Handloading at last!

Yup, I finally took the plunge into the world of reloading!

Here's my setup.



It's a Lee Challenger kit, including a press, powder scale, powder measure, case care tools and a hand primer.

I've also picked up a Lee Zip Trim case trimmer, that little grey thing bolted to my desk in front of the safe. Great piece of kit. You lock an empty case into the chuck and pull a cord to spin it against a cutter to return it to factory length.



A selection of bullets: .308 caliber 110 grain V-max, .458 caliber 350 grain round nose soft point, .308 cal 155 grain moly coated A-max and .308 cal 150 grain Ballistic tip. The bag on top is military style 150 grain .30 cal FMJ for cheap shooting.

The V-max is a wonderful little bullet, typically used for varmint shooting. As such, it's light, flies very fast, and expands and fragments extremely violently. Another plus is that it is a light kicker. Being light, there is less recoil due to the fact that less inertia is being pushed out of the rifle. It's got a great potential for accuracy.

The A-max is a more balanced long range match or competition loading, which retains it's energy and velocity a lot better than the lighter V-max, and offers more stability and aerodynamics for long range shooting.

The .458 cal soft point is a big game load for use in a 45/70 or .458 Win Mag. Ideal for the moose around here! Hard kicking, but hard hitting on the other end too.

As of now, I am equipped to load 30-06 Springfield, 308 Winchester, 300 Winchester Magnum, 8x57mm Mauser, and 45/70 Government. Soon to add 30/30 Winchester, .45 ACP, .303 British and .30 Caliber M1 carbine to the list.

So far so good. Not only is it cheaper than factory ammo, it gives you much more control over what kind of ammo you can make, and the consistant nature coming from the amount of care you put in goes a long way in obtaining accuracy.

Here's a .308 Winchester load I am working up, starting with a Federal casing, Winchester LR primer, 45 grains of H-4895 powder and a 110 grain V-max seated to 2.800" overall length.



That's .602 of an inch at 100 meters. The rifle is a Stevens 200, with a previous best grouping of right around the 1 inch mark with factory ammo. Almost cut in half!