Getting Started

This week, the amateur reloading show got some upgraded tools. If you are stepping into the roll your own game, you are going to want to put these high up on your list not far behind the press.

The Hornady Iron Press is an extremely smooth operator. Priming was so easy I was certain it wasn’t working, only to find primed brass on the other side.

I’m going to start reloading. As a noob, I decided to the best place to start was to take an entry-level class. Learning from an expert in the flesh can save you hours of heartache and head-scratching.

The very last step in the reloading process is inspection and packaging. After all is done, I like to combine the inspection and packaging steps. As I put each completed cartridge into a box, I look it over to make sure everything is in order.

Crimping gets a bad rap. Just as we sometimes tend to fix construction mistakes with a hammer rather than taking the time to properly fit parts, we tend to view crimping as a way to “fix” a less than perfect bullet seating. The problem with crimping is that it sounds so logical. The word “crimping” kind of implies the process of locking a bullet in place. But, there is more to it than just that.

So, let’s discuss the topic of seating and crimping in the reloading process. Stated simply, the seating step simply means jamming a new bullet into a cleaned, resized, primed, and powder-charged cartridge case. Crimping “generally” refers to the act of bringing the neck of the cartridge case back to proper dimension after that bullet is stuffed in. There’s a lot more to both actions, especially if you want to be safe, so let’s take a closer look at both steps.

The topic of discussion was whether you could get started reloading your own ammunition for less than $200.

Whether you are new to reloading, even just considering it for the first time, or an old pro with several wildcat loads named after him – you’ve heard of RCBS.

Simply put, the process of zeroing a scope matches the point of aim to the actual point of impact. Put differently, the process ensures that a bullet lands exactly where you put the crosshairs