Reloading, Philosophy and Practice....Simple is good

         Let me state right off that while this is about reloading, it also isn’t about the mechanics so much as my approach and attitude to the craft. Few topics are as intimidating to a shooter and gun owner as the subject of reloading. Thing is, if you have a few guns and if you shoot on a more or less regular basis, you quickly realize one of the biggest costs associated with shooting is the ammunition. The standard reason given for reloading is one can shoot a lot cheaper than if one bought factory ammunition. For me that hasn’t necessarily been the case. I reload because it gives me the option of shooting more. I like being able to make my own ammo should the need or desire arise. I can tailor the ammunition to a certain task, whether it’s for mild target practice or for more powerful hunting ammunition. To my way of thinking, if you own guns for preparedness reasons and if you don’t have the ability to make your own ammo, you are going to need to stockpile ammunition and that isn’t always going to be practical.

    In the aftermath of the Rodney King verdict and during the riots that followed, Los Angeles imposed a ban on ammunition sales for the city. Sure, there were people who drove across the county line to Orange County, but they weren’t always able to obtain ammo, much less what they preferred. The looters got ammo and the Police had ammo, but the average citizen was pretty well screwed. I was nineteen, broke and a college sophomore. My first and only gun at that point was a eight shot Mossberg 590 and two hundred rounds of OO buck. It was a strange thing witnessing the breakdown of social order firsthand.

    There’s nothing wrong with purchasing a progressive reloading press, they can turn out a lot of ammo in a fairly short time. My reasons for choosing a single stage press in preference to progressive are: space, initial cost of obtaining equipment, the ability to easily switch between calibers and simplicity. Space, for me has always been at a premium and my reloading setups have by necessity been pretty spartan. My test has always been that the reloading setup needs to be able to fit into a standard sized closet. Historically, shooters in the field had even less equipment and were able to reload their ammunition on something like a Lyman Ideal tong tool.

With very few exceptions, most of my reloading equipment has been purchased used or ideally even given to me, One of the perks of working at a shooting range was people who were willing to give their husband or dad’s equipment away for a little labor in cleaning the garage after they had passed away. Short of rust or fire, there’s very little that’s going to damage a cast iron reloading press. Even the larger aluminum presses like the RCBS Special series or the Hornady 00-7 were and are more than strong enough for most purposes short of case forming.

    Single stage presses have the ability to easily switch between calibers simply by using the appropriate threaded dies. Reloading dies will eventually wear out, true, after you have easily gotten more than they were initially purchased for. With care, the dies will last for thousands of rounds and are one of the few pieces of equipment I don’t suggest you purchase used. Single stage presses are the embodiment of simplicity, you get to see and understand every part of the process and I understand the novelty will probably wear off after the first thousand rounds if not sooner.

    Which is another reason for choosing the single stage press. After loading a couple of hundred rounds by hand, you’re probably not as apt to waste your ammunition. This was the case for me, single stage reloading gave me the opportunity to become a better shooter and because it was work, forced me to become a better marksman. Progressive press owners are operators of equipment for the most part removed from the process of reloading, concerned mostly for turning out a quantity of ammunition. I can’t really fault that thinking, but it also gives vendors the opportunity to sell you the consumables. For me keeping it simple helps to foster and maintain the Do it For Yourself attitude that is the polar opposite of what I see is wrong with today’s gun culture.

 The current iteration of my reloading bench. From l-r, Lyman case trimmer, Dillon primer swage, Pacific Tools shotgun press, Little Crown Gunworks case trimmer for .223, Lyman 55 Powder Measure and Pacific Tools Multi-Power C press. Most of the equipment is as old or older than me. All told, well under the $500.00 mark, not counting for the cost of materials for the bench.

 Gotta have safe load data; I usually keep these books around five years before I replace them with newer data books.

 An old Pacifc Multi-Power C press for metallic reloading. Pacific, out of Grand Island, Nebraska, was an early pioneer in quality reloading tools and was later to be acquired by Hornady. A testament to the quality of their tools is that many are still around and cranking ammo. This cast iron press is what I use for loading rifle and pistol ammo and it has to be closing on the 50 year mark. $50.00 from EBAY

 A balance beam scale for measuring and confirming powder and bullet weights. Manufactured for the RCBS reloading company by Ohaus Corporation. Not particularly fast, but simple to operate and reliable. Got this one, like most of my tools from a customer's wife after he passed.

 Lyman #55 powder measure, introduced in 1947, a product improved Ideal #5 powder measure which itself, dated back to the 19th century when John Barlow founded the Ideal Manufacturing Company. Thirty dollars from a gun store going out of business.

 A Pacific DL-105 shotshell press. A rusty mess when I got it. It cleaned up fine and is what I use to reload the few shotshells for home defense. It was worth the $30.00 I paid for it. The design essentially lives on in the MEC 600, which is considerably more than $30.00

 A Dillon Super Swage for swaging crimped primer pockets that you will encounter in military ammunition. I broke the original support rod around 2,000 rounds and had a friendly machinist make me a better one from drill rod, much harder and more durable. I'm well past the 5,000 round mark with the new support rod and it's holding up just fine. A new Super Swage is north of $100.00 these days

World's Finest Case Trimmer as billed by its manufacturer, Little Crow Gunworks. I only use it for trimming .223 Remington/5.56x45 and is my only concession to mass production. I chucked it up in my drill press to make quick work of processing the brass.