Hello fellow GunNutz,
Yours truly is in a wonderful mood tonight, and as such thought it was time to share some more wisdom for this wonderful forum. Again, use it wisely.
This time around I thought I would start on a subject that I'm sure most are familiar with: reloading. Now for those that know how this works, well, good for you. For those that don't, please don't get all anxious and stressed, because it really is an extremely easy pursuit. If I can do it (and I have the intellect of a retarded chimpanzee) then I'm sure you can manage.
For starters, lets get into why you should reload. Do you have to? No. Absolutely not. But if you're a poor bugger like me, you'll find that reloading saves you a bit of money in the long run, especially if you shoot a lot. I did the math once, but of course I hate math so soon got rid of my calculations. I recall it worked out to saving about 50 cents a shot or so once I started reloading.
Another reason guys do it is because it gives you more accuracy. When it comes to factory ammo, who knows what knucklehead was running the machine that pours powder into cases that morning, and how many root beers he consumed the night before. Reloading lets you control everything about the process, and this in turn increases your chance to obtain decent accuracy.
Lastly, reloaded also lets you dabble in wildcat cartridges. Some people love this, other people want to be able to purchase ammo at Canadian Tire. Regardless, it does open up another window of opportunity for you.
Now, onto the process. Reloading is actually not very complicated. All you are doing is jamming some powder into a case, seating a bullet, and then off you go to the range. But in order to do this, you need a few tools:
-Dies/de-priming tool. You NEED dies. There is no way to get around this. I'm sorry. YES they are a bit of money, but that's life. The depriming tool can be an insert that threads into your dies (easiest), or a finishing nail welded on to some 3/8" steel rod (very hard).
-Press. Now you can do all sorts of stuff here. Some guys use a hammer, others use a robot-controlled shifter knob thingy machine that does 80 things at once. I'm poor, so I can't afford robots. I use a single stage press. I've also used a classic lee-loader with a hammer. They all do the same thing.
-Powder Measure. You need a way to figure out how much powder to put in the case. Some guys use scales, some use dippers, some use shell casings cut down to size with a hacksaw.
-Priming tool. Somehow, you need to be able to get primers seated into a case. You can use a steel rod, but an actual "priming tool" is a god-send. When I discovered this tool, I felt like I had graduated out of the stone age. Google it. I highly recommend getting one.
And that literally is all you need. There are other gadgets on the market that help speed up the process, but they are all variants on the things described above.
One gadget I do recommend getting though is case lube. It stops cases from getting stuck inside your dies. That is a real pain in the ass when it happens....
Moving on, the actual reloading process is pretty simple. I'm going to assume you are starting out with once-fired factory stuff, so bear with me:
#1 De-prime. Get the old fired primer out of the case.
#2 Re-size neck. This squishes the neck of the case so that it will hold a bullet again. (Also this sometimes will full-length size your brass depending on your die.) Lube the neck/shoulder of the case when you do this.
Correction. Or don't lube the case neck/shoulder, at the advice of another school of thought. I mean ultimately this is a solo sport, kinda like boxing or chess, so you can decide where/how you want to use lube. There's a whole industry built on this stuff, from car parts to ### toys, so you really do have a lot of leniency in these things.
#3 Re-prime. Self-explanatory. Seat a primer in the primer pocket. Now some guys will get in a huff and say clean the primer pocket. I say "Bugger that, I have important things to do, like break in a barrel." I've never had a problem, so I don't worry about it.
#4 Put powder in case. Whatever powder charge your load data says to use, put it in the case now.
#5 Seat bullet. Easy stuff.
#6 Admire your handy work.
#7 Repeat as necessary.
See, pretty easy stuff. No blown-off fingers or stressful algebraic equasions here.
Now, the last thing that I will touch on is load data. Some people will say this is the "formula for achieving the best performance in your rifle." I say it is how much powder to put in a case so that you don't kill yourself.
The first thing to remember with load data is everyone who posts it is a liar. There just is something about comparing loads that turns it into a #####-measuring contest, where everyone is going for bigger and better. So again, just assume everyone who posts is mostly full of s**t.
Secondly, you have to decide what you are loading for. Do you want low-recoil target loads? Super-fast varmint loads? Check your data accordingly by observing velocity ratings. High velocity = high recoil (relative to the cartridge of course.)
The rule of thumb that I go by with this is look for the load with the fastest, most bad-ass velocity rating around. Then look at how much powder they used to achieve this load. Automatically take off 4 grains from this load, and voila, instant load data that is fast-ish, but won't kill you.
Reloading is very simple, and something that makes shooting a lot more enjoyable. Being able to take game with something you've loaded yourself is a hell of a rush, and something to be proud of.
Until next time, happy hunting, and keep your stick on the ice -Hansol
Author's Note. Now before I get a bunch of hate mail, for those who haven't read my past articles, yes, everything I write is tongue-in-cheek humour, with actual bits of advice thrown in. So as with everything, consult proper load data, blah blah blah. Yes I have used a steel rod with a finishing nail as a de-priming tool.
