What did you do today in the world of reloading?

[rp-]

I just cranked out 100 test rounds for the 9mm. Got a great deal on some 115gr Xtreme plateds from another TGT member. Between the older stock primers I have, the bullet price(5 cents each) and the powder a nice lady sold me for $10/lb(AA#5) these are about a dime a shot, maybe less. 6.1gr AA5 should make for good range practice.

I'm casting my own bullets and bought bulk powder a while back for cheap. My 380, 9, 40, and 45 are all still under 9 cents but primer prices are killing me! If I could use the powder for 10mm those would be cheap, too. But I'm using blue dot and aa9 for those.

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[rp-]

So tonight I was running some more 9mms on the new lee six pack pro. The primer slider for the press is actuated by a rigid spring which I somehow bent tonight. The press is still usable if I want to slide primers myself but that's not gonna happen.

The good news, I'm almost 2500 rounds into the 9mm batch now. Only 2k plinking loads and 1k HPs left before im done with 9s!

I'm gonna dust off the pro4000 and get it ready for 223s. I've got about 1500 primed brass ready to go and almost that much unprimed still.

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[TexMex247]

I know the feeling. So many things I've restocked the last few years have killed the savings but it's still half price or less to reload. Whenever a great deal comes along I jump on it. My past hoarding has paid off in spades. Recently got several pounds of powder(11), 2k large rifle primers, 500+ various rifle bullets and new Norma brass(100pcs) all for 9 boxes of 7mm WSM ammo. I bought cases of ammo years ago and the price of it had tripled.

 

[alternative]

So tonight I was running some more 9mms on the new lee six pack pro. The primer slider for the press is actuated by a rigid spring which I somehow bent tonight. The press is still usable if I want to slide primers myself but that's not gonna happen.

There is a prevention for this if you have a 3d printer...

Lee Precision Spring Guide by DilbertoExtreme

Spring guide rod I made for the Lee Six Pack Pro 6000. I believe it will also work in the APP and Breech lock Pro 4000. Prevents the spring from collapsing if either slider gets jammed.

www.thingiverse.com

I am going to make one for myself and I will make you one if you don't have the capability. No charge just pm if interested.

 

[Eastexasrick]

My Midway 1292 tumbler just gave up the ghost. Bought in 1979. It was the pre-recall unit. I wonder how many thousands of hours are on it. The armature is rattling around in the housing, so the bushings are gone. I bet its replacement will not last half as long.

 

[MTA]

One step closer to getting this 650 up and running

 

[Coon]

I loaded 35 .300 blk rounds with 150 grain bullets over 14gr of H110. The number of rounds I loaded is all of the bullets I had left. That being said, I'm expecting a delivery of 110 grain hornady soft points today.

 

[robertc1024]

Got a new Lyman turret press. I like it. Had time to load up ~100 9mm's with spare bits I had around.

 

[rp-]

Thanks to alternate, my lee pro6000 is up and running again. I was able to crank out a few hundred more last night while I wait for the replacement springs to come in today. I also have the case collator coming in as well so hopefully it'll work well.

Also ordered up some 147gr bullets to run. Trying to wrap up my loading season before the garage gets too hot.

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[deemus]

I loaded 35 .300 blk rounds with 150 grain bullets over 14gr of H110. The number of rounds I loaded is all of the bullets I had left. That being said, I'm expecting a delivery of 110 grain hornady soft points today.

The 125g bullets are great on critters. I like the Nosier 125BTs (impossible to find for a while) but have some Speer TNTs to load.

 

[Coon]

The 125g bullets are great on critters. I like the Nosier 125BTs (impossible to find for a while) but have some Speer TNTs to load.

If like to try those too see if I can work up a good load.

 

[deemus]

I like them better than the 110’s.

 

[Moonpie]

Prepped out 200+ .38spl cases.

