Getting started with reloading - 10 things I wish I knew before I started reloading

if you're thinking about getting to reloading this video is going to cover the 10 things that I wish that I knew before I started down my reloading journey stick around welcome to the channel our topic today is covering the 10 things that I wish I knew before I started reloading this is primarily focused on people who are just starting reloading or just thinking about getting to reloading their own ammunition make sure you stick around till the end of the video because I may throw in one more bonus item that's probably going to sound crazy coming from a reloading channel number one reloading your own ammunition can actually be more expensive the first question I usually get from anyone who's thinking about getting a reloading is how much money do you save my response usually involves laughter since I'm a guy that likes gadgets and I like to experiment with different things I honestly would probably spend less money if I didn't reload ammunition but I would probably shoot a lot less - my best advice is don't get into this thinking you're actually going to save money expect to shoot more decide you want to reload because you want to shoot more become a better shooter and have more control over your reloads number two it takes time if you're reloading on a single stage press depending on your process it is not an insignificant amount of time that it takes you to reload if you're reloading on a progressive this can speed up the process but it also makes it more complex you really don't want to be in a rush when you're reloading especially when you're learning because if you make a mistake it doesn't make it any less dangerous if you did it quickly for rifle cases after your resize you frequently need to trim cases so you still need to perform a task outside of your press before you can finish the process so even having a progressive press might not save you time in that instance if you don't enjoy somewhat tedious tasks you might really want to think twice about investing in reloading equipment the time can vary greatly depending on the caliber you intend to reload for pistol versus rifle but if you have endless amounts of time and you enjoy tedious work this might be the hobby for you number three be careful about taking advice from others most people are going to tell you that the way they do it is the best that's of course the only reason why they would do it that way but it might not be the best way for you one of the greatest things about reloading is you can Tayler the process to exactly what works best for you it doesn't make sense the neck only size for a semi-automatic you're gonna reload pistol different than rifle so I would encourage you to make sure you find someone that does the exact type of shooting that you intend to do and see how they do it and possibly try more than one because a lot of people do things slightly differently I would encourage you to read several reloading manuals especially concentrating on what it is you're intending to reload for there are a lot of opinions out there and they're not always the best option for everyone in my case I'm reloading for precision rifle and one of my favorite references is top grade ammo by Glen's oetiker I'll put a link to this in the description box below if you're interested in it but this book doesn't really concentrate on making Sammy's spec ammunition it concentrates on making a match load for a specific rifle which is exactly what I was trying to do this book's not for everyone but it has a lot of interesting information in it I've read through it several times and it seems like every time I go through it I find out something that I missed before but again this isn't going to be right for everyone either number four the dirty little secret that reloading companies don't want you to know is you're not going to use all the tools in this reloading kit it doesn't have everything you actually need to get started either I wish this wasn't true and I've done a whole video series on reloading equipment and then I will link in the description box below I wish I could tell you exactly what to buy for your reloading experience and what would be perfect for you but most kits don't include anything to trim brass sometimes a chamfer in to bring tools aren't very high quality I could go on and on but if you're concerned about this item I would encourage you to watch the series after today's video I did my best to walk through some equipment specific considerations to make your reloading process experience the best that it can be everywhere from basic tools to start with to advanced tools for reloaders that have higher volumes number five the biggest accuracy improvement reloads have over factory ammunition is getting the bullet closer to the lands very frequently Sammi spec ammunition and a factory rifle can have a very long distance to the lands this is typically referred to as bullet jump and that's the distance that actually the bullet has to move before it actually engages the lands of the rifle reducing this distance usually 20,000 says a good place to start can often drastically improve the groups that you're going to get from your reloads using tools like this Hardy cartridge overall length gauge along with a modified case a headspace gauge as well as a bullet comparator set can help you determine all of these lengths find out what your rifles prefer I covered these tools in great detail I'll put links to those videos as well in the description box below the biggest accuracy gains i've been able to achieve in a rifle is controlling the distance the bullet jumps to the lands item number six get a coronagraph if you're doing low development for a distance over a hundred yards I really think that this is an invaluable tool books have data but depending on your combination your rifle your barrel length if your isn't a chronograph when testing your reloads it can save you so much more time when you know if you're in the ballpark of where you expect to be if you shoot a one whole group at 100 yards but you find out that you have an extreme spread of 100 feet per second that low just isn't going to work for you at long range you will need to figure out how to improve that number for me it's an extremely fast way of determining if something is or isn't working correctly another example might be if you're trying to work up a subsonic load for 300 blackout knowing the velocity to make sure you're staying below the