Reloading: What is overkill?

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K.s.47

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I've been reloading for just under 2 years now. Not a high volume shooter but reload a few different calibers that are hard to find ammo for and now some that are just expensive (8mm, .303, 270, 45-70). I do also find it neat and enjoy the versatility of different loads. Most of my shooting is very casual and within 300 yards. I like to see what groups good but really once its under an MOA the rifle will probably outshoot me when plinking. Hopefully this gives you some sort of an idea to what kind of shooter I am and what my priorities should be.

When I started reloading I did the absolute basic and nothing more. As I got a little more experience I started playing around with neck sizing, different overall lengths and finding the lands, crimp/no crimp, thoughts about getting an annealing machine, etc. I've heard some people go as far as to sort each piece of brass by weight and volume.

Recently I've started to wonder how much of this really matters to a guy who doesn't need a .25MOA, 1000 yard gun. My gut tells me to buy cheap dies, a recommended powder, to mess around with a few different loads at a standard length given by the book, and settle with whichever grouped best.

I'm sure I'll get lots of people saying I can put in however much or little effort I want but I'm wondering if what your guy's "typical" reloading practices are? Is it normal to just kind of throw together standard loads for plinking or do most people spend the extra time and money?

Any thoughts/opinions are appreciated, also let me know if I'm conceptualizing this all wrong. Thanks!
 
There’s going to be a huge variety of answers to your question.
What I can say is that doing unnecessary things is very common. Its not easy to know whether any given practice actually has an effect on the target. People do things sometimes out of superstition.

For instance, uniforming primer pockets used to be popular. Now it’s common belief that it isn’t helpful.
 
K.s.47 said:
I've been reloading for just under 2 years now. Not a high volume shooter but reload a few different calibers that are hard to find ammo for and now some that are just expensive (8mm, .303, 270, 45-70). I do also find it neat and enjoy the versatility of different loads. Most of my shooting is very casual and within 300 yards. I like to see what groups good but really once its under an MOA the rifle will probably outshoot me when plinking. Hopefully this gives you some sort of an idea to what kind of shooter I am and what my priorities should be.

When I started reloading I did the absolute basic and nothing more. As I got a little more experience I started playing around with neck sizing, different overall lengths and finding the lands, crimp/no crimp, thoughts about getting an annealing machine, etc. I've heard some people go as far as to sort each piece of brass by weight and volume.

Recently I've started to wonder how much of this really matters to a guy who doesn't need a .25MOA, 1000 yard gun. My gut tells me to buy cheap dies, a recommended powder, to mess around with a few different loads at a standard length given by the book, and settle with whichever grouped best.

I'm sure I'll get lots of people saying I can put in however much or little effort I want but I'm wondering if what your guy's "typical" reloading practices are? Is it normal to just kind of throw together standard loads for plinking or do most people spend the extra time and money?

Any thoughts/opinions are appreciated, also let me know if I'm conceptualizing this all wrong. Thanks!
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I've been reloading about 30-35 yrs. Much like you; I find a simple, accurate load. Under moa, load up a bunch, don't revisit that rifle for potentially years.

My 375 rum. Found a 3/4moa load with the 260 partition, loaded up 100 about 20 years ago. Combined with a box of factory when I bought the gun, and a clearance sale of 5 boxes of "plinking" factory. .....haven't been back. Why mess with good. It's really not a "plinker" and I'm not selling shots to tourists at a range.

You will find powered equipment speeds up "production". In that mindless, annoying stages are done quickly. Electronic powder dispensers, case prep centres, and trimmers. Production is subjective, I enjoy reloading, a hobby in itself ancillary of shooting.
 
