How long does it take you to reload?

"...plus coal for each starting at..." Use the max OAL given in your manual until you have the most accurate load. Playing with the OAL is a tweaking thing.
Once they're out of the tumbler, do one operation on all the cases then change dies. You don't or shouldn't need to trim every time. Not a bad idea to check every time though. Set your calipre up as a guage. Lock it at the max case length.
"...don't understand the reason behind trimming..." Most rifle brass stretches the most on its first firing. Consistency is important when reloading any cartridge. Critical in a semi-auto. Too long will cause feeding issues.
If the cases are different lengths, you'll have seating issues if you're crimping and your loaded ammo will be different lengths. That's not good for accuracy. When a case is trimmed it needs to be chamfered and deburred too.
 
Sirs, thanks for all the explanation for trimming! Didn't know brass cases can 'stretch'. The noob I am. LOL!

I'm going to reload 9mm and 44mag in the future. All I know is 9mm nobody said anything about trimming, I think that goes same for pretty much all pistols... So far, trimming sounds common for rifles. Oh well, my rounds per hour will drop for .223. I plan to reload that one day.
 
80 pieces of brass including tumbling, sizing, tumbling again , trimmimg, chamfering, priming and loading em up. I could probably spin that out over 4 or 5 evenings. Actually to tell the truth I would more likely spin it out over 6 or 7.
I'm yet to feel hurried when reloading. My speed and automation has increased dramatically over the last 6 months however.
 
Got my first 80 rounds of 223 done last night. I didnt have to trim which was nice. I weighed a bunch of my powder throws until it was consistent and just threw into each case. Had an issue with priming. There is a small burr on my small primer rcbs setup which caused the odd primer to come up sideways. But got it all done in about 2 hours.
 
..... It's hard for me to put a time to it, as I do the reloading in stages, spread out over who knowns how long ? .... As soon as I get back from the Range, or acquire more Brass, into the Tumbler it goes ! From the tumbler it's into "marked" Coffee Cans for later. Once I've decided which caliber I NEED to reload, then it's done a step at a time over a , dependent on other commitment's etc. ( As a Safety precaution, I only have one Caliber being done on the Bench at a time, and only ONE POWDER at a time. ) .... Some caliber's really lend themselves to high volume, even with a single stage press, which is what I have. And example being 38 Special, so straight forward, that "throwing the charges" and being organized and uninterrupted, 100 per hour would not be unheard of, or perhaps even higher. Whereas, 308 with Military Brass, ( IVI ) well that's another story, as the Primer Pockets have to have the crimp removed, the pockets cleaned, and the Brass is tough ! .... When reloading , really time should not matter that much, if at all,as the process itself is both fun and relaxing, with being productive an added bonus !! ..... David K :)
 
My best guess would be 100-150\hr on a single stage. I don't do everything at once so it's hard to tell. It depends on what I am doing as well. I only load for pistol\revolver right now, bigger cals (.45C .44M etc.) are much easier to manipulate for me. If I am only weighing charges to make sure the thrower is still accurate I can go reasonably fast and still pay attention.
 
I see a fair group of super-anal reloaders here! Unless you are shooting long range competition, hunting ammo with charges from 30 grains up are just as well served by charging cases from a good powder measure, since .1 or .2 grains weight variance will make absolutely NO difference in hunting situations. I started reloading about 1962 or so, and still learn some interesting things from time to time. If one wants to spend the extra time weighing each powder charge to perfection, so be it. I have better things to do with my time. Brass preparation takes the most time, particularly if trimming is required, but after that, getting ammo that is ready to shoot is a relatively quick operation. I can load 60-80 rounds/hr on a single stage press, using a powder measure. I use my RCBS chargemaster combo if I am loading long range ammo for competition. Regards, Eagleye
 
I loaded up another 60 rounds of 308 last night. I was found that my rcbs thrower varied .4 grain. I would have to say that is a big enough difference and justifies weighing each load if you want to be accurate. I didnt weight each 223 round from the night before and out of this last bunch of 308 half were just thrown and the other half were measured to the last 0.02 of a grain. I will report back my findings but it wont be until next weekend.
 
Because I've recently got into F-class competitions, I weigh every charge. I do my brass prep ahead of time (often during winter), usually primer them ahead of time too. I use a powder scoop to get me close to my weight, then trickle the rest with thumb and forefinger on my RCBS Powder Pro digital scale.
I use a Bair single stage press, with an RCBS die to de-prime and neck size, and a Forster micrometer competition seating die.
I've never timed how long it takes. Too busy enjoying it, I guess. :D
 
Has anyone been able to crack the 1000+ rounds an hour as the Dillon 650 is purported to do as per Dillon's advertising? When I tried to go at a speed that would get me close to 1000 rounds and hour and try to move with control with case feeder I had splashing powder, occasional shell plate button coming out and slight movement of the toolhead causing me to crush a few cases. Sorry Dillon but why claim such high reloading rates?
Better slower and careful.
 
On Thursday night I neck size and clean primer pockets, deburr flash hole and uniform the primer pockets. Then I prime the cases. (90 minues, 20 30-06 and 20 .303 Br)
On Friday I weigh charges and seat bullets. (60 minutes) I have 3 small children, I have to wait till theyr'e in bed before I can start. When they're awake and offer to help it takes about 3 hours longer! They love it!
 
Case prep is what takes the time, so I try, although I don't always succeed, in having brass ready to go. I load in batches of 50 or 100 except when working up new loads. I use a Lyman 1200 for extruded powders, a thrower for ball checked on a balance beam scale, and spoons for flake also checked on a balance beam scale. When I choose to crimp I do it as a separate and subsequent step to bullet seating. Give or take a few minutes, 50 per hour sounds about right although I don't pay real close attention to the time.
 
with prepped brass i'll load about 50 per hour. prime everything first, then throw a charge that is .5 of a grain low,throw it on the scale and bring it up to weight with a trickler, fill the case and imediatly throw the next charge and get it on the scale. while it is balancing out, seat the bullet on the case you just filled,check oal and put it in the box as finished. now the scale is settled and ready to brought up to accurate charge for the next round. by doing it this way i can weigh every round and not add too much time to the loading process.
 
50 rounds an hour. with a lee turrent press and digital scale.Add a RCBS chargmaster and it jumps to 100 to 120. It was pricey but worth every penny! 300-500 an hour on my lee 1000.and 500-600 on my mec 9000.
 
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