Reloading for hunting ,my reasons

I do all my hunting with reloads & Cast Bullets for most of my largest cals .303brit ,30-30 ,45-70 & the dimutive .310 cadet ! By seer volume I have as a Pro Shooter always had to reload,with the exception of many moons ago when I first started shooting Water Buff (WE used .303 Brit exmil 215 rn solids supplied by our Boss ) Even now that I'm semi retired I still like the thought of having control over what is going to happen when I squeeze the trigger !Rather than rely on a automated machine pumping out millions of rounds a week !There is also the advantage of tailoring your loads to suit a given situation ie settled areas or wide open spaces !

Dave

The 30-30 is the only rifle that i've taken a deer with factory ammo, all the others have been reloads 270, 7mm, 7.7-58, and 8mm

The only factory ammo I have shot is usually when I acquire a new gun after that it is reloads. I just love to load those little bouggers and have the self satisfaction of them going bang.
Started reloading at about 14 with my father, we had to do it back then if we wanted to shoot. I really laugh to myself when I read on some of these websites of what you can and can't do, that won't work for you or you are really pushing the envelope if you do that. My father would try just about anything but he would never ever use to much powder, I guess I wasn't born yet when he tried that out.
We shot cut up nails in shotguns in the late sixties and that was before steel shot and the shotgun is still around and still functional.
Believe it or not you can rebuild your primers something I haven't seen done since dad died but it can be done. thank Ken.

Kodiak1,
WECOME TO THE FORUM!!!

The ONLY time that I EVER use factory ammo is if it is in a shot gun or 22 L.R., or if it is given to me. I have NEVER bought factory ammo for something that I can reload. I use cast boolit hand loads in the 22 hornet, 223, 30/30, 35 Remington, 45/70, 303 brit and everything else that I load for. I have thought about getting a military ammo can of 223, but the price turned me around. One reason that I do not use factory ammo is that it is expensive, and if I let dad win target shoots every once in awile, he gives me all of the componets for reloading. And I do not trust factory ammo for every day hunting, because I do not know what goes in to them, and I do know what goes into my handloads.
DANIEL/BS JR.

Aprt from a 100 3006 rounds that I bought in my 20s (I'm 58 now) I can't remember buying any factory stuff since. I have picked up a bit here and there in trades, but the rest I reloaded.

As far as the quality goes, you would be hard pressed to improve on it, but it is more satisfying, thats for sure.

I picked up a Weatherby 240 Mag recently with a lot of factory ammo, that dates back to 1972 when the rifle was first bought. I have shot a bit of it and it is excellent stuff, but it occurs to me that I probably should sell it as collectible and use the 100 odd brass that I also got with it.

Except in my Carry guns (Sig P220 and 380 Auto) I shoot nothing but hand loads. Haven't shot an animal (except for some birds) with a factory load in my life.
krag35

What's a factory load? I didn't know factories made ammo. Or maybe I've just been making my own for so long I didn't know there was any other kind.

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Originally Posted by lovedogs

What's a factory load? I didn't know factories made ammo. Or maybe I've just been making my own for so long I didn't know there was any other kind.

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I've been told by almost reliable sources that there is a section of the shooting community who are Filthy rich & their Ammo comes from a Factory somewhere ! I always thought it was the Tooth Fairy that left all those once fired cases up at our range for me to pick up !

Dave

NAAAAAHHHH ! You guys are pulling my leg... You cannot hunt with reloads..., it doesn't work.... I red that in several gun magazines....

They were some filthies at the range I was last year; they would buy their reloads at some gunshop and snob ours.... the best i could understand was that They didn't pick their filthy brass after shooting... a world of difference :???:

kg

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Originally Posted by kg42

NAAAAAHHHH ! You guys are pulling my leg... You cannot hunt with reloads..., it doesn't work.... I red that in several gun magazines....

They were some filthies at the range I was last year; they would buy their reloads at some gunshop and snob ours.... the best i could understand was that They didn't pick their filthy brass after shooting... a world of difference :???:

kg

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Bugger Ya!!!! kg ! Ya a wake up to us ! I was forgeting ya can read![smilie=b: Damn them Gun mag Experts ! they catch us out every tme !

As for those guys with the Fiffties ! You should be happy that they took it upon themselves to bless your range with a visit (nothing like seeing how the other half live :-? ......We get em on our Range all the time ....strangely enough they never seem to come back ? )

As for that Filthy Brass ! I understand where their comming from ! (I personaly have a slave who picks up mine ! One does not like to appear common[smilie=l: )

Dave ( esq)

Hell I shoot my reloads until the cases split. Course I have a little guy running around picking up my brass, turns out he is the smae guy who is doing the shooting.....

Stay Safe

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Originally Posted by Canuck44

Hell I shoot my reloads until the cases split. Course I have a little guy running around picking up my brass, turns out he is the smae guy who is doing the shooting.....

