Anybody reload their own ammunition?

Does anybody here do any hand loading?

I started loading my own .357 Magnum ammo a few years ago, but I haven't done any in a while. I have a bunch of good equipment that I'm thinking about selling at challenge friendly prices. Most of it is RCBS stuff and is generally like new. I also have a good amount of .357 components. Drop me an e-mail if you're interested in any of it.

Ever seen that movie "Idle Hand"? Where the hand does evil, evil things its owner didn't want it to do?

Get behind me, Satan, or we're having the remake; "Idle Debit Card"...

With the cost of ammo these days, handloading gear could almost be an investment...

Osterkraut wrote: With the cost of ammo these days, handloading gear could almost be an investment...

That's why I started loading in the first place. And that was BEFORE ammo got expensive!

ha, funny you mention this, I just loaded about 50 rounds of .357 HP last week, and get to pull off a few rounds in the mountains this past weekend.

That stump is history.

Osterkraut wrote: we're having the remake; "Idle Debit Card"...

It sounds like your debit card wants to be anything but idle.

PHeller wrote: ha, funny you mention this, I just loaded about 50 rounds of .357 HP last week, and get to pull off a few rounds in the mountains this past weekend. That stump is history.

Do you need any Alliant 2400? Speer or Hornady 125g's?

I also load .357 with my single stage Lee setup... I have more empties than full ones right now. I wish I had time to fix that.

While waiting for the paint to flash between coats on the Locost, I went over to the corner of the shop and started playing with my new gas check maker. Got it on eBay for $33. Search for "freechex" or seller codarnall. Have you priced gas checks lately? Out of sight, until you price bullets too. Insane. I was going to make my own maker because I didn't know this guy was still making them. I had even drawn up plans for it. Then I found him selling exclusively on eBay and for $33, it isn't worth tooling up for or the day of machine shop time I would spend on it.

So, you take the hole punch and punch little disks out of an aluminum can, then put them in the forming thing, drop the tool in and bash it with a mallet. Out comes a gas check. Coke cans are a bit thin, so I put two disks in and form 1 gas check from them. Next up was to see how they went on a bullet. I'm sure I had a few cast 30 cal bullets around that hadn't been sized yet because I ran out of store bought gas checks ten years ago, but I couldn't find them. So, the next day after moving the chassis over and cleaning up, I dusted off all my casting stuff (I last cast a bullet during the Klinton administration) and cast about 2/3rds of a 1 lb coffee can full of 30 cal. Once you're set up and on a roll, just keep going. That was two Lee production pot's worth of lead with a 2 cavity mould. Next was to see how the freechex fit. They turn out a little bottle-cap-ish if you do a single layer but smoother if you use two layers. My bullet sizer/luber was still set up for 30 cal, so that was good. Push the check on, which somewhat snapped in place versus store-bought checks, run it through the sizer/luber and they look good. I did some single layered ones and some double layered ones. Some were a little loose and sometimes the 2 layered ones separated. Next up is to load them into 7.62x39 and see how they shoot. I think I'll set up some water bottles and try to trap them and see how they hold up compared to a store bought gas check. All the thing really has to do is stay on the bullet until it leaves the barrel to keep the hot gasses from melting the lead. And for you newbies, you only need gas checks with rifle bullets or some high velosity handgun bullets, like .357's or 44 mag. Slower bullets like 45 ACP don't need one.

Total cost on the bullet: Uh, a little bit of electricity, little bit of lube and some wheel weights I have been hording for 20 years. A half cent each would probably be stretching it. I need to see how to make my own bullet lube. Can't do much about the electricity. If I could find some .025 aluminum, brass or copper sheet, I think that would work a little better than Coke cans. But, can't beat the price on the Coke cans: Free.

Used to reload ammo when I lived in Fairbanks, Alaska. We did it to get customized loads. Still have everything except die's to reload, including about a 100-lbs of lead. Don't shoot often enough now to really make it worth while. Most of my current shooting is plinking with 22's or muzzleloaders.

i need to hunt around in some boxes, my dad used to handload .38spl (back around the time i was born) and im 90% sure that we still have the equipment.

oh yeah, i need to completely learn to use the stuff. i have no idea how.

he made some real wadcutter rounds. they are pure cylinder with a hollow point-end (not a point, but a flat face with a huge dish). I dont want to think about what one would do to someone breaking in, but they are what is in the home defense lockboxes (2 houses)

come to think of it... is there some legal grounds that i would want to change out to regular bullets for home defense? could i get a cruel and unusual for super wadcutter hollowpoints?

i need to get the stuff to handload 9mm luger, 8mm mauser, and find the .38spl stuff at some point. then agian, i havent gotten around to going to the range since last year.

anyone else noticing that the surplus sources are drying up? i just cant find surplus 8mm mauser like i could about 2-3 years ago. (i wish i had bought the 1000rd case back then)

Yeah, surplus 8mm dried up. You can thank the UN for that. While (Thank God) W hasn't cowered down to the UN or sold us out to them, the UN did manage to stop us from buying the surplus ammo that was out there by forcing the selling countries to stop selling with their small arms treaty. That's the treaty that classifies handguns in with grenade launchers and bans countries from selling their surplus arms and ammo. So, all that surplus obsolete corosive 8mm that we used to buy for six cents a pop is no more. THANKS, UN. Meanwhile, the US lacks the production capacity to even make enough bullets for our own troops in two little piss-ant wars, so all domestic bullet/component capacity is going to that. That's why .223 is like sixty cents a pop now, up from fifteen-twenty cents a couple years ago.

