March 21st, 2010 • 06:03
What Is A Good Cartridge To Start Reloading?
I’ve been getting into shooting and I want to do some longer range target shooting with something other than my Marlin 60. I’ll need to buy a gun to fit the cartridge so keep the price/availability of that in mind. I want to keep the price down so smallish cartridges are probably the way go(less powder, smaller bullet). I’d like to shoot for the 70-100 bullet grain range. Any good recommendations for a cartridge that will meet these needs? I’d love to have something I can reload reliably for about 10-15 cents per round, if that’s reasonable.
Mar 21st 2010 • 07:03
by xscout90
Get a decent Mosin-Nagant and a scope mount. You can get the rifle for less than $100 a scope and mount for $50 more. You can also get surplus ammo for less than it will cost you to reload any other center fire cartridge.
Mar 21st 2010 • 07:03
by mack_9
I load .223 rounds with 55 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets. Those are the cheapest rifle round that I load. They cost $29.36 per 100 or about 29 cents each to load, not counting brass. You could load Dogtown or some cheaper bullet and save about 7 cents per round. Primers are at least 3 cents each. Powder runs about 8 cents each load. Bullets are about 10 cents each for cheap bullets.
Mar 21st 2010 • 11:03
by ERIC
I doubt that you’ll find anything that meets all of your criteria of price, ease and bullet weight.
For ease of learning start out on a mid sized bottleneck rifle cartridge, such as .30-’06, .308, or similar. The .243 would fall into this category and your bullet weights. These cartridges are pretty straightforward in loading, and what most people learn on. Cartridges in these families tend to have fairly stout cases (as opposed to some older ones with thinner walls that can buckle under excess force from some press operations), and if your die adjustments are off a touch can be a bit more forgiving if you’re using a bolt action. (i.e. not fully sized, or bullet seated out a little far).
For handguns .38 spl is the one to learn on. very straightforward and forgiving for beginners. headspaces on the rim, and low recoil, so the tightness of the crimp isn’t as critical as most others. Also being in a revolver no need to worry about something being a hair off causing feeding problems. Using cast bullets and once fired cases you might be able to get the cost close to your ideal range, and definitely so if you cast them yourself. However this won’t be that good for longer range shooting.
Contrary to what you think smaller cartridges tend to be harder to handload. This comes from a few factors, such as smaller case is harder to handle, and offers less room for error. If the bullet is seated a hair too deep or your charge is off by a hair it will cause pressure increases quite rapidly, while in a larger one there’s more room for error, which is very helpful while learning! This comes from experience, the two hardest cartridges that I load for are also by far the smallest (9mm & .45 acp), the worst part is charging the powder into a short case, the funnel doesn’t always want to stay put so nicely. The next worst is trying to seat a bullet without pinching my fingers in the press, there’s just not the clearance of a longer one. Most rifle and magnum revolver cartridges don’t have these issues nearly as much in my experience.
The best thing you can do is buy a good reloading manual and read through everything that’s in the front before the data. This will explain everything.
Mar 21st 2010 • 13:03
by Zach B
I’ve been getting into shooting and I want to do some longer range target shooting with something other than my Marlin 60. I’ll need to buy a gun to fit the cartridge so keep the price/availability of that in mind. I want to keep the price down so smallish cartridges are probably the way go(less powder, smaller bullet). I’d like to shoot for the 70-100 bullet grain range. Any good recommendations for a cartridge that will meet these needs? I’d love to have something I can reload reliably for about 10-15 cents per round, if that’s reasonable.
Mar 21st 2010 • 13:03
by Harley
10 cent to 15 cent a round? Not for a larger caliber.
Have you looked at prices for brass and bullets lately?
70-100 bullet grain range is not what I consider a small bullet grain range.
How about .223 / 5.56 – 55gr or 62 gr bullet weight
I load lots of calibers both pistol and rifle.
If your looking for a rifle caliber.
Look at military calibers.
Get an AR-15 or a REM 700 bolt action in .223
Gaffs – http://www.grafs.com/metallic/921 has free shipping.
2000 – .223 bullets for $166.00
Look for surplus bullets – buy in bulk 1000 heads at a time..
Do you have a progressive reloader?
Wanna know more just ask