 

[D0ntTr3@d0nM3]

What would your guys advice be to someone who wants to get their feet wet with reloading? I have never even attempted it before. Right now my firearm collection is small. I would be reloading .22lr, 9mm, 5.56, and .45APC. (And hopefully .308 soon). If all the previous pages of this post contain the answer then I can just go back and read all 425 pages. I thought I would check first haha.

 

[rp-]

What would your guys advice be to someone who wants to get their feet wet with reloading? I have never even attempted it before. Right now my firearm collection is small. I would be reloading .22lr, 9mm, 5.56, and .45APC. (And hopefully .308 soon). If all the previous pages of this post contain the answer then I can just go back and read all 425 pages. I thought I would check first haha.

You came to the right place. I think.

First off, if you're not shooting at least 1k rounds a year or precision matches, don't bother. You're never gonna hit your break even price.

Second. Buy a good press kit to start. Lee makes a turret press kit that's forgiving and easy to use. And the kit has about everything you need. Just toss the scale and pickup a little cheap digital scale for 20-30 bucks at academy or cabelas.

Third, save your brass. Stock up on some supplies and what not. It's hard to justify to a beginner but buy in bulk. It might be easy to spend 80 bucks on 1k 223 bullets, but 9 and 45 will cost a little more. It'll be a lot less expensive than buying 100 packs of bullets at academy or cabelas.

Primers will generally be different for all 3 of those calibers so be prepared to buy 3 different sizes of primers.

Buying 1 pound powder jars is not cost efficient either but it's hard to justify 8lbs foe 250 bucks to start out but it'll be a lot cheaper in the long run compared to $40+ jars of powder individually. Though 1lb powder might get you close to 1k rounds of 9mm and 45.

Fourth, find someone local who can take a few minutes and teach you or start watching videos of the process. It's not hard buy if you don't know what you're doing it's easy to blow up a gun.

Fifth, forget family and friends. You're a reloader now. You don't have time for them. You'll be addicted to it. And since you bought in bulk you'll have enough supplies to load plenty of rounds. So why not shoot more! Most of us got in it to save money but in the end we spend the same amount but have a lot more ammo so we can shoot more.

P.s.: forget loading 22lr unless your desperate. It can be done but not worth the process (in my opinion anyway)

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[rp-]

Man what a week. I got my press running again Tuesday but Wednesday I broke the handle... the handle on the lee six pack pro is hollow. Stupid design. See first picture. Last night I cut the handle and was able to get the press running again but didn't load anything. Also ordered the roller handle upgrade kit from Lee for another 40 bucks.

This gave me some time to box up and label some rounds already loaded. See second picture. Currently at 2900 rds this stretch. Still have well over 1k cases and running out of bullets. I might have to buy some from American reloading.

In the down time I did setup the pro4000 for 223 again though. But to run on that press I have to hand prime them all the way I have it setup. Looks like I'm gonna get a forearm workout this weekend!

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[D0ntTr3@d0nM3]

You came to the right place. I think.

First off, if you're not shooting at least 1k rounds a year or precision matches, don't bother. You're never gonna hit your break even price.

Second. Buy a good press kit to start. Lee makes a turret press kit that's forgiving and easy to use. And the kit has about everything you need. Just toss the scale and pickup a little cheap digital scale for 20-30 bucks at academy or cabelas.

Third, save your brass. Stock up on some supplies and what not. It's hard to justify to a beginner but buy in bulk. It might be easy to spend 80 bucks on 1k 223 bullets, but 9 and 45 will cost a little more. It'll be a lot less expensive than buying 100 packs of bullets at academy or cabelas.

Primers will generally be different for all 3 of those calibers so be prepared to buy 3 different sizes of primers.

Buying 1 pound powder jars is not cost efficient either but it's hard to justify 8lbs foe 250 bucks to start out but it'll be a lot cheaper in the long run compared to $40+ jars of powder individually. Though 1lb powder might get you close to 1k rounds of 9mm and 45.

Fourth, find someone local who can take a few minutes and teach you or start watching videos of the process. It's not hard buy if you don't know what you're doing it's easy to blow up a gun.

