Anyone reload…?

Looking to start reloading 300 BO and 223.

Anyone doing this currently? I see the price of 223 coming down but 300 is still high, hence the question.

Can I run 9mm as well from the same machine?

Yes, I reload and have for a long time. In fact, winter is my “reloading season” since I’m a varmint hunter, so I just got done with 750 rounds of .223 this weekend. Now I’ve got over 1000 rounds of .22-250 to do next.

Depending on which “machine” you’re talking about, in general, yes. You can reload handgun ammo in the same press as rifle ammo. The process can be slightly different, but most presses handle them just fine.

In general, I would say to anyone starting out, do not fall victim to the siren song of the progressive press! I see a lot of questions on reloading forums from raw beginners wanting to jump straight into a progressive. Don’t do it! These are advanced tools for high volume reloaders, but they come with lots and lots of complicated setup issues that can only be addressed if you know what you’re doing and have solid fundamentals and a clear understanding of the reloading process.

Get a quality single stage press to start.

I load over 4000 rounds per year and sometimes as many as 5000 on my 20 year old RCBS Rockchucker single stage press. My only tool to increase volume is the brilliant and delightfully low tech “Case Kicker” attachment that costs like $30. That’s it. I can easily load 200+ rounds in an evening session.

IMO, the case prep tools are more important than the press.

Cost savings are a good reason to start, but I’d still be reloading if it was more expensive than factory because reloading turns good rifles into great rifles. I’ve never found a rifle that didn’t shoot even better with hand-crafted ammo. The cost savings are just a bonus to me.

Grouse

Thanks for the info. Ya those progressives look nice. But i bet i would mess that up in a min.

Thats the other gotcha for me. I just wanted to start out reloading clean brass and keep all the dirty stuff. Once i get enough to clean then buy a cleaner and trimmer.

Also not sure how many times you can shoot the same cartrige?

I honestly like the Turret single stage press when I started. A true single stage I did not like because I felt like I was constantly adjusting things. I liked the single stage for learning but once adjusted I like just rotating the head for the next step.

Progressives are not for the faint of heart I use one and it is fast. I only use it for handgun rounds and high volume work. (like Grouse said)

300 BLK is not the easier cartridge to get into. You have to make your brass if you are not willing to pay for high buck already formed brass and the cartridge is a little sensitive still with how many recipes are out there. I know when I started loading it I had a lot of issues with my dies no forming right. I ended up changing mfg’s to alleviate this.

The main thing about single stage is it makes you go slow and learn the process… Progressives are fast and can be super frustrating if you don’t know what you are doing.

Good luck!

No need to do it the way you’re thinking.

Cleaning brass with a tumbler is purely a cosmetic thing. You can reload just fine without cleaning as long as the brass don’t have grit or dirt physically sticking to them. If needed, you can functionally clean brass to get dirt and grit off of it simply by putting it in warm, soapy water and then drying it on a cookie sheet in the oven on low heat. Not difficult at all.

Case trimming is only necessary after between 2-5 firings depending on the gun, the brass, and other factors. On average, I can fire rifle brass 3-5 times, just to give you some idea.

The life of brass varies a lot. I have some .22-250 brass from the 1980s that I believe has been loaded and shot more than 15-16 times and it’s still in use. Bottom line is that if well taken care of and trimmed, it lasts a long time.

The good news is that one of the best and fastest trimming systems out there is the Lee system and it only costs $20 or so for the starting kit and then $10 for each caliber specific guide. I use the Lee system on my cordless drill and I can do about 100 cases per hour. It is simple and foolproof, it takes 3 minutes to learn how to do.

Grouse

tucrs wrote:

The main thing about single stage is it makes you go slow and learn the process…

Yes, very well put. Reloading is a process and safety is a critical concern. To be safe and produce high-quality ammunition, you have to understand the process and be able to work to a high level of precision.

Also, there is load development and testing process for each gun to reach your desired level of performance. Even the guys I know with progressive presses use a single stage for load development because small testing batches aren’t worth the massive setup hassle. Progressives really only come into their own when you have a developed load that you want to crank out at extremely high volume. So enough said about progressive presses.

IMO, the RCBS Rockchucker combo starter kits represent excellent value. Yes, like any combo kit, there are pieces that can be improved on over time, but the basic value is there.

As I said, I use a Rockchucker press I bought and an ancient Lyman powder measure and a balance scale that my father bought in the 1960s. Neither of these tools has changed much.

I did start to use a modern digital powder scale about 5 years ago, but I still use my balance scale to be sure everything stays calibrated. The digital scale just gives me a quicker reading.

