So I bought a .300 weatherby from my father-in-law a couple years ago. Got a great son-in-law price for it. After I got the integral muzzle brake done. Now I cant stop shooting it. Only thing is it's so damn expensive. I like the 165 grain TSX, hard to come by though. So I figure reloading is the way to go. But no idea on load data or what kind of reloading kit to get that wont break the bank but easy to upgrade.
Weatherby mag load preference and price!? Reloading best???
- Thread starter Nomadichogg
- Start date
Big bore dinosaur
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- NORT OF COW.TOWN.EH
Good luck.. weatherby's are fun, and $$$
Get a single a
Stage press , and some Redding dies..
Finding stuff used is the way to go...
Brass is brass, unless its hornady...
Try the 110gr barnes... there a hoot..
Happy hand loading.. follow the book, till you grasp the concept
Get a single a
Stage press , and some Redding dies..
Finding stuff used is the way to go...
Brass is brass, unless its hornady...
Try the 110gr barnes... there a hoot..
Happy hand loading.. follow the book, till you grasp the concept
Someone at work asked me yesterday about getting into handloading and wondered what he needs to buy.
I advised him to learn how to handload before buying the kit as it will give him a better grasp of what he needs to buy. With all the online resources, it's not that hard and you now have all winter to do it. Most loading equipment is of decent quality, but one will pay more for extra convenience or benchrest quality tools. Read lots of stuff, ask lots of questions.
I advised him to learn how to handload before buying the kit as it will give him a better grasp of what he needs to buy. With all the online resources, it's not that hard and you now have all winter to do it. Most loading equipment is of decent quality, but one will pay more for extra convenience or benchrest quality tools. Read lots of stuff, ask lots of questions.
nomad 68
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
buy some reloading books and try to pick up as much of the reloading gear "used" as you can. I bought "everything" new and could have saved a lot of money had I bought some used. If you plan on shooting the bee a lot, be prepared to shell out for a barrel replacement sooner rather than later.
200 gr partitions in front of RL22 will give a accurate load that will take any game in NA. - dan
- Location
- Western Manitoba
Probably go buy a loading manual first - or two or three. Nosler, Speer, Hornady are on my desk and get used the most. Front 30% to 50% of the manuals walk you through step by step how to reload - what to do, what not to do.
And you are going to discover right away that no two sets of pressure tested data are going to be the same - they are reporting what they got, with their rifle, with the bullets, brass, powder and primers that they list. No real good reason to expect your rifle to be exactly the same as theirs. All bets are off, as a beginner, if you use any different components than they did - different brand or lot of powder, brass, bullets, primers.
Very common, apparently, for ammo makers to "customize" the powder that they use in their commercial loads. In a lot of cases (most?) you will not be able to buy the exact powder blend or lot that they put into their factory made ammo, so you will be using a "commercially available" powder to produce a similar product - but will not be using "the factory powder", in most cases.
I suspect that you will be into relatively slow burning powders - DO NOT go lower amount of powder than a book's Start load, and, until you have more loading experience and have learned to assess pressure, DO NOT go past the book's MAX load. Can get "squirrelly" fast - trying to help an acquaintance with a 7mm STW and H1000 powder - 6 different loading manuals - some have Max loads that are less than other book's Start loads. We went on-line to Nosler website - exact same Start and Max loads listed there for 160 and 175 grain bullets - obviously a "clerical" error, putting 160 grain data into 175 grain chart - but unfortunately that was the one and only source that he started with.
Makes hand loading "fun"...
And you are going to discover right away that no two sets of pressure tested data are going to be the same - they are reporting what they got, with their rifle, with the bullets, brass, powder and primers that they list. No real good reason to expect your rifle to be exactly the same as theirs. All bets are off, as a beginner, if you use any different components than they did - different brand or lot of powder, brass, bullets, primers.