I suspect is about what your rifle and your shooting ability can show a difference, to you, on a target. This assumes that you are working with sane pressure loads. Load 5 or 10 doing a thing like uniforming the primer pockets as mentioned above. Then do another 5 or 10 and do not do that - prove to yourself whether you and your rifle can show that makes a difference, or not. I suspect is getting into what works for another person and his gear, may or may not work for you and your gear - have to "experiment" to find out. Staying with that primer pocket uniforming thing, is not saying it never works, and not saying it always works - what you are concerned about is discovering whether it works (gets smaller groups) for your rifle and your shooting ability. I personally discovered that I was doing a lot of reloading "busy work" that turned out to make no difference for me on targets, regardless who claimed to do be doing so "all the time".
 
I suspect what makes the difference is if you are simply reloading to get ammo ( the basics ) , or are you reloading as a hobby that you enjoy ( over kill ) . Some folks reload , but they hate doing it ; while others reload and enjoy doing it as a past time , and like to get better equipment so that they can improve on their hobby .
 
You can make good loads with cheaper equipment for sure. Well below 1 moa.
Some of the better equipment will speed up your time at the bench. This is important. I like to reload but would rather be doing something else after 50 rifle rounds are made.
The point mentioned in regards to finding out what part of the process is or is not needed for your level of shooting skill is valid. However if you start wanting more accuracy down the road, super cheap equipment is a waste of money.
I have a big list of wants for upgrading my reloading table but sadly don’t have the funds for that plus components. So I buy components instead.
A micrometer seating die for rifle is a big time saver for instance and won’t kill the wallet. This lets you find a good seating depth easily. 0.006” change can make a huge difference.
Low volume manual case trimmer is fine,( carbide) for high volume it sucks, better to get a powered one for high volume.
A good powder scale is just fine, but reading the thing can suck, I use a web camera and big monitor screen to quickly view it parallax free with no bending over.
 
nowarningshot said:
I've been reloading about 30-35 yrs. Much like you; I find a simple, accurate load. Under moa, load up a bunch, don't revisit that rifle for potentially years.

My 375 rum. Found a 3/4moa load with the 260 partition, loaded up 100 about 20 years ago. Combined with a box of factory when I bought the gun, and a clearance sale of 5 boxes of "plinking" factory. .....haven't been back. Why mess with good. It's really not a "plinker" and I'm not selling shots to tourists at a range.

You will find powered equipment speeds up "production". In that mindless, annoying stages are done quickly. Electronic powder dispensers, case prep centres, and trimmers. Production is subjective, I enjoy reloading, a hobby in itself ancillary of shooting.
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Me too, unless I can't get the bullets or powder I want when I want it; but no electronic gadgets. I have a couple progressive presses for Pistol. Rifle is one piece at a time .
 
I have been reloading for about 8 years - started off with a new cheap single stage Lee at the time on sale for $109 at BP. I load by the book I do not chase lands and usually settle for the mid-range load for the bullet/powder I am using. Did buy a Forster Co-Ax because "why not" used it for a couple years and now it sits in a box. I no longer use expensive dies to reload as long as they work as they should. Bought electronic scales because of the perceived accuracy but now I use a simple beam scale that's probably 15 years old that works. My powder dispenser is the red hornady one that most people throw away.

I do find the tedious process of reloading relaxing it may take me just over an hour to reload 20 rounds from start to finish.
 
Got into reloading mainly to feed my heavy caliber rifles don't like factory load offerings. Surprising accuracy lotsa fun time & money well wasted. ;)
 
K.s.47 said:
... I do also find it neat and enjoy the versatility of different loads. Most of my shooting is very casual and within 300 yards. I like to see what groups good but really once its under an MOA the rifle will probably outshoot me when plinking. Hopefully this gives you some sort of an idea to what kind of shooter I am and what my priorities should be.
...
I'm sure I'll get lots of people saying I can put in however much or little effort I want but I'm wondering if what your guy's "typical" reloading practices are? Is it normal to just kind of throw together standard loads for plinking or do most people spend the extra time and money?
...
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People reload for lots of different reasons, and I wouldn't wager any money on what a "typical" approach is. All that matters is what your priorities are.

Personally, I'm a lazy cheapskate, but I really like using the right tool for the job.

