Reloading – When to start

Deciding if reloading is for you can be a difficult choice. I’ve come up with 5 reasons why you should consider reloading:

1. Budget
2. Competition
3. Projectiles
4. Precision/Accuracy
5. Availability

Podcast version here.

We will take a look at these 5 reasons see if you think that you may be ready to start reloading. Because the biggest step is buying the reloading equipement at the start and ultimately how much you want to spend on this initial purchase.

Budget reloading

Now when I’m talking about budget reloading, I’m talking about saving money due to the quantity of ammunition required. I’m not talking per box of 20, we are talking more like 100 rounds plus.

So this might fit you if your doing tons of varmint shooting, roo shooting or heading down to the range regularly. It would be nothing for me to head out on a cull in western Queensland and use 300 rounds in 3 nights.

Anyone that says you can’t save money reloading has never crunched the number. In a future blog I’m going to show a couple of examples of just how much money can be saved.

If your shooting large quantities of the same type of round, then you should start reloading.

Competition reloading

There are a few shooting competitions that require specific types of ammunition to be used when competing. The 2 examples that I can think of off the top of my head is; F Class and Single Action/Cowboy shooting.

Now I can’t vouch for F Class as I’ve never been involved in it at this point. But I know that you need to use NRAA approved ammunition. They have limits on factory ammunition you can use and the projectiles and powders that can be hand loaded. Having limits on the factory ammunition you can use could cause you issues with availability, which we will talk about later.

However, I am involved in Cowboy shooting and there are SASS rules for ammunition. These include minimum and maximum powder chargers, must be a lead projectile and must have a minimum power factor of 60 (see the SASS shooters handbook for full details).

Now you can buy Cowboy loads but they are extremely expensive in some cases, which goes back to point 1 reloading for budget.

Projectiles

There are so many types of projectiles and every type of projectile has a different purpose. Different; weights, expansion rates, tips, partitions, materials and much more. Not all of these projectiles are available in factory loads.

Maybe there is a certain projectile that you want to use for a specific game, type of shooting or you’ve heard it has really good results in your type of firearm.

Sometimes these projectiles you would like to shoot can be very expensive to buy in factory rounds, once again back to budget. Then now would be the time to start reloading.

Precision/Accuracy reloading

If you are chasing improved accuracy or precision shooting, factory ammunition is not an option. Maybe your doing precision shooting or long range shooting up to or over 1,000 metres.

In my experience even the most basic reloading can have exceptional accuracy improvements. The reason for this is due to the fact that by going through the load development phase of reloading, you are optimizing the round for your firearm.

Factory rounds are constructed to to be a good middle range for all firearms, hence why people that shoot factory rounds will try several brands and types of rounds to find what shoots best in their firearm.

Precision and long range shooting is a whole other kettle of fish. These guys can go to extremes chasing the perfect result. Because of the different; barrel lengths, barrel contours, twist rates, calibers, powders, primers and projectiles there are never ending combinations. If your OCD, this is the perfect sport for you!

Why would OCD people love shooting? Well you get to;

• weigh every grain of powder,
• measure every case length,
• drill every flash hole
• weigh every projectile
• check the eccentricity
• measure overall length

and the list goes on (please note this is not required for basic reloading – this is extreme).

By reloading you are tailoring your round specifically to your firearm and the results will be amazing. If you are wanting to do precision shooting or just want to improve your firearms accuracy (reloading cannot fix poor shooting skills) than reloading is for you!

Availability

When I first purchased my Remington 7600 35 Whelen I was told I could readily get ammunition for it. True most gun shops had a box or two, but in order to get a 10-20% discount you need to buy a carton of 200 rounds.

When I went to get some rounds when the gun finally turned up between 3 stores that I regularly frequented at that time I could only get 1 from one store, 2 from a second and 2 from a third. So between 3 stores I could get 100 rounds at full price.

35 Whelen is not even a particularly rare cartridge. But what happens when you go west and run out and have to go to town to get some more rounds? You’ll probably be lucky if they have any stock. Not to mention it might not even be the same brand, which will require sighting in again.

So if you have an obscure cartridge or a wildcat cartridge that you are going to shoot a heap or regularly it’s probably a good idea to start reloading. Because otherwise consistency is going to be hard to achieve.

Conclusion

Look these are just a few quick dot points for reasons to start reloading, no doubt there are thousands of reasons to start reloading. But if your hands on, being doing the sport for a while, have some down time and tick the box for any of the above reasons. Go get yourself a basic reloading kit and get cracking!

Nothing but the endless pursuit of precision ahead!

Happy reloading,

Blingblingbob.