Posted on 07/09/2024 5:33:45 PM PDT by Round Earther
Yes now if the can make ATF into a convenience store would be great and handy.
I only pay cash for ammo. Neat idea though.
They would have stolen all your machines by now! lol
You are ahead of me by four years. My Granddad and Uncle Giles taught me how to handload. Still have an old c frame press made by Oeorter, (spelling ?).
I have our old C&H press and I bought a Redding and a hand held Lee Press. Have a Lee Loader that I got when I bought my Remington 221 Fireball pistol, used it for long time.
I made it a project to have reloading equipment for every caliber my family used. Just about there.
Lots of dies, bullet molds, primers and powders.
Some unusual stuff with it.
Fine your yourself. Do not expect me to shoot it without knowing who made it nd haw carefully.
I do not know the skill or attention to detail of some random guy selling reloads.
Too many stories of blown up guns from reload mistakes.
The good old days.
Love it!
I'm telling you that I've found that I can add accuracy to reloads that I cannot get from the normal off shelf product. And I like doing it.
I'm 76 and have only had two incidents happen that spooked me. The last one recently was an issue with case diameter on a 9mm pistol. Bought a good deal on a private label nickel plated brass made by a very old major company. The manufacturer had a reputation for making brass with thicker case dimensions in general, and I used polymer coated cast lead bullets. 9mm is one of the most difficult reloads because of the extremely short case, tapered wall dimension, and small space for powder charge. I don't like to shoot off the shelf 9mm ammo, because most of it is 115 gr bullet and very high velocity. Light bullet and high velocity and FMC bullets make it susceptible to ricochet. (I've seen it happen) So I load 147 gr Hornady XTP JHP bullets (or 147 gr polymer coated Blue Bullets) with Accurate no. 5 powder load. I use different brass with thinner wall on the polymer coated bullets. It eliminated the case feeding problem. The dimension are very critical. Most people think 9mm is straight wall case, it is not. Some people will tell you that all carbide reloading dies are straight wall, in the case of 9mm they are NOT. It works because of the short case.
So, I worked up a self defense load that suits me. Less recoil, less barrel jump in pistol, better accuracy, and better consistency. (I measure every powder charge very carefully. Don't just rely on powder charge metering, I meter and then weigh each round)
If you weigh your time used it is not saving much on price, unless you shoot a lot. But once you are set up, it is a smooth process. I don't load large runs of any caliber. Usually 50 rounds at at time, that is what most of my ammo boxes hold. (my 5.56 NATO is 100) I carefully document my specs in each run.
Now days, there are tens of thousands of toobers competing for space on the river in the summer, and hardly any canoes. There’s still only one gas station in town, and not too much else. I live just down river, but hardly ever go there. I drive by it regularly to get to a decent restaurant a few miles up the road.
“I’m not telling you to buy reloads.”
Did not say you did.
Just not going to buy someone else’s reloads.
Heck, i had a squib load from factory Sellier and Bellot ammo in .380 and left the slug stuck halfway down the bore. Luckily it did not sound right and I stopped my wife from more shooting.
Had a .308 Fiocchi round split the bottom of the case and blow out the primer.
Factory stuff, so no way I trust handloads from some guy on the side of the road.
“Vend-A-Round”
I remember when you could walk into a hardware store and buy three or four rounds for deer hunting. No problems till the 1968 gun law took effect stopping that. After that you had to buy a box of 20 which many rural people here at that time could not afford.
I have a neighbor down the street that blew up a new Desert Eagle 45 auto pistol.
He survived (no injuries) but the pistol did not. It was not repairable.
He, some how, put more than a double charge of powder in it.
And insult to injury, he was a mechanical engineer in real life. (he is retired now.) My parents and his parents were best friends. We all hunted together when I was growing up.
My brother, when he was young, got heavy into 300 Win Mag shooting. He never had anything bad happen, but he would take the published reloading tables and load the Max Load for his starting point. There is no room for error there. Dad would not use his reloads, not because of danger, but because of accuracy. Dad was an armorer during WWII, serviced Quad 50’s and Bofors.
And over time I found the most accurate loads were close to mid way between recommended starting charge and the Max Charge. That is difficult when using some powders. H-4350 is very popular but the window of charge range is narrow, you need to measure charge very carefully, but it is a great performing powder.
Bolt action military surplus rifles are normally way over engineered (some imports are not). They are safer than some we use for hunting, but they are HEAVY to pack around. Same with pistols. NATO ammo is not that much different to civilian loads, but they are designed to make ammo interchangeable between individual NATO country’s specs. They would rather civilians not shoot them, even though some civilians loads are higher pressures.
Today, the range of powders is incredible. Some are very forgiving, others will bite you if you are careless. And they have all become expensive. Now $50-$60 per pound on most of them.
I’ve seen video’s of guys shooting 50 BMG rifles with surplus military rounds. One I saw was extremely lucky to survive.
I have a bear gun, but it is not 50 caliber.
About a week ago, I stumbled into a website that was giving advice about ammo for newbies. I was amazed how bad some of its was. It is not that way with the old reliable reloading supply companies. Most dodge giving advice because of potential liability, but refer customers to factory source data.
I have some family heirloom weapons, that are sill capable of being fired with the right charge. Have a John Buckingham hammerless 12 ga shotgun (was my dad’s grandfather’s). It has a Damascus barrel, made in Germany. It is in good shape except for a couple of action issues. With the right charge, it will be safe to fire and I expect to do that. Yes, I know that the typical gunsmith would recommend putting it over the fireplace mantel.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.