reloading

[31bravo]

I'm looking into doing some reloading on a few guns I have a para-ordnance 1911 double stack and a Kimber 8400 tactical (308).

well I've never done any reloading before and was wanting to get into it. I guess I'm looking for advice and some recommended parts. I don't have much money to spend but still want quality tools.

I'm looking to do hollow point for my 1911 and something more for long range with my Kimber say 600+ yards. I use my pistol 10x more then my rifle so thats mostly what Im looking for. i currently only use Remington UMC for range ammo and speer gold dot for daily carry.

Kimber:

Para:

Me:



oh and hello

[bntyhntr6975]

Congrats on the decision to start reloading. Unfortunately, components can be kinda hard to find at times now. Anyway, in my opinion, both RCBS and Lyman have good quality kits available. Normally, everything is included but the components. I have use a Lyman T-mag 2 kit for several years and have been happy with it. For a lot less, you can go with Lee. Some people have good luck with them, some don't. But, they are cheaper. Theres lots of good loads out there, but you will definetly want to find out what that rifle preferrs. Try out a box of Federal Gold Medal Match (168g) and see how well it shoots. If it likes it, I can give you the recipe. It seems to do pretty well in most rifles. For the .45, a lot of loads work well. Only load for plinking/target/general use, NOT SD loads for carry. Use only premium factory loads for that. (Ask an attorney if you want.) Do as much research on the topics as you can, it will help make informed decisions. Good luck.

[31bravo]

currently using black hills 168gr hollow tip boat tails in the 308 They shoot great.

do you have links that I can read about the RCBS and Lyman kits? I'd like to go with something proven.

oh and I don't quite get all the terminology quit yet I just ordered a few books to read up though.

what about a good brand for powder? and casings?

[31bravo]

ive made a kind of wish list:

RL 550B w/ .45 ACP conversion kit

Dillon Handgun Case Gages

Dillon Kinetic Bullet Puller

Dillon's 'Eliminator' Scale

Both the dillon and lyman reloading books

Dillon Carbide Pistol Dies (Three-Die Sets)

[armedandsafe]

Welcome to the forum, 31Bravo. And, thank you for your service to the United States and us all.

Pops

[cycloneman]

well welcome. there are lots of people here that can help. i personally use lee stuff and couldnt help you on the dillon brand eq. there is a guy on here who will probably chime in soon. but his house just flooded and he is probably tied up right now. maybe tomorrow morning the califorina sun will shine on you and him. anyway good luck and welcome again

[31bravo]

thanks guys. i only plan on loading range ammo for both guns and ill keep running the ammo I'm currently using. i get my CCW in July and I get a wood every time i think about it.

[artabr]

Hey, Bravo, first off, thank you for your service and welcome to the forum.
I'm a .308 & .45acp nut myself.
I use Dillon products and I bleed Dillion blue.
It's a great company to do business with.
I would stay away from the auto-index models if your going to load both pistol and rifle. It's easier to check your load on the non-indexing models in my opinion.
The 550B will work great for you.

If you scroll farther down the forums you'll see a forum called Ammo & Reloading. Lot's of good info from good folks.

http://www.thefirearmsforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=19

If you have some questions just ask.

Cases - I use Lapua brass.
Bullets - I use Sierra 168 gr. Match Kings
Primers - I use Federal 210 M Gold Metal Match primers (these are large rifle primers, They are a little more pricey but they are very consistent)
Sierra list their accuracy load as 42.0 grains of Reloader 15 powder. This should give you about 2600 fps. from a 26" barrel.
I use a different powder, but this is a good place for you to start.

Get Sierra's loading manual ( they do have a computer software program that contains their 5th edition reloading manual and a exterior ballistics program. it's for windows Vista and XP)



Art

[31bravo]

sweet thanks for the heads up.

[bluesea112]

Agree that you will find most of the info you are looking for if you browse the "ammo and reloading" room. I started reloading a couple of years ago and that is where I got all of my information.

