Bottom Gun
Member
My best friend taught me the fine art of reloading 49 years ago. I consider it to be one of the most useful shooting skills I have ever learned. Your mileage may vary.
You may not save much by reloading short term but in time, it will save you $$$$. If you shoot an unusual cartridge, you will definitely save a lot by reloading and not paying a premium price for hard to find calibers. You don't need lot of fancy equipment to start. Get a single stage press and a few basic items and you're set for a while. If you like what you're doing, you can upgrade to a progressive outfit later and you will always have a use for that single stage so hang on to it.
More importantly than $$$$ though, you will likely shoot your reloads more accurately and you’ll probably shoot more so you’ll become a better shooter. You’ll see how varying components such as bullet style/weight and the amount/type of powder affects your point of impact and your group size. You’ll learn a lot more about ballistics by reloading than you will by shooting factory ammo.
Rifles and handguns are individuals. They all shoot differently with different loads and different brands of ammo. Even identical guns from the same run with serial numbers a digit or two apart won’t necessarily shoot best with the same load. The trick is to find what your gun prefers and that will be your benchmark. You’ll find that your handloads will shoot better than most factory ammo and, more importantly, they will be consistent. With factory ammo, even if you find a load/brand your gun shoots well, there is no guarantee the next lot of factory ammo produced will be identical.
Do you shoot well enough to notice that different brands of ammo and bullet weights can produce different points of impact? That’s what you will experience when you start tailoring your reloads to your gun. You can make exactly what you want rather than some common factory load that may or may not work best for you.
Reloading can open doors for some cartridges such as .357 Sig. Ammo selection is limited for the poor .357 Sig if you can find it at all. That’s unfortunate because it’s my favorite pistol round. It’s what I carry. I’m not limited at all by the ammo because I make my own. What I make is better than most factory ammo and I can make ammo I could never find anywhere. For example, I make a speedy 90 gr HP varmint load in .357 Sig. You won’t ever find anything like that in factory ammo. I make some interesting ammo in a variety of bullet weights for .357 Sig. You won’t see much in stores besides 125 or 147 gr. Oh, and my .357 Sig reloads don't cost any more than my 9MM reloads. I wouldn't like the Sig cartridge nearly as much as I do if I didn't reload.
Another benefit to reloading that nobody ever mentions is the ability to make lighter loads or something midrange. Target ammo selection can be limited and different ammo production lots can change. Forget about bullet selection with factory midrange or target ammo. You can make hot loads, light loads and everything in between. That's very useful.
Also, if recoil is an issue with your wife’s hunting rifle, you can make some slightly reduced loads that will still do the job with less recoil. A simple change of powder will often affect recoil considerably without much change to velocity. This is particularly noticeable in some handguns. That fact is seldom mentioned. I never understood why.
So, hopefully I made some points you hadn’t considered which may make coming to an informed decision easier. The bottom line is that you really need to have a keen interest in shooting to enjoy reloading. If you’re going to do it strictly to save money, I don’t think you’ll do it for very long before you lose interest.
I hope this helps.
You may not save much by reloading short term but in time, it will save you $$$$. If you shoot an unusual cartridge, you will definitely save a lot by reloading and not paying a premium price for hard to find calibers. You don't need lot of fancy equipment to start. Get a single stage press and a few basic items and you're set for a while. If you like what you're doing, you can upgrade to a progressive outfit later and you will always have a use for that single stage so hang on to it.
More importantly than $$$$ though, you will likely shoot your reloads more accurately and you’ll probably shoot more so you’ll become a better shooter. You’ll see how varying components such as bullet style/weight and the amount/type of powder affects your point of impact and your group size. You’ll learn a lot more about ballistics by reloading than you will by shooting factory ammo.
Rifles and handguns are individuals. They all shoot differently with different loads and different brands of ammo. Even identical guns from the same run with serial numbers a digit or two apart won’t necessarily shoot best with the same load. The trick is to find what your gun prefers and that will be your benchmark. You’ll find that your handloads will shoot better than most factory ammo and, more importantly, they will be consistent. With factory ammo, even if you find a load/brand your gun shoots well, there is no guarantee the next lot of factory ammo produced will be identical.
Do you shoot well enough to notice that different brands of ammo and bullet weights can produce different points of impact? That’s what you will experience when you start tailoring your reloads to your gun. You can make exactly what you want rather than some common factory load that may or may not work best for you.
Reloading can open doors for some cartridges such as .357 Sig. Ammo selection is limited for the poor .357 Sig if you can find it at all. That’s unfortunate because it’s my favorite pistol round. It’s what I carry. I’m not limited at all by the ammo because I make my own. What I make is better than most factory ammo and I can make ammo I could never find anywhere. For example, I make a speedy 90 gr HP varmint load in .357 Sig. You won’t ever find anything like that in factory ammo. I make some interesting ammo in a variety of bullet weights for .357 Sig. You won’t see much in stores besides 125 or 147 gr. Oh, and my .357 Sig reloads don't cost any more than my 9MM reloads. I wouldn't like the Sig cartridge nearly as much as I do if I didn't reload.
Another benefit to reloading that nobody ever mentions is the ability to make lighter loads or something midrange. Target ammo selection can be limited and different ammo production lots can change. Forget about bullet selection with factory midrange or target ammo. You can make hot loads, light loads and everything in between. That's very useful.
Also, if recoil is an issue with your wife’s hunting rifle, you can make some slightly reduced loads that will still do the job with less recoil. A simple change of powder will often affect recoil considerably without much change to velocity. This is particularly noticeable in some handguns. That fact is seldom mentioned. I never understood why.
So, hopefully I made some points you hadn’t considered which may make coming to an informed decision easier. The bottom line is that you really need to have a keen interest in shooting to enjoy reloading. If you’re going to do it strictly to save money, I don’t think you’ll do it for very long before you lose interest.
I hope this helps.