Ammo reloading youtube.

most of the youtube videos are (the ones who have good gun channels in general) giving out good advice and most of the differences in the video's are personal preferences.

most of my learning reloading was through youtube and trail and error. i have 1 manual (lyman 49th edition) and very lightly read it, mostly looked at the pictures. if your mechanically inclined it should be a breeze, especially for pistol calibers.

as far as costs are concerned i don't bother including them because you can get at least 50% of your investment back if you want to sell it. and once you've reloaded a couple thousand rounds you will make it back vs factory ammo costs. that being said you will likely end up spending the same amount of money and just shooting alot more.

questions are;
1. what is your budget?
2. what are you shooting and how much do you shoot?
3. are you wanting plinking ammo, match ammo or ultra precision ammo?
4. how much spare time do you have, if you can get more hours from work to make more money it might not be worth reloading (depends on caliber).
 
As someone who is just getting into reloading, I can tell you youtube can be a great source of info.

As Spawn said, there is always the basic questions to be answered. The guys real costs were kind of skewed.

For me....
1. Not unlimited, not set either, will have to build stuff up over a period of a few months.
2. For me, mostly 30-06 and 338WM right now, 7mm REM down the road
3. Paper shooting, and hunting
4. Lots in the winter

For me I found I could best use a Single stage press to get more precision and work on building different loads. I won't be shooting a 1000 rounds a year, but want to be able to build my ammo to my standards and uses. Also don't want to be dependant on factory ammo. Have barely seen core lokt ammo in months for 30-06.... Already have some brass, powder on the way and ordering bullets soon. Getting there
 
Prices given in US videos mean diddly squat up here. So right there you can't really use these videos for that aspect.

Also it's not really kosher to blend the costs of "capital equipment" with the consumables. It's not like you need to buy the equipment every time. Also if you're lucky and you're reloading a round which is popular you may not even need to buy brass assuming you've saved yours up and found some here and there at the range.

The first one blends the costs and also freely admits that his costs are outdated. So that's no help. And again it is also US based so again unless you're near the border and can take advantage of Ebay or personal shopping you are going to have a ##### of a time getting stuff at US prices.

And you can't buy powder, primers, bullets or brass directly from the US anyway.

Also both of the first two videos are only giving you information on the choices that each of those two made. And frankly the screaming crap music on the second one made me skip ahead to half way through the video. How can anyone so boring to listen to use such loud junk music as a lead in?

The Hickock45 video has some value as he freely suggests that he's out to give more of an overview and general introduction so you can more intelligently make up your own mind on some of the factors.

For costs for equipment and supplies there's enough options in the dealer links at the top of the page to add up what the stuff you want will cost. And hopefully you can sort of figure out what you need from the videos. For THAT aspect in terms of press, brass cleaning, powder handling and that sort of thing the videos are good. Just don't try to use what they paid for the equipment and supplies. That part you need to do your own homework using a list of options you make up from watching the videos.
 
Thanks for the feed back, guys.
I am going to keep doing some research and asking questions as I'm not in any way of a rush to get into this. It does seem incredibly interesting.
Watching the videos I already know offhand that the prices where WAY off (being US.) but I was just looking at the general info.
------
questions are;
1. what is your budget? Unsure, not unlimited and can't afford to run out there to stock up on everything
2. what are you shooting and how much do you shoot? Right now .22 looking at getting maybe 30-06 and a 12ga, on wait list for a club so right now not often, hope to change that.
3. are you wanting plinking ammo, match ammo or ultra precision ammo? Only ever used factory ammo, would like to see what the difference is
4. how much spare time do you have, if you can get more hours from work to make more money it might not be worth reloading (depends on caliber). In the winter lots of time, summer so-so.... work can be busy and there can be overtime but never count on it
 
Last edited:
If you're keen on loading rifle ammo for now then you can set up a system for very reasonable cost and that needs a very small working area. A lot of great work can be done on a simple and fairly compact single stage press and some hand primer tools and other bits and pieces. Even with a single stage and weighing out each charge with a scale and powder trickler to finish the charge in a precise manner it's not hard to load around 70 to 80 rounds an hour starting with cleaned brass.

I'd suggest that the cost savings vs time used in reloading shotgun will only pan out if you shoot a LOT. Target load shotshells are just not that expensive even now to make it a must do like reloading rifle and big bore handgun ammo. And from your reply time isn't a plentiful commodity. So I'd suggest you just focus on rifle reloading for now.
 
based on the info i would opt for a single stage press from any of the major brands (lee, rcbs, hornady, redding).

if your just wanting to shoot trap loads for 12ga, reloading isn't worth it unless you can get lead shot real cheap or free. if you want buckshot or slugs then it's worth it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom