Its just ipa and lanolin. basically what the Dillon stuff is I hadQuote:
Originally Posted by Baz036
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Its just ipa and lanolin. basically what the Dillon stuff is I hadQuote:
Originally Posted by Baz036
Another for the hand loaders ChCh, my range day is Wednesdays, 10 am if that works Pm me.
I enjoy handloading & I'm not overly patient, give me a paint brush & ask me to cut in & no way, but the methodial process of handloading I find relaxing.
Totally overwhelmed by all the good advice from here 😁🙈
All very much appreciated, and exactly the kind of insight that I was looking for.
It's become an itch that I must scratch, so I'll give it a go. Handloaders association feels like the way to go, and thanks to a very helpful forum member, I've been shown the basics and got a few loads done and fired today 🥳 Things move quickly sometimes...
So, next up is getting some dies and consumables and joining the club.
I'm sold on the idea that hand loading will allow me to do more shooting and hopefully get better at it. It's obviously not going to save money compared to just buying my meat at the supermarket, but then I'm not exactly getting rich from any of my other hobbies either...
For case lube, I'll render possum fat. Not sure why you'd use anything else?
Less mucking around and more reloading and shooting
I love a beer, used to brew my own & really enjoyed playing around with recipes & varying the amount of hops & yeasts and things - Mainly I loved the finished product.
Convinced i would save myself heaps of money & then convincing my wife it was a great idea it began... it evolved from a plastic 20L fermenter and a couple dozen glass bottles into kegs & sodastream bottles / regulators & then much larger CO2 bottles, multiple 60L stainless fermenters, Heat pads, Dedicated temperature regulated fridges & then plumbing beer through another fridge / tap & then multiple taps!
The costs easily outweighed the savings :D
But i hated doing all the cleaning & sterilizing of bottles / kegs, eventually it seemed like my hobby was just "doing the dishes" I also loathed the waiting times....so i threw it in & now just go to the bottle store instead.
When i think about trying reloading i remind myself about my beer brewing hobby, and my slightly obsessive personality :O_O:
I reckon you should just give it a go & see for yourself :thumbsup:
.
Brewing here since 1988. Never got into all that stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sika 8
25ltr barrel, stubbies and bottles. A bit more sophisticated when it comes to temperature control these days.
Still make great beer. KISS. Should treat reloading the same. Someone out there always wants to sell you gimmicks.
I hand weigh with beam scales and a teaspoon, although have just picked up a RCBS trickler dirt cheap, use the Lee press I was given and Lee dies. I usually only make 20 at a time at most. I find a load that groups well usually starting near book min and working up to just under book max. Once I have a load sorted I then chrono it for my records. I usually just seat 20thou off the lands.
And that is my load, nice and simple.
A really simple trickler is just largish case. Say 308.
Half fill with powder, now just hold between your thumb and index finger in a horizontal position. Roll it back and forth between your fingers and powder will dribble out.
Or you cahold it like a cigarette and gently tap it as if getting rid of the ash.
Again, KISS. :thumbsup:
Scoops and reloading blocks are very easy to make.
All though cost can be a factor, sometimes it's just about having done it yourself.
I still remember the first deer I shot with my hand loads!
Tske your time and pick up second hand RL equipment as you go. 9x out of 10 it'll last a lifetime.
Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk
If you’re thinking about it’s already too late, welcome to the rabbit hole. 1 word of advice, don’t buy a “kit”. Before I started I went on YouTube and just about every forum I could find through google and researched everything from, from start to finish of handloading. Drew my own conclusions from that on what equipment was good, what was needed and also what steps you could do without. With a modern cartridge like a creedmoor, it should be straightforward to load for. Once you have your equipment, a process will fall into place. It will feel finicky and unsettling in the beginning, just be pedantic and as meticulous as you can. And pay attention to powder charge. Get a couple different projectiles, couple different powders and just start
Yeah i agree. I ended up giving most of my "kit" away. lots of solid advice on here so i wont add more. Just to reiterate that loading is more of a hobby in itself.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jus
The degree of your success will be equal to how pedantic you are and how much money you invest. The best advice i ever received was:
You get what you pay for....
