Thinking About Reloading

[Das Hugh!]

A rooky question. Bear wimme please a bit. I've never reloaded. Yet.. but plan to. But I see there's alot to learn and it seems a bit intimidating but soon I'm gonna just dive in. I've browsed the interweb a bit and came across some videos n stuff with folks claiming it's fairly easy to make your own primers with old existing ones. Clean then up basically and put the liquefied contents you buy online into them.. or make them from matchheads. So my question I guess is this.. is that really a way. Or is it a gimmick and not worth the effort? I don't plan to attempt it with carry ammo per say. But it seems viable for some plinking ammo etc. And if it is a good route. About how many uses can one expect to get out of them? If anything I may buy a bit of the ingredients they sell just to have them for if it happens again in future so it's an option kind of thing. Thanks

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[Wobbly]

Welcome Aboard !

1• You are being mis-lead. This is not a really good time to jump into reloading.

• The price and availability of components is starting to slowly come down.
• The price and availability of equipment is starting to slowly come down.

When primers finally become widely available, lots of people are going to revert to buying factory ammo again. At that point a high percentage of the people that began reloading in Jan-May of 2020 will sell their gear. Reloading is fun, reloading is a way to save money, reloading is a way to improve availability, but the initial cost in equipment and learning is fairly steep. If you jump in now with half-way solutions you'll have paid double for 1/10th the performance and soon give up.

Lots of these people bought gear at double/triple the retail price because they got scared. The internet told them it was the end of the world. In about 6 months they'll figure out it was simply more Fake News.

These people will be selling into a market with lowering prices, and so to sell they'll need to be selling at even lower prices. Buying used equipment that hasn't been "used" due to lack of components is a great plan.

2• Everything you need to know about reloading can be learned from 3 places....

• This site (especially for CZ handguns) [ https://czfirearms.us/index.php?topic=100352.0 ]
• The Ultimate Reloader video site  [ https://ultimatereloader.com/ ]
• And a reloading manual, such as Lyman #50 [Amazon $24-32]

If you venture away from those 3 sources, then you're going to get a double dose of hysteria and buy something offered at 3 times its value and utility.

3• Suggestions....
> By buying a manual now, you can start reading, studying, and start your questions. That will flatten the learning curve and reduce a lot of the mental pain.

> By placing your location in your profile, asking at work, and maybe placing an ad on your local gun club bulletin board... you'll meet your neighbors that reload. Then you can spend your time on THEIR equipment, do some reloading, see if the reality of the equipment meets up with the hype of the advertising and internet lore. And get some one-on-one mentoring at the same time.

> You'll be able to make a much wiser pick of a reloading machine, and pay 1/3 what some people are asking presently. That will reduce a lot of the financial pain.

> Read this.... https://czfirearms.us/index.php?topic=58939.0



But if you're really in a hurry... I can sell you a Dillon XL650 with case feeder and 1000 new primers for $1700 +shipping. 

[dudester]

And when those reloading rigs start to hit the used market I will be a buyer.
Thanks for the info!
😎

[Dan_69GTX]

The stickies in this reloading forum were VERY helpful to me - read and study them.

For simplicity sake - plan on starting to reload only 1 caliber, then move to others as you learn more.

Wobbly has given great advice (as usual).

[bang bang]

welcome,

if its  a good time to buy components now, you can figure that out for yourself.

DO THE MATH!

if you have access to a spreadsheet open one up, and start figure out calculations for however you want to feel good.  Maybe Cost per round or cost per 100...ect.

Whats nice about a spreadsheet is that you can keep the data there, creat a copy and erase the info and do some number crunching for anything/aytime.   

If you want, start window shopping for components and then input costs with notes on where you found those cheap? prices. 

also last hint about reloading...

 > im sure you dont live on an island by youself?  maybe you have some shooting buds?  Ask if any of them shoot/reload.  if any do, let them know you are looking into it and ask if you can pick their brains on the subject.

 > note that just because someone does something, doesnt mean they are the best or the best teacher or the safest in what they do and that goes for boobtube and any of those others.  But hope you have some common sense and so that will kick in.

