Things I’ve Learned While Reloading
I recently started reloading my own ammo. There’s a lot of experimentation as well trial and error to it. Sometimes I feel like a mad scientist. It’s been a bumpy ride, to say the least. Let’s talk about a few things I’ve learned that I have yet to see in a guide or book.
A collet puller is your friend.
When you start out, there’s a good chance you’re going to mess up. I’m not talking one or two cartridges every now and then either. I mean you’re going to finish off a box of 100 primers then realize that, at some point during that run, you ran out of powder. One of those hammer style pullers is great for 3 or 4 rounds, but if you need to sit there pounding out more than that, you’re gonna have a bad time. A collet puller, on the other hand, fits into your reloading press and can pull bullets out almost as fast as you put them in (once you get a good rhythm going with it, that is). Considering my current predicament, it was $20 well spent. What current predicament? Take a look at the next lesson learned.
Make sure you’ve got your technique down 100% before you load 1000 rounds.
I had set up my new 9mm dies, calculated the powder measure and dialed in the bullet seat depth. I then loaded about 20-30 rounds, took them to the range and tested them out. They worked like a charm. They fed great and flew great. I had cut my teeth on .45 and felt like I had the hang of things when I started the 9mm loading. My tests only bolstered my confidence. I then sat down and loaded all the rounds I had. All 1000 of them. I proudly looked upon my boxes and boxes of 9mm ammo.
Then I took another box to the range. First round: not much power. Failure to feed. Second round: same thing. Third round: no power at all. In other words…squib load. The bullet never made it out of the barrel. My heart sank. Something was messed up. Even though I was checking the bullet seating and such via a gauge and spot checking that powder was going in, my quality assurance checks were lacking somewhere. Either way, there’s now 10 boxes of 100 rounds that I know are more than likely messed up. Thank goodness for that collet puller.
In the future, I’m going to load a box and a time and take my time more. Also, I’m changing powder. Why?
Flake powder is a pain in the butt.
Most smokeless powder comes in one of three varieties: ball, pellet and flake. This is referring to the shape of the individual powder particles themselves. While I haven’t personally seen the pellet style, I started out with the flake style powder. These look like little tiny flattened disks. My powder measure hates those things. They are constantly clogging the measure and they have not once produced a consistent pour. Ball, on the other hand, looks like tiny fine particles of sand. They flow great through my measure and have not once clogged on me, even with this nasty Florida humidity.
While we’re on the subject of powder…
There is powder everywhere!
I’m not a neat freak by any stretch of the imagination. There are a few places that I keep meticulously clean. My computer is one. My car is another. I try my best to keep my reloading area clean as well, mainly because I don’t want to be tracking hazardous chemicals back into a house filled with 4 dogs and a cat.
Try as I might, however, I can’t keep the powder from getting all over the place. Every time the shell plate snaps into the next position on the press, powder flies everywhere. Every time I go to switch a caliber, no matter what I do, there is residual powder that gets spread all over the bench. I spend almost as much time sweeping up power as I do reloading.
By the way, if you reload don’t ever tell anyone that you do.
Apparently, People are terrified of reloading
It seems that whenever I mention I’ve started reloading my own ammo, many look at me like I’m a complete lunatic. “Aren’t you scared your gun is going to explode?!” is my personal favorite question. It seems like everyone knows some second cousin’s friend’s neighbor’s husband who blew up some rare gun with a bad reload. To many shooters, reloading might as well be some mystic alchemy where we’re simultaneously trying to convert the lead from the bullets into gold.
That’s all for now. Right now, it’s summer in FL and my workshop is in my garage. I’m sure that, as soon as I can spend some time in my workshop without risking heat stroke I’ll learn some more things.
Although that does leave me with one parting lesson I’ve learned: if you live in FL or another super hot state, don’t build your reloading set up in your garage unless you have an air conditioner in it.
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