Feb 1, 2014 4 min read

I guess it’s safe to say that winter is with us. When the temperatures drop below zero, this old man is staying inside. I know I could be out calling coyotes or sitting on a bucket staring at a hole in the ice. Maybe, when I was younger, I would have done so, but, today, I’ll chose an indoor sport, such as channel surfing or snoring.

This is, of course, a good month to spend time at the reloading bench. The problem with loading ammunition is you can’t shoot it without going outdoors.

If I am loading ammunition, I like to have a few warmer days available to find out if my rifle likes it. It is difficult to do an accuracy check when you’re shivering.

On the other hand, if I do some work at the bench now, I loaded a couple of rounds to shoot when the weather warms.

I am ready with the .220 Swift, 6mm and .222. If the sun does its job, I can grab a box of reloaded shells and head for the club.

The frustrations of February lead me to another venture in handloading. This is the month I build up my inventory of handgun cartridges.

If I stay away from the television long enough, I will load enough casings to last all year.

My first step is to separate the brass by brand. After that, it is time to clean.

Into the tumbler they go, but not before I count how many I have placed into the tumbler. That way I don’t leave one in the tub when I am done.

After that, the casings can be removed from the tumbler, resized and decaped.

I don’t like to tumble brass with primers removed since the media gets trapped in the flash opening. And you should never tumble live ammunition.

When ready to load, I always check the tumbled brass to make sure no media is in the case.

Once the brass is clean, we can go through the loading process. Cases should be lubricated and deprimed.

There is an exception to this – Carbide dies don’t need lubed.

Priming is simple. In my case, I use an RCBS, but whatever you do, make it a rule to take a flashlight and look in every case to make sure there are no double charges.

Just as important is making sure a case wasn’t missed. You want to be sure there is a charge in every case.

When charging the empty brass, check the powder can and then check it again. It’s a good idea to have just one type of powder on the loading bench.

If the measure has powder in it after a session, write down the name of the powder on a piece of paper so you can identify it later.

You think you’ll remember, but a little slip of paper on it can save a lot of powder.

Always check and double check the label on the bottle and return the unused powder in the original container. One thing you don’t want to do is mix powders.

Once you have primed, cleaned and charged the brass with the right powder, it’s time to seat the bullets. Most reloading dies are set up to seat and crimp at the same time. I don’t like doing it that way.

I prefer to seat the bullet and save the crimping for another step.

The problem with crimping at this step is that many times, doing so will crumple the neck. With the price and scarcity of components, it is smarter to seat with one step and reset the die before crimping them.

After crimping and removing all the lube, they are ready to shoot.

George H. Block writes a Sunday Outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter.