Reloading - The Fun Begins
Another Hole To Pour Money In!
After a couple of false starts, it looks like I'll be entering the obsessive world of metallic cartridge reloading.
The Cisco Kid & I agreed to go halves on a Lee Progressive reloading press. This is one of the presses with the removeable turrets, where you install your decapping, sizing & crimp dies on the turret, then swap out turrets for each caliber, rather than go through a lengthy setup each time. Costs a bit more, but should be more efficient in the long run. I'm starting with .45 Long Colt, and following with .45 ACP & .38 Special. If things go well, I'll consider adding a couple of rifle calibers.
I dearly love to shoot my Ruger Vaquero six-shooter, but with commercial .45 Long Colt ammo running nearly $1 per round, it's been gathering dust for the past year or so. I'm hoping that I can cut the cost in half.
I've got 600-700 empty cases that just need decapping and cleaning, and when the turret gets off backorder, I'll see if I can't press out 200 rounds or so. I've got about that many lead round nose bullets in a coffee can. Eventually, I'd like to get a lead melting pot & a bullet mold and start making some Keith-style 300-grain bearkiller rounds.
Cisco Kid has got the press set up, and got 50 rounds of 9mm loaded over the weekend. I'm waiting for a range report to see if he got it right, or if he's having chunks of Browning Hi-Power removed from his epidermis. We shall see...
If any of you lurkers are reloaders, your hints & tips are more than welcome!
After a couple of false starts, it looks like I'll be entering the obsessive world of metallic cartridge reloading.
The Cisco Kid & I agreed to go halves on a Lee Progressive reloading press. This is one of the presses with the removeable turrets, where you install your decapping, sizing & crimp dies on the turret, then swap out turrets for each caliber, rather than go through a lengthy setup each time. Costs a bit more, but should be more efficient in the long run. I'm starting with .45 Long Colt, and following with .45 ACP & .38 Special. If things go well, I'll consider adding a couple of rifle calibers.
I dearly love to shoot my Ruger Vaquero six-shooter, but with commercial .45 Long Colt ammo running nearly $1 per round, it's been gathering dust for the past year or so. I'm hoping that I can cut the cost in half.
I've got 600-700 empty cases that just need decapping and cleaning, and when the turret gets off backorder, I'll see if I can't press out 200 rounds or so. I've got about that many lead round nose bullets in a coffee can. Eventually, I'd like to get a lead melting pot & a bullet mold and start making some Keith-style 300-grain bearkiller rounds.
Cisco Kid has got the press set up, and got 50 rounds of 9mm loaded over the weekend. I'm waiting for a range report to see if he got it right, or if he's having chunks of Browning Hi-Power removed from his epidermis. We shall see...
If any of you lurkers are reloaders, your hints & tips are more than welcome!
posted by El Capitan | 12:56 PM
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