Went to my Reloading Store today!!

I started out buying a pound of this and a pound of that, bullets by the hundreds and primers by the little flats. It didnt take long reloading 223's to realize that I needed to buy in larger quantities. My bigger stuff if I buy jacketed, I get it by the hundreds, if it is lead, I get it by the 500's, Most of the .223 stuff now I either buy it in 250 round quantities or I split with someone, or I buy Armscors from BIll just for my Mini..LOL
a couple of months ago my wife went with me into the shop where I buy my supplies and the owner started talking to me again about buying powder by the 8lbs instead of by the pound. When she found out how much we would save my buying in bulk my options changed. So now I get powder by the 8lbs, my next 8lb will be either bullseye or unique or 4 lbs of each but I have loaded enough bullets in the last 6 years to start breaking even with my reloading and I havent bought any ammo except 22's in quite a while and the last centerfire ammo I bought was just to get brass!!
 
I would love to be able to buy a pound of this and a pound of that but right now I would love to be able to buy a pound of ANYTHING.

As it sits I will have a brand new reloading press with all the proper accessories sitting on a new custom built bench gloriously staged next to some fine bullets and pristine brass that was hand cleaned, trimmed and deburred all sucking wind because there is NO POWDER ANYWHERE (sorry to shout but I'm having one of those "moments").

Seriously bad attitude today. I believe it is time for a beer and a fine cigar in the back yard.
 
I started out buying a pound of this and a pound of that, bullets by the hundreds and primers by the little flats. It didnt take long reloading 223's to realize that I needed to buy in larger quantities. My bigger stuff if I buy jacketed, I get it by the hundreds, if it is lead, I get it by the 500's, Most of the .223 stuff now I either buy it in 250 round quantities or I split with someone, or I buy Armscors from BIll just for my Mini..LOL
a couple of months ago my wife went with me into the shop where I buy my supplies and the owner started talking to me again about buying powder by the 8lbs instead of by the pound. When she found out how much we would save my buying in bulk my options changed. So now I get powder by the 8lbs, my next 8lb will be either bullseye or unique or 4 lbs of each but I have loaded enough bullets in the last 6 years to start breaking even with my reloading and I havent bought any ammo except 22's in quite a while and the last centerfire ammo I bought was just to get brass!!

Yup. This (reloading),is when BIGGER is better and cheaper.

PS. I found 5#'s of 4895 stashed today. :D :D :D still sealed and good.
 
I was doing some thinking and talking with Bill, Bob and Steve, about different powders which got me to thinking about bullets. I am still to the good on .223's, it would kill me to not be able to just go out and shoot a hundred or so but I am trying to figure out a way to do it cheaper. I figured out that I can load everything that I shoot with except 22lr and shotguns with 2 powders, 2 primers and 3 bullets. Now a couple of purchases and I am set for life!! :D
 
That's quite an accomplishment! I have so many different types of powders it gets to be a pain. Everytime I develop a load I like I have a hard time finding that powder again. Like Accurate Arms powder, but can't get it locally, got use to IMR, but they quite carrying it, getting use to Hogdon but now that is gone too. So SanJose take Grover's suggestion when you find it buy it in the 8lb jugs!
 
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Rumor has it that things are getting better. I haven't seen much real evidence to that rumor but I can always hope. I am short a tumber, case trimmer and scale then I should be ready. I picked up some Alliant Power Pro 2000MR which is reputed to be pretty good for the .308 and ok for heavy .233 bullets. Just trying to get started on this reloading journey
 
Now that I have a 5.56 bolt action I'm really starting to explore its accuracy possibilities. Of course, Grover has been a terrible influence in that regard with him sending me samples of bullets in all shapes and weights.:D

Next up will be trying out three new Alliant powders in the next couple of weeks. It'll be interesting to see if they provide me with more predictable results than the mil-surp powder Stav and I have been using. When bullets are in short supply it's hard to waste them on continuous ladder load testing.
 
You guys are influencing me. I told my son that when things get back to semi-normal, I am stocking up. I am done buying 1 lb containers of powder, 1000 primers at a time, etc.. I told him from now on 8 lbs of powder, 5000 primers, bullets- lots of bullets, are going to be kept on hand. If the price of 1000 piece processed brass comes down a little mpore, I will have some of that as well. I am done fooling around. I will not get caught like this again. In all fairness though, concerning the current situation, I have come through pretty well so far. I have 2000 processed 223 cases and enough primers for them. I have had to switch powder, since I bought all of the varget that was available here locally. I am not kidding either, I called around back in early Dec. and found 6 1lb. containers at a gunshop 45 miles away. I went in and bought every bit of it. I am a little shy on the bullets. I have 1000 dogtown that I am going to load. I am just waiting for it to come back in stock and I am going to buy another 1000. I would say that I have reached that final stage of reloading whereas before I just casually reloaded.Anyhow, sorry for the long post.
 
I just bought 1000 bullets from natchez. Hornady 55 gr fmj with cannelure. $11.99 for 100 in the bag in case anyone is interested.I am sure it won't last long.
 
You guys are influencing me. I told my son that when things get back to semi-normal, I am stocking up. I am done buying 1 lb containers of powder, 1000 primers at a time, etc.. I told him from now on 8 lbs of powder, 5000 primers, bullets- lots of bullets, are going to be kept on hand. If the price of 1000 piece processed brass comes down a little mpore, I will have some of that as well. I am done fooling around. I will not get caught like this again. In all fairness though, concerning the current situation, I have come through pretty well so far. I have 2000 processed 223 cases and enough primers for them. I have had to switch powder, since I bought all of the varget that was available here locally. I am not kidding either, I called around back in early Dec. and found 6 1lb. containers at a gunshop 45 miles away. I went in and bought every bit of it. I am a little shy on the bullets. I have 1000 dogtown that I am going to load. I am just waiting for it to come back in stock and I am going to buy another 1000. I would say that I have reached that final stage of reloading whereas before I just casually reloaded.Anyhow, sorry for the long post.


In case you didnt know...the 55gr Dogtown HP's are the Exact same bullet as Nosler Varmageddon 55gr HP's and MidSouth Shooters Supply NightMare Extreme HP's, Rebs can correct me if I have the name wrong but we did the comparisons and they are all the Nosler Varmageddon HP's and a mighty fine bullet. I sent Bill some of these also. I like them because you can buy them in affordable 250 and 500 round boxes and they shoot great!!
 
Getting back up and going again. I found being able to load 5-6000 rounds is a good number to "shoot" for in supply on hand from the past. Then when things ever get "normal",go for 8-10,000 by the looks of things that could happen again in the future. I like electronics,but I keep the old reliable scales and other manual items on hand just in case.
 
I'm looking through my Lyman 49th Ed manual and it doesn't have load data for any of the three Alliant powders I have coming. :(
 
What powders do you have coming...we can start looking through our other books.
 
Same here. Let us know. I have the Nosler, Hornady 7th edition, and Sierra books. Everyone else probably has the same books but I thought I would offer as well. I just bought the Lyman manual on Friday at Cabela's. If I can help, just say the word.:)
 
Thanks. The Lyman manual is my only current edition. All my others are from the early 80s. I do have load data from Grover's Hornady manual as well as from the Alliant web site. I was just disappointed with the Lyman's lack of Alliant powder coverage except for Reloader 7.
 
My Sierra book shows 18 powders listed for the 223 Remington (AR15). There are seven bullets listed including a flat base SPT. The accuracy load is RE-7 21.5 gr which has a velocity of 2900 fps with 1027 ft lbs. You have probably figured that out by now though.:D There are several alliant powders listed. This was for 55 gr bullet.
 
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