Thread: To reload or not reload?

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

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

I reckon you should just give it a go & see for yourself






.

Originally Posted by Sika 8

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

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

I reckon you should just give it a go & see for yourself






.

Brewing here since 1988. Never got into all that stuff.
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.

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

Originally Posted by Jus

If you’re thinking about it’s already too late, welcome to the rabbit hole. 1 word of advice, don’t buy a “kit”.

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.
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)

Originally Posted by blip

Ive never needed to use a micrometer yet (i do have them for work)

$35 vernier

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

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!