Hand loaded my first ammo today

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rocket500

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Got a press etc. from Santa. .357 Magnum. 125 gr. XTP over 21 gr. Of H110 powder, Federal small pistol magnum primer. Starting load per the Lee manual. Went slow, followed the directions, wasn't too tough. Setting up the dies and figuring out the Lee hand primer were the trickiest parts (but not too bad). IMG_0129.jpg Was fun to do.
 
It's crazy to me how little powder is 1 gr. At least with this load it would be hard to over-charge a case. It's pretty much full.
 
rocket500 said:
Got a press etc. from Santa. .357 Magnum. 125 gr. XTP over 21 gr. Of H110 powder, Federal small pistol magnum primer. Starting load per the Lee manual. Went slow, followed the directions, wasn't too tough. Setting up the dies and figuring out the Lee hand primer were the trickiest parts (but not too bad). View attachment 187230Was fun to do.
Click to expand...

What press did you get? Most single stage presses you can prime on them if you don't like the hand prime.
 
I got a Lee single stage. I like the hand prime fine now, just took me a few minutes to figure it out.
 
Congrats! I started with 357....great round. Wait until you shoot your first reload....it brought a smile to my face.
 
Believe it or not, 32 S&W Long are the best bang for the buck of everything I reload...
Midway is .32/round, cheapest on ammoseek is .276/round... With 95 grains of lead and two grains of powder, I'm pretty sure it costs less than 10c/round to make.

I really enjoy loading for my revolvers... Not having to police brass is great!
 
I can beat that. .455 Webley regularly goes over a buck a round on the rare occasions that you can find it. I can reload it for about 11 cents. I've been using the same brass for like four years.

The savings on common ammo is nice, but you REALLY make your money on those obsolete calibers.
 
Picton said:
I can beat that. .455 Webley regularly goes over a buck a round on the rare occasions that you can find it. I can reload it for about 11 cents. I've been using the same brass for like four years.

The savings on common ammo is nice, but you REALLY make your money on those obsolete calibers.
Click to expand...


True dat.
 
yogi said:
Congrats! I started with 357....great round. Wait until you shoot your first reload....it brought a smile to my face.
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I also started with 357 mag. Probably my favorite caliber.

Looks like you "could" seat the bullet a little deeper to get more of the cannelure in the crimp. I usually try to get at least half of cannelure in the case/crimp. But varying brass lengths can affect that.
 
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if you take your time, you'll have great results. not rocket science.

i was about to reload today but the garage was too cold to ream out all the damn primer pockets on my 5.56 brass and my .44 brass needed tumbling. oh well, there's always tomorrow. :)
 
Very nice and congrats! .357 was also my first round that I reloaded. Eventually check out wadcutters in .38 special- fun to shoot and almost no recoil.
 
andrew1220 said:
I also started with 357 mag. Probably my favorite caliber.

Looks like you "could" seat the bullet a little deeper to get more of the cannelure in the crimp. I usually try to get at least half of cannelure in the case/crimp. But varying brass lengths can affect that.
Click to expand...

I think the brass is a little short as these are spot on for COAL.
 
I have dies on the way to load 30-06 (for the Garand) and 6.5 creedmoor. The rifle rounds have a nice savings relative to ~$1 per
 
rocket500 said:
I think the brass is a little short as these are spot on for COAL.
Click to expand...

Yup that will do it. I meant to ask about the COL.

- - - Updated - - -

rocket500 said:
I have dies on the way to load 30-06 (for the Garand) and 6.5 creedmoor. The rifle rounds have a nice savings relative to ~$1 per
Click to expand...

Yeah you save a lot with those calibers. Though its much more time consuming than reloading pistol due to the brass prep.
 
It's brand new starline brass, figured I'd simplify things slightly for the first batch by starting with new. Next batch will be reloaded from spent brass. Perhaps it will stretch a little although from what I read straight wall pistol brass doesn't appear to stretch much or at all.

I've got to think about what's next after these 3. I have several guns in both 9mm and .223 however factory 9mm and .223 are pretty cheap and I have a good supply (particularly .223). I also consume both at a rate that's a bit fast for loading on a single stage press.

Probably winds up being .204 Ruger
 
Congrats and welcome alot of us started off loading 38-357 its a great start , shooting is great shooting ammo that you reloaded is stellar.
 
It'll be a while before I save any $ for sure. Probably have $400 into have enough supplies to load 100 rounds of .357 and 50 rounds of 30-06. That's what- $90 of factory ammo?
 
rocket500 said:
It'll be a while before I save any $ for sure. Probably have $400 into have enough supplies to load 100 rounds of .357 and 50 rounds of 30-06. That's what- $90 of factory ammo?
Click to expand...

Don't sweat it. You'll be more rewarded being able to roll your own, even at the same cost as factory ammo.
Reloading can be therapeutic in itself, too.
 

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