Posted on 03/01/2015 6:59:49 PM PST by RC one
Over the past six years, concerns about the possibility of restrictive gun legislation have sparked unprecedented spikes in sales of firearms and ammunition. And state wildlife agencies, all benefiting from funding flowing from federal Pittman-Robertson excise taxes on those items, are still raking it in. But high demand for some popular ammunition caused huge manufacturer backlogs that led to sharp increases in wholesale and retail prices and left many store shelves empty of the most popular ammunition, particularly centerfire and rimfire rifle ammo.
Over the past few months, that crunch has begun to ease. But problems finding ammunition - especially ammunition for some centerfire loadings - remains. And even stores with supplies of popular cartridges often severely limit the amount customers can purchase.
Some shooters are solving the problem by making their own ammunition using home reloading equipment. Reloading long has been popular with shooters and hunters, but it has gotten a boost in recent years. In a recent poll of recreational shooters and hunters, 85 percent of those who reload said the primary reason is "to save money."
With shortages of some types of ammunition in recent years, as well as the corresponding higher costs that arise when demand increases, it is no surprise cost savings are the primary reason many shooters choose to reload," said Rob Southwick, president of Southwick Associates, a Florida-based polling firm that gathers data for the outdoor equipment industry, government agencies and conservation organizations. But there's more to the story than money.
Multiple rationales
"Marketing efforts by smart reloading companies will acknowledge the other reasons why people reload," said Southwick in a written statement.
The poll, which permitted multiple answers, found that 67 percent of reloaders said the main reason they pack their own shells is to improve accuracy. Forty-four percent said they reload to get calibers or loads that are hard to find in stores. Thirty percent do it to reduce waste, and 15 percent cited other unspecified reasons.
In Pennsylvania, which boasts a high population of recreational hunters and shooters, hand loaders generally conform to the national trend, said Bill Schiff, who services reloading customers at Braverman Arms in Wilkinsburg.
But despite the recent interest in the cost benefits of reloading, Schiff said overall participation is trending down and young shooters aren't taking up reloading as enthusiastically as older shooters.
"I don't think the interest is as high as it once was," said Schiff, who's been reloading for 40 years. "The core group of reloaders are mostly older guys who don't do it to save money. They do it to get more accuracy than they can get from a factory load. I do it because I want to put five rounds in a circle the size of a dime at 100 yards. It's about precision." Rifle deer hunters who might fire a few rounds a year at a sighting target - and might get a shot at a kill zone the size of a pie pan - are less likely to see cost benefits in reloading.
It makes more sense for rifle hunters who need better accuracy on extreme shots, perhaps at mountain goats, big horn sheep or other trophy game.
"Shotgun reloaders are doing it to save money, but now you can get 100-round boxes (of shotgun shells), and it doesn't really pay," Schiff said. "Unless your gun shoots ammunition that's still hard to find, it may not be worth it."
Weekend target shooters - Schiff calls them "plinkers" - generally don't reload, despite the quantity of shots and high cost or unavailability of rounds. The most common caliber, .22 Long Rifle, remains among the most difficult ammunition for retailers to keep in stock, but rimfire cartridges aren't reloadable. High-performance, military-style semi-automatics can be expensive to shoot - some calibers are priced from $1 to $6 per round or more, Schiff said - but most plinkers don't reload.
"It's more casual shooting," he said. "It's about getting out and shooting, not necessarily the quality of the shot."
Aiming for precision
But in a complex science of powder granule geometries, burn rates, seating depths and ballistic coefficients, assembly line mass production of ammunition is too imprecise for the needs of competitive shooters and bench-rest perfectionists.
"I enjoy going for accuracy," said 30-year veteran reloader Edward Olsakovsky of Pitcairn, Pa. "I prefer to strive for that tight grouping - to put 10 shots in the same hole. To do precision work with cases and bullets and powder charges and seating depths until you can hit a quarter at 200 yards."
High-end hand loading can be expensive, but Olsakovsky said a functional starter kit can be had for less than $400. Schiff said some powders are still hard to find.
Ultimately, despite the recent spike in interest, Schiff suggested that hand loading is not being passed on to the next generation.
"Truth is, what I see at the store every day, young people want to buy a new gun every year for hunting, they want a scope on it, and they want it to cost under $300," Schiff said.
"It's rare that I see a reloading customer in his twenties."