Fifth, forget family and friends. You're a reloader now. You don't have time for them. You'll be addicted to it. And since you bought in bulk you'll have enough supplies to load plenty of rounds. So why not shoot more! Most of us got in it to save money but in the end we spend the same amount but have a lot more ammo so we can shoot more.

P.s.: forget loading 22lr unless your desperate. It can be done but not worth the process (in my opinion anyway)

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That's some great advice. Thanks. I hope I can get to the point where I am shooting 1000+ rounds a year haha. Until then I guess I can just buy some bulk ammo and start saving casings. I've bought 223 ammo in bulk before, but it was a long time ago. I will have to try and find a decent vendor again. I am sure there is a thread on this forum relating to that lol. How much per round would you say is too much? I think I usually see about 8-9cents per round for 9mm and 223. 45 I think is closer to 15cents.

Where about in TX are you located? I am in FBC.

Perhaps I will focus on learning how to build some rifles first before venturing into this. After all the more guns I have the more ammo I will need to go through shooting them all.

Thanks again,

 

[rp-]

That's some great advice. Thanks. I hope I can get to the point where I am shooting 1000+ rounds a year haha. Until then I guess I can just buy some bulk ammo and start saving casings. I've bought 223 ammo in bulk before, but it was a long time ago. I will have to try and find a decent vendor again. I am sure there is a thread on this forum relating to that lol. How much per round would you say is too much? I think I usually see about 8-9cents per round for 9mm and 223. 45 I think is closer to 15cents.

Where about in TX are you located? I am in FBC.

Perhaps I will focus on learning how to build some rifles first before venturing into this. After all the more guns I have the more ammo I will need to go through shooting them all.

Thanks again,

I am in san antonio. I don't know when the last time you checked ammo prices but good luck finding 223 at that price. Let alone 9 and 45. 223 seems to be closer to 40 cents a round. Last time I looked at 9mm on the shelf it was about 13 a box or 26 cents a round. 45 is probably double that.

Start saving you're brass though so when you're ready to start reloading you have it. It's a lot easier than buying brass.

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[deemus]

What would your guys advice be to someone who wants to get their feet wet with reloading? I have never even attempted it before. Right now my firearm collection is small. I would be reloading .22lr, 9mm, 5.56, and .45APC. (And hopefully .308 soon). If all the previous pages of this post contain the answer then I can just go back and read all 425 pages. I thought I would check first haha.

I will respectfully disagree with RP that it’s not worth it.


The Lee 4-hole turrret press is a good place to start. It’s inexpensive.

You can find components on here at reasonable prices regularly.

308 ammo is about $1.50 per round for the cheapest and goes up to $3 per round. Buying components at today prices we loaded rounds at appx 60 cents per round.

And when you have components you are not shut down in an ammo shortage. I have bought a box of bullets every other month for a while. So when I have to load I have what I need.

I say go for it. I’ve got components up for sale at below retail prices right now.

 

[alternative]

I will respectfully disagree with RP that it’s not worth it.


The Lee 4-hole turrret press is a good place to start. It’s inexpensive.

You can find components on here at reasonable prices regularly.

308 ammo is about $1.50 per round for the cheapest and goes up to $3 per round. Buying components at today prices we loaded rounds at appx 60 cents per round.

And when you have components you are not shut down in an ammo shortage. I have bought a box of bullets every other month for a while. So when I have to load I have what I need.

I say go for it. I’ve got components up for sale at below retail prices right now.

This is a good recommendation. Lee makes 3 turret presses, Value (stay away), Classic (very nice) and Ultimate (no experience but looks good. I personally would get the basic 6000 pro which you can use to load one round or as a progressive. Loading isn't just about money, it is a hobby and allows you the flexibility to load light or heavy. If you are into some rifle loads you can save money. Not so much on 9mm. I have a Lee classic turret, Lee single stage and 6000 pro. Easy to switch out as I need. I also do some shotgun but that really saves me nothing but lets me make some lighter 12g loads for my wife. This is not a poor mans hobby especially as the price of components increases.