- Jan 31, 2005
- 9,454
- 0
- 0
So with ammo prices going haywire these days its getting a bit pricey to make brass. One way to cut down on the costs and ensure a superior product is to reload your own ammo.
But what an involved process you say! Not so says I! Lets say we use Black Hills 75 gr ammo in .223. A box of 50 will set you back roughly $30 bucks as seen here
That works out to a whopping 60 cents every time you pull the trigger. Lets see if we cant cut that down a tad shall we? To the bat cave!
Today we're going to work up a Black Hills 75 grain match load. While I personally am still testing this load we'll still use it as our base line. I should note, I'm a shooter not a photographer so dont ride me too hard about the pictures. They are what they are. It goes "click" but doesnt throw lead so i aint that good with it.
First off, the tools of the trade.
Click
This picture shows some (but not all) of the tools you will need. In the back you have the tumbler, then some calipers, lube pad, scale, dies and various other tools.
The first step is to tumble our brass. I usually toss it in the tumbler as soon as I get home from the range. This is like a bath for our brass, cleaning off the powder residue and any sand or dirt that has gotten on the cases from the range. An hour or so is usually all it takes, sometimes less.
Brass bath
Once we've tumbled our brass its time to deprime and resize it. Every time you shoot the brass expands to fill the chamber it was shot from. For safe and proper operation of our reloads in our chamber it needs to be sized back down in order to smoothly fit the next time we chamber the round. Here are a few pieces of brass sitting on the lube pad with the bottle of lube behind it. Lightly roll the cases across the pad and voila, there lubed. The resizing dies literally push the brass back into shape and if you dont lube the brass they could potentially (And IME most likely will!) get stuck in the resizer. This is a pain in the ass.
Greasing them up!
Once we have them lubed (And theres different types and brands, this is but one example) we need to actually resize the brass. The resizing die comes with instruction on how to mount it in the press, with experience you can tweak that a bit for longer brass life or loads custom fit to your chamber. For now, we raise the ram, tighten the die down till it touches, lower the ram, screw the die down another 1/4 to 1/3 turn and tighten the locking ring. Here we see a piece of brass in the shell holder with the ram lowered, ready to go. In my example you can see the spent primers in the primer catch, the black trays either side of the press.
Resizing
A quick shot with the ram 3/4 or so the way up. You need to go all the way.
Resizing part 2
Once our brass is resized and deprimed, its time to trim it. The process of firing and resizing can cause the overall length (OAL) of the brass to become too long to properly chamber and either fail to chamber or create highly dangerous conditions if chambered. Remember, we're dealing with 50,000 PSI of hot gasses a few inches from our nose. While reloading is a safe and fun hobby, you always want to pay attention!
Maximum OAL for .223 is listed as 1.760. Here is the brass right out of the resizer.
Click
1.766. Bad juju to shoot that one. Lets get it in spec.
To do this you need a trimmer. As with lubing theres different types. I use a Possum Hollow trimmer mounted in a hand drill.
Trimmer set up
Here we see the brass as its in the trimmer. You can see the neck of the brass in the little hole, which is also where most of the brass chips fall out. Pretty straight forward. Turn on drill, firmly push brass into the trimmer.
Click
And voila! Nice and trimmed. I shoot for 1.750 although theres always a few thousandths play. Nothing to be alarmed about at all.
Trimmed!
Next step is to chamfer the brass. Trimming it causes rough edges, for proper and smooth bullet seating we want a nice smooth, chamfered case mouth. You can see what I mean by a rough finish in this picture.
Rough]
Our chamfer is a simple handheld device. I used 2 pieces of brass to see how it works. On the left, the outside chamfer, right is inside.
Tool
Gently press the tool onto the brass and give it a few turns.
Much better
I'll take a moment here to note I do not process my primer pockets. This is not mil surp brass so its really not neede, but should you use mil surp with crimper primer pockets that would be an extra step. Also, it doesnt hurt to use a pocket trimmer. But alas, I do not (yet).
Up next we need to finish cleaning our brass. We clean the primer pocket and case mouth. Again you can see the tools as they would be used on the brass.
Cleaning
Heres a close up of the tools. The primer pocket cleaner, firmly press down and give it a few twists. Brush is a simple in and out love.
Tools 2
At this point our brass prep is DONE! Only thing left is primer, powder and bullet and we're shooting! I will take a moment to say, I hate trimming brass. Its hard on your fingers and not a whole lot of fun. There are trimmers that make it much easier and quicker, but good God they are pricey.
Moving on....
Lets do some priming!
I use a hand priming tool. Theres also the option of priming during the resizing and depriming stage, but I do not do that. Also, if using mil brass you may not be able to due to the crimp.
The hand priming tool is pretty simple to use, although I find refilling it with primers to be a bit tricky. The lid snaps in place and it has a habit of causing the primers to jump around and not stay facing up as they should. Here is our priming tool.
Click
We simply snap our brass piece into place and give the handle a firm squeeze. This does take a bit of practice and feel. Sometimes primers will get in sideways or off center. If you continue to force them in you can ruin the primer.
Snapped in
After a firm squeeze we have our primed brass!
Primed
Theres light at the end of the tunnel now!
Next up we need to weigh out some powder. I use (As do many others) Varget for my .223 needs. Its a fantastic and highly recommended powder. Heres some of the tools needed.
Powder tools
Here we have a Pact digital scale with 20 gram calibration weight. As you can see, the scale is properly set and calibrated.
Scale
I use the spoon to quick dump up till around 22-23 grains of powder. After that I use the green powder trickler to slowly add powder up to the desired weight. In this case I use a Redding powder trickler as its a very heavy unit so I dont worry about knocking it over. I do have to set some stuff underneath as the trickler isnt as tall as the scale. Such is life.
Weighing
Once I'm close, I trickle up to 24 grains which is my desired charge for this load.
Perfect!
Here we see a close up of the 24 grains of powder which we will then simply dump into the case
Powder
Last step is the bullet. As we want to replicate Black Hills 75 grain Match I'm using a Hornady 75 grain bullet. Here we see the bullets and a measuring device I will tough on later.
Bullets
You will need to remove the sizing die from the press, add the bullet seater die and you're ready to finish these off and head to the range!
Here we have the brass sitting in the press with the bullet placed on top. You will need to keep the bullet fairly straight or it will not seat properly.
Seating
Give it the ole in and out again and you're finished!
Ready to go!
Now we need to measure the bullet to make sure its where we want it. This is the tool to use. It measures from the ogive of the bullet to the base of the brass. Place it on the jaw of the calipers, set dial to zero and measure.
Measure
Here we have the round in the calipers.
Click
Heres a better reading of the length....
Measure
2.864. Dont forget to subtract the 1 inch for the tool itself for a length of 1.864. While reloading manuals will normally give an OAL length with bullet, bullet lengths from the ogive forward can vary slightly. Measuring from the ogive will give us a repeatable, accurate measurement as opposed to measuring from the tip.
The catch is ogive measurements can be rifle specific since the distance from the rifling to the bullet ogive is slightly different for each rifle so thats something that needs to be done on a per user basis. Using the OAL length with bullet tip is a sure fire way to get out the door though. I've only displayed my measurements to show how the tool works.
And there we have it. We've re-created a Black Hills 75 grain round. And what does this little gem cost us?
Well lets look at the components. We'll go with prices for everything and assume you need to buy brass.
Brass: 1k / $65 - Mil Surp (gibrass.com)
Bullets: 100 / $16 - Hornady 75 gr (midwayusa.com)
Primers: 1k / $25 - CCI 400 small rifle (Cabelas)
Powder: 1 lb / $22 - Varget (Cabelas)
Total cost: $128
I should note I dont account for shipping as I figure its a wash between your time and gas to drive around versus just having it shipped. Also, I *highly* recommend powder and primers locally to avoid hazmat fees.
Using this little calculator we come up with 32 cents per round. HALF what it costs to buy it new. If you assume your brass is free it drops to 26 cents per round!
So there you have it. The ability to shoot better ammo at half the price. And you can tailor the load to YOUR rifle by playing with charge weights, powder brand, primer brand, bullet weight and dimensional measurements to ensure you have the most accurate round you can get for your rifle!
Happy shooting!
Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for any typos, missed steps in the process, wrong steps, you screwing up or otherwise blowing up your rifle or face by using this information. Void where prohibited by state or local laws. Must be 18 years of age or older.
But what an involved process you say! Not so says I! Lets say we use Black Hills 75 gr ammo in .223. A box of 50 will set you back roughly $30 bucks as seen here
That works out to a whopping 60 cents every time you pull the trigger. Lets see if we cant cut that down a tad shall we? To the bat cave!
Today we're going to work up a Black Hills 75 grain match load. While I personally am still testing this load we'll still use it as our base line. I should note, I'm a shooter not a photographer so dont ride me too hard about the pictures. They are what they are. It goes "click" but doesnt throw lead so i aint that good with it.
First off, the tools of the trade.
Click
This picture shows some (but not all) of the tools you will need. In the back you have the tumbler, then some calipers, lube pad, scale, dies and various other tools.
The first step is to tumble our brass. I usually toss it in the tumbler as soon as I get home from the range. This is like a bath for our brass, cleaning off the powder residue and any sand or dirt that has gotten on the cases from the range. An hour or so is usually all it takes, sometimes less.
Brass bath
Once we've tumbled our brass its time to deprime and resize it. Every time you shoot the brass expands to fill the chamber it was shot from. For safe and proper operation of our reloads in our chamber it needs to be sized back down in order to smoothly fit the next time we chamber the round. Here are a few pieces of brass sitting on the lube pad with the bottle of lube behind it. Lightly roll the cases across the pad and voila, there lubed. The resizing dies literally push the brass back into shape and if you dont lube the brass they could potentially (And IME most likely will!) get stuck in the resizer. This is a pain in the ass.
Greasing them up!
Once we have them lubed (And theres different types and brands, this is but one example) we need to actually resize the brass. The resizing die comes with instruction on how to mount it in the press, with experience you can tweak that a bit for longer brass life or loads custom fit to your chamber. For now, we raise the ram, tighten the die down till it touches, lower the ram, screw the die down another 1/4 to 1/3 turn and tighten the locking ring. Here we see a piece of brass in the shell holder with the ram lowered, ready to go. In my example you can see the spent primers in the primer catch, the black trays either side of the press.
Resizing
A quick shot with the ram 3/4 or so the way up. You need to go all the way.
Resizing part 2
Once our brass is resized and deprimed, its time to trim it. The process of firing and resizing can cause the overall length (OAL) of the brass to become too long to properly chamber and either fail to chamber or create highly dangerous conditions if chambered. Remember, we're dealing with 50,000 PSI of hot gasses a few inches from our nose. While reloading is a safe and fun hobby, you always want to pay attention!
Maximum OAL for .223 is listed as 1.760. Here is the brass right out of the resizer.
Click
1.766. Bad juju to shoot that one. Lets get it in spec.
To do this you need a trimmer. As with lubing theres different types. I use a Possum Hollow trimmer mounted in a hand drill.
Trimmer set up
Here we see the brass as its in the trimmer. You can see the neck of the brass in the little hole, which is also where most of the brass chips fall out. Pretty straight forward. Turn on drill, firmly push brass into the trimmer.
Click
And voila! Nice and trimmed. I shoot for 1.750 although theres always a few thousandths play. Nothing to be alarmed about at all.
Trimmed!
Next step is to chamfer the brass. Trimming it causes rough edges, for proper and smooth bullet seating we want a nice smooth, chamfered case mouth. You can see what I mean by a rough finish in this picture.
Rough]
Our chamfer is a simple handheld device. I used 2 pieces of brass to see how it works. On the left, the outside chamfer, right is inside.
Tool
Gently press the tool onto the brass and give it a few turns.
Much better
I'll take a moment here to note I do not process my primer pockets. This is not mil surp brass so its really not neede, but should you use mil surp with crimper primer pockets that would be an extra step. Also, it doesnt hurt to use a pocket trimmer. But alas, I do not (yet).
Up next we need to finish cleaning our brass. We clean the primer pocket and case mouth. Again you can see the tools as they would be used on the brass.
Cleaning
Heres a close up of the tools. The primer pocket cleaner, firmly press down and give it a few twists. Brush is a simple in and out love.