I have more .22 ammo than I will ever use. I have more than adequate supplies of 6.5X55 Lapua Match and adequate supplies of 9mm Luger. I could use more 8mm Mauser as all I have is one box of commercial and 200 rounds of Egyptian corrosive.
I also have a great supply of .22 magnum. I need more .380 but I doubt it will get heavy use as I have an identical guy in .22LR which seems to do about as well.
Good luck on that, our power comes from the very air we breathe, I can make my pellets from old tire weights or auto batteries, or any other lead source.....
The most accurate air pistol I have ever owned was a Benjamin pumper which I ordered from Herters (remember them?) around 1962. It was rated at 500 fps but was in actuality no where near that.
I could see the .22 pellets flying through the air. It made up for it by being extremely accurate. I worked one Christmas vacation at an orange packing house in Polk county, Florida.
When we would take breaks I would set up a penny 25 yard down on the concrete and bet a quarter I could hit it. I almost never missed. I did cheat just a bit by purposely aiming low so that if I shot low it would bounce up and still knock the penny over. No one ever noticed that I had hit low just that the penny went spinning.
Go to ammoseek.com. Easy to find deals on ammo.
The speeds now in some air rifles are around 1200 feet per second..I like mine around 1000fps or so...
Reloading for the last 16 years has never saved me a dime, but I sure have gotten to shoot WAY more.
Around 20 years ago, I saw two German Haenel .177 air rifles at a mom and pop store. I looked them over and they were very close to the same thing. One might have been 20 fps faster than the other and they were the same size.
Speed was in the 780fps range and they were light and handy and also very, very well made especially since they were German and had walnut stocks. I used them for a while and they became my favorite guns. Powerful enough, very accurate, nice looking and not really heavy. Unfortunately I was in Grad School at the time and needed money. I sure wish I could have kept them.
My Diana model 48 hits really hard. I believe it is every bit of the 1200 fps they claim with standard pellets. Probably not a good idea to use the light allow pellets in that gun as they would eventually damage it.
My Sendero gets a 175 grain projectile moving at about 3,100 fps and shoots dime sized groups at 100 yards. I’m controlling seating depth, distance to the lands, case length, shoulder/chamber interface, and neck wall thickness down to .001”. good times.
Should have bought more 7.72x25 when I got my TT-33. Got a lot of that nasty Bulgarian milsurp and some S&B fmj. Now hard to find at decent prices.
Argh - make that 7.62x25.
I think I do it because I enjoy doing it primarily plus it makes it easier to have a large supply of ultra high quality ammo plus it ensures that I will never be affected by an ammo shortage and plus I think reloaders probably make liberals very uneasy. I don’t know that it has saved me any money but I never got into it to save money. I got into it to make ultra ahigh quality ammunition.
For later.
S&B is good ammo. It costs the same as .38 special ammo. That milsurp is dirty.
I meant to say the Tok ammo costs the same as .38 special.
I would think you want fairly pure lead. Old wheel weights have some hardening (new ones have zinc and will ruin your alloy), and lead batteries are alloyed hard, too.
You have thought about this, I’m sure. Do you have a preference for lead purity/hardness?
But just a little lead will go a long ways in pellets (and I DON’T mean they fly a long ways).
Much like you, I like to tailor my rifle loads and have lots of ammo regardless of the marketplace. And I like to shoot handguns, rifles and shotguns until I want to go home, not because I’m out of ammunition. Plus it’s a lot of fun to learn and still be doing my hobby at home.
I don’t care if liberals are uneasy around me, but I don’t necessarily want them to be.
I shot 300 rounds of .308 and 5 rounds from a Casul .454....geeze!!!
Quite the kick but, a lot of fun...water bottle didn’t like it, I suppose, cuz it wasn’t talking after it exploded and flew a couple feet...
Nice. That sounds like a good day. I have a S&W 500 that I like to break out every now and then. I have to wear jackhammer gloves to shoot it. I’m pretty sure it puts microfractures in my carpals if I don’t.
Only thing that could have made the day better was if Morgan Fairchild, my wife, kissed me between fire line holds and at the end of the day handed me a big bottle of beer and a nice, rare ribeye...
I’d make sure she got at least some U.S. Male later...
I started reloading a couple of years ago, having only done the Lee Loader thing years ago. I’ve gone through several pounds of powder now, and have dies for most of the calibers I shoot, except the ones I have milsurp ammo for.
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