Do you shoot Pistol as well as Rifle?
Are you tired of buying what is on the shelf at the gun shop when you wanted something different.
I began loading rifle cartridges such as the .270 Winchester, .308 Winchester, 30-06 and Pistol cartridges such as 45 Long Colt and 45 ACP, 38 Special, 40 cal etc. Below is my reloading bench. It is great quiet time.
Want to shoot tighter groups and more ammo? If you shoot at Action Shooting competition, reloading is a must. Save money too? Yes!
Well tell Santa you want a Progressive Reloading Kit. Below is the RCBS 2000 Auto Index Progressive Press. There are other manufacturers that you can look for on your own such as Dillon,Hornady, Lee etc. See my reloading menu at the home page.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9v6xWbpZfE
Cost to get started is around 600 dollars or so for a Progressive Press or a single stage for less money. What can a kit with a Progressive press really do?
Once you have mastered the use of the Progressive press you can crank out your 45 ACP rounds or your 40 cal. at about 500 rounds an hour. It costs a few pennies per case and they will last for dozens of reloads. Reloads tailored for you and your specific pistol.
Can you just imagine creating 1000 rounds in a couple hours. Holy Mackerel! You can even mold your own bullets and save more per shot and shoot more. More on that at another time.
Bullet heads for pistol are bought in bulk by 100 or by 500. Pistol Primers are bought in bulk too by 100 or by 1000. Powder is purchased by the pound. Store primers and powder in a cool safe area.
I own the Rockchucker Single Stage Press and have loaded pistol and rifle Cartridges for 30 years. It is not super fast but it is super quality. See the utube below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VswkcBDNTUU
You will need a clean workbench to do your reloading. Reloading my own ammo gives me tremendous satisfaction because I did it myself. I have hunted Plains Game in Africa and loaded all my ammo for that trip in .338 Win Mag and .270 Winchester using Nosler Partition Ammo.
Here are some examples why I reload.
45 ACP Case cost over the life of the case is a fraction of a penny.
Powder for 45 ACP is around 5 grains. In a pound of powder you get 1400 rounds at a cost of .6 cents per round.
Primers cost $2.50 per 100 or 2.5 cents per round.
Jacketed Bullets for 45 cal are 100 dollars per 1000 rounds or 10 cents per shot or less.
All totaled it cost 13 cents per shot or 13 dollars per 100 rounds and your time. But I get to choose the powder and the weight and shape of the bullet. The cost per shot can change rapidly as you change from lead to jacketed or to hollow points of various brands.
I load up .375 Ruger for deer hunting. There is no commercial cartridge that exists for it. So reloading is a must. I can load it down so that it is a bit faster and hotter than a typical Muzzleloader. You can tune your loads to your rifle and instead of 1.5 inch groups you can shoot 1/2 inch groups if you experiment with a reloading book in hand.
My .375 Ruger shoots 5/8 inch groups at 100 yards with my hand loads at full power with 260 grain Nosler AccuBonds. My .270 Winchester, the same with a particular bullet, seating depth, powder volume and brand. You must be willing to read and follow directions.
Rifle cartridge tuning to your rifle ensures far better accuracy than store bought ammo especially if you shoot long range rifle competition such as F Class 600 or 1000 yards competition. I have shot documented 3 inch vertical groups at 600 yards with the .375 Ruger with my hand loads. Do that with any ammo off the shelf!
I hold a SCI Gold Record Book Eastern Cape Kudu with one of my .338 Win Mag hand-loads with a 250 grain Nosler Partition. The Kudu was somewhere in the 150 to 200 yard range. My son Jason shown with me shot Record Book quality Impala with my .270 Winchester hand loads. One shot kills! Talk about satisfaction! Wow! Jason is a hand-loader for pistol and rifle as well. He is simply wild about reloading! Get with it!
Good Shooting, Reloading and Hunting! © 2013