Reloading

[allan]

Recommendations for releoading equip? Looking at the MEC's. Is the 9000 overkill? Or can get by with lessor priced progressive model?

Thanks

Allan

[timb99]

Allan,

If you're new to reloading (as in, never done it before) I'd recommend a single stage press to get yourself started, then follow up later with a progressive press once you get your feet wet.

That being said, if you want to jump straight in to the progressive world, the MEC 9000 is an excellent reloader from what I'm told.

I personally use, and really like the Hornady 366. It is an excellent progressive and if you look at some of the auction sites such as auctionarms.com and gunbroker.com you can often get a used one for less than $300. Also, Hornady has great customer service and will bend over backwards to help.

Other things to know, get at least two, and maybe more, reloading manuals. I'm not talking about the little handbooks they give away. Get a full bore reloading manual like Lyman's and a couple of others.

Never, never, never exceed the published loads, and never substitute components. If in doubt, don't. If you really want to do something that's not in the manuals, call the powder manufacturer.

I live near, and personally know, the Hodgdon family and their products are excellent, so I heartily recommend them. I use their powders exclusively for rifle, shotshell, and muzzleloading, but other products work fine.

What are you planning to reload for? If you're simply looking to save money, don't. Save your money and your personal time, and buy Remington Gun Club shells. If you are looking to reload for your own personal satisfaction or to load shells you can't get otherwise, go ahead.

Yes, you can save a little money. I figure I can make a box of shells for about $2.50. But it does take a bit of my time, so it has to be worth it for you. I enjoy reloading and I like the loads I make better than the store-bought ones, plus I relaod for my daughter and myself, so it's worth it to me.

Your mileage may vary!

Hope this helps,

Tim

[ 12-24-2004, 09:03 PM: Message edited by: timb99 ]

[allan]

Hi

Thanks for the info, you gave me a lot to think about. I have a 12 beretta but now a new 20 o/u supreme I have been shooting skeet and figgured with the natural progression I will be eating up a bunch of 20 ga shells. I was thinking better shells, cheaper. And reloading was part of the hobby. But BIG reloading books sounds like work!! I'll think about the reloading.

Thanks again

Allan

[timb99]

Allan,

Don't let me scare you away. It sounds like you're choosing reloading for all the right reasons.

On the big books, probably the most important thing about the books I mentioned are they are full of tips, recommendations, and how-to's. Reading what's in them is what you need to get you started on the right foot.

Also helps if you have a friend who reloads, and they can help you get started.

Having several of the reloading manuals just helps you get started and helps when you have trouble.

Good luck!

Tim

[fezman]

i have to say hold off on the reloading only because your not going to save a lot of money when you do 20 or 12 if you were shooting somthing odd like 28 or 16 thats a differnt story. ive thought long an hard about reloading but i just cant spend the money or time to learn somthing new right now. if i want to shoot some nice reloads i have a buddy that will trade me once fired .357 for a box of his sweet 12ga reloads. it takes a lot of time and money to get started right and im also always afraide that im going to either blow my self up or burn down my house

[timb99]

fezman (and Allan)

It doesn't take long to learn, and it's really pretty easy once you get the hang of it. I've never had a dud nor a double-charge.

Cost?

Like I said, a good, used reloader maybe $275. Good to have a scale, and those can be had for anywhere from $20 to $200.

Components, if you can find a place to get them in bulk and not from a gun shop;

Primers about $90 per 5000
Lead price varies day-to-day but anywhere from $15 to $20 per 25 lbs
Wads, I buy for $69 per 5000 mail order
Powder is about $100 for 8 lbs

At these prices, assuming you paid nothing for your hulls, and depending on whether you use 1 ounce or 1-1/8 ounce loads, should be about $2.50 to $3.00 a box.

Like I said, it's hard to justify the time spent just to save a few pennies a box, but if you enjoy reloading, and I do, it's worth it.

Tim

[dagrizz]

Originally posted by timb99:
fezman (and Allan)

It doesn't take long to learn, and it's really pretty easy once you get the hang of it. I've never had a dud nor a double-charge.

Cost?

Like I said, a good, used reloader maybe $275. Good to have a scale, and those can be had for anywhere from $20 to $200.

Components, if you can find a place to get them in bulk and not from a gun shop;

Primers about $90 per 5000
Lead price varies day-to-day but anywhere from $15 to $20 per 25 lbs
Wads, I buy for $69 per 5000 mail order
Powder is about $100 for 8 lbs

At these prices, assuming you paid nothing for your hulls, and depending on whether you use 1 ounce or 1-1/8 ounce loads, should be about $2.50 to $3.00 a box.

Like I said, it's hard to justify the time spent just to save a few pennies a box, but if you enjoy reloading, and I do, it's worth it.

Tim

Some thing else that you need to consider is teh cost of the reloading equipment. I was looking at the MEC releoaders at one time also.

Talking to several shooters atht eh local range I go to, bying in bulk ( ie 1 ton of shot at a time) etc. the best that they can get down to is about $2.50 a box for trap loads.

If I do a total costing of this, I can save about $0.50 a box over the cost of RIO's at the range. I can also find RIO's and Gun CLubs for around 2.90 a box or 29.00 a flat.

Taking that $.50 savings into account, that would mean that I would have to reload a minimum of 815 cases to clear teh cost of the MEC 9000 ($407.00 on their web site). At the rate I shoot, that would take almost 4 years of trap shooting to recoup the costs of the reloading equipment. On average I shoot 8 rounds of rap a week.

Now the guys who shoot 10's to 100's of rounds a week then it might make sense. So I will continue to support the ammo manufacturers.

Just my 2 cents worth.


Mike

[Slamfire]

Allan,

I tend to agree with timb99. I would add to his post that with reloading you gain a very cheap and easy access to your own custom made loads. Dagrizz is correct about the fact that you can find very cheap ammo (even cheaper than reloading) through other means. However, my experience has been that this ammo is usually very restrictive in terms of its range of specific loads. In other words, you might find yourself restricted to loads designed for breaking clays. This might be fine with you, but these loads may not necessarily be the best for bringing down live birds.

While I was living in central america, I did several very intensive pigeon hunts. My favorite load was a 1.25 oz of 7.5 shot traveling at 1300 fps. Cheap bulk ammo does not offer this load. But that was not a problem for me. I could have very easily made a custom load with 1.5 or 1.625 oz of lead bringing down those fast flying critters.

My reloading equipment was a Lee Load All single stage press.



You can get this press brand new at Midway USA for under $35. This price will include everything you'll ever need (bushings, resizing dies, wad guides, etc.) and more in terms of equipment. Component supplies are another story. This press will also reload steel shot and slugs "as is" without the need to purchase extra equipment. It is not a progressive press, therefore it is not terribly fast for loading humongous amounts of shells. But, as Dagrizz pointed out, for those huge amounts it is probably cheaper to buy bulk.

Clay busting sports will limit the range of loads you are allowed to used. On these sports you usually end up using large amounts of ammo. For these sports, it might be better to buy bulk. Hunting is a different story. Hunting ammo is usually much more expensive than bulk clay busting ammo. On hunts, you do not usually use massive amounts of ammo (there are exceptions like south american pigeon hunts). The physical requirements needed to bring down a flesh and blood bird are usually quite different from those needed to break a clay bird. For live birds, I like to have the wide range availability of loads that my reloading press gives me.

[ 12-30-2004, 03:22 AM: Message edited by: Slamfire ]

[timb99]

Yep,

The venerable Lee Load-All is what I started with. Still have it.

Tim