Apexcarver wrote: he made some real wadcutter rounds. they are pure cylinder with a hollow point-end (not a point, but a flat face with a huge dish). I dont want to think about what one would do to someone breaking in, but they are what is in the home defense lockboxes (2 houses) come to think of it... is there some legal grounds that i would want to change out to regular bullets for home defense? could i get a cruel and unusual for super wadcutter hollowpoints?

Osterkraut is neither lawyer nor self-defense expert, just a guy who once asked similar questions

Two things:

Purely from a CYA standpoint, I'd never use handloads in self-defense. In these days when you're advised against using Black Talons because of their evil reputation, if you were forced to go to court it could be spun that you were a loose cannon looking to shoot someone.

From a standpoint as a round, that round is far, far inferior to a modern jacketed hollow point (JHP). Given the .38 Specials rather...maligned reputation as a man-stopper, I'd load it with the best I can get my hands on. If your revolver is built for it (ie: full-sized, 4"+ barrel), run Cor-Bon's +P JHP. Probably a little less than 130-grain. Shorter barrel, heavier grain (mostly). Weaker/smaller gun? Similar designs minus the +P.

Can't go wrong with Cor-Bon. My .40 S&W runs their 135 grain JHP. That said, any of the modern, non-gimmick choices from the big brands (Cor-Bon, Federal, Winchester, Remington, Hornady, CCI, Norma, etc) will probably do the trick.

Purely from a CYA standpoint, I'd never use handloads in self-defense.

Ditto. You'll be protrayed as a loon, hiding in your basement, trying to make even deadlier rounds than are already available.

There is an argument for using whatever ammunition your local PD uses.

FWIW I've made "spelunker" loads for .38 Special using 148 grain hollow-base wadcutters seated backwards (cavity forward) and loaded warmish. They aren't as accurate as the classic wadcutter target loads, but they are effective on small game.

Woodyhfd wrote: Does anybody here do any hand loading? ...snippers... Drop me an e-mail if you're interested in any of it.

PM sent, bud. I've got a friend that may be interested.

My dumb ass has accumulated a large assortment of rounds for my 357.. enough to last either 3 years or a 20 minute firefight, whichever happens first.

In other words, I'll get back to ya, depending on what happens.

I have been looking at loading either 8mm or 12ga. shells, but, but I have no idea on how to start. Too bad I can't reload a .22lr, but at 500 rds. for $10-12, I can still afford some.

OT- I'm really liking the idea of a short barreled .357. Maybe 2.5". Thoughts?

PHeller wrote: OT- I'm really liking the idea of a short barreled .357. Maybe 2.5". Thoughts?

look at a Ruger SP101.

A short barrelled .357 may not be a whole lot of fun to shoot unless it's really heavy. Plus, a 2.5 inch barrel limits your accuracy. I had Smith and Wesson Airlight Titanium .38 and it's unpleasant to shoot with mild .38's.

That being said, the SP101 mentioned above is a quality item. The 4 inch Ruger GP100 is a bit bigger, but is my favorite .357.

Of course, you can use .38 in most .357's anyway if you choose.

neon4891, I'll teach you how to reload centerfire pistol/rifle ammo if you want. I have a shotgun reloader but I haven't used it (garage sale) so I'm not experienced in that, but I've loaded tens of thousands of rifle/pistol. You need to pick a budget for starters: $10, $100, $1000. We'll need a new thread, either here or on www.sporterizing.com. If you pick $10, I haven't used that method, but I could figger it out for you. The $100-ish method is probably what you want to go for unless you want to get into it big right at the start.

Woodyhfd wrote: A short barrelled .357 may not be a whole lot of fun to shoot unless it's really heavy. Plus, a 2.5 inch barrel limits your accuracy. I had Smith and Wesson Airlight Titanium .38 and it's unpleasant to shoot with mild .38's.

The owner of my favorite gun store told a tale of an owner of one of the Airlight .357s who sold it because it fractured his wrist. True? Maybe. Possible? 100%. They're scary-light, and the .357 is a serious round!

My wife once shot my Star PD with hardball. It put her off of handguns for a year.

I load target rounds for the .357 with 11.5 grains AA#9 with a 158 gr. lead SWC these are easy to shoot all day long in a 6" full ribbed Taurus. The full tilt Cor-bon 180 gr bonded core solid points are quite a bit snappier. They would not be nice in an airlite although the fire that comes out the muzzle would be pretty spectacular at night.