Agreed, you should have a fair idea how deep you can see yourself wanting to dive in here. Buy once cry once as to the quality of the gear you see yourself wanting. Kits satisfy the needs for some, but are pretty rudimentary for many others. Biding your time for second hand gear can be very cost effective.
Started out with a whack a mole Lee reloading kit, made ammo that at the time I thought was awesome, could hit a can at a now measured ( google maps) a staggering 130 yards.
Others were impressed so loaded for another guy, he missed a deer cause the round wouldn’t chamber, I just told him his cheap rifle, was Shit.
No idea about head space, neck sizing as the lee WAM kit only did. All reloading instructions & powder a spoon included in the box.
Guy next door(hostel) had proper gear, he thought I was trying to blow myself up, which was kind of rich, cause he was trying to load 22 hornet to 222 specs.
Was a few .........years back. Simple days, ignorance was bliss.:)
There was a thread on here a while back that discussed what equipment you needed in order of priority. Can't be bothered looking for it, so here's my 5c worth:
1. single stage press. Sure, there are other options, but you'd probably end up replacing them. Should be able to pick up a secondhand press for not too much.
2. F/L & depriming die (you can decide if you want to deprime separately or neck size only down the track).
3. seating die.
4. beam scales. Sore, you can measure instead of weighing, but the main aim & advantage of reloading is consistency.
5. micrometer.
That's it. Make a funnel out of plastic sheet, improvise some lube and go load some ammo. Then after at least 6 months, think about these:
6. powder trickler. I was tempted to put this in the first list, but I guess you could get by for a bit without one.
7. ogive comparator tool - first thing to further improve consistency.
8. a proper funnel, cos they're cheap and make life easier
9. case length trimmer. I started out with the Lee quick trim, but replaced it with the Hornady cam lock one.
10. chamfer tool (I just use a countersinking drill bit from the hardware store).
11. bullet puller. The impact ones will do, but may damage polymer tips, so consider a collet type.
12. powder thrower - you may be tempted to get this earlier, but spend your money on the previous items first.
Somewhere in the above process you should pick up some decent case lube. Then after another 12 months, you will have seen enough other kit and have enough experience to decide on personal preference and priority for these:
13. case cleaning system, including primer pocket cleaner.
14. other dies as discussed above, including crimping dies.
15. shoulder bump / headspace comparator.
16. a million other things I can't think of or haven't got yet.
17. fancy-pants versions of the basic kit you started out with.
Alright, let's see everyone jump in and correct me!
Some advice:
If buying new, much reloading stuff can be imported via amazon (as it is currently not regulated), at far lower prices than the domestic resellers trying to rip us off...
Ive never needed to use a micrometer yet (i do have them for work)
$35 vernierQuote:
Originally Posted by blip
I'm having a lot of fun reading the the answers on here. Hopefully I'm laughing at the jokes and taking the serious stuff on board, but maybe maybe I'm laughing at the good advice and taking the jokes as gospel, who knows?
I keep forgetting that sarcasm doesn't always come across in writing, and no, I'm not about to start rendering possum fat. Fancy case lube is on the list for when I'm heading over to Ammo Direct tomorrow :D
Starting off with a set of dies and consumables as previously discussed, and I've handed in my application to join NZHA. I'm going to try to keep my sanity through this process, but we'll see how it goes.
Next, I'm going to start planning for all the fun stuff I'll do with the money I've saved by making my own ammunition. The more I shoot, the more I save!
Again vasoline works great for case body.tiny plastic bottle of powdered graphite and a little bit of bird shot in a jars lid, squirt a bit of the powder on the bird shot and dip the neck of case in just before resizing.dead cheap n dead easy.