For example, for each hunting rifle I like to have a plinking load, small game load, medium game load, heavy game load, and a bear load. For each of these, I choose the right bullet, desired impact velocity, and then try to get my desired result using the powder, primers, and brass that I have on hand. For the loads that I need accuracy from, I seem to get 1MOA or slightly better without trying very hard, and that is plenty good for my needs. I'm more interested in reliability under field conditions, and work on optimizing my reloads with that in mind.

Same general principle for handgun cartridges, whether they're for use in handguns or carbines.

I played with tuning for accuracy and enjoyed that work, but it's not really my thing. I'm glad I did, though, since I apply the knowledge gained in getting the best bang-for-buck accuracy tweaks out of my current "humdrum regular" reloading. I'm still using my Lee beginner kit, or most of it anyway. I understand why some people would opt for "nicer" equipment, but I'd rather put that budget toward nicer firearms or more reloading components.
 
40 years reloading for me and still only know enough to be dangerous. Everything you read about on reloading will make a difference, from .10000> of a inch. Do what makes you happy and keeps it enjoyable I read once of guys weighing primers? At most I might sort brass by brand when shooting paper. Size to headspace, trim, anneal, bullet jump is about it for me, the rest of the big accuracy variables is the rifle and the shooter. Tinkering with Length of bedding, for-end presser, free floating, screw tension, trigger pull, piller bedding. All fun, that’s the important part.
 
MRP said:
40 years reloading for me and still only know enough to be dangerous. Everything you read about on reloading will make a difference, from .10000> of a inch. Do what makes you happy and keeps it enjoyable I read once of guys weighing primers? At most I might sort brass by brand when shooting paper. Size to headspace, trim, anneal, bullet jump is about it for me, the rest of the big accuracy variables is the rifle and the shooter. Tinkering with Length of bedding, for-end presser, free floating, screw tension, trigger pull, piller bedding. All fun, that’s the important part.
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Agree with all this. - dan
 
First off I pick a projectile that I want to use, typically for hunting. I then pick a powder that will be suitable and hopefully have it in stock. I then do a ladder test to find the velocity node that I can live and look for a possible accuracy node

Then a do a few 3 shot groups at 100m with different charge weights around where I found my accuracy node. I usually stop here as I've either found a good load with a low sd/es OR I find something I don't like and it's back to the drawing board. Sometimes I mess with seating depth but a lot of my rifles it's just mag length.

I've found this to be a good recipe for success and takes the most minimal amount of components. Can usually fi d a good load in 25-35 rounds then I'll load up a bigger volume of them and prove them at distance.

Once I find a load I like a new component comes out that I have to try or i get bored with it and its back to the drawing board to rinse and repeat.
 
MRP said:
Everything you read about on reloading will make a difference, from .10000> of a inch. Do what makes you happy and keeps it enjoyable I read once of guys weighing primers? At most I might sort brass by brand when shooting paper. Size to headspace, trim, anneal, bullet jump is about it for me, the rest of the big accuracy variables is the rifle and the shooter.
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I agree with the above. I mean, you can chase your tail as little or as much as you want when reloading, but do what works best for "you" and meet your standards for your situation. You'll notice some guys are bordering on neurosis or ocd when it comes to how things should be done...
 
savagelh said:
First off I pick a projectile that I want to use, typically for hunting. I then pick a powder that will be suitable and hopefully have it in stock. I then do a ladder test to find the velocity node that I can live and look for a possible accuracy node

Then a do a few 3 shot groups at 100m with different charge weights around where I found my accuracy node. I usually stop here as I've either found a good load with a low sd/es OR I find something I don't like and it's back to the drawing board. Sometimes I mess with seating depth but a lot of my rifles it's just mag length.

I've found this to be a good recipe for success and takes the most minimal amount of components. Can usually fi d a good load in 25-35 rounds then I'll load up a bigger volume of them and prove them at distance.

Once I find a load I like a new component comes out that I have to try or i get bored with it and its back to the drawing board to rinse and repeat.
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that is about the same as I do.

most loads are for hunting so I pick the bullet I want to use (mostly Nossler Accubonds) and then seating depth to fit the mag and try to get a 30thous off the lands.

pick a powder or two that seem to be in the best range and try to get the most performance with MOA accuracy.