Stay Safe

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Jeez ! Do'nt you just hate it when you've had cases for so long that,you (a) know them by name & (B) you can identify them in the dark on a moonless night by touch alone ? & then they go & split on ya! Being a PH I have to have a slave /Gun barer (One has a image to keep up ) Problem is my Slave is a certain 12yr old step son ! Who takes great pleasure out of letting all & sundry Know if I stuff up a shot :cry:

Dave

Talking about cases, was sorting through my range pick ups this morning and I got 20 7MM STW cases. Had grabed a rem box out'of the dumpster while looking for a pistol target. I thought they were just 7mm mags.

Almost time to cash in. I think case brass is going for .80c a lb. Think i got enough for a mauser.

Got home from shooting yesterday and was sorting through my cases before I send them to the tumbler and found four splits and one case mouth crack. I swear two of them you could not read the letters on the base of the case and the other three case's rims looked like a pick-up truck that had been left out in a hail storm. Oh well at this rate the 2,000 cases I bought on Ebay will last me well into the next century, a date I don't expect to make...156 naw not likely.

Stay Safe

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Originally Posted by krag35

Except in my Carry guns (Sig P220 and 380 Auto) I shoot nothing but hand loads. Haven't shot an animal (except for some birds) with a factory load in my life.
krag35

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krag i will tellyou why ALLmy carry ammo is reloads
a looong ago when i was in USAF ( SAC)i was a coach for the pistol team we recived some police severice ammo what the cops carry on the streets
at 25 yards the 38 specals bounce off cardboard it must haved been loaded on friday but it bounced right then and there i made up my mind if i had to depend on it i would reload it myself and check it over and overi have never had a round
not to fire (except my muzzlleloader flintlock )so i say if ytou have to depend on it load your selve


tom

how many times do you think i can fire a 338 win mag before its un safe, just getting into reloading, ps years ago my ignorant uncle gave me some 30 -30 reloads these bombs would go half way in the chamber and thats it , was he not resizing them ?
even at 12 yrs old i through these bullets away, at the time i thought he stuffed a ton extra powder in to make them swell like that.. excited to learn more thanks owen

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NAAAAAHHHH ! You guys are pulling my leg... You cannot hunt with reloads..., it doesn't work.... I read that in several gun magazines....

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Yup, and if you shoot reloads in a 30-30 then you really can't kill anything. Hmmm, I wonder if those hogs I've been eating just happened to have fatal heart attacks as I fired? Yeah, that must be what's happening.

How could we ever get along without experts?

Hi bigo,
It's interesting that you would be asking about .338's. There's a guy at my club shoots one for pleasure, about ten rounds at a time, always Rem factory stuff. I have some of the brass sitting in my extras box and was just looking at it yesterday.

Belted magnums are kind of a world unto themselves as far as reloading them goes. If you are thinking about light target loads or cast bullets, if you necksized your brass, you might get twenty or more reloads from a lot of cases. BUT, and it is a big one, in the real world, they can be a royal PITA to load for. Some are not, though, and they can behave just like regular rifles if you get a lucky one.
For serious hunting/dangerous game loads, they need to be Full Length sized (because any feeding problems can possibly be fatal). Fl sizing, depending on how tight the chamber dimensions are and how closely those dimensions match those of your sizing die can work harden the brass very quickly, requiring anealing often (sometimes every other firing) and limiting brass life significantly. The high pressures tend to make the brass flow more that it would in a smaller chamber/lighter pressure situation, and that means they might require more frequent trimming. This tends to thin the brass of the case body just above the case web and leaves the area weakened, increasing likelihood of a head separation. Again, an unacceptable situation in a dangerous game rifle.
So, if you are going to hunt something that will hunt you, make up handloads with brand new brass and premium bullets. If you are part of the 99.99% of the rest of us who won't and don't, look at it as you would any rifle new to you: a puzzle to work out. Only by actually doing it can you find how your rifle is going to behave and what kind of brass life you are going to get. Some magnum shooters are lucky to get two or three loadings from a case with hot loads. In big magnums, milder loads always put less stress on brass (and on shooters) and ought to give you better case life, especially if you can get away with neck sizing. Some rifles require FL sizing for good feeding, and some even require Small Base sizing (and I don't even want to speculate on how much a custom SB die would cost). A lot of magnum owners really enjoy shooting light cast loads for much less wear and tear on both barrel and shooter.

And yes, it sounds like your uncle used a Lee loader (a neck sizing only tool) on the rounds he gave you. Neck sized brass is always only to be used in the same rifle. It was probably an older one with a fatter, worn chamber.

Sometimes I buy bullets and brass, but factory loads?

Haven't
you taught your neighborhood kids how to go to the mall parking lots and "find" wheelweights?

LOL...good one Bama

I shoot NOTHING but hand loads. excrped for 22lr. I reload for evrything, Pistol,Rifle,Shot gun, exc....