Lots of info here:
https://gundigest.com/tags/reloading-how-to
These videos look very good.
https://gundigest.com/more/how-to/gu...-reloading/amp
To be fair I always used graphite in the neck and redding case lube on a pad.Quote:
Originally Posted by Micky Duck
It has worked extremely well over the years.
I tried the hornady one shot spray case lube and I really think it is a major step forward in time saving and the cases and neck size extremely smoothly.
Not as cheap perhaps but now prefer this system.
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Gidday Team, it's been a while.
As an aside, has anyone come across any large rifle magnum primers? See a few different brands of LR's occasionally coming in but haven't seen any magnums for bloody ages.
Anyway, some bloody good posts on here, as one bloke mentioned if you have started thinking about it you are already buggered - the likeness to brewing your own beer is also accurate as with the parralells between rabbit holes. Both will quickly grow into very big monsters (as I look at my kegorator gathering dust in the corner...)
I load for 3 of my rifles .223, .308 and .300wm I think the interest came from peering over the edge of my Grandfather's loading bench as a young fulla, watching with fascination while he loaded for pistols, the bits going in one end and a loaded round falling out the other. That and I being an anally retentive OCD perfectionist love rabbit holes and over-thinking.
Anyway, it looked like you were making the jump so no doubt you are well down the hole by now. If you haven't already - and you don't mind a bit of reading, Nathan Foster published a guide on hand loading for rifles as part of a series. It's an excellent book and I still reference it. He's a top bloke as well, lord knows he had the patience of a saint emailing replies to my questions, I can't recommend he and his books enough. His website runs a great forum as well and is a huge wealth of knowledge.
Good luck!
How did this tale end? Have you gone down the rabbithole @nonvegan?
Can't hear you from down here...
Pleased to hearyou sold one kidney. Lucky you have 2 of them. My partner said they will buy your other kidney as they have others on the list ready and waiting for it. Then you can purchase some brass pills and powder and get triple the amount of shooting from it. Long story short reloading is cheaper once u got all the gear, kit you need. Comes down to how much shooting will u be doing
Welcome.Quote:
Originally Posted by nonvegan
GPM.
Now I get it. :) :thumbsup:Quote:
Originally Posted by nonvegan
Have you bought yourself some reloading gear then?
I wouldn't recommend it. I bought the gear and life happened. Never ended up using any of it and haven't reloaded anything. I don't shoot enough to warrant the hassle. I just use factory ammo which works fine and isn't excessively expensive considering how little I shoot
When I move out of auckland I will probably shoot enough to use it.
In some regards I agree. Many hunters don't shoot enough to warrant it. I fall into that category. But,, never regretted starting. Eventually the gear will pay for its self and its an interesting add on to the sport.Quote:
Originally Posted by Russian 22.
Eventually you save money unless you start shooting a lot more.
Sorry for the lack of a decent answer, it's been a busy weekend :-)
So, I started off with buying dies, some brass + consumables and got help loading up some ammo. With it, I've shot tighter groups than ever before - probably the result of both better ammo and some much needed pointers for improving my shooting. All very much appreciated!
I quickly reached the conclusion that, in the grand scheme of things, the cost of a press isn't actually that much more (that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!), so I grabbed a Redding Big Boss II from Ammo Direct, and found a few bits second hand. This is obviously not a money saving exercise as such, but it just feels better to shoot a large number of hand loads than factory ammo. With enough shooting, the press etc will break even - or if I find that I'm really not that into it, I can store the stuff away for a rainy day, or sell it on and not lose too much. I've obviously spent more money than I would have if just using factory ammo, but I've also been shooting more, which was kind of the point.
Greg Duley made the telling comment many moons ago many NZ hunters chasing deer only use a box of ammo a year and most of it at the roar.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldbloke
In some parts of the world, a box of ammo would last your entire deer hunting career...
I just re read this thread and I think its been a really good one. @nonvegan, glad to see that you decided to give it a go, welcome to the rabbit hole. There is plenty of space, this rabbit hole goes deep.
Yes, I definitely got some very good advice, exactly what I was looking for!