newbee

Knifeman

Active Member
Hi all I am wanting to start to load my own ammo, i have been reading alot of posts on hear. I am wanting to load 6.5x55 where would be a good place to start to get all the things i need to get started.
Any help will be much appreciated.
regards paul
 
Your'e already started mate, plenty of 6.5' ers on here, have a trawl through these earlier pages ..........loads to interest & enlighten, I was going to say educate.......but I might have started something:old:
 
Knifeman, you do not say where you are from? There might be somewhere local to you. You will need to appear in person with your FAC for buying expanding ammo, so you might as well buy powder and primers while you are there.

I use or have used;

http://www.reloadingsolutions.com/ Nice people to deal with!

http://www.henrykrank.com/ammunition_reloading_powders.html Very helpful, good advice freely given!

http://www.timhannam.co.uk/ Made a complete horlicks of my order, but sorted it out gracefully and generously.

Hope this helps, ft
 
You also didn't say what you want to use the handloads for!

If in the Lincolnshire area the choices are a bit limited but don't discount S/H equipment. It also depends on how many your intended to load. Small quantities don't require the same expensive gear as much larger quantities. Of course you can spend as much as you like but it's not really needed. It will also depend on how much time you wish to allocate for your re-loading.
 
Paul,
Reading is an excellent way to start reloading. I have two further suggestions following up on flytie's comments. Try and find someone local to you that you can visit and pick their brains and watch what they do (and vice versa). Secondly, buy a good reloading book. Lee gets lots of recommendations on the forum, I have the Hornady one too as I use Hornady bullets. Vihtavouri and others have online resources.
http://www.lapua.com/index.php?id=851
http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp
http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/default.aspx
Finally, keep good records of what you do when you eventually start reloading. It took me nearly two years from starting thinking about reloading to actually shooting a deer with one of my own reloads. Don't rush with reloading.
 
Paul,
Reading is an excellent way to start reloading. I have two further suggestions following up on flytie's comments. Try and find someone local to you that you can visit and pick their brains and watch what they do (and vice versa). Secondly, buy a good reloading book. Lee gets lots of recommendations on the forum, I have the Hornady one too as I use Hornady bullets. Vihtavouri and others have online resources.
http://www.lapua.com/index.php?id=851
http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp
http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/default.aspx
Finally, keep good records of what you do when you eventually start reloading. It took me nearly two years from starting thinking about reloading to actually shooting a deer with one of my own reloads. Don't rush with reloading.

This is outstanding advice, I wish I had been as thoughtful! Lee make good reloading tools. People will tell you that it is allright to start with, just for loading a few rounds for deer. They forget how many world records have been set by people using Lee tools! One 1000yd world record group lasted 7 years before being beaten. Most of my kit is second hand but unused. I started off reading "The ABC's of Reloading", got the Lee book with my kit (s/h), bought the Hornady book and then found the Lyman book at a boot sale. I was mentored in reloading by a friend. Good advice from JCS!!!!!

ft
 
All good responses. Especially JCS's recommendation to read. If I could add to that, I like the Lee book and I would advise studying it like there was no Internet and no help available. Read about burning rates and pressures and how it affects your loads. Read about proper powder selection. It's all in the book. Read it and understand it before you seek advice. It is the only way you will be able to sift out the good advice from the bad.

It's not a hard process. Concentrate on good, safe ammunition to start. Worry about refining your good loads later. If you get bogged down in neck turning, primer pocket reaming, Blah, Blah, Blah, you will get confused.

Resize. Trim. Reprime. Charge. Seat a Bullet. (Shoot)

That's all it is. Concentrate on these aspects as you read. Accept no advice that deals with accuracy loading until you have these procedures completely under control. ~Muir
 
Thank you for all your help, I will be on the look out for the lee book now, also looking to see if there is anything at the keepers fair at catton hall on the 17th and 18th.
regards paul
 
Knifeman,

You might also like to try

http://www.nosler.com/index.php?p=15


If you use the correct bullet for the job (IE not a varmint bullet for deer) then i find them to be very accurate, consistent and they feed without a flaw from a magazine and i have never had a deer complain about them yet!