Tools 2
At this point our brass prep is DONE! Only thing left is primer, powder and bullet and we're shooting! I will take a moment to say, I hate trimming brass. Its hard on your fingers and not a whole lot of fun. There are trimmers that make it much easier and quicker, but good God they are pricey.
Moving on....
Lets do some priming!
I use a hand priming tool. Theres also the option of priming during the resizing and depriming stage, but I do not do that. Also, if using mil brass you may not be able to due to the crimp.
The hand priming tool is pretty simple to use, although I find refilling it with primers to be a bit tricky. The lid snaps in place and it has a habit of causing the primers to jump around and not stay facing up as they should. Here is our priming tool.
Click
We simply snap our brass piece into place and give the handle a firm squeeze. This does take a bit of practice and feel. Sometimes primers will get in sideways or off center. If you continue to force them in you can ruin the primer.
Snapped in
After a firm squeeze we have our primed brass!
Primed
Theres light at the end of the tunnel now!
Next up we need to weigh out some powder. I use (As do many others) Varget for my .223 needs. Its a fantastic and highly recommended powder. Heres some of the tools needed.
Powder tools
Here we have a Pact digital scale with 20 gram calibration weight. As you can see, the scale is properly set and calibrated.
Scale
I use the spoon to quick dump up till around 22-23 grains of powder. After that I use the green powder trickler to slowly add powder up to the desired weight. In this case I use a Redding powder trickler as its a very heavy unit so I dont worry about knocking it over. I do have to set some stuff underneath as the trickler isnt as tall as the scale. Such is life.
Weighing
Once I'm close, I trickle up to 24 grains which is my desired charge for this load.
Perfect!
Here we see a close up of the 24 grains of powder which we will then simply dump into the case
Powder
Last step is the bullet. As we want to replicate Black Hills 75 grain Match I'm using a Hornady 75 grain bullet. Here we see the bullets and a measuring device I will tough on later.
Bullets
You will need to remove the sizing die from the press, add the bullet seater die and you're ready to finish these off and head to the range!
Here we have the brass sitting in the press with the bullet placed on top. You will need to keep the bullet fairly straight or it will not seat properly.
Seating
Give it the ole in and out again and you're finished!
Ready to go!
Now we need to measure the bullet to make sure its where we want it. This is the tool to use. It measures from the ogive of the bullet to the base of the brass. Place it on the jaw of the calipers, set dial to zero and measure.
Measure
Here we have the round in the calipers.
Click
Heres a better reading of the length....
Measure
2.864. Dont forget to subtract the 1 inch for the tool itself for a length of 1.864. While reloading manuals will normally give an OAL length with bullet, bullet lengths from the ogive forward can vary slightly. Measuring from the ogive will give us a repeatable, accurate measurement as opposed to measuring from the tip.
The catch is ogive measurements can be rifle specific since the distance from the rifling to the bullet ogive is slightly different for each rifle so thats something that needs to be done on a per user basis. Using the OAL length with bullet tip is a sure fire way to get out the door though. I've only displayed my measurements to show how the tool works.
And there we have it. We've re-created a Black Hills 75 grain round. And what does this little gem cost us?
Well lets look at the components. We'll go with prices for everything and assume you need to buy brass.
Brass: 1k / $65 - Mil Surp (gibrass.com)
Bullets: 100 / $16 - Hornady 75 gr (midwayusa.com)
Primers: 1k / $25 - CCI 400 small rifle (Cabelas)
Powder: 1 lb / $22 - Varget (Cabelas)
Total cost: $128
I should note I dont account for shipping as I figure its a wash between your time and gas to drive around versus just having it shipped. Also, I *highly* recommend powder and primers locally to avoid hazmat fees.
Using this little calculator we come up with 32 cents per round. HALF what it costs to buy it new. If you assume your brass is free it drops to 26 cents per round!
So there you have it. The ability to shoot better ammo at half the price. And you can tailor the load to YOUR rifle by playing with charge weights, powder brand, primer brand, bullet weight and dimensional measurements to ensure you have the most accurate round you can get for your rifle!
Happy shooting!
Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for any typos, missed steps in the process, wrong steps, you screwing up or otherwise blowing up your rifle or face by using this information. Void where prohibited by state or local laws. Must be 18 years of age or older.
Facebook
Twitter