Only rifle that didn't work out well was a Savage 10 in 243, shot factory ammo better then the loads I was working on. Went back to basics, 100grn Hornady PSP and worked up a new load.

Now reloading equipment, I started with one of the Lee Challenger kits and have slowly upgraded almost everything by going to gun auctions and buying the boxes of miscellaneous reloading gear. I have a RCBS RS2 and an RS5 on my bench, both good single stage presses, my powder measure is an older Pacific, balance beam scale is a Pacific as well with a Hornady sticker and paint job. Dies are all different brands and some calibers I have a mix of dies that I use. I think I have about 30 sets of dies now.

Most of the reloading is for ammo that is expensive or hard to find. I am set up to reload 9mm, 223, 7.62x39 and x54, but I dont bother as those are cheap and easy to find. But stuff like 310Cadet, 577/450 Martini, and 325WSM are reloading only calibers. I reload all my hunting ammo and also stuff like 22Hornet, 30Carbine, just for plinking, and for the handguns 357Mag and 38S&W are cheaper to reload then find ammo for.
 
So my journey into reloading started by attending a 1-day course put on by Murray Gardner in Coquitlam about 15 years ago. All of us asked what are we looking at to get into reloading, Murray’s response was a Dillon Model ***** will cost you about $1500-2000 to get setup properly. At the time I went holly smokes, don’t know if I want to go that deep into reloading….might not like it. Fast forward to today and I’m thousands of $ past that investment. Started with a single stage Lyman kit and as my reloading progressed, I continued to upgrade various pieces of gear in the thought of gaining better precision. The initial jump was accurate hunting loads and more recently building 3-in-1 hole accurate loads for competition. Now compared to some of the guys on YouTube, I’m just a junior rookie in terms of equipment. At this point determining .001 shoulder bump, a few thou off lands, annealing the brass (which I’ve just started) I’m happy with my results and having fun doing it, accepting the challenge of personally trying to develop a great competitive load.

For me, read, re-read, make sure I understand and perhaps even watch a few YouTube video’s and then move from theory to real. Loads of fun and I’m now starting to par down what calibers I shoot. As others have said, built “x” loads and haven’t touched that rifle for “x” years. I want to cycle my rifles with loads in short order and go back to the drawing board when the achieved results aren’t optimum.

In the last 2 years made the transition to a Dillion press to reload my 3 pistol calibers - 9mm, 38S and 357. Sold off all the rest as they just weren’t used enough.

In the end it’s a challenge and a lot of fun. Whether I’m overboard in terms of the setups I have, likely yes but it’s all in the fun of developing a great load. Priceless!
 
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I reload as ammo deals are non existant here. As there are very little gun shops.

I don't hunt and limited on the range. So I mainly make reduced plinker ammo.
 
After about 50 years of loading, the biggest factor has been finding the bullet/powder combination that the firearm likes, then the jump to the lands, then the powder charge.
 
I've gotten A LOT out of reading many different reloading manuals over the years. It's still something that I do whenever I've got free time, I seem to learn plenty every time I get into one.

It always boggles my mind how many people assume that reloading manuals are just hundreds of pages of usually out-of-date load data...
 
Depends what I'm loading. For most handgun ammo i just need it to go bang and the accuracy requirements aren't so high: 4moa = 1" at 25yds. For a 35 remington the maximum range is about 150 yds and 2 moa accuracy is plenty for deers sized targets. OTOH 2 MOA is not suitable for the a 300 winmag that gets used regularly out past 400yds.

So the level of nit-pickiness depends on the purpose and firearm it will be used in. I tend to do enough load development to get the accuracy I need but i'm not completely anal to the point of wearing out firearms on load development to squeeze out the last 0.1" improvement. It would be a different story if i was shooting or loading in benchrest competition for the express purpose of making small groups.
 
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