Robin Sharpless - Handbook of Reloading Basics

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The practice of reloading ammunition has taken on explosive, almost unimaginable popularity in recent times. The reasons for this are several. The current political climate and the push for ever-tightening firearm and ammunition regulations has gun owners on the defensive. The mindset of buy it before they take it away has become commonplace among shooters of all walks, from weekend recreational and one-gun self-defense practitioners to serious competition shooters and avid hunters. The current state of the firearms industry is also spawning new shooters every day, with those who either didnt have a position on gun ownership before or who were on the fence now opening their minds and wallets and exploring all that the shooting sports has to offer.

In line with record-breaking gun sales across the country, ammunitionor the lack thereofhas been the hot topic for much of the last couple years. Retail stores were sold out for months at a time of everything from .22 LR to .30-06 to shotshells of all sizes, with reports of hoarding by many. Some sellers placed limits on ammunition buystwo boxes, five boxeshoping to expand their customer base. At the same time, factory ammunition makers went into full swing, pumping out fresh rounds as fast as possible, but when store shelves remained empty for legions of shooter, they swarmed to reloading.

The numbers of consumers new to reloading is staggeringand exciting! And thats why weve assembled this book. Weve all been in those shoes. Youre faced with a complicated set of tools, tools that often dont look like theyll do what they do, and that leaves many new to the practice intimidated. Which type of press is best? How do I make it work once I have it? What components do I need to put my ammo together, and will my ammo look as good as the factory? These and other questions can stop the new reloader before they start.

Thats why weve put together Handbook of Reloading Basics. Intended not just to get you started, but also to become a volume you keep as a practical and handy reference on your reloading bench or in your range bag, authors Robin Sharpless and Rick Sapp cover all those first questions the new reloader has and more. Indeed, weve covered both metallic cartridge and shotshell reloading, with advice on press and accessory buys, component necessities, and step by step instructions for your first time at the press. Youll also find a reference section full of reloading and component suppliers, and these are the experts youll turn to for advice on specific powders, extra tools that streamline the reloading process, and the specialty equipment that can take your accuracy and shooting to new levels.

Whether youre a homeowner who keeps just a simple 9mm handgun by the beside for home-defense, a hunter who enjoys the challenge of extending your range, or a weekend skeet or sporting clays shooter who wants to start competing and sees the value in saving money by reloading, Handbook of Reloading Basics has something for everyone. Enjoyyouve just embarked on one of the most interesting aspects of shooting.

Metallic cartridge reloading is a marriage of the process and techniques used to recycle a previously fired brass cartridge case for reuse as a newly loaded round of ammunition. The goal is to produce a round consistent with the original form and function of the factory round from which it was derived. The process prepares the case for reuse by cleaning, resizing to a factory specification, and finishing with the replacement of the components that have been either consumed or discharged from the firearm in the firing process. The terms reloading and handloading are often used interchangeably, but reloading truly differs from the conceptual process of handloading, which is performed to produce a custom cartridge configuration generally not available in a factory-supplied cartridge. Factory ammunition, for the purposes of this discussion, is that produced in the U.S. by members of SAAMI, the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Association. SAAMI is the governing body of U.S. firearms and ammunition makers and sets the standards adopted and used by ANSI, the American National Standards Institute.

Reloaded cartridges made to SAAMI specs.

Reloading today is now thankfully beyond this massive portable shotshell reloading setup (seen here back in the day at the Hornady plant), and the handloading of blackpowder firearms. Weve come a long way, baby!

In this text, well discuss the basic principles and specific steps required to reload metallic cartridge cases in both bottleneck and straight-wall cases. Generally, these two are considered as rifle and pistol cases, respectively, but there are straight-wall rifle rounds and bottleneck pistol or revolver cartridges (an exception to every rule). In the end, you will have a basic understanding of the needed concepts and safety protocols to build good quality ammunition for use in your centerfire metallic cartridge firearms at a fraction of the cost of buying newly produced factory ammunition.

This first section of Handbook of Reloading Basics strives to give the beginning reloader or the individual considering getting into the hobby of reloading a fundamental understanding of the tools, processes, techniques, and safety practices necessary to produce accurate, safe, and reliable ammunition for both rifles and handguns. This book is highly illustrative in nature, allowing for a visual understanding of reloading thats supported by the written component. It strives to present a complete but basic understanding of this exciting, enjoyable, and money-saving addition to the sport shooters hobby.

There are four parts to the basic centerfire metallic cartridge case, whether handgun or rifle (rimfire cases are generally considered to be non-reloadable, as the reloading practices for such cartridges require advanced ballistics knowledge and component handling). The parts to a centerfire metallic cartridge case are the case (usually brass, but sometimes other materials), the primer, the powder, and the bullet. Im going to walk you through each of these components in more detail in a bit, but before we jump right in, I think its a good idea to take a step back and look at what goes on in a loaded cartridge when your guns firing pin strikes the primer.

When we pull the trigger, a spring in your gunthis can be a flat spring, a V spring, or a coil spring, doesnt matter which, all you need to know for the purposes of this discussion is that the spring provides the energy needed to fire your loaded cartridgepowers a hammer or a striker to impact the rear of your guns firing pin, whose sole purpose is to put a dent in the center of the primer, which is housed in the center of the base of your brass case. The dent, coming from the firing pin striking the metal side of the primer, creates the pressure needed to ignite the priming mixture. This creates a jet of flame that travels around the anvil and moves forward through a central flash hole at the bottom of the primer cup (contained inside the cartridge case head) and begins the process of igniting the powder charge.