Simple question for ya!

[E.C. West]

I am going to buy a reloading press kit. I have been looking and learning about the reloaders and which one will fit my needs.

The question I have is: Do the reloading manuals list powers and the amount of powder to reload with that is what you get when you buy factory loads? I have always used Remington ammo and it works well for me. I don't want to take time to try different loads and powders right off the bat. A factory load recipe will be good at first until I get more accustomed to reloading and then may try experimenting.

 

[pvtschultz]

You'll not get any factory load information. There's plenty of info out there for good reloads, and many standby loads as well. Once you get ready to crank out your own, ask around here for a good load suggestion for your combination and you'll get plenty of good suggestions.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Loading manuals will give you the muzzle velocity for a specific bullet and a specific powder charge. Many of these will approximate the published velocity of factory ammo with the same bullets.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

What you're gonna learn is "simple" is really pretty complicated when it comes to recipe data.

I'll try not to be typically long winded:

The factories load "custom" powder blends we can't get as consumers, even if they're based on those we can get. They buy their stuff by the carload, test, possibly blend, and develop their loads so they attain a given ballistic performance level. Each lot's different as to the blend and charge, but the ballistics are consistent.

As consumers, we get powders blended so they vary as little as practical from lot to lot. We don't have the big labs to test stuff, so the mfrs help keep us "out of trouble" by minimizing the variables.

Best way to "duplicate" factory ammo involves a chronograph and YOUR gun. Get your favorite factory load, and run a few (5-10 is usually satisfactory) and record the results. Get the average velocity and use it as a starting point. At this point you've got $100 or so invested in a basic chrono, plus whatever the ammo cost you...

Now, look thru your loading manuals (you want as many as you can get your hands on if possible, but start w/ two or three at the least) and look for loads that duplicate what your factory velocity produced.

You'll find looking thru the books that SOME loads show up in most of them--maybe a couple of tenths of a grain different, or w/ different brass or powder. When you see that occur, it's an indication this is probably a "good" load for most everybody. It's NOT an indication of what a particular gun will do w/ it! So don't be surprised if Load A says "1200 fps" but you get 1125 on average from one gun. Next gun you test might turn in 1225!

Load a couple of the recipes up, get out the chrono and YOUR gun again, and go test...

It's a process!

Once you've been able to MATCH the factory velocity and accuracy levels in YOUR gun (I keep saying that cuz each one's gonna behave differently), then you can work toward making "better" ammo as you define it for yourself: faster, slower, more accurate, cheaper, whatever...

There's lots more to it, but I promised not to babble too much...

Rick c

 

[GP100man]

E.C. West

A BIG WELCOMETO RUGER FORUM.com !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rick Summed it up `bout as short as anybody could without a blunt short answer !

I`m in the autumn of my life & barn burner loads just don`t excite me like they used to as a matter of fact they hurt hands , elbows , & now shoulder !!!
So I load to 1100-1200 fps & I`m happy I have a supply of alloys that will handle it when Molded with out alot of additions.

If ya can find a mentor , if not read alot & ask questions no matter how trivial they may seem!!!!

I`m in the corner of nc. next to myrtle beach if that`s any help !!

 

[Olsherm]

There are books that give you the "published" velocity of certain calibers,like how many feet per second FPS ect. Then you can look in a reloading manual and find a recipe of bullet and powder that gives that approximate velocity and "wala" you are awful close to a factory load without the chronograph. However you would not be sure it was exactly the same a your factory but be close. I have a manual that gives the factory velocity for almost all calibers. At least that is one way of doing it if you do not have the chronograph. I have done it before. Find your Remington bullet type listed in a manual and then find the powder charge listed for that bullet that comes closest to the factory velocity FPS Hope this helps.

 

[Pal Val]

I have done quite a bit of trial and error in duplicating certain factory loads that have worked well for me. In the process, I almost always end up sticking with some combination that shoots better than the factory load in the particular gun. This seems to me why reloading has never lost popularity. Tailoring the load for the particular gun is very satisfying.

This is particularly true when reloading for handguns.

 

[E.C. West]

Thanks ya'll for the info.

I do have a chronograph. I use it all the time with my arrows. I spend a lot of time building arrows, tweeking the bow and using the chrono to find the fastest combination. Now I reckon I will spend less time with the bow/arrow tweeking and use it with ammo tweeking.

 

[maxpress]

my suggestion would be to buy a caliber specific reloading book that has all the load data for that caliber. that will give you the most data to replicate your favorite load.

example http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?p ... ber=786060