speed of sound is very important sometimes there are other ways of dealing with these issues but the quicker you know this information the more quickly you can achieve the results you're looking for if you have a chronograph you'll also be able to see the effects of the change you may have made in your reloading process and see how they affect your standard deviations as well as your groups downrange I personally use a magneto speed but there's a lot of great options out there you don't have to pick this one but if you test your reloads with a chronograph you're going to be much further ahead than wondering what your velocity was number 7 don't buy too much of something before you actually know that it's going to work for you just because something worked for somebody else doesn't mean it's going to work for you sometimes we've been looking for a particular item for so long we might actually buy more than we need powder can come in a one-pound jar or an eight pound keg but if you've never used the powder before I'm going to tell you always try the powder first before you go buy a lot of it in this particular case I know this works for me that's why about an eight pound jug but you don't want to get stuck with eight pounds of powder that you're never going to use and same would go for projectiles through testing you will likely find your firearm prefers a particular projectile or powder when starting with a new firearm I found casting a wide net we're trying like five different projectiles and trying some medium loads and seeing what performs best and then working with them I'm not sure who came up with a quote but something like you can't shine a turd I think applies here if you get 500 projectiles and they all shoot poorly you're going to be disappointed with your reloads no matter what powder you put them behind if you try five different projectiles fighting a projectile that shoots well right out of the gate and then tuning its performance might be better than getting stuck with one that doesn't work well at all and trying to make something of it number eight brass preparation is the worst part of reloading if you're going to invest in tools that make your reloading process more efficient tools that trim cases chamfer and deburr them very quickly and most importantly accurately you will appreciate the most I love my Gerard trimmer they're not for everyone they're kind of expensive but this particular tool speeds up my case prep more than any other tool I own it's expensive but it works great if you can't get past the cost of the drawer trimmer and I don't blame you something like that Frankfurt Arsenal case prep Center might be worth looking at especially if you're loading any volume of cases number nine just get a wet tumbler I'm sure somebody's going to disagree them in the comments section below and that's fine but if you're reloading indoors the drying methods make a ton of dust and make your significant other upset when the dust and loud or going on all the time getting some version of a tumbler pins Dawn dish soap and a little touch of lemon will work really well and there'll be no dust indoors the biggest negative to doing wet tumbling is separating the pins from the brass as long as you have a media separator where the cases dip a little bit into the water while they're being spun I get almost zero pins stuck in my cases and the results of this can't be beat by any other method that I've tried I'm not saying you have to get the Frankfort Arsenal there's lots of options out there but what tumbling is by far the most efficient and most effective way for me to clean brass number 10 buy quality brass if you're going to spend the time to reload and you're concerned about the performance this is one of the biggest things I would tell you as a new reloader if they make it in your caliber and you're going to be able to reload it many times meaning you're not gonna be losing it in the competition Peterson is my go-to for price for to performance if price is no object lapa is typically regarded as some of the best brass you can buy but make no mistake Peterson makes great brass too a lot of people that email me asking why they can't get into their single-digit standard deviations the first thing I ask about is what brass are using and I tell them to buy quality brass you will see the difference I'm not bad-mouthing any other brands but the cost difference spread out over however many reloads you're going to get on a particular piece of brass to me justifies the higher price tag if it takes you more components to dial in your load you have to spend more money because you're dealing with less premium product it very well could cost you more time and money to develop your load in a less consistent brass if you're making planking ammo just to go shoot that's fine buy whatever's cheapest if you're concerned about losing brass at the range I understand you might want to consider a cheaper option but if you're concerned about the accuracy and the repeatability of your reloads don't hesitate to buy good brass so since you guys have stuck around through all 10 items our dirty little secret we're going to mention today is I have a reloading channel I reload a lot and I still buy factory ammo I don't reload for 9-millimeter because to me it's not worth the time versus money versus the quantity that I shoot if I can buy a box for $10 and frequently that I can I'd rather spend my time reloading for rifle occasion if I'm getting a new rifle I'll actually buy a box of factory ammunition just to see what how that rifle performs with factory ammunition see what velocities that I'm achieving so I have expectations for my reloads to know what performance I should expect or if my barrel is running fast slow or maybe that particular rifle will like the factory ammo you shoot through there and if you need to pick up a box of something just to shoot you'll know you have an option no matter where you are in your reloading journey check out my reloading equipment playlist where I walk you through some of the basic tools all the way to the advanced reloading equipment you should find links in the description for everything we talked about today consider subscribing to the channel if you want to learn more thanks for watching today hope you come back next week and until then stay safe in small groups

Channel: Bolt Action Reloading

Views: 243,017

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Id: pXc_o3Sd18o

Length: 11min 14sec (674 seconds)

Published: Sat May 02 2020