The following suggestions will make your life easier if you start off with them:
1. Digital scale that weighs to the .001 and has a "gn" mode. The "gn" stands for "grains"
2. At least two reloading manuals, but I would suggest 3. I personally would buy 3 manuals. There are so many powders and bullets out there that no single manual will list them all. I cannot tell you how many times I have wanted to use a particular powder and only 1 of my 3 manuals would have a load for that powder.
3. Lee hand primer and "Lee auto primer shell holder set"
4. A heavy, HEAVY, realoading table that is anchored to the floor or wall. I started off with a standard work bench, and I cracked it when re-sizing my cases. I suggest bolting the legs of your reloading table to floor because the upstroke in the resizing process can lift a table.
Lifting table = a mix of small parts, cases, primers, and powder all over the floor.

[medalguy]

Let me throw in my .02 here. I'm new to this forum but not to reloading-- I've been stuffing cases almost 40 years, so here's a little advice from an old-timer (God I hate that term!):

1. READ lots before doing anything.
2. Start with a single-stage press. There are good ones that will let you learn the steps to walk before you start to run. You can really mess up quickly with a progressive press if you're not very careful. By the way I run 4 Dillon presses, 2 RCBS single stage and 1 Lyman single stage.
3. Start every load LOW and work up your loads carefully for each gun, whether pistol or rifle.
4. Buy a chronograph. You can't tell what you're getting out of a cartridge without one. Load 10 rounds of each load and test fire for velocity. You need to be very exact in your test loads for them to mean anything. This means accurately measuring the powder for each test round.

I'm sure others can add to this, and good luck and welcome to reloading.

You can also get excellent information from The Reloading Bench forums.

[Crpdeth]

I'm going to move this to the appropriate forum, Bravo... I also want to say, welcome to TFF and more so, thank you for your service, Sir.

Crpdeth

[JLA]

Originally Posted by medalguy

Let me throw in my .02 here. I'm new to this forum but not to reloading-- I've been stuffing cases almost 40 years, so here's a little advice from an old-timer (God I hate that term!):

1. READ lots before doing anything.
2. Start with a single-stage press. There are good ones that will let you learn the steps to walk before you start to run. You can really mess up quickly with a progressive press if you're not very careful. By the way I run 4 Dillon presses, 2 RCBS single stage and 1 Lyman single stage.
3. Start every load LOW and work up your loads carefully for each gun, whether pistol or rifle.
4. Buy a chronograph. You can't tell what you're getting out of a cartridge without one. Load 10 rounds of each load and test fire for velocity. You need to be very exact in your test loads for them to mean anything. This means accurately measuring the powder for each test round.

I'm sure others can add to this, and good luck and welcome to reloading.

You can also get excellent information from The Reloading Bench forums.

+10! Medal guy has proven himself a very valuable asset to this forum within his first 10 posts..

a very warm welcome to both of you...

31bravo, I whole heartedly agree with everything Medal guy has advised. I could not have put it better myself. The one piece of his advise i would like to reinforce is for you to start out on a single stage. Progressive is good if you have 5 or 10 years reloading experience. There is just too much for a beginning reloader to keep up with, and at the same time the progressive system does automatically certain things the beginning reloader needs to do to understand the process. Lyman, RCBS and LEE precision all offer good entry level kits that come with a single stage press. I entered the reloading realm with a LEE anniversary kit. I have stuffed more than 20,000 rounds with that one kit in the last 4 or so years and it is still going strong. Another small piece of advise for reinforcement is for you to purchase a good chronograph. I purchased an f-1 shooting chrony not long after starting and it has been an invaluable addition to my collection. Just be careful not to shoot it with a .44 mag. That was a 100 dollar miss...

Furthermore, I would just like to recommend you get as many reloading manuals as you can afford. I would like to recommend LYMANS 49th. and you read the first 120 pages twice before attempting reloading.

Good luck and be safe...

[thomas44]

.....just wanted to say that's a sweet looking rifle. I've drooled over that puppy many a time while looking through the Kimber catalog, but I think due to my budget I'm going to end up with a Savage 10FP instead.