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Originally Posted by versifier

Hi bigo,
It's interesting that you would be asking about .338's. There's a guy at my club shoots one for pleasure, about ten rounds at a time, always Rem factory stuff. I have some of the brass sitting in my extras box and was just looking at it yesterday.

Belted magnums are kind of a world unto themselves as far as reloading them goes. If you are thinking about light target loads or cast bullets, if you necksized your brass, you might get twenty or more reloads from a lot of cases. BUT, and it is a big one, in the real world, they can be a royal PITA to load for. Some are not, though, and they can behave just like regular rifles if you get a lucky one.
For serious hunting/dangerous game loads, they need to be Full Length sized (because any feeding problems can possibly be fatal). Fl sizing, depending on how tight the chamber dimensions are and how closely those dimensions match those of your sizing die can work harden the brass very quickly, requiring anealing often (sometimes every other firing) and limiting brass life significantly. The high pressures tend to make the brass flow more that it would in a smaller chamber/lighter pressure situation, and that means they might require more frequent trimming. This tends to thin the brass of the case body just above the case web and leaves the area weakened, increasing likelihood of a head separation. Again, an unacceptable situation in a dangerous game rifle.
So, if you are going to hunt something that will hunt you, make up handloads with brand new brass and premium bullets. If you are part of the 99.99% of the rest of us who won't and don't, look at it as you would any rifle new to you: a puzzle to work out. Only by actually doing it can you find how your rifle is going to behave and what kind of brass life you are going to get. Some magnum shooters are lucky to get two or three loadings from a case with hot loads. In big magnums, milder loads always put less stress on brass (and on shooters) and ought to give you better case life, especially if you can get away with neck sizing. Some rifles require FL sizing for good feeding, and some even require Small Base sizing (and I don't even want to speculate on how much a custom SB die would cost). A lot of magnum owners really enjoy shooting light cast loads for much less wear and tear on both barrel and shooter.

And yes, it sounds like your uncle used a Lee loader (a neck sizing only tool) on the rounds he gave you. Neck sized brass is always only to be used in the same rifle. It was probably an older one with a fatter, worn chamber.

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I must add that Innovative Technologies makes a die that resizes the case just above the belt for belted mag cases. The web site is www.larrywillis.com There you can find lots of info for this great tool. I believe all brass built on the 375 H&H base is capable of being resized with this die.

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Originally Posted by Bama

Sometimes I buy bullets and brass, but factory loads?

Haven't
you taught your neighborhood kids how to go to the mall parking lots and "find" wheelweights?

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ROTFLMAO!http://smileys.on-my-web.com/reposit...ng/lol-044.gif

The only factory stuff my guns see is what I have been given or traded for. I have even reloaded for a few friends that do not like the usual stuff they find on the store shelves or feel that it is too expensive.

Can't remember the last time I fired a center fire factory rifle or hand gun load. Shoot a lot of cast, and truely enjoy reloading. There is a great deal of satisfaction out of loading and tailoring your load to your specific needs. On top of that, can't afford factory ammo, and wouldn't buy it if I could. Exception is shotgun which doesn't much interest me.
1Shirt!:coffee:

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Yup, and if you shoot reloads in a 30-30 then you really can't kill anything.

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Oh oh, you mean to say I've been cutting up and eating live hogs? You'd think they would have squealed or something!!!

I reload all of my hunting loads, because every bullet is just like the others. Very consistant grouping.

And of course, we all know that our factory warranties are null and void if we shoot handloads. Especially those with home cast bullets![smilie=s:

I started reloading so I could shoot more and develop some level of proficiency with my guns. Since hunting is all about shot placement, it makes sense to me that I should hunt with what I practice with.
GH1

The last time I made a big buy of factory ammo was when a K-Mart shut down because the Walmart next door was outselling them. I went to their liquidation sale and bout 27 boxes of Winchester 30-30 ammo for $4.00 a box, 7 boxes of .Winchester .308 ammo for $5.00 a box and 9 boxes of 30-06 for $6.00 a box. I couldn't handload them for those prices.
hese days, the only time I buy a box of factory ammo is if I buy a new rifle, even if it's in a aliber I already own, I use the box of factory to do pressure ring expansion and case head exxpansion measurements. Then I do a load work up to find out what is max in the new rifle. Most of the time my already determined pet loads work just fine but sometimes what works in one rifle is way too hot in another. A load with the 140 gr. Nosler ballistic tip that is just fine in my Model 70 Featherweight will lock up the bolt on my custom FN Mauser. Two cartridges I will buy factory amo for are my 7x57 mauser (for the custom rifle) and my custom .35 Whelen. I prefer the Winchester 145 gr. Power Points for the Mauser and while 200 gr. loads for the Whelen are easy to find, the gun stores around here don't seem to have, or maybe keep on the shelves the 250 gr. load for the Whelen. No matter as I hand load for that rifle anyway. If push comes to shove, I can always convert 30-06 brass to feed that rifle.
Paul B.