I'm thinking about reloading, should I?

[SteveOh]

Before the handgun hand in I used to reload for all my pistols and rifles (apart from .22RF and .22 Hornet).

After the hand in I lost interest and had a change of occupation that didn't really leave me time for reloading.

But lately I have the time and am thinking about reloading again. Luckily I didn't hand in or sell any of my equipment I passed it on to an uncle who still has it.

My question is this.

Is it still worth reloading or has the manufacture of factory ammunition caught up?

 

[MJR]

Hi Steve,
i'm fairly new to reloading but in my limited experience factory ammo hasn't caught up unless you are willing to pay for premium match grade. With std 100gn soft point factory rounds my .243 was around an inch at 100yds, with reloads I can now clover leaf the group off a bipod,probably better off a better rest and I could shoot straight! Both are adequate for my stalking but I enjoy the aspect of tuning the round to the gun and for me its added another aspect to my shooting. I'm currently working up a 60gn hollow point round which at the moment is just capable of a clover leaf.

 

[pete evans]

depends on a number of factors. Reloading is cheaper if you shoot volume and you can develop a more accurate load. if you only stalk a dozen times a year and dont shoot targets then its not worth it, most rifles with factory ammo will shoot accuratly enough for british stalking.

 

[pete evans]

depends on a number of factors. Reloading is cheaper if you shoot volume and you can develop a more accurate load. if you only stalk a dozen times a year and dont shoot targets then its not worth it, most rifles with factory ammo will shoot accuratly enough for british stalking.

 

[enfieldspares]

If you have handloaded before for pistols and have all the equipment then your only cost will be powder, rifle dies and rifle primers. Even if I only shot one hundred rounds a year I would still handload as it enables me to produce cartridges that just aren't commercially available.

A 270 with a 140 grain bullet at 2750 fps for example. Or a 155 grain bullet at the 2700 fps. The benefit is not really that you duplicate factory cartridges but that you can load cartridges with lower velocity more suited to the UK.

And that you can tune that velocity to the barrel length of your rifle so that in a 24" barrel rifle you can load down but get the same velocity as factory ammunition in a 22" barrel rifle.

The main modern "issue" is to get a free variation to increase your ammunition holding by about two to three hundred to allow for the fact that the holding of soft point bullets must now counted as if it were loaded cartridges. And they don't, yet, sell soft point bullets in boxes of twenty!

It won't be cheaper, initially, to reload as powder, primers and dies are no longer cheap. So your first fifty cartridges will "cost" about £1.50 a round! But a thousand primers last a long time and the dies forever.

What I would say is that a chronograph is virtually essential for rifle reloading - if only to check if your rounds are deer legal - and that some "lets" now insist on factory amunition only.

 

[MJR]

That is a good point re the amount of rounds you are allowed to hold/purchase. My license is away at the moment to address that very issue.

 

[Muir]

Buying factory ammunition is like eating out at a restaurant every meal; It's expensive and you never quite know what's in the dish they set before you. When you reolad, you determine the quality. That in itself is worth the effort.~Muir

 

[SteveOh]

thanks for the replies fellas.

I am getting the reloading gear back today....

prepare for a deluge of questions regarding .243 rounds....

I'm really looking forward to reloading again now....

 

[enfieldspares]

I have an RCBS 243 die set, Lee "Factory Crimp" die, 6mm bullet puller collet and various cases etc., that I want to be rid of and turn back into cash. Plus Hornady 100 grain bullets. Where are you located? Are you going to Newark Shooting Show? PM me if interested. Or anyone else if interested.