Reloading Again - Finally!

After a number of delays and setbacks, I seem to have finally solved all the issues I was experiencing, and am actually ready to reload ammunition in volume again!

When I was shooting competitively in the 1990s and early 2000s, I used to reload ammunition regularly and in large quantities.  For my non-shooting friends, "reloading" means taking empty fired cartridge cases and replacing the primer, gunpowder, and bullet so they can be fired again.  The cartridge case is the most expensive component of ammunition, so it makes sense to reuse them.  Most high-volume shooters reload, both to save money and to be able to optimize their ammunition's performance in their individual firearms and for their particular purposes.  Further down in this entry I will provide an overview of the process of reloading, so that this post will make sense to those unfamiliar with the process.

My reloading activities (and just about everything else in my life) came to an abrupt halt when I was mobilized from the Army Reserve in 2006.  When I got to Fort Bragg in 2011, I set up my equipment again and did some reloading while I was there.  But when I moved back to Michigan in 2014, I never really got it all up and running again. 

When we moved to Idaho in 2019, there was so much to do and so many other distractions that it took me awhile to dig in and get things set up again.  This past Fall I finally set my mind to it, bought an adjustable workbench to use as a loading bench, and started making ammunition for my shooting activities again.

Before describing my experience with the new bench, a brief explanation of reloading ammunition:

A cross-section of a loaded cartridge showing the different components. 

When the trigger on a firearm is pressed, the firing pin strikes the primer on the base of the cartridge.  The primer explodes and ignites the gunpowder.  This powder burns at a very high velocity, creating high gas pressure which launches the bullet out of the barrel. The empty brass cartridge case is ejected, a new cartridge is chambered, and the process is repeated for each shot. The empty brass cartridge cases can be retrieved and reloaded.

Reloading involves five basic steps:

1. Case preparation: The fired case is cleaned, deprimed, and resized to industry standard dimensions.

2. Priming:  A fresh primer is inserted into the primer pocket.

3. Filling with powder: A measured charge of powder is put in the case.

4. Bullet seating: A bullet is placed on the case mouth and pressed into the case.

5. Crimping: The end of the case is crimped to hold the bullet in place.

There are many details and sub-steps but these are the basic steps. There are also many different ways to accomplish each of these steps. Reloading equipment manufacturers sell a huge variety of equipment and tools for the different parts of the reloading process. If you want to get a small flavor of the variety of equipment and tools available, you can look just look at some supplier catalogs. There are many, many manufacturers and suppliers, but these are two that I patronize regularly:  

Sinclair International

Dillon Precision

I have a Dillon XL 650 progressive loading press. "Progressive" means that it has a revolving shell plate that advances the case through the reloading steps, as compared with a single-stage press that only does one operation at a time.  This press has five stations, of which I use four (one is empty, as I do not have the optional accessories that could go in it).  The press is operated by pulling a lever, which moves the shell plate up to the various tools and dies and executes some of the operations. Lifting the handle back up advances the shell plate one station and executes other operations. 

This press includes an automated case feeder that places an empty cartridge case in the shell plate, a priming system that feeds the primers, and a powder measure that meters out a specific charge of powder and drops it in the case.  The only manual operations that I have to do are placing a bullet on top of the filled case, and pulling the handle.  Finished cartridges drop off the back of the press into a collection bin.

Now back to the new adjustable-height loading bench and how it worked out:

My Husky adjustable bench, set up for loading ammunition.

I thought the adjustable bench was a brilliant idea because it would allow me to work either standing or sitting.  As it turned out, however, it not such a brilliant idea after all.  It was too unstable to use for reloading when it was adjusted to full height.  But because I usually use the reloading press while sitting down and there are other activities such as case preparation that I can do while standing, I thought the bench was still a good idea.

