Reloading costs

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alamo5000
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Re: Reloading costs

Post by alamo5000 »

I should also add in there if it's raining cats and dogs and there is nothing on TV worth watching and you want something to do, hey, go resize and deprime some brass, or something similar.

In my personal opinion it's not measured purely in how many rounds vs how much time... but also in the notion of having something productive to do that gets my mind off of other things.

It's sort of like playing penny slot machines. You might take 2 hours to play slots and spend $5, but the point is you were out having a good time for 2 hours and it only cost you $5.
300blk_kid
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Re: Reloading costs

Post by 300blk_kid »

If I do venture into doing it, i'll be looking to automate some of the tasks, like annealing and sizing.
I am interested in casting, but again, looking to automate that process.

Has anyone ever seen cold forge press for making a bullet?
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plant.one
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Re: Reloading costs

Post by plant.one »

if you're looking for a relatively budget minded annealer make sure you look at the Annealeeze.

i picked one up and did a review on it a while back. great tool for the $

viewtopic.php?f=141&t=97607

hth
Reloading info shared is based on experiences w/ my guns. Be safe and work up your loads from published data. Web data may not be accurate/safe.
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blaster
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Re: Reloading costs

Post by blaster »

why are you so set on thinking you have to anneal the brass? I have been reloading since the late '70s and I have never annealed the first piece of brass.
peace through superior firepower
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plant.one
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Re: Reloading costs

Post by plant.one »

i'm not necessarily set on it as in carved in stone - but i see no reason not to, especailly since i have the machine to do so in a timely and easily successful fashion.

i dont intend to anneal every firing, but its nice to be able to take some of the work hardening out of the brass you're dealing with too - especially of brass of unknown origin. who knows where the LC stuff i ordered online came from - ie: m16's/m4s, saws, m249, etc, etc...


at the VERY least its gotta help ease the amount of spring-back you get when passing through the sizing die. is it enough to be significant - hell if i know - but why not give yourself every chance at success if you can.




in furthering the conversation - i guess i could turn it back on you and say why are you so against annealing, besides the fact that you've never done it?
Reloading info shared is based on experiences w/ my guns. Be safe and work up your loads from published data. Web data may not be accurate/safe.
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blaster
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Re: Reloading costs

Post by blaster »

I have nothing against annealing brass. it has a valid purpose when necessary and it could help with precision loads. I was responding to the O.P. who was asking about getting into loading the 300 BLK and seemed (at least to me) to think that annealing brass was necessary even after other posters mentioned that it was not.
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alamo5000
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Re: Reloading costs

Post by alamo5000 »

When annealing is useful:

When doing extremely precision bench rest type shooting.
When doing long range or extra long range shooting.

It can and does make a difference in those scenarios but that is assuming you have all the other multitudes of variables down first.

Annealing won't hurt or harm, but really it's a lot of extra work with little to no benefit for general purpose ammo. Unless you are to the level of weight sorting and neck turning your brass... then don't worry about annealing just yet.

If you want to get 20 or 30 loads from your cases (assuming the primer pockets hold up) it can make a difference but generally speaking no. You will accidentally lose more cases out of a semi auto than you will save by trying to add so much work.

As a general rule the gun will shoot better than you do and annealing won't change that and only in certain situations will it help brass life. Where annealing comes into play is not so much about the life of the brass but rather ensuring that there is perfect neck tension for those extremely precise shots or extremely long distance shots.

If you really want to anneal, by all means go for it but after all these years I'm still not an annealer and I shoot out to 1600 yards or more.

There are so many other things and other more important variables to work out first, then later on if you want to put annealing into the mix then by all means it's something that can be added in later, but is not needed for general purpose ammo.

The question was posed "what do you have against annealing"... and I would answer nothing...but if I told you that if you don't shine your car to a high polish before driving it every day, or at least once a month, it will increase drag and cause you to get worse gas mileage, technically that might be true... but in the grand scheme of things is it really worth it?
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Flatliner
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Re: Reloading costs

Post by Flatliner »

Lot's of good info in this thread. I totally enjoy reloading, that is why I do it. I DO end up loading/shooting cheaper as a result BUT have a fortune in equipment. I built my own annealing machine. It isn't hard at all. Do a quick search on youtube. Here is one similar to the one I built.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctbiaNhyG6E&t=26s
2manyToys
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Re: Reloading costs

Post by 2manyToys »

I built an annealer much like that as well, and continue to tweak it as I go. The latest improvement is inductive proximity sensor to prevent double feeds.

That's one of the many joys of this hobby - we get to go down all kinds of mechanical rabbit holes. I like to shoot, reload, tinker, make tools, improve performance etc. 300 BLK is the perfect tinkerers cartridge, in my opinion.

I don't reload to save money necessarily, but to make better ammo that's tailored to my needs.
popper
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Re: Reloading costs

Post by popper »

Got into reloading, casting as 40sw was 50$/100. Cast is 6$/100 now. 308 is 15$ / 100. Bo is 9$/100. Jacketed ins about double, just cost of bullets difference.
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