For primers, I have an RCBS hand priming tool, the universal model that does both small and large. However… For .223 I have gone back to seating primers with my press using the RCBS auto-prime add on that has been available since the stone age. The damn primer pockets on .223 brass are just not uniform despite my best efforts it just takes too much effort to get them to seat with the hand primer so I went back to the press.

I have the Lee trimming system and about 15 different caliber specific guides and this handles all of my trimming needs.

For cleaning/polishing I use the biggest Lyman vibrating tumbler that was available with the self-separation feature. This replaced an old rotary tumbler that was smaller and slower. Total investment was about $100. I also bought a slick $9.99 outlet timer so I can set the tumbler for 2 hours, fill it with brass, and it shuts off automatically.

Bottom line is you can have a very nice reloading setup for not a lot of cash these days.

Grouse

To start, go with the RCBS Reloader Special-5 Explorer Plus Single Stage Press Kit. About $380. (Larger of the 2 kits)
Add to it the trimmer kit – Redding 2400 Match Precision Case Trimmer $140 ish

Frankford Arsenal Quick-N-EZ Case Tumbler Master Kit with Quick-N-EZ Rotary Media Separator 110 Volt is on sale on Midway USA for $65.

From there, your dies and consumables.

Your brass quality and neck pressure will determine how often you need to trim. I have a Savage 22-250 and I never need to trim. My Howa’s will need .003 to .005 trimmed every time. Like Grouse said, some brass will be 10, 15, 0r 20 times or more. Weak brass will show stress or neck cracks when they are too weak.

I disagree with the cleaning for “cosmetics”. Your neck tension is a critical step for consistency. More than anything, you want the oil cleaned off after you deprime/resize. That 300BO is necked pretty far and will have quite a bit of pressure for the cratrige size. The 2 300BO’s I load for all stretch their brass when shot.

I’ve been down the road too many times of getting just enough to get started with the intent of adding later. I get it. However, the more consistent you are and the more precise you are, the better the results and you’ll enjoy it – not getting frustrated is half the battle.

I reload handgun loads (9mm, .45 acp, and .38 super). I used a Rock Chucker for about 10 years and then switched to a Dillon progressive. It’s pretty easy to set up with the interchangable die plates and you can really crank them out, though that may not be as important with rifle rounds.

Regarding .223, I don’t reload them, but make sure you understand the whole crimped primer ordeal on military brass. I believe you need a swage tool before seating a new primer, which is an extra step. Someone on this site is certain to be more educated on this matter, so maybe they’ll weigh in.

shady5 wrote:

Regarding .223, I don’t reload them, but make sure you understand the whole crimped primer ordeal on military brass. I believe you need a swage tool before seating a new primer, which is an extra step.

This is a good call out.

The short version is that many kinds of .223 brass (and other calibers that are commonly used by the military) have a “crimp” on the primer pocket. This small ridge or crown makes it difficult/impossible to install a new primer until this crimp is removed such that the new primer can be easily seated in the primer pocket.

There are various tools to do this, they start at about $10, so they aren’t expensive. It’s easy to do, it only needs to be done once, but it is an additional step that has to be done.

If you are buying brass, many of the online companies that supply brass offer brass brands that do not have a crimp or if they offer once fired brass, it is often possible to purchase it with the crimps removed by the supplier.

Personally, I get brass from all kinds of sources and I remove the crimps myself as necessary. I’m not going to turn down a whole bucket of range-pickup brass just because I have to remove crimps, but some people would rather avoid this and just use factory brass without the crimps, which is fine too.

Grouse

Best advice anyone every gave me was to find someone who loads and become friends and have them teach you.

Reloaded is not difficult but all the steps can be overwhelming.

*****note I say not difficult but really when it comes to precision reloading not the plinking loading I do that is a whole different world. ****

I also handload with rcbs rockchucker, and have never felt the need to upgrade, but I dont own an AR or shoot alot of pistol, where progressive would be handy.
Càse prep is tedious and time consuming, and upgrades to prep supplies will speed up process even with single stage.I upgraded my rcbs trimmer to electrc, big time saver.
I use the hand primer for win LR and CCI LR mag, at a glance can tell by color what primer is in, and use auto prime on press for small rifle.
Enjoy, it can be equal parts, economical, enjoyable, and frustrating!!

I started with the Hornady Progressive Lock And Load don`t let people think it is difficult to use or set up. Any Progressive press can be used as a single stage so that part of the negative of progressive presses is bogus. It has saved me a bunch of money versus after I got started I did not need to buy another press when I was ready to step to using as it was designed.

