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After you have some experience reloading your own ammunition, you will discover a number of ways that tailoring your own ammo adds to your shooting and hunting experiences. If you shoot a lot and you just want to save money, that’s great. But being able to customize ammunition to your specific needs is the real advantage of reloading.

I spend a lot of time at the range, and shooting full-load factory ammo in large caliber rifles can get pretty tiring after the third or fourth box. It’s easy to reload a hundred rounds of light loads so I can work on sight alignment and trigger squeeze without having a sore shoulder the next morning. Friends who are more masochistic than I, work up to the hottest loads they can safely get with specific rifles, while others are obsessive (and work obsessively) in getting the greatest accuracy possible. Another area open to advanced reloaders is creating their own ammunition for calibers that are not easily or commercially available.

Advancing your skills in reloading requires a combination of four things: expanding your knowledge, working more consistently, learning advanced techniques, and acquiring some specialized equipment.

A word of warning is in order. Anyone can publish anything on the internet, and you should not use any load data without verifying it in a published load manual. The reloading companies spend an enormous amount of money in testing, verifying and proofreading their data. Someone typing information onto a web page can easily transpose a couple of numbers and not find the mistake before it is publicly available. There can be a catastrophic difference between 53.9 and 35.9 grains of powder, so always verify any information from a web page with a published reloading manual before using it on your bench. Also, you will hear some bizarre techniques, opinions, and ideas from other reloaders. If something sounds too strange to be true, it probably is. Someone once told me that he loaded hotter than the load tables, and that he knew his load was safe because the cases hadn’t separated yet. He was never shy about providing any of his opinions on anything to anyone within earshot. I made it a point of never being close to him on the range. Remember that there are blowhards, fools, and know-it-alls everywhere, and your safety is in your own hands.

WORK MORE CONSISTENTLY

The more consistent you can be, in all areas of loading, the more accurate the end result. Some things are easy, take little time, and will make a difference across the board; other things take a great deal of time and will make only a tiny difference. You will have to determine the cost (in time and money) versus the benefit (more efficiency or accuracy) for each technique.

Every reloader should keep an accurate log that includes both the load data and the results from the range. Without the range data you won’t be able to make modifications or fine-tune the next load.

You should work the same way each time, and standardize your procedures. For instance, powder measures can throw charges consistent enough for all but the most exacting shooters, but only if the reloader operates the handle the same way each time. Throw five charges and weigh each one. If there is a variation, then pay attention to how you operate the handle, and do it exactly the same way each time. The particular way is not as important as doing it consistently. For instance, if you bump the handle at both ends of the stroke, or if you pause at the top, or move the handle at different speeds at different portions of the stroke, you must be consistent. I also make it a point to never let the powder in the tube get below the halfway mark so that the weight of powder pressing into the hopper is consistent.

If you get a load you like and you change one component (such as the brand of primer) or technique (such as crimping the bullet more or less tightly) you may get different results, so you need to be consistent in all aspects of reloading.

I know one benchrest shooter who weighs every bullet on his reloading bench and separates them into groups that are more consistent than the manufacturer’s tolerance. This is an extreme case, but he is an extreme shooter.

Having a good set of measuring tools, and using them, are also essential. Trim your cases, pay attention to seating primers consistently, and avoid distractions during your reloading session. And make sure you keep accurate records.

ADVANCED TECHNIQUES

There are many advanced techniques, from wildcatting (creating ammunition for unusual firearms by modifying cases for other calibers) to peeling case necks. We’ll just look at a couple of the most common advanced techniques.

Proper Headspacing and Case Forming. Sizing dies are designed to return the case to factory specifications. This will ensure the round can be safely used in any firearm of that caliber. However, once fired in your specific rifle that case is now a perfect fit for that chamber. You can use this to your advantage.

Most rifles that use non-belted bottleneck cases are designed to headspace on the case shoulder. When fired, the case expands and flows forward. If the case is returned to factory specs each time, the life of the case is reduced, just as if you bend a piece of metal repeatedly until it cracks and breaks. If you partially resize the case just enough to be able to fit in that same rifle again you will extend the life of the case. However, you cannot use this case in any other rifle, as it may now be too long. You must also test to make sure the longer ammunition will feed in your magazine.

If you load ammunition longer than factory specs you MUST ensure that it does not contact the rifling before being fired. This can create unsafe high pressures and a potentially dangerous situation.

