Thread: Aoraki Amunition Company

Ok can someone possibly please put their balls on the line and tell me why whether or not a 550 or a 650 Dillon is a better investment ? or do I have to create a debatable thread on various versions of Eugene Stoners
Mil spec ar15 to gain some interest?😉

Hahaha. It isnt that easy.

Ok, I am going to buy a 650 just for 223 reloading, OK?



However getting a "manual" 550 for 308 and 303 and an auto 550 for 223 for $200 more instead also makes sense for what I do. Either that or get an auto head and a manual head for a 550 which also makes sense.

See it isnt easy.

IMHO, if you are going to shoot 500+ per month of 223 then its worthwhile getting a dedicated 650, if shooting 500 a year well just buy it in bulk as ready made and sell the brass, you should get 10~15cents for it and go shoot.

Just got into pistol shooting so the main one I will be reloading for is 9 mm, possibly 38 super as keen to get a 1911 also. Can burn through 200 rds in 30 mins so reloading is a no brainer really. The other caliber I really need to reload for is a Tikka .260 I have. 260 is a great calibre but ammo is scarce and $75 a packet of 20 min.Probably getting either Dillon not a life changing decision

I load my 308w on a single stage purely for accuracy ie 1000yds target work. My 303brits are either used for 100yds or target work to 600yds. My Ar15 just for practice and probably WSRA at 100yds when I get the time. Looking at the price of this 223 ammo right now I have decided to spend my $s on getting as much as I can afford while it is available at this silly price and get a 550/650 press in the spring. NB Everyone I have read has said that the 650 isnt good to keep swapping calibers on so for your mix I would suggest you consider the 550 with a head for each caliber.

Ok, cool. Good answer! think will get the 550. Maybe load the 260 and 308 carefully on single stage too. Bought a packet of that $$ Federal target ammo a while back and after flattering seeing bullet holes punching over the top of each other the penny dropped why people turn to the reloading religion

I guess you can run the 550 like a single stage also and just manually drop a measured powder charge in for likes of 308 if you were trying to be precise rather than use a powder thrower?

Yes you can use the 550 as a single stage press.
When I load 2506 (Used for target shooting) I size, Prime and powder the rounds then remove them from the next station.
Then I check each powder weight and correct if needed then return to station 3 and seat the bullet.

I only do this for my long range target rounds and in this case using the magnum powder bar, the powder drops can vary a little more then what I like due to the size of the charges being dropped and the powder (Ball / Stick).
Every other round (38 super, 223, 300 blackout, 243, 308) I don't bother doing this as the powder charges are normally within +- 0.1 grains or less.

Originally Posted by jackson21

I guess you can run the 550 like a single stage also and just manually drop a measured powder charge in for likes of 308 if you were trying to be precise rather than use a powder thrower?

I do this for my rifle reloading too, anything other than volume 223 loading that is

Originally Posted by steven

For a rabbit why use a SP at 25cents? a FMJ is going to vapourise a rabbit anyway? and its 13.5cents.

BECAUSE you have slightly more margin for error if your shot isn't spot on. a fmj will in most cases pencil through a bunny as stuff all resistance to start a tumble
also SP will REDUCE ricochets by considerable amount Vs fmj .so safety and humanitarian reasons.

Agreed. Do it properly, use SP or HP for accuracy (I use Sierra HP for competition and rabbits).

Reloading wise, Lee single stage for 223 and 303, Dillon Square Deal for 9mm pistol, can churn out a ton very quickly. Downside to the Square Deal is that it's for pistols only. Plus side for me is the Square Deal is exactly what I want out of a reloader

Originally Posted by jackson21

I guess you can run the 550 like a single stage also and just manually drop a measured powder charge in for likes of 308 if you were trying to be precise rather than use a powder thrower?

yeah When started to reload I got the Lee autoloader (big mistake) with the idea Id charge singly for 308w but autoload for the 303brit when doing 100yds bulk ammo as it would be quicker. When the Lee worked it was great, just it didnt work well for long.

The Dillon comes as a basic loader,

Gunsmithing &Reloading Tools - Dillon BL550 Basic Loader, Presses

or an auto loader,

Gunsmithing &Reloading Tools - Dillon RL550B Loader, Presses

Its probably cheaper to get the Auto headed B and then get another block with the manual powder loader (funnel) something you need to work out.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

BECAUSE you have slightly more margin for error if your shot isn't spot on. a fmj will in most cases pencil through a bunny as stuff all resistance to start a tumble
also SP will REDUCE ricochets by considerable amount Vs fmj .so safety and humanitarian reasons.

Yep. FMJ are fucking hopeless if the dead shit counts. Even on a little wee rabbit. Hell, even some of the hollow points are pretty useless.

I heard another rumor; that Aoraki Ammunition were looking at getting ammo from Eastern Europe, e.g. very cheap 1200 round cases of milsurp 7.62x39, as well as a wider variety of rifle ammo from sources other than the Koreans. As someone who works in a sporting goods store I don't think this stuff is a bad thing, in fact I've been telling customers about it, at least people will (hopefully) still buy SP and HP ammo off us for their hunting needs. While most shotgun ammo for fowling can be gotten cheaper at Farmlands/CRT/whatever, retail shops still have the monopoly centrefire hunting ammo, right? Hell, at these prices for the Aoraki stuff I might have to get me one of them newfangled gas-guns! =)

Milsurp 7.62x39 would make me very happy-I'm almost out of norinco

Well there are a lot of SKSs out there in NZ, (I'd like one for the hell of it at $400 odd). If the Barnaul and especially the Tula is any example however it will shoot f'ing awfully I suspect. @tommygun well aoraki do 77gr 223 match ammo (SMK? looks like it) as well, if its anything like the ADI 69gr SMK it should do better than 1/2MOA and its about $26 for 20 v $40+ from gunsh*tty.

Interesting thing is the Barnaul is 62cents each while the Aoraki is 52cents each and brass which you can sell for 10~15cents (maybe even 20cents? if TM is an indication) each, ergo the Barnaul is way over-priced IMHO.

Do some mental math, you could buy 1000 FMJs, pull the FMJs, sell them at say 10 cents each? and pop in a SP at 20cents?, shoot them and then sell the cases for 15cents. 52-10+20-15=47cents a pop, if you can get 20cents a case via TM then 42cents, you would be hard pressed to handload SP for that. Or just shoot and sell the brass afterwards that would be about 32~37cents a go. FFS, that I think also shows how crazy components prices are here in NZ, you should be able to load considerably cheaper than bought ammo.

I hope Aoraki keep going and even advertise on TM, I would as it undercuts the Barnaul by a comfy margin at 10~12cents each, before selling the used brass (and it shoots better)!

/rant