Very common, apparently, for ammo makers to "customize" the powder that they use in their commercial loads. In a lot of cases (most?) you will not be able to buy the exact powder blend or lot that they put into their factory made ammo, so you will be using a "commercially available" powder to produce a similar product - but will not be using "the factory powder", in most cases.
I suspect that you will be into relatively slow burning powders - DO NOT go lower amount of powder than a book's Start load, and, until you have more loading experience and have learned to assess pressure, DO NOT go past the book's MAX load. Can get "squirrelly" fast - trying to help an acquaintance with a 7mm STW and H1000 powder - 6 different loading manuals - some have Max loads that are less than other book's Start loads. We went on-line to Nosler website - exact same Start and Max loads listed there for 160 and 175 grain bullets - obviously a "clerical" error, putting 160 grain data into 175 grain chart - but unfortunately that was the one and only source that he started with.
Makes hand loading "fun"...
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- Location
- Western Manitoba
Also, when starting out - buy stuff in "lots" - say 50 or 100 new brass at a time. Nothing but headaches if you try to use 3 cases of one brand and 9 cases of another brand and no clue where or how many times they were previously fired. (That is - the odd cases picked up at a range). I happen to prefer Norma brass in my 300 Weatherby - Weatherby headstamp brass is also apparently made by Norma, but I keep them separate. An acquaintance prefers Remington (R-P) brass for his 300 Weatherby. Seems to work out for both of us - keep a set exactly the same to each other. Later on, becomes possible to "mix and match", but once you get into weighing cases and measuring powder capacity volumes, you won't really want to do that.
And, I find that 300 Weatherby brass is expensive - not Rigby expensive, but still pretty healthy. So that got me into annealing, to help the cases last longer. I might be in error, but my "tell" for brass is that the new primer is still going in snug - if the primer seats too easy, that brass is pretty much done. But probably have to have seated a couple hundred (couple thousand?) to be able to feel what "snug" and "loose" feels like. A real good reason to start with brand new brass.
And, I find that 300 Weatherby brass is expensive - not Rigby expensive, but still pretty healthy. So that got me into annealing, to help the cases last longer. I might be in error, but my "tell" for brass is that the new primer is still going in snug - if the primer seats too easy, that brass is pretty much done. But probably have to have seated a couple hundred (couple thousand?) to be able to feel what "snug" and "loose" feels like. A real good reason to start with brand new brass.
BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
The reloading kits on the market are full of garbage. The scale will be a pile of crap that you will decide to upgrade after your first session so figure $75 for a digital scale. The press will work fine but the better ones are nicer to use. You'll realize that you need a trickler. Then you'll realize that you need a case trimmer and pilot which will set you back a couple of hundred bucks. The powder measure will be OK to start off with but will eventually drive you nuts. You'll need a primer seating tool...don't use that piece of crap tool on the press. You'll also need a set of calipers. Maybe you go with a $20 set from Canadian Tire or maybe you buy a set of Starrett or Mitutoyu for a couple hundred bucks. You'll also need a bench to load from and somewhere to store your equipment. Also you'll need a manual or two.
That's true. I started more than 25yrs ago with the Lee loading kit. The 1st thing I did was swapped out the scale. Bought a decent Horandy beam scale and have using that ever since w/o problems. Over the years I replaced the whole thing one pc at a time. The only pc I still use is the powder measure.
The Lee case length cutter is good system if one is not doing a lot of loading. Cheap to get into. I also like the Lee collet dies and their hand held primer seater works ok as well.
littlehughey
Regular
- Location
- Central Alberta
I just went to Ellwood Epps to get some cost figures for you.
Barnes Bullets about $44/50, Nosler Brass $120/50 (assume 5 loads each) Primers about $.05, and 80gr of IMR4350 at $50/lbs gives you a load cost of $1.98 per round - so $40 a box of premium handloaded ammo.
Barnes Bullets about $44/50, Nosler Brass $120/50 (assume 5 loads each) Primers about $.05, and 80gr of IMR4350 at $50/lbs gives you a load cost of $1.98 per round - so $40 a box of premium handloaded ammo.
