How difficult/expensive is it to hand load my own ammunition?

[ssssnake529]

I've been shooting for many years, but I've never done any loading of my own ammunition.

However, I've purchased a rifle in 338 Norma Magnum, and the ammunition is really expensive. ($120 for a box of 20)

I'm considering loading my own ammunition.

What kind of investment can I expect to have to make in equipment?

How steep is the learning curve?

Will I be able to get results that are equal to or better than match grade factory ammo? (If I can't expect to attain consistent, high quality results, it's not worth it for me.)

Will I save lots of money loading my own?

 

[762X39]

I reload with a 20 year old single stage RCBS press, powder measure, Dillon scale and RCBS dies. The setup cost me under $300 all in (including all the bits and bobs you need or want) and I don't regret it a bit. I got into it because I could but really enjoy reloading for my King Cobra and occasionally for my 6.5 Swede. A good reloading book (I have Noslers, Sierras and 3 others for reference) is a must. Knowing someone that reloads is helpful but I figured it out on my own by going slow and checking everything twice. It is cheaper in the long run and reloading allows you to tailor your loads to your needs. Yes you can load to match grade if you are fussy enough and many do so. Good luck and have fun if you get into it.

 

[zimm]

buy the dies and get a cheap kit press setup, if all you are gonna do is a round like that.

1. even if you only break even with the quantity you load, at least you are paying yourself. since i bought my 9.3x62, ive shot about 6 rds a year, to keep it sighted.
2. you get a little more understanding of the tools operation.
3. you may like it. i was addicted to making up 45lc loads for years. like 305gr loads that were soft enough for a crappy taurus tracker i have. you wont find that on the shelf, and for how deep you set the round, if not done right, you'll waste the gun. . . . . you know, pointless stupid man fun.

step up to something more elaborate if you find you like it and you start loading 45acp or something you need to do faster to make it worth it.

 

[Martinjmpr]

I got started on my own in 2000 after a friend showed me how, it was actually pretty simple. I went with the least expensive solution which was the Lee "Anniversary" kit. I think you can still get it from Cabelas for around $150 or maybe less (it was just at $100 when I got mine but that was 13 years ago!) The Anniversary kit has everything you need to load except for the dies (which are caliber specific) and the components. The hand-primer is a great tool and makes priming a cinch. The powder measure is fairly easy to use.

About the only things I would add would be a digital scale (much easier to use than the finicky balance scale that comes with the Lee kit.) Cabela's has a pretty decent one for under $100. Also you will need a couple of loading blocks (basically pieces of wood or plastic that have holes you can set the shell cases in while you work on them.) If you have a drill press you could just make your own but I bought mine.

Right now the "bottleneck" is primers. They can be as hard to get as ammo.

For a big caliber like .338 reloading probably makes sense. If they are hitting you for $6/round you ought to be able to load your own for less than that (though I don't know what the cases sell for, probably expensive.)

You will need a workbench as well. Some people mount their press on a piece of wood and clamp it to a table but I find having a dedicated work bench works better.

I like reloading but I have to admit that I don't waste my time reloading calibers that I can get cheap. .223 and 9mm used to be cheap to buy so I never got into loading them. I do like to load my own hunting ammo, because I hunt antelope in Wyoming and need a flat shooting round, so I load a .30-06 with a very light bullet (125gr) and a lot of powder (60gr) for a very flat trajectory round. I also load .38 Special because you can't really buy that stuff cheap any more (years ago you could buy a box of 50 rounds for $5.00 or so.) OTOH, .38 is super-cheap to load because you can reuse the cases practically forever and soft lead bullets are around $30/1000. Powder is cheap because most of my .38 rounds only use about 3gr each (and there are about 7000 gr in a pound of gunpowder.)

 

[HopLite]

I second what others have mentioned:
First read the 'how to' section of a good reloading manual
Then buy your equipment...usually cheapest to buy a 'kit'


Take your time. Watch for signs of high pressure (you'll read about that in the manual). When you choose a round and powder, be cognizant of the 'max load' values in the reloading tables. Make notes on how many times you have loaded a group of brass and pitch/recycle them after a few reloads (thinned walls). The number of uses will vary depending on how hard you are pushing your pressures and the starting thickness of the new brass. Also note the round type and weight, powder type & weight, and primer. That way, if it worked well for you and your rifle you have a recipe to reproduce exactly.

