By John Bibby
.300 PRC
6.5 PRC
6mm Creedmoor
For those of us who reload, there are tons of options that factory ammo shooters do not have. This comes in many options, such as reduced load charges, subsonic options, heavy-for-caliber bullets and ammunition tailored to what a barrel likes. All these options fit squarely within…
By John Kleespies
A lot can be learned from gathering your spent brass and reading the primers. Here’s a few things to look for… but first…
As I discussed in a previous article, different brands of primers behave in different ways, so proceed accordingly. For instance, Federal primers are soft, whereas CCI primers are hard. Therefore,…
By John Kleespies
My car has a “hidden” storage compartment in the trunk, and I recently thought, “Hey, that’s a perfect place to transport my pistol and ammo.” I loaded up and headed to the range. When I got to my club, I had an “Uh-oh” moment when I found my 9mm ammunition almost too…
By John Bibby
Reloaders have customization options that factory options will not fulfill. They are targeting the sweet spot of the buying market, not the smaller niches. We as reloaders can put together powder, projectile and even barrel twist combinations far outside the ranges factories are willing to support. Here are five options that are…
By John Bibby
Yes, there is math. No, it isn’t difficult math.
If you are someone who routinely shoots past 200 yards with a rifle, it would be quite helpful to know how to build your own Ballistics/Dope Chart. By doing so, you can adjust your scope to have the crosshair line up with the…
By John Bibby
Every reloadable cartridge is built from the same four base components. These are primer, brass, powder and projectile.
Primer:
This is a small metal cup containing an explosive. Most US reloading uses Boxer primers. The primers are a onetime use item. As such, the old one must be pressed out of place,…
By John Bibby
Short Distance
.300 Blackout
.300 Ham’r
.458 SOCOM
Medium Distance
6.5 Grendel
.277 Wolverine
The AR-15 is a hotbed of innovation for cartridges that can thread the needle between providing great terminal performance and staying within a very small case footprint. The tremendous number of attempts at this means there are lots…
By Duane Thomas
There are two errors, when it comes to the amount of gunpowder we’ve dropped into a handloaded cartridge’s case, that we never want to experience, the squib and the double charge. The former refers to putting together a round of ammunition with no powder. At best this will lead to a bullet…
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
The term “misfire” means, when we pull the trigger on a firearm, the cartridge does not fire, we get a click instead of a bang. There are a whole host of reasons that might happen, but fortunately by far the most common is also the easiest to avoid.
(Misfires in rimfire ammunition…