 8"-twist and shoots the 55gn SP very well. Could just be the rifle itself. I have an excellent load in my M1903-A3, with Berry's .311" 123gn copper-plated bullet, but when we tried it in a neighbour's 700ADL it wasn't good at all, with poor grouping and way off point-of-aim. Same twist rate and barrel length so I can only figure the barrel harmonics are very different. Interestingly, the 180gn load we worked up for his rifle shot just as well in mine.