Yours truly is in a wonderful mood tonight, and as such thought it was time to share some more wisdom for this wonderful forum. Again, use it wisely.
This time around I thought I would start on a subject that I'm sure most are familiar with: reloading. Now for those that know how this works, well, good for you. For those that don't, please don't get all anxious and stressed, because it really is an extremely easy pursuit. If I can do it (and I have the intellect of a retarded chimpanzee) then I'm sure you can manage.
For starters, lets get into why you should reload. Do you have to? No. Absolutely not. But if you're a poor bugger like me, you'll find that reloading saves you a bit of money in the long run, especially if you shoot a lot. I did the math once, but of course I hate math so soon got rid of my calculations. I recall it worked out to saving about 50 cents a shot or so once I started reloading.
Another reason guys do it is because it gives you more accuracy. When it comes to factory ammo, who knows what knucklehead was running the machine that pours powder into cases that morning, and how many root beers he consumed the night before. Reloading lets you control everything about the process, and this in turn increases your chance to obtain decent accuracy.
Lastly, reloaded also lets you dabble in wildcat cartridges. Some people love this, other people want to be able to purchase ammo at Canadian Tire. Regardless, it does open up another window of opportunity for you.
Now, onto the process. Reloading is actually not very complicated. All you are doing is jamming some powder into a case, seating a bullet, and then off you go to the range. But in order to do this, you need a few tools:
-Dies/de-priming tool. You NEED dies. There is no way to get around this. I'm sorry. YES they are a bit of money, but that's life. The depriming tool can be an insert that threads into your dies (easiest), or a finishing nail welded on to some 3/8" steel rod (very hard).
-Press. Now you can do all sorts of stuff here. Some guys use a hammer, others use a robot-controlled shifter knob thingy machine that does 80 things at once. I'm poor, so I can't afford robots. I use a single stage press. I've also used a classic lee-loader with a hammer. They all do the same thing.
-Powder Measure. You need a way to figure out how much powder to put in the case. Some guys use scales, some use dippers, some use shell casings cut down to size with a hacksaw.
-Priming tool. Somehow, you need to be able to get primers seated into a case. You can use a steel rod, but an actual "priming tool" is a god-send. When I discovered this tool, I felt like I had graduated out of the stone age. Google it. I highly recommend getting one.
And that literally is all you need. There are other gadgets on the market that help speed up the process, but they are all variants on the things described above.
One gadget I do recommend getting though is case lube. It stops cases from getting stuck inside your dies. That is a real pain in the ass when it happens....
Moving on, the actual reloading process is pretty simple. I'm going to assume you are starting out with once-fired factory stuff, so bear with me:
#1 De-prime. Get the old fired primer out of the case.
#2 Re-size neck. This squishes the neck of the case so that it will hold a bullet again. (Also this sometimes will full-length size your brass depending on your die.) Lube the neck/shoulder of the case when you do this.
Correction. Or don't lube the case neck/shoulder, at the advice of another school of thought. I mean ultimately this is a solo sport, kinda like boxing or chess, so you can decide where/how you want to use lube. There's a whole industry built on this stuff, from car parts to ### toys, so you really do have a lot of leniency in these things.
#3 Re-prime. Self-explanatory. Seat a primer in the primer pocket. Now some guys will get in a huff and say clean the primer pocket. I say "Bugger that, I have important things to do, like break in a barrel." I've never had a problem, so I don't worry about it.
#4 Put powder in case. Whatever powder charge your load data says to use, put it in the case now.
#5 Seat bullet. Easy stuff.
#6 Admire your handy work.
#7 Repeat as necessary.
See, pretty easy stuff. No blown-off fingers or stressful algebraic equasions here.
Now, the last thing that I will touch on is load data. Some people will say this is the "formula for achieving the best performance in your rifle." I say it is how much powder to put in a case so that you don't kill yourself.
The first thing to remember with load data is everyone who posts it is a liar. There just is something about comparing loads that turns it into a #####-measuring contest, where everyone is going for bigger and better. So again, just assume everyone who posts is mostly full of s**t.
Secondly, you have to decide what you are loading for. Do you want low-recoil target loads? Super-fast varmint loads? Check your data accordingly by observing velocity ratings. High velocity = high recoil (relative to the cartridge of course.)
The rule of thumb that I go by with this is look for the load with the fastest, most bad-ass velocity rating around. Then look at how much powder they used to achieve this load. Automatically take off 4 grains from this load, and voila, instant load data that is fast-ish, but won't kill you.
Reloading is very simple, and something that makes shooting a lot more enjoyable. Being able to take game with something you've loaded yourself is a hell of a rush, and something to be proud of.
Until next time, happy hunting, and keep your stick on the ice -Hansol
Author's Note. Now before I get a bunch of hate mail, for those who haven't read my past articles, yes, everything I write is tongue-in-cheek humour, with actual bits of advice thrown in. So as with everything, consult proper load data, blah blah blah. Yes I have used a steel rod with a finishing nail as a de-priming tool.
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