When I started reloading a mentor persuaded me that it was money well spent to get a slightly more expensive kit from the start, rather than going for a cheap kit and perhapsing looking to upgrade in years time. In the end i went for the RCBS Rock Chucker Kit and I still use all of the bits in it (10 years ago now and many, many bullets). I have of course added to it, but all of the basics are still in use and working great.
 
I'm a beginner at this stuff as well and in keeping with what JCS said I'd guess that it took me the best part of 3 years between starting into the reloading process and shooting my first deer with ammo I had reloaded myself. I was lucky enough to have someone show me the ropes and this is really worthwhile as a quick demo is worth hundreds of words and pictures. So try to find someone local to give you a demo and let you try the process for yourself, just to feel what "normal" is like.

The internet is also a great resource and while I wouldn't recommend replicating loads you read about on the internet if there is something you are not sure of or you are seeing something you are unhappy about then a quick post here, with photos if necessary, will almost certainly get you an answer and some useful advice. As a resource for the reloader with little or no access to other reloaders in person this really is very valuable.

Keeping things simple is also useful and I will second what Muir said on that front. Sometimes with reading lots you get caught up in the importance of things that are, in truth, fine details best left to the experts. Muir has highlighted the basic stuff that we need to get the hang of before we start worrying about some of the black magic processes practised by the benchrest experts.

I have also found that you don't need a lot of "stuff." I bought bits as I went along and so didn't really get much that I didn't have a use for. Here is what I ended up with, the press is missing as is a powder funnel and a lee collet die but this is basically it:

reloadinggear.jpg


So, go slow and examine all the cases that come out of your rifle and if you have questions take pictures and post them here for good answers and suggestions.
 
Paul

One other thought, and in no way wanting to detract from the excellent advice above, but keep your eyes on the BDS website as they run (or at least used to run) an occasional two-day course on reloading.

Although I had someone mentoring me already I went on this course at Bisley and it was absolutely great. The chap who taught us was top-notch, both in terms of reloading and also shooting. We had a full day going through the reloading process, including making up rounds for our rifles (with different seating depths, etc) and then we went to Ash ranges (near Aldershot) the second day and got to shoot what we had made. It gave me a lot of confidence as a new starter in the reloading game.

willie_gunn
 
Thank you everyone i will be finding out about one of these courses, and asking about for a mentor near me. hope the knife is still going strong willie_gunn?
regards paul
 
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..And nice to see a proper calibre too!

The photo of the Kit is a file photo. The group is a 5-shot from a .222 set. Still, I'm glad to see a man of distinct taste among us. The aught-six is a proper caliber, indeed!~Muir

(And my 30-06 set will load ammo equally as well. Loaded some .223 yesterday: Half minute from one of these little kits~)
 
being a total novice i baught the classic lee loader .270 and its exellent easy to use and accurate it does all i need at the moment . in time i will get a press to full size my brass but this has got me going on the cheap as i was under the illusion it might be harder than first thaught and i didnt want to spend a fortune if i couldnt do it but the instructions are simple to follow and its a good feeling when you fire your first few rounds you have made. i must admit that pulling the trigger the first time was a worrie:scared:.
 
being a total novice i baught the classic lee loader .270 and its exellent easy to use and accurate it does all i need at the moment . in time i will get a press to full size my brass but this has got me going on the cheap as i was under the illusion it might be harder than first thaught and i didnt want to spend a fortune if i couldnt do it but the instructions are simple to follow and its a good feeling when you fire your first few rounds you have made. i must admit that pulling the trigger the first time was a worrie:scared:.

It's no surprise that you made good ammunition with the Lee set. It is basically what bench rest shooters use. I like them because I can reload right at the range if I wish. I once shot prairiedogs with my .222, loading a single case between shots. Made for a very pleasant afternoon. If you take that technique to the range, you can try different bullets and seating depths etc, using a single case (saving brass) and allowing your barrel to cool in the 2 minutes it takes to reload the cartridge.~Muir
 
hi muir thanks for the tip i have just made up 40 all at the longest legnth and im going to spend abit of time trying to get the tightest groups but i will take the classic loader to set the depth deeper . which should save me abit of time:D.
 
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