A big advantage of customizing your ammunition to a specific rifle is to reduce the ‘jump’ of the bullet when fired. This is the distance the bullet must move from the case until it contacts the lands of the rifling in the barrel. The smaller you can make the distance between the bullet and the rifle lands, the greater the potential accuracy. (Possible danger, see paragraph above.)

Use a tool called a “Precision Mic” to determine the difference. The tool is calibrated to factory lengths for the base-to-shoulder distance. Determine the distance using a new, unfired case, and then place a fired case in the tool and determine the length. The difference is how far the case moved when fired. If the new case reading is 0.002" and the fired case is 0.008", you know the shoulder moved forward 0.006". Use this to set your sizing die to move the shoulder back 0.002" to get a custom fit for that particular rifle. Again, you’ll need to check to make sure the longer rounds will feed smoothly through the rifle’s magazine.

You can also do this without a specialized tool by coloring a bullet with a magic marker and inserting it a short distance into a fired cartridge that does not have any powder or primer. Before inserting the bullet, press the case neck of the fired cartridge a small amount so it is slightly out-of-round. This will allow the neck to grip the bullet, and more importantly, leave a mark in the magic marker on the bullet. Gently insert the round into the chamber of the rifle and close the bolt. This will force the bullet to contact the lands of the rifling and push it back into the case. Slowly remove the case and carefully measure the overall length. Repeat this procedure a number of times until you get a consistent measurement. Now you can reduce this length slightly and you have the maximum overall length for that particular rifle.

Remember that if you are doing this, you are working on the edge of safety, and there is little room of error. Measure repeatedly, keep accurate records, and if you have any question, check everything again.

Flash Hole Conditioning. The flash hole is punched into new cases, not drilled, and as a result there may be some excess metal or a burr inside the case that can affect the ignition of the powder. To ensure a uniform flash hole you can trim the burr away with a deburring tool. This tool aligns with the neck (you will need a different tool for each caliber) and leaves a consistent beveled edge around the flash hole.

Progressive Reloading Presses. If volume is your primary goal, a progressive reloading press will produce a finished round with each pull of the lever. You may have to trade off some consistency, but if you shoot hundreds of rounds a month (think practical pistol shooting, or some rifle competitions), you aren’t looking for MOA accuracy anyway. The press will cost more initially, you need to be organized in your set-up and procedure, and you need to be very alert for double or missing charges, but you can produce an amazing amount of ammunition in a short period of time. However, if you reload a lot of different calibers or load small quantities, the progressive press will actually slow you down. One friend uses a progressive to load only 9mm pistol ammo (because he shoots a lot of it), and uses a conventional press for all his rifle ammo.

Case Neck Turning. This can correct an out-of-round condition in the thickness of the case neck, whether by manufacturing or by brass flowing from repeated use with high pressure loads. You can detect this by using a tubing micrometer, and correct the condition using a case neck turner kit connected to a case trimmer. The RCBS model turns the inside and outside simultaneously, but you need to be careful not to trim too much  leaving a case neck that is too thin.

MORE EQUIPMENT?

Don’t run out and buy any new equipment until you can answer yes to one of these questions:

• Will this allow me to do something I need to do that I can’t do with the equipment I already have?
• Will this save me enough time, or do something significantly better, to justify the expense?

I admit that I am a gadget freak, but I certainly don’t have enough money to buy everything I want. So I really look at things to find what will make my life easier, or allow me to do things better, and I only buy those things. When I bought my manual case trimmer I saw that the RCBS model allowed the motor to be added at a later time, if needed, so that’s the one I bought. I still can’t justify the motorized unit based on how many rounds I load in a month. However, a friend loads hundreds of rounds several times a month, and the motorized case trimmer saves him a great amount of time.

My most recent purchase is an electronic powder measure, which saves me a little time, but will result in more accuracy and smoother workflow. You program in the weight of the powder you want, hit the button, and the measure starts to deliver powder into the measuring pan. When the powder in the pan approaches the desired weight, the measure slows down and then trickles a tiny stream of powder until the exact weight is delivered into the pan. (The new electronic scales are accurate to plus or minus 1/10 of a grain.) You just put the powder into the case, return the pan to the scale, hit the button, and by the time you are ready to charge the next case, the scale has delivered the exact amount of powder into the pan.

Just buying more equipment will not make you a better reloader, or improve your results. Knowing what you want to accomplish, and then figuring out the best way to do it, is the key for success and accomplishment in reloading.


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