 > i would also look at the cost of the equipment, if you can get any.  I wouldn't look at any used stuff until you know whats going on and what to look for.   But if you can find the equipment and some components, its not to say you will buy tons of the components.  But you could buy enough to do a few batches and give it a go.  Even if you have to pay more, it will give you the opportunity to learn and see what you may venture into.  But if y8ou have any buds that reload, you can also ask them to teach/show you how its done.   That way you wont have to open your wallet for anything.

good luck

[lewmed]

 Everything Wobbly said is 100% true and this the best forum I've found to ask questions and learn. I  had a 06 FFL license to manufacture ammo for over 20 years and I'm still learning new stuff and relearning things I've forgot by being active on this forum.
 The reloading community is made up of a great bunch of people and many of us will help a new person get a taste of reloading. It's something I started as a hobby and later became my main income for many years. I  became semi retired in the mid 1990's and now only reload for myself and share my skills with just about anyone that wants to learn to make there own ammo. For the last few months I've been teaching a young lady the basics and letting her use my equipment soon she will be loading on one of my progressive machines and after this shortage is over she plans on investing in her own equipment. Post where you live and I bet you will find someone local to help you.
 All my friends that reload buy there components in bulk and many times several of us will order together to buy 20 or 30 thousand bullets or primers at a time to keep the cost own. that's why I can still shoot and reload even with the 2020-2021  shortages the last time I bought small pistol primers was 36,000 over a year ago.

[Dan_69GTX]

I agree with the statement that just because someone reloads, they might not know what they are doing. Make sure you become educated enough to know if it appears they are doing things right or not.
There are several people locally who reload and do not do it safely. Two of them do not understand how to calculate overall length for their barrel. So, they load to whatever the manual says, which is normally too long for a CZ gun.  One of those guys had a gun blow up on him. I was not there, don’t know details, but it wasn’t pretty. He was lucky that he was only minorly injured.

Remember, the load manuals give specifics for that specific set of parameters. Not for a specific gun!  So, if it says 5 inch barrel, 1.60 OAL, Five grains of powder, 1400 ft./s, 124g jacketed hollowpoint.  That is exactly what they mean for their test. Now, you need to extrapolate that out for your load. So, if you can only load to 1.1 inch, you should not be using five grains of powder maximum. You need to start low, build a ladder, and monitor pressures and feet per second to know when you have reached max.

Another guy is convinced that 124 grain bullet is all the same. Does not matter if it’s hollowpoint, lead, jacketed,Plated, coated, and any shape will do.  WRONG!!!

So, read and understand the basics and go from there and ask questions here.

I am tired and typing this on my phone so hopefully I did not make too many mistakes. I know someone will correct me, and that is great! That’s what we’re here for.

[gifbohane]

What Wobbly said.

 And  I would not remake and reload primers. Sounds way to iffy and you are not into reloading yet.  You could read and watch youtube while you wait. But verify all that you see on youtube.

[tdogg]

Making primer compound is a solution but unless you have unlimited time on your hands it isn't a feasible solution for most.

There is a mewe group that has a ton of useful info and instructions.   It is very active by a few committed folks that apparently have chemistry backgrounds.

It's not where I would start if I was learning to reload.   There are plenty of other aspects of reloading that need your full attention for safety.

This forum is the best resource out there for learning to load pistol cartridges safely.

Cheers,
Toby

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[Wobbly]

> I'm sure you don't live on an island by yourself?  Maybe you have some shooting buds?  Ask if any of them shoot/reload.  If any do, let them know you are looking into it and ask if you can pick their brains on the subject.

I've written about this before, but I bet you already know 5 reloaders. The thing is, the word "gun" causes about 2% of the population to become completely unhinged. So reloaders don't go around wearing a badge, and they generally don't talk about it. If you post discrete bulletins (at church, at work, at the pistol range), then someone will find you and say "I didn't know you were interested in... ....come on over sometime."


BTW, If you live in NE Georgia, then come over some time. 

[p09TSO]

So reloaders don't go around wearing a badge, and they generally don't talk about it.

Yep! And when you do, they look at you as if you just discovered the milky way 

[cracker57]

Things I have and you will too learn about reloading,
1. you don't know what you don't know
 2. you will never stop learning
 3. Take baby steps there is a lot to learn
 4.This is a great forum
 5.You will save no money, sure rounds cost less but you will just shoot more=good thing
 6.Don't be afraid to ask (refer to #1)
 7. When prices are cheap stack components deep. ( Nothing better than when prices are sky high to go pull the handle and be able to tell the wife I made 200 rounds of ammo that cost .80 cents per round for .23 cents I saved $114 bucks. This helps explain why you spent all that doe on your equipment)
 8. all the above post are spot on.
I didn't bring up the primer making for a reason, I would leave it alone....