Reloading, it's not just cramming another magazine into the firearm though that's one definition....reloading in this sense is the actual manufacturing of a cartridge that's better and cheaper than you can buy in the store.
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Why would a person go to all the trouble when you can just buy whatever you want at the nearest Sporting goods store?
A couple reasons. One it's much cheaper than new purchase and to a cheap ass broke Celt like me that's reason enough but the biggest and best reason, you can tailor the round to your particular firearm to maximize accuracy and energy.
A rifle that will shoot 1" groups at 100 yards can easily cut that in half with properly loaded custom hand loads. Plus it gives you a lot of flexibility as to the round itself. There are projectile choices that just aren't available in Factory ammunition and it allows a single rifle to perform many tasks from hunting the biggest elk to a coyote killer to a serious paper puncher all just by changing the projectile and the powder.
It's actually a simple process to learn but a hobby in itself that can take as much time and effort as you want.
There's a few simple steps to the process and it begins with the Brass
The brass is the case that holds the primer, powder and projectile and it has to be prepared correctly if you want accurate and safe ammunition.
For the purpose of this diary we'll assume you are reusing a once fired piece of brass as that's most common and saves the most money. The Brass itself is the single most expensive part of most rounds and for some the cost is prohibitive.....Weatherby Brass for their big Magnums can run 8 dollars a round, an average good but not match quality case for a 30-06 runs about 50 cents, for Lapua or Norma or similar it could be a buck to two bucks per but they are more consistent which makes better ammo and they do last longer so.....I use a lot of military-surplus "milsurp" brass (remember cheap Celt) which takes a couple extra steps we'll discuss in another diary. Luckily for us, the great majority of the brass out there can take 5+ reloadings before it should be retired or only used for greatly reduced plinking loads...Brass always used for low power loads might last 20-30 reloads before cracking and you can anneal the neck to extend the brass life even further We'll cover annealing and neck sizing, another brass saving procedure next time.
With modern die sets the first die performs 2 functions it removes the old primer, called decapping, and resizes the brass back to SAAMI spec so it will fit in any rifle of the same caliber. the die also slightly opens the case mouth so the new projectile can be started, this is done with the expander ball which is in the die just above the decapping pin.
After resizing, it's good practice to trim the brass back to minimum spec as the brass stretches both during firing and resizing. Lots of different tools available to do this, I mostly use the cheapest available, the Lee trim sets. The brass is placed in the shell holder and spun in a drill while the cutter trims to length. This needs done the first time and usually every 3-4 times after depending on the caliber...Some stretch a lot some barely at all though they all do some....
After trimming and deburring then slightly chamfering the case mouth, now we finally have the brass prepared and we begin the process of actually assembling the new round.
first step is to install the new primer. This can be done on the press with the priming arm or in a separate hand held priming tool...I prefer the hand held as it gives a better feel for when the primer is properly seated, just below flush with the case.
Then the powder charge is weighed or thrown using a powder throw that uses volumetric measure to produce the weight load you want, and poured into the case.
After all the cases are charged the final step is to seat the projectile and crimp the case mouth to hold it securely, crimp varies from caliber to caliber and many rifle rounds aren't crimped at all relying on good neck tension from proper resizing to maintain the proper "bullet pull".
Seating depth is a critical part of the process, too short and the round could develop dangerous pressure levels due to decreased internal case space, too long and the projectile can be jammed into the rifling of the barrel again creating dangerous pressure levels. Just right will give you a safe and accurate round for about a third or less of the cost of factory ammunition.....
This guy here has such beautiful photo's showing the process That I didn't continue trying to get a decent pic in my messy workspace. I'll just link to his, the tutorial he wrote up is also nice plus I couldn't find any open source pics of the reloading process.
So again there's a few reasons to reload. It can save an enormous amount of money depending on the caliber. It will greatly increase the accuracy of your favorite firearm as you run tests with different combination's of materials until you find what your firearm likes, not something that will be acceptable in every firearm of the same caliber like off the shelf factory loads....trust me you don't see benchrest competitors using much factory ammunition... Plus it's an enjoyable hobby in it's own right.
You can get started for as little as 100-150 dollars or spend whatever you want to.
I recommend starting small, at least then if you hate, it you can recoup the money in the equipment and are not out much.
Also imo all new reloaders should start on a single-stage press, the type covered here and in the link. Progressive presses are great for cranking out ammo once you fully understand what you are doing and why, until then they can be confusing and dangerous if improperly used. The Lee Classic Cast is a great inexpensive press that even once you do graduate to a progressive (if you want to, the single-stage works fine just slower) you will still use for many things from working up loads to decapping and swaging the primer pockets on milsurp brass.
I use the RCBS Rockchucker like in the pics but it's at least double the Lee cost wise....also has an unlimited lifetime warranty that they stand behind no matter what unlike the Lee which is cheaper but only sends you whatever you need free for 2 years from purchase...
To give you an idea of RCBS quality service, I called them for a replacement die stem, as I had bent one on a stuck case...replaced free immediately of course.
Then the kicker.....I mentioned that I liked the ball type handle on my brothers newer smaller RCBS press better than my bicycle type handle on my 30+yo Rockchucker and asked what a new handle would cost....when the free stem arrived so did the free handle and ball.....that's customer service, 50+ bucks worth of parts because I asked how much and said I liked it....That's also why I buy RCBS whenever I can because of things like that....
If anyone wants, we can do these more often with more in depth on any particular aspect of the process that could use more light than I gave it or specific caliber requirements or tips. Just let me know in the comments....
Nota Bene:
This diary is not intended to provide comprehensive instruction on reloading practices, powders, load data, or other procedures which require training and/or a sound manual of instruction such as those provided by Hornady, Sierra or Speer.