Sep 29, 2018 5 min read

Why do so many of us with a passion for target shooting or just plain making noise with our firearms reload?

The reasons might vary quite a bit but one thing is for sure: the percentage of those who shoot who reload is high. Long ago when this writer’s hair was red, I started out loading my own to save money. But I realized I didn’t save. I just shot more. The tail started wagging the dog and my reloading became an entity in itself.

It’s a miracle that the ammo manufacturers offer the shooter quality ammo at a reasonable price. However, in almost all instances, ammo that is tailored for an individual rifle is more accurate.

In this piece, I am talking about reloading for the sporting rifle, not the shotgun that is loaded in high numbers just to break clay birds or the handgun that is loaded for reliability and cost.

To start, let us look at the cartridge used in a center fire rifle. It is made up of four components. First, the cartridge casing that holds the whole thing together. Next comes the primer that sparks the powder much like a sparkplug in a car. Inside that case is a charge of powder that comes in different burning rates. Then the bullet is the part of the cartridge that is propelled down range and strikes the target, be it paper, a tin can or a deer.

It sounds quite simple but there can be many variables with the mix resembling a recipe for baking a cake. In reality, most of us that put their own recipe together do so seeking better accuracy.

I once heard it stated that to really understand a cartridge, one needs to reload. There is a grain of truth in that for the reloader is always seeking better accuracy and is there to experiment with various loads. It is a good, rewarding hobby.

But what about the safety of a reload and the dependability of it when hunting? I can only speak for myself and of the many deer I have dragged out of the woods, only one was taken with a factory round. It was my first.

Getting started is easy. One needs a loading press of sufficient strength, a scale or balance, a way of checking case length and trim, a funnel and a tray to hold the empty cases in an upright position. There are other items that are almost a necessity or at least make things easier, but the best advice is when shopping, take a friend who knows what he is doing when purchasing a loading set up.

Most beginners to reloading ammo purchase a loading manual and one certainly is needed. But then they start reading the section showing the loads and how much powder can be used with a certain bullet. They mistakenly ignore the rest of the manual, which is a wealth of information. One thing is for sure, even experienced reloaders make mistakes. Most of these are harmless errors that do little more than hurt the wallet or cause an inconvenience.

A good example of that would be the fellow who either forgets or for some reason doesn’t lube his cases when sizing. The inevitable happens and the case gets stuck in the die. Now he has to go to a store and purchase a stuck case remover. This is done with more than a little embarrassment. So he takes the salesman aside and whispers when he asks for the stuck case remover. The salesman then yells to another person, “Do we still have that stuck case remover?” All customers in the area turn to look at the fellow with a very red face.

Another common error is not putting too much powder in the case but missing one altogether. This results usually in little more than a pop at the range. This can be prevented by looking in each case with a flashlight. It isn’t good for the gun but generally doesn’t cause harm. That is why I keep a small flashlight on my loading bench.

Remember, we are talking rifle loading so double charging is all but impossible to do. But that is not so when loading for a handgun that uses a very fast burning powder. Still, when looking in those rifle cases, check and see if each one looks the same. Despite all of this reloading is a safe hobby. All one needs to do is use some common sense and stay with the data in the loading manual.

Obviously, one should never smoke when loading ammo and don’t try to watch the football game when loading. In other words no distractions and all will go well.

Next week I have every intention of doing a little more with this subject, unless something truly amazing happens. So we will call this one, Part 1.