I reload a variety of caliber’s everything from 9mm to 7mm magnum and change over is just matter of minutes once the dies are set up with the way Hornady has there bushings.

Carver

What part of the country are you from and what level of experience do you have reloading? If your new at it thats not a problem if you’re anywhere close to WI. you’re more then welcome to spend a day learning some hands on with reloading.

Cheers

JH

I’m by lake minnetonka in the west metro. Thanks for the offer JH. I have only reloaded trap loads when I was younger.

I was looking at that press as well and for the price and how it worked per the videos I saw, that was what my first choice was going to be.

I did some research and getting the consumables.
With my research I have found this for 300BO.
For 1000 rounds:
.13 cents a case
~.19 cents a round for powder(if I calculated that right)
Bullets range from .28 cents to .33
I did not include primers into the calculation.

For this calculation I am going to take .33 cents a bullet. So we have .65 cents a round, which I can buy some of it for that price.

The second set of reloading for the 1000 (assume I get all the casings and not damaged) Now my round is .52 cents a round.

For 223 rounds, I can buy some good plinking rounds for .23 cents a round (in 1000 bulk packs) before the election. I am hoping they will come down again since I see that stores are fully stocked again.

Not sure if I can reload 223 for less then that. The total cost for the RCBS from what Randy listed would be $675 after some tax and shipping from various places. Reloading 300OK the 2nd, 3rd, 4th times would save me roughly $130 each time per 1000 rounds.

Mainly I want to play around with different bullets to find the good one. I do have one for my 300BO that shoots awesome right now by Remington so I want to start with that round and work from there.

For .223 rounds, I’m currently at just over .23 per round including all components, but not factoring in the cases, most of which I get free.

We have to compare apples to apples when talking about reloading costs because the .23 a round is for what on the store shelf would be a premium varmint round. This is with a Hornady Z-Max bullet and it’s as fast and I can push it with superior accuracy.

Just using my AR platform as an example because that’s what I’m loading for right now.

Yes, I could buy cheap FMJ bulk pack ammo cheaper than that, but that’s not a good comparison because that stuff reduces my AR to minute of tennis ball accuracy whereas with handlods I’m firing 5 shot real groups at just a hair below 1 inch.

I think my best real world group with my AR has been .98, again this is for a 5 shot real group. Cheaper factory ammo that I’ve tested with does not produce anywhere near the same results.

So just on a cost per round basis, yes, factory ammo can often be bought cheaper. But the results aren’t the same because to me the reason to reload is the superior performance. It’s very satisfying to take a rifle from “acceptable” with factory ammo to “absolute tack driver” with handloads.

Grouse

Knowledge about the reloading (re-manufacturing) process is gold, so beg/borrow/steal/buy every reloading manual that you can get your hands on. Reloading is safe if you pay attention to detail.

For the average shooter, a single stage press will suffice and it can make very precise ammo if you always keep “uniformity of process” in mind. Uniformity…uniformity…uniformity. Mine was purchased new in 1971 and it still makes great ammo. A progressive “can” be used for precision rifle ammo, but I advise against it until you get some reloading time under your belt.

If you are looking at doing pistol ammo, a bunch of it, then a progressive is advised. I do not suggest that anyone start with one initially unless they are intimately familiar with a “stellar” final product and are very mechanically inclined. Have run the 550, 650 and 1050 (with Mark 7 autodrive) as well as the Alpha loaders from Bitteroot Machine. Millions of rounds, literally.

If you are really looking to make the Holy Grail of precision rifle ammo, I suggest matched custom reamer sets for chambering, making the form die and the bullet seating die. A good machinist/gunsmith is required and they will use Newlon, Wilson or custom blanks. A small arbor press with a short lever/arm for seating works best.

Then you can get into all sorts of things like neck-turning, neck annealing, bullet pointing, weight sorting bullets/cases, testing primer lots and on and on and on.

It really depends on how much fun you want to have

The best thing i ever did when i started handloading was meeting with someone from the forum and having them teach me one night. That really speeds up the learning curve. I can now make tailored rounds for each rifle and really get some good groupings. I average 1/2 moa with my ruger american in 7mm-08. You really have to experiment with bullet weights and shapes in my experience

I reload those calibers and shoot about 2000 rounds a month. If you are planning to shoot high volume get the Hornady lock n load progressive press. Its a great value for the money. and easy to set up.

I’m guessing with the calibers you selected, you will want to crank out a lot of rounds.

Go on you tube and watch videos till your eyes burn. Reloading is simple but you must follow each step in the process to ensure you are doing it safely.