Reloading

[huntershortmag]

I hope someone out there can tell me if there is a course or something on reloading or is the manual easy to figure out. I have never done any reloading before. I am tired of factory ammo and mediocre grouping.

[deepfried]

get a few manuals and read the crap out of them , and some research on the internet .... do your research that way and some pointers from people who have been doing it awhile. I wouldn't say "easy" with the manuals but it gives you step by step instructions that must be followed. I got into reloading in the spring and lernt it through the manuals.

[Gonehuntin']

Buy a couple of manuals from any of the major bullet/powder manufacturers whose products you may want to use, and spend some serious time reading. It'll be worth your while.

[KegRiver]

I have been reloading for over twenty years.

As the others said, get a reloading manual or several, most of the bullet manufactures and so far as i know, all the powder manufactures publish their own version.
Most have websites where one can order their manuals. There are also reloaders groups and reloaders websites.
You could try; hornady.com , sierrabullets.com , lymanproducts.com or any of the others out there.

Another very good source of reloading information is reloadbench.com

Now. I didn't find learning reloading hard at all. Quite easy in fact.
But.

Absolutely, read ALL the instructions, and ALL the precautions, and FOLLOW them to THE LETTER. Done according to instruction, reloading is quite safe.
IGNORE THE RULES AND YOU COULD DIE.

Yes I AM TRYING to scare you. It could save your eyes, your fingers or even your life.

In conclusion. I have found reloading to be a safe and enjoyable hobby with many side benefits.

Cheaper ammunition with all but the most common loads, some of which can be cheaper then handloading.

More flexibility, you can load bullets that the factory can't sell enough of to be worth their while to make.

More accurate ammunition. With some care, much more accurate ammo can be handloaded. There are a number of reasons for this I won't go into here.

Learning. You will have a better understanding of your ammo and your gun and how it all works. Which will most likely make you a better shooter.

But not always. LOL Yup, I'm no better then before. Oh well.

Let's see, what did I forget to say ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, nope, can't think of anything.

[Dean2]

P&D in Edmonton offers reloading courses. Learnming from a manual works, havign someone show you first hand and walk you through it is WAY better.

[SHORTMAG]

Originally Posted by Dean2

P&D in Edmonton offers reloading courses. Learnming from a manual works, havign someone show you first hand and walk you through it is WAY better.

X2....Deans right!!...The manuals are a MUST HAVE...several of them, if you can, as they are usually bullet specific and that way, you can compare notes...but sitting down for a few evenings with a large coffee...and someone who does it is wayyyyy "more gooder"

[twofifty]

imo what's 'way best goodest' is to study the manual(s) AND sit down with an experienced reloader who can demonstrate then watch as you give it a whirl.

Learn by reading, by seeing, by doing.

[solocam3]

AHEIA also puts on course for this.

[32-40win]

I think one of the more important things to learn before starting is possibly what to buy that saves time, money and what not to waste money on.
Ie; Rcbs, Lyman and Bonanza all make primer pocket brushes, use them instead of the little tin cleaning tools. A flash hole uniformer is a good tool. have to be a little careful with it, but, it makes a difference. I believe that the RCBS chamfering tool is the best of them. it is large enough to hold on to easily and does a nice job. An electronic scale is nice to use--but, have a beam scale around to check it with once in a while.
A set of Lee powder dippers is easier to work than a trickler. If you want a powder measure/thrower. buy the Redding Benchrest. However, throwers don't work well with long grained powders, they work very well with ball powders and short grained powders and not too bad with most flake powders.
You will hear a million opinions on dies, they all work, personally I spent the extra to have benchrest seating dies and I have neck sizing only dies for all bolt action calibres that I own.
I also like the Lee Auto-prime hand primer tool, RCBS makes a version of it also, never tried it yet though. Very nice to feel how the primers seat, can feel loosening pockets very easily with it.
If you want a bullet puller, buy the collet style, they are much less trouble to use than the hammer type ones, and safer.

[KegRiver]

Very good idea 32-40win.

I load for hunting, for me precision is not required. Decent accuracy is more then enough, so for me the cheaper tools are all I need. With some exceptions.
I would not cheap out on a case trimmer again. The overall price of the better ones is not that much and the one I have is a pain to use.
It does the job just fine. But it's a bother to set up for each different caliber.
Lee case preparation tools in general have not worked out well for me. They do the job, but that's all I can say for them.

With everything else, I have not found where paying top dollar made any sense for me. All the brands and models I have bought have worked well enough. I have only replace one tool with a better model in 20+ years of reloading.
I replaced my LeeLoader. It still works as good as it ever did. But one hour per loaded cartridge was too slow for me.
The rest of the Lee lineup are welcome on my bench any time.