Back in the saddle again, the reloading saddle

I started with a Lee Breach press (Nut cracker) 35 years ago and have several presses and a great deal of other equipment now. Pistols for me are 9 mil and 45 ACP, I have a .380 Colt Pony but I oiled it and put it away long ago, I hate loading .380 stuff. Most of my reloading is for long guns which I have a number of those children :) .... I just bought 2 pounds of powder for .223 and 1 pound for my .30 carbine at 30 bucks a pound, ouch and I have been stocking up on primers at 80 bucks/1000, large pistol is the primers I seem to have difficulty locating. I know a gentleman who cast bullets, powder coats them and puts an aluminum gas check on them, he's been selling those to me at 11 cents each for pistol and the .30 carbine and 30-30 Lead mix is hardball, I have been threatening to start casting my own and he has coached me along on what I need and how to get there.

I have been getting a reasonable price of unsorted range brass from "Capitol Brass" for the pistols and "Diamond Brass" for rifles, If any of you guys have found a better place, I am always looking for good spots to get reasonable brass....

Sorry to ramble, its one of those days....
 
verbotenwhisky said:
I started with a Lee Breach press (Nut cracker) 35 years ago and have several presses and a great deal of other equipment now. Pistols for me are 9 mil and 45 ACP, I have a .380 Colt Pony but I oiled it and put it away long ago, I hate loading .380 stuff. Most of my reloading is for long guns which I have a number of those children :) .... I just bought 2 pounds of powder for .223 and 1 pound for my .30 carbine at 30 bucks a pound, ouch and I have been stocking up on primers at 80 bucks/1000, large pistol is the primers I seem to have difficulty locating. I know a gentleman who cast bullets, powder coats them and puts an aluminum gas check on them, he's been selling those to me at 11 cents each for pistol and the .30 carbine and 30-30 Lead mix is hardball, I have been threatening to start casting my own and he has coached me along on what I need and how to get there.

I have been getting a reasonable price of unsorted range brass from "Capitol Brass" for the pistols and "Diamond Brass" for rifles, If any of you guys have found a better place, I am always looking for good spots to get reasonable brass....

Sorry to ramble, its one of those days....
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I miss my 1911! There is nothing better than the clean crisp break of a tuned 1911 trigger. No creep, just pressure.
I think I'm going to buy a new Sig or Kimber or Springfield 1911 -45acp before too long. Dies and brass.... to follow.
 
I have bought brass from all over the country, but I now just use Precision Brass in Moses Lake, WA. It's police brass, so lots of Speer cases from their big department contracts. Speer has a tight primer pocket, so I run every pistol case and .223 I get through a de-swage die once. That adds time, but I get zero malfunctions if I take the extra step.

I saw a lot of people ditch their Rock Chuckers and upgrade, so I skipped that part and went straight to a Redding Big Boss press (single stage). I load pistol on a Dillon Square Deal B. It's simple and quick. No no accumulation of presses here, just buy once-cry once.

@Janderso, now that you are investing in reloading for the second time (sorry, never had a fire, just thieves that were equally thorough), did you make different purchases based on your previous experience? Are you doing anything differently starting over with new kitting?
 
Janderso said:
I miss my 1911! There is nothing better than the clean crisp break of a tuned 1911 trigger. No creep, just pressure.
I think I'm going to buy a new Sig or Kimber or Springfield 1911 -45acp before too long. Dies and brass.... to follow.
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I would love to find an original 1911, I am very partial to the older guns. My 45 is a Springfield XD, large frame, which I like, it is a nice gun for a modern style.
 
I would say 75% of my shooting is with air guns down in my basement, another 20% is .22 rimfire, with the final 5% being centerfire. I mostly shoot single shots, and only reload the odd balls that are unavailable: .303Epps, and 12 gauge 2-1/2" black powder. A Lee loader keeps the first one going. while an old fashioned roll crimper set-up takes care of the second.

The whole process keeps me going, cheaply.
 
pontiac428 said:
I saw a lot of people ditch their Rock Chuckers and upgrade, so I skipped that part and went straight to a Redding Big Boss press (single stage). I load pistol on a Dillon Square Deal B. It's simple and quick. No no accumulation of presses here, just buy once-cry once.
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You saw a lot of people make a big mistake...

Of the dozens of presses I've had, I've never considered getting rid of the Rock Chucker. I have a Dillon 1050 dedicated to .45, and a '650 for 9mm, .40, .223, and .308. But I go to the single stages when I want precision. I have a Hollywood turret for loading .50 BMG and a Dillon SL900 for shotgun. My go-to presses for stuff I'm not going to be deeply invested in are Co-Ax - one old enough to be a 'Bonanza' and the newer one a Forster. I have a half-dozen Rock Chuckers (they've changed a bit over the years, but still one of the best single-stage presses you can get) because at one point I thought that I might achieve some accuracy advantage by never changing a die out. (Might be true, but results seem negligible).

Along the way I bought and discarded a Lyman T-mag II (not rigid enough for much), a Redding T-7 (not enough clearance for match dies), an RCBS 'Green Machine' (kinda regret getting rid of it, but just not as fast or reliable as the Dillons), an Ammomaster (replaced by the Hollywood turret), and probably a few I'm forgetting.

I bought well throughout, imo, but there's almost always something better or faster and you have to tailor things to your needs. I haven't been through two dozen presses because I chose poorly, or bought cheaply. I've been through two dozen presses because my needs have changed over time and for some loading a single stage just won't do, and for other loadings you're chasing peak accuracy, and then you need something that will work for all those random, weird cartridges that you use. If you only load one or two calibers in modest quantities I can see how any quality single stage would meet your needs, but for an avid reloader there is no such thing as "buy once...".

GsT
 
verbotenwhisky said:
I would love to find an original 1911, I am very partial to the older guns. My 45 is a Springfield XD, large frame, which I like, it is a nice gun for a modern style.
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I lost an XD 45 in the fire. I liked that pistol! It was accurate and fit my hand well.
 
XDs were all the rage in the earliest years of the 2000s. A lot has happened in the industry since then, most notably Sig re-inventing itself and the Glock action patent expiring. There are literally hundreds of new designs out there. It's an interesting time in pistols, particularly carry pistols and compact designs. I don't think I've seen anyone shoot an XD in IDPA matches (where you would expect to due to the nature of the organization) for many years. I think they apexed with their exposed hammer XD-E, though putting exposed hammers on polymer guns is how you make a nice action feel spongy. Jeff, I bet you'd like the 2011 series. They're double stack 1911s and come in every flavor from 45 ACP, 10mm, 38 Super, and the most popular 9mm. New players came into the industry to kick companies like Kimber to the curb. Actually, Kimber has a super strong following, but nobody competes with them unless they're supplying guns and parts for free. But a whole new breed of 1911 variants are out there. Dan Wesson was bought by CZ, they're making a hybrid with the ergonomic and awesome CZ lower with a 1911 type slide that takes spec parts.

In the last 20 years, the gun industry has grown astronomically. I thought I knew a lot about guns, but there's so much new tech out there that I've become a mere keeper of outdated knowledge. Everything is a rabbithole, and they go deeper than ever.
 
The hard-to-find calibers are a great excuse to reload. I have 32 special and 35 Remington to feed. Got everything to load some 30-40 Krag for a buddy. We have been looking for him some factory ammo for about 2 years.
 
Designs have changed at a pace too fast for me to keep up with as well. Probably why I always tell people I like the older stuff, because I'm ignorant of the new. I tend to like the older cartridges as well. They have endured the scrutiny of one of the most opinionated and unforgiving pastimes I know of.
 
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