Reloading noobie questions

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84fuegoturbo

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First off sorry if this was answered in another thread cant seem to find any answers so go easy on me :)

So i am finally dipping my toes into the reloading game, buying the big parts a little at a time and doing alot of reading, ABC's of reloading, youtube and the manuals i have at moment. I must say it can be information overload lol! That's good though, as safety first in my books so id like to keep all my fingers and other body parts intact. I am NOT planning on reloading anytime soon until i have a full understanding of the processes.

A few questions come to mind, first off different reloading manuals call for different "loads"'depending on powder, bullets used etc...

How crital is it to use hornady 150gr bullets compared to another brand of 150gr bullets? Also, i realize primers make a difference but for a plinking load again do brands matter as long as you use the proper size for whatever you are reloading. Same goes for brass, is it safe to interchange components brands, of course using the proper powder for cartridge?

Thanks in advance guys and hope i wont be too much of a pest with questions in the next few months.
 
If you are into long range precision target shooting then brass powder and bullets are critical. If for "plinking" in my opinion the powder charge is critical, and using the correct primer. Proper case prep and trimming are things to pay attention to. Use any reloading manual and start on the low end of loads and have safe fun. The only bullets that I know of that could make a difference are the moly coated, no personal experience though. I will get heckled for this but the Lee load manual is the most diverse manual out there, Many brands of powder bullets and loads for lead bullets. Welcome to the addiction!
 
The only component mfgrs that are not supplying reload data online, are Hornady, Speer and Sierra. That being said, they each have a fair bit of data online, with new bullet releases and etc. Sierra has a very good reloading blog. Whether it is on the bullet or the cartridge you need it for, is another thing. It isn't super critical to use Hornady data with Hornady bullets. The one caveat to that, may be with older Barnes TSX bullets, some of the info on them is different for a very good reason.The biggest thing you need to learn about, is reading primers and brass, and learning when to stop on your powder charge increases, as you shoot them. Hodgdon shows quite a bit of data for Hornady and others, with their powders. It really doesn't matter a huge amount what brass you use with it, use the same type of primer, not necessarily the brand, but std or magnum. Work the load up-- slowly-- from the starting load. You will find that across the board of data for any cartridge, certain powders will be commonly used, with a given weight bullet, in a certain charge range, some a bit higher, some a bit lower, toss the highs and lows. Any predominant primer or case? Mix of all types of brass and primers across the board? Load a few, with what you have, from the average start load to a couple of grains under the average max and shoot those. See what the cases read like. If you have a chrono, where are you at with that charge? Be aware you may be a bit, or a lot slower, or you may be pretty close to the data, or you may see pressure or higher speed sooner than expected, your gun can have a big bearing on that.
Once you get an understanding of how things work, with your cartridge, and the available data, in your gun it will begin to make more sense.
This is likely one of the best articles around, to see what to look for on fired brass;

http://www.primalrights.com/articles/understanding-pressure
 
The make of the bullet does not matter much.

The shape will change the OAL that will fit your magazine and chamber. You determine that.

Start withe the START load and work up. Each rifle is different. Most rifles will show a clear preference for a load.
 
It's not to complicated, you just have to get at it :). You'll probably have a few small hiccups along the way but there's lots of help from members on here.
Just keep a close watch on your powder charges.
I also stay within the limits and don't get to creative::
I've shot about 10000 hand loads , with only one blown primer.
I've been reloading for two years now.
Everyone is going to say to start with a single stage press and I'm glad I did.

But I sure do want a progressive press.
 
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You can use any bullet, primer, case and powder combination that you can find data for reloading, once you start do not change any component midstream......or else!
Every time you change a component restart your load development that is the safe way to hand load.
Variations in any of your components will lead to unpredictable results.
Good Luck
BB
 
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