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Posted: 6/19/2011 8:02:24 PM EDT
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I've been playing with the idea of reloading for a few months now, and I've been doing a lot of research and whatnot. One of the biggest problems I seem to have is informational overload, and I'd like to get some clarification. The following statements are intended to be true/false questions,
1. As I understand it, carbide sizing dies are only useful with pistol/straight-wall cases. Also, the use of carbide dies means that I won't need to lube the case. 2. Kinda going along with question number 1, when reloading straight-wall cases, there isn't a need to trim the cases because the expansion occurs only on bottlenecked cases. 3. With pistol/straight-walled brass, the number of times the brass has been fired isn't nearly as big of an issue as with bottlenecked cartridges. Thanks for the help! |
| I wouldnt say there isnt a need to trim straight wall cases. You want them to be somewhat uniform to get a consistent crimp. However after their first firing you probably wont have to trim them again, in my experience anyways. This is also a bigger factor when using different lots of brass or types of factory ammo. |
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Quoted:
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg272/dryflash3/How%20To/20207243.jpg You need this book, it's written for beginners. Read the info at the top of the page. Welcome to the Reloading Forum.  Got it on order
I just hate waiting on things haha ETA: Is there a difference between the one written by Chevalier and the one by James? |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg272/dryflash3/How%20To/20207243.jpg You need this book, it's written for beginners. Read the info at the top of the page. Welcome to the Reloading Forum. Got it on order
I just hate waiting on things haha ETA: Is there a difference between the one written by Chevalier and the one by James? I started out reloading about 6 months ago and started with his book. I didnt find it too informative. It was too vague on some topics and I found myslef buying the LEE reloading manual since that was the equipment I was using and he went into great detail on how to set up his brand equipment as well and went into more dept on some topics like the different types of crimps that can be applied to bullets whereas the ABC's of reloading only mentioned crimps and moved on. Its not a bad starting point but dont let it be your only source of information either. What brand of equipment are you going to be using? |
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the abc book is a light read. its a good intro. you will also get the how to reload info with the dies too. if you are sticking with a brand like sierra or hornady, they also have reloading books with load data in them. and you also have all the good folks in this forum. my number one rule is to make dummy rounds (no powder, no primer) to make sure everything is correct and see if it loads in your firearm. if it doesnt, you dont have to worry about getting a live round out. take your time and dont multi task.
welcome aboard |
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Be sure to get a couple of reloading books. This! Buy as many books as you can. If you like a bullet manufacture then buy their book. I started with the Lee reloading book. I read it twice before starting to reload. I still will go back and read information just to make sure that I am remembering it correctly. The other thing you will run into is conflicting data. One book will say Min is 5.6 and Max of 8.1 while another will say min is 6.5 and max of 8.5 for a powder charge. If you have questions post here we WILL help you. I know if it werent for the reloading forum then I would have a lot of unanswered questions. Welcome. MAHA |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg272/dryflash3/How%20To/20207243.jpg You need this book, it's written for beginners. Read the info at the top of the page. Welcome to the Reloading Forum. Got it on order
I just hate waiting on things haha ETA: Is there a difference between the one written by Chevalier and the one by James? I started out reloading about 6 months ago and started with his book. I didnt find it too informative. It was too vague on some topics and I found myslef buying the LEE reloading manual since that was the equipment I was using and he went into great detail on how to set up his brand equipment as well and went into more dept on some topics like the different types of crimps that can be applied to bullets whereas the ABC's of reloading only mentioned crimps and moved on. Its not a bad starting point but dont let it be your only source of information either. What brand of equipment are you going to be using? I just purchased an RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme kit off eBay. Brand new in box, $286 including shipping. Which is about $40 cheaper than what I saw them for in stores. |
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I have been reloading for only two weeks now. I have loaded 700 rounds .223 and 500 rounds 9mm. I am also behind the curve because I have shot more than half of what I reloaded. Bear in mind that I do a lot of combat shooting so going through hundreds of rounds in one range trip is easy.
So in my limited experience, you are mostly correct. I have seen zero growth on my pistol cases, but my rifle cases grow a couple thousandths each firing/resizing cycle. This is not to say that pistol cases will never need trimmed, but the friend who got me into this addiction shoots only pistol and has never trimmed a case. I make it a habit to always check case length just in case. If it would help, I will post a checklist I made later tonight. I am a list kind of guy and a made what I think is a pretty decent checklist for reloading. It includes safety checks also. I never move on to the next step until all previous steps are checked. This only works for the batch load method though. |
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Quoted:
I have been reloading for only two weeks now. I have loaded 700 rounds .223 and 500 rounds 9mm. I am also behind the curve because I have shot more than half of what I reloaded. Bear in mind that I do a lot of combat shooting so going through hundreds of rounds in one range trip is easy. So in my limited experience, you are mostly correct. I have seen zero growth on my pistol cases, but my rifle cases grow a couple thousandths each firing/resizing cycle. This is not to say that pistol cases will never need trimmed, but the friend who got me into this addiction shoots only pistol and has never trimmed a case. I make it a habit to always check case length just in case. If it would help, I will post a checklist I made later tonight. I am a list kind of guy and a made what I think is a pretty decent checklist for reloading. It includes safety checks also. I never move on to the next step until all previous steps are checked. This only works for the batch load method though. That would help a lot. I'm a list guy myself; I find it a lot easier to keep on track, and to help me remember where I am in the event of distractions and whatnot. |
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Case length is not a critical issue with pistol brass, though lately I've been trimming my 9mm brass just to have a more consistent crimp... and because I'm an anal-compulsive perfectionist.
However... I strongly recommend getting a case guage. Lyman and Wilson guages are both good. Drop your rounds into the guage after seating the bullets to check for chamber fit. Why? It's not uncommon to have an occasional brass case that bulges out at the base after seating a bullet. This is caused by the crimping ring engaging a brass case that is... too long. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I have been reloading for only two weeks now. I have loaded 700 rounds .223 and 500 rounds 9mm. I am also behind the curve because I have shot more than half of what I reloaded. Bear in mind that I do a lot of combat shooting so going through hundreds of rounds in one range trip is easy. So in my limited experience, you are mostly correct. I have seen zero growth on my pistol cases, but my rifle cases grow a couple thousandths each firing/resizing cycle. This is not to say that pistol cases will never need trimmed, but the friend who got me into this addiction shoots only pistol and has never trimmed a case. I make it a habit to always check case length just in case. If it would help, I will post a checklist I made later tonight. I am a list kind of guy and a made what I think is a pretty decent checklist for reloading. It includes safety checks also. I never move on to the next step until all previous steps are checked. This only works for the batch load method though. That would help a lot. I'm a list guy myself; I find it a lot easier to keep on track, and to help me remember where I am in the event of distractions and whatnot. Okay, I lied. I am too computer-illiterate to figure out how to attach a document. If anyone has some pointers I will get it done ASAP. Thankfully I can shoot better than I can operate a PC |
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