If you wish to tweak things to improve your results, consider the variables that go into where the round impacts: tighten up your form, tighten up the rifle (bedding screws, scope mounts, etc), and tighten up the assembly of the round (clean primer holes, consistent powder charges, consider concentrically of the round seated in the case, etc). You can stay basic or get really deep (a chronograph is handy to measure muzzle velocity to compare consistencies & gain/loss across different loads, barrel temps, air temps, etc). In my opinion, good application of the basics with the right components and you will exceed any factory round. Some of the rounds with the best ballistic coefficients (i.e. lowest drag) are strictly hand loads.

Reloading does save $ in the long run but more imporantly it can be relaxing, intellectually stimulating, and almost ritualistic. It also opens up a whole new world of wildcat calibers who munch on ammunition that would otherwise financially infeasible.

Bottom line: have fun, stay safe.

 

[Arclight]

I use the exact same setup as the poster below, and I can tell you that this is the way to go. You'll want one of the RCBS presses (Partner, Rockchucker, or similar) for a larger caliber like that, and I use RCBS dies almost exclusively.

All of their mechanical items have a "we don't care where or how you got hold of it" type of unconditional warranty. Lee dies are OK for the weird or hard to find calibers, or stuff you won't be loading in high volume. Get the RCBS powder measure. Make sure to get both a large and a small barrel measure for it, as your .338 will need lots of powder.

Get the electronic powder measure - I have the Dillon, but there other good ones out there. It will save you a lot of time. While we're on DIllon, get their Dillon spray-on case Lube - it's the best I've found so far. And consider getting a case tumbler and some media. It's not mandatory, but it's nice working on clean, shiny brass.

Your ammo can be every bit as accurate and even more accurate than factory match-grade shells. The reason for this is that you can tune the load to your gun, as well as doing only neck-sizing so that the case fit your chamber better. Your rounds may not work in anyone else's rifle, but you don't really case about that.

If you have a handgun, you might want to get your feet wet loading some .38 Special or similar. This is easier to work with and pretty forgiving. For exotic calibers like you shoot, the economics of handloading definitely make sense.

Arclight

I reload with a 20 year old single stage RCBS press, powder measure, Dillon scale and RCBS dies. The setup cost me under $300 all in (including all the bits and bobs you need or want) and I don't regret it a bit. I got into it because I could but really enjoy reloading for my King Cobra and occasionally for my 6.5 Swede. A good reloading book (I have Noslers, Sierras and 3 others for reference) is a must. Knowing someone that reloads is helpful but I figured it out on my own by going slow and checking everything twice. It is cheaper in the long run and reloading allows you to tailor your loads to your needs. Yes you can load to match grade if you are fussy enough and many do so. Good luck and have fun if you get into it.

 

[R.G.]

I made a Mauser in 458, I load my own, or baby wont go bang. As far as ammo quality that's all on how consistent per batch you are. Take the casing, trim it to your chamber depth, they make a gauge for that. If its once fired in your rifle, only use a throat sizing die, if its once from a different rifle use the full length die. After the casings are prepped and cleaned batch them by headstamp(if diffrent), and weight.

Next the bullet, weigh them each, and batch them by how precise you want. For my long range rifle this is .01 grain, for a damn good load .03 or so difference per batch. Next measure the bearing surface of the bullet. (special tool) batch them by weight and bearing surface size.

Weigh the primers, and powder, measure the round for concentric, and batch.

That's the hyper match way to make bullets, but that's for 1000+ yard shooting. Just weighting the charge exact, batching the brass, and using a good consistent batch weight bullet you will be worlds over factory ammo.

Lee Challenger presses are cheap in a kit, but the scale that comes with sucks, you can get a better one used off Ebay, or at the store. I prefer mechanical over digital, but that's a personal preference.

The other option if you want portability is a lee hand press, Here is my portable kit with my 308 components.



All told you can spend about $200-300 to get started with out a brass cleaner, but with some rifles that is about the same as 60 rounds. As for components I think I spent $150 to get 100 rounds worth for the 458, loaded with Barnes copper HPs. Your component price may vary.

 

[mclovinal]

What do you guys think about the Lee 4-hole classic turret kit for a beginner? It looks pretty good, and fairly inclusive. It seems like all i'd need is the dies and cartridge components.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEE-90304-C...001?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35e3171f11

 

[Arclight]

This is probably what I'd start with:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/828368/rcbs-reloader-special-5-explorer-plus-single-stage-press-kit

Arclight