New to reloading, need a little help!

[Tvaughan1]

I have a nosler book and it recommends using nosler casings with the specific charge but I already have horniday, .338 laupa .223 and .270... Do I need to buy new brass or a new book or just go off of nosler specs? Thanks yall

 

[mechengr]

It's fine to use what you have, just be sure to start a few grains under and work up to the book load

 

[Tvaughan1]

It's fine to use what you have, just be sure to start a few grains under and work up to the book load

It has a max medium and minimum load, I was going to start with minimum, should I do less?

 

[Gunpoor]

Starting at the listed minimum should be okay, just to remember to work up in small increments and shoot for accuracy while looking for signs of high pressure. The first sign of high pressure is primer flattening across to the case head, and the second sign is stiff bolt lift (if you are using a bolt gun). I would load the 270 in .5 grain increasing increments and .2 or .3 grain increase in the 223. STOP shooting if you see any of the over-pressure indicators mentioned above. If by then you don't see acceptable accuracy you may need to use a different powder or other component, or you may need to adjust seating depth.

 

[BallisticsGuy]

No reason to do any less. In fact I'd typically just start in the middle in your case (you can take or leave that). The simple matter is case volume. If your brass is commercial, at least in .223 and .270, the volume difference if any across brands will be likely very small to trivial. If your load data book gives a case fill %age that will help you identify if you need to back off for loads that fill the case very well but it's not a good method of determination, only of symptoms that are suggestive.

What I usually do is lump things into 2 categories: military/military-similar brass and commercial brass. Military brass (so brass meant as 5.56x45mm NATO or 7.62x51mm NATO) will be thicker and so has smaller capacity than commercial brass and I have to routinely drop 2 grains from any book recipe when using military brass.

For commercial cases this hasn't been a real problem. What I typically do is start in the middle and go up from there, what I would be cautious with is matching the bullet to the one in the book. Identical weight bullets of different models can have wildly different safe charge weight windows.

Winchester/Hornady/Nosler/Remington/Winchester brass hasn't been different enough for me to care about except for match loads which I do separate by case head stamp and number of firings.

P.S. Get another load data book or 3. It's good to compare. Also if you use Winchester/Hodgdon/IMR powders then their site has a slick load data app with oodles of recipes for oodles of bullets. They don't have to worry about marketing their bullets so they have data for gobs of manufacturers projectiles.

 

[Korhil78]

Since you are just starting, start at the minimum and work up. Get the basics of reloading down good and learn how different powders act with your rifles and bullets first. Then in the future if you want to jump to the mid range loads later, you can.

Trial by fire is a stupid way to go if you have never done it before. Listen to the companies that have pressure tested the loads
That are in your manual. You will find that reloading manuals are pretty light on loads but it is like that to keep beginners out of trouble as well as establish a good safe starting point for powders that people have not worked with AND to keep them from getting sued haha.

 

[rcoody]

I try to stay away from minimum charges. Too low a charge can be as bad or worse as too great a charge. I always start.in the middle. If you want to be cautious start between middle and minimum.

You are going.to find your load in the top 25% of the range in the book. The reloading manuals are for the most part pretty conservative

 

[g0rd0]

only 1 problem with books published by bullet (or powder), manufacturers is they all want to push their products. No problem with that at all. Get at least 1 more book Lee's 2nd edition is a good 1. Then confirm all of your loads before loading.
You can also use Hodgdon Reloading | Home and Alliant Powder - Home to confirm loads.

Lets say that a load from your manual lists a 60.5grn max and a 52.0grn start of type x powder with y bullet, go to your other book (or web site), look it up they list 61.0grn max and 54.0grn start I would choose to start with 54.0 and work up to no more than 60.5grn. Load 3 or 5 of the start shoot and look for hi preasure, if there is none the next day increase by 0.5grn and repeat. Continue working up until you have your best accuracy WITHOUT hi preasure .
Remember fast will not always equal accuracy keep all of your targets (with load data and date on them, I also put weather conditions on). Another point to remember is as your barrel heats up accuracy has to change so for each group of 3 or 5 you need to start with a cold barrel.

 

[Tvaughan1]

Thanks for the replays guys, I ended up starting in between low and mid range, had 2 loads and the hotter load was very impressive, the other actually didn't stabilize. Had 4 shots that showed an inch or so long in the paper at 100 yards. Shootin .223 today.

 

[highfinblue]

Read your manual and then read it again. Familiarize yourself with the process and pay attention to your details. Make sure your primers are seated fully, that you charge each case with powder once and visually inspect all cases for powder before you seat your bullets. The loads listed are generally safe, but you want to start below the maximum and slowly work your way up. Small cases are much more sensitive to overcharging with powder than your large calibers. Stay focused and have fun, I've been at it for thirty plus years and still have much to learn. I've never had much trouble getting decent accuracy from Hornady, Sierra and Nosler bullets, but I'm pretty new to loading for long range. There's a big difference between 300 yard accuracy and 1000.

 

[Wachsmann]

Also if its your first time at reloading try to find someone that has been doing it for a while and ask to help you out if they are willing. You tube has some good video's also on reloading. 6.5 guys, doc tac dad