When I was 18 I asked my rifle coach if I should get into reloading. His response was, "You have to." The shooting discipline was high power service rifle. At the time everyone was transitioning from the long trusted M1-A to the "little black gun" (AR). Heavy bullets were coming out for the .223 making the tiny pills able to buck the wind at 600 yards. Most people shot the 69 grain bullets at 200 and 300 yards and 80's at 600. The reason my coach said it was not optional was because no ammo manufacturer loaded heavy match bullets. I built the ultimate service rifle using the best components then set out gathering all the gear one needs to reload. I bought a nice Dillon RL550B, a scale, calipers, a case tumbler, case trimmers, a bullet puller, case lube, caliber change kits, dies, a powder funnel, powder tricklers, the best cases, powder, primers, match bullets, a bench, and spare parts.
Lets set aside the cost of all this and mention the good parts of reloading. One can make unusual ammo such as subsonics or super deadly ballistic tip rounds. Making match ammo that is perfectly tuned to your chamber and hits right at the sweet spot of your match grade barrels harmonics is very rewarding. People in the gun world have respect for someone who knows how to "Roll their own." When one puts hours into making perfect ammo that shoots tight groups it feels good. There is also the subject of saving money. If one uses all the bullets, powder, and primers bought, and do not make any mistakes loading, buy in bulk, get all your brass free by picking it up one by one at the range, and have endless time to kill, yes there is a slight savings over factory loads.
Now for the bad. Shooting is already an expensive hobby and the start up costs to get into reloading is substantial, and just when one thinks they have all that is needed, a company will invent another upgrade that must be bought in order to save you time or make one of the many steps easier. All of this gear takes up a lot of room and it tends to spread across whatever surface one previously used to call a workshop, desk, garage, office, or shed that is now a dedicated reloading space.
Next one will find that setting up and adjusting each part of your new bullet assembly line will result in only being able to speak and think in four letter words. During this process one will realize that it is easy to get cases stuck in sizing dies without completely coating them in layers of lubricant. Getting them unstuck requires the purchase of yet more gear. It is also easy to spill powder all over this new press necessitating it being taken apart and cleaned off lest all that powder find its way into the moving parts. No step in this long frustrating process of getting everything where it will function smoothly is fun. Even when it is all adjusted problems come up such as a spent primer that will not come out or another new one that will not seat in an out of spec case.
This is all after one has spent untold hours crawling around on the ground looking for brass, sorting it, cleaning, measuring, trimming, and deburring it.
Most people live where it is a fairly long drive to get to an outdoor range. For me this looks like I am moving out of the house. Being an Eagle Scout, preparedness and contingency planning are a way of life. And leaving guns behind is like choosing between children. Now it is time to test out these new reloads. This is where one finds out that the handy bullet recipe found online did not have enough powder to cycle an AR-15, or that your pistol bullets have too much and you wonder if your Glock may detonate in your hand. Cases get stuck in chambers from being out of spec just slightly so you have to keep a hammer and cleaning rod with you to knock them out. You forgot one of those? Your day of testing this ammo is now done. You may find that the neck tension on your brass is not right, and your bullet is seated too far. This will fill your chamber and action with powder and leave a bullet stuck in the barrel. One may find that a primer was forgotten and powder slowly leaked out all over every other bullet (they are covered in that grease from sizing remember) in ones ammo can. Or it is easy to forget the powder in one especially if you are loading on a progressive and cant check every case, and the primer bumps the bullet into the barrel. Again, hope that you catch that before the next round goes in.
It does not matter how good of a reloader one thinks they are or will be, mistakes are going to happen, and they go from being annoying and causing malfunctions, to completely ruining ones day. Some people say that reloading is good for when there are shortages of ammo or in the case of SHTF. Know this; during good times it is hard to find the exact primer, powder, and bullet combination one wants. At worst ones favorite powder will go from $60 per 8 pound keg at the local gun store to only being able to find it on an auction site for $480 with another $60 for haz-mat and handling fees. Also, in the event of SHTF, I want a stockpile of factory loaded ammo, not a mismatched box of brass that may or may not function in a gun I am depending on to save my life.
Ask any shooting school their opinion on reloads and they will tell you not to bring it because malfunctions cause endless distractions to the class.
Shooting a bolt gun or revolver from a bench is one thing, but shooting and moving with a semi auto sends bullets flying over a huge area. Again, crawling around on the ground for brass is not fun at any age, and if it is grass, this job just got four times harder.
Even with all of these reasons not to reload, the cost savings are sometimes breaking even with components alone verses the cost of factory ammo. And how much exactly is ones time worth?
The solution to all of this headache is to go on ammoseek.com, purchase a bulk quantity of one kind of quality ammo, and enjoy shooting. I guarantee you will be a happier human being.
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