I loaded up some ammunition in a couple different calibers, but I experienced some problems.  The main problem was inconsistent powder charges.  At first I thought it was because I had just installed new micrometer adjustment controls on my powder measure, and I was still learning to use them.  But after awhile I realized I had a bigger problem - the bench was not stable enough to use for loading, even in its lowest position.  The reloading press exerts a tremendous amount of leverage, especially when resizing brass rifle cases, and the force was just too much.  The bench was rocking back and forth so much that it was affecting not only the amount of powder the press was delivering, but powder was actually bouncing out of the cartridge cases and accumulating on the bench around the press!  Not good.

I toyed with the idea of building a new wooden bench that would be much more solid, and even went so far as to sketch out a design in my technical notebook, including precise measurements and a bill of materials. But when it came to actually building it, I realized that my garage workshop still exists only as a vision in my mind, and I am nowhere near being set up to undertake a serious project like that. So I decided to shop around for one instead. I settled on a Craftsman workbench that is at just the right height to stand and work. I anchored this to the wall studs with 2x4's and lag bolts, so that it is rock-solid. I got a sturdy swiveling bar stool to sit on, and I was in business!

My Craftsman workbench, set up for reloading ammunition.

After my last range session, I realized I was low on 9mm ammunition and would need to load some before the Appleseed Pistol Clinic in April.  This was an ideal opportunity to test my new, more stable bench.  

Once I got into the swing of things, I made a video of myself operating the press.  The video is not instructional in nature - it's just for fun.  But it does show all of the above steps in operation:

My challenge was to ensure that the powder charges were consistent, as this is a key factor in accuracy (not to mention safety).  Not visible in the video, I have a digital powder scale.  As I was loading, I would periodically stop and weigh a powder charge.  I was very happy when I got consistent powder weights throughout my loading session.  It was after I realized that I had solved my problem and was able to start loading in volume again that I decided to make the video - hence the big smile!

A side effect of making the video is that I was able to get an estimate of my rate of production. Dillon advertised the XL 650 as capable of loading 800-1000 rounds per hour. I imagine that this is possible, if you operate the press as quickly as you can, and nothing goes wrong.  But I prefer a more measured, moderate pace that allows me to keep an eye on everything.  As the video shows, the press can occasionally get hung up and needs a little nudge here and there to realign a wayward component.  You can also have issues such as crushed or misaligned primers, damaged cases, misaligned bullets, etc.  

As it turns out, this video provided me an ideal chance to measure my realistic rate of production, because it is not simply 3 1/2 minutes of smooth operation.  There were a couple of hangups I had to clear, as well as one split case that I had to remove and throw away.  I measured one powder charge on the scale to confirm that it was accurate, and also stopped for a moment to place a finished cartridge in a case gauge and measure it with a micrometer to confirm that it had the proper dimensions to feed and function reliably.  Therefore this is an excellent representative slice of a longer loading session.

I counted the rounds that came off the press (31) and then while I was on my walk this morning I did some rough mental math to determine my hourly rate of production.  I came up with 510 rounds per hour, having rounded the time off to 3 1/2 minutes and the round count to 30 to make it a little easier.  Call it roughly 500 rounds per hour.  Of course, that doesn't take into account setup time, interruptions to reload the priming mechanism, etc etc.  But it at least gives me an idea of my productivity.

In this session I loaded 426 rounds for my P7M8.  The day before I had loaded 407 rounds for my CZ-75, the gun I last took to the range, and reported on in my last blog entry.  I was just about out of ammunition for it, as the last time I'd loaded for that pistol was in 2004.  At that time I was still shooting PPC competitions in the Michigan Police Combat Pistol Association, and was going through several hundred rounds a month between practice and competitions.

I am not currently shooting in any leagues or competitions, but I do hope to be able to get out to the range much more often than I have during our first two years here. Now that I know I can reliably load consistent ammunition, I expect that this week's loading sessions will only be the first of many more to come.  

Mood:  Happy

Music: Black Sabbath, Volume IV