When it comes to handloading ammo for a precision rifle, I know shooters who live for the hunt. There are guys at my club who have shot out more than one barrel looking for the ultimate load. They do test after test and never settle on a load. They’re always looking for the one that’s just a little bit better. That’s fine if that’s…
By John Bibby
Reloading rifle cases is much more complicated than reloading pistol cases.
There can be more complication in reloading for rifle as there are very few belted pistol cases and straight-wall cases are a bit easier to deal with (most pistol rounds). That being said, loading a bottleneck 5.56 (rifle round) is no…
Reloading Safety
When reloading, ALWAYS wear safety glasses and hearing protection.
Never force an operating handle on a loader. If the effort needed to cycle the loader drastically changes, don’t force it.
Stop and determine the cause. Don’t smoke, watch TV or cat videos while loading. Store primers and powder out of reach of children and away…
When reloading ammunition, you typically start out with empty, fired cases. These can typically be reused anywhere from five to 20 times or more, depending upon the specific cartridge. This empty case must undergo a series of steps to be converted back into a live, loaded cartridge:
Case Preparation
Resizing, Depriming, & Repriming
…
There are several reasons to reload ammunition.
Save Money
Typically, reloaded ammunition is significantly less expensive than factory ammunition; usually you can save between 25%-60%. This allows one to shoot more for the same amount of money.
Customize Your Load
Another reason to reload is for customization; for hunting and competitive shooting, one can assemble…
By Duane Thomas
It’s important to realize, when I say “hollowpoints for handloading,” I’m referring to loading pistol ammunition for accuracy, not handloading for self-defense. I’m a “handloads for practice/match use, factory ammo for carry” kinda guy.
With that out of the way, why might we choose to handload hollowpoints into our practice/match ammo? There…
By Duane Thomas
In common with many of you, I’m sure, I have spent a considerable amount of time struggling over accuracy problems with plated bullets. In this article I will address one very particular concern: the thickness of the plating.
According to the friendly folks at plated bullet companies – and even non-plated bullet…
By Duane Thomas
In 9mm which, in common with most handgun shooters, is what I mostly shoot these days, there are three common bullet weights: 115, 124 and 147 grains. There are also two commonly accepted sorts of recoil we can strive for through handloading, if we’re competing in any sort of sport where the…
By Duane Thomas
A lot of people these days kind of turn their nose up at loading bare lead bullets, instead going for jacketed, plated or coated. Partly this is due to concerns over lead poisoning due to inhaling lead-laden smoke after firing, but a large part of it is the huge amount of time-consuming,…
By John Kleespies
I started competitive shooting with a Gen 2 Glock 17 that patterned like a shotgun, so (like many newbies) for a cool minute I achieved my accuracy via volume. As soon as I had the pennies saved, though, I transitioned to a Single Stack .45acp that I shot to the point of…
By Duane Thomas
Over-crimping, i.e. applying more crimp to the case mouth than is necessary or desirable, will deform even jacketed or hard cast lead bullets, degrading accuracy. With plated bullets, given the fact they have an extremely soft lead core, that’s even more likely to happen, Bear in mind the plating’s relative thinness compared…
By John Kleespies
I’m currently in the process of building a new .308win rifle and went to Lapua.com for some new brass. There, I discovered that they have two offerings for my rifle: “.308win” and “.308win Palma.”
Curious, I reached out to Lapua to learn the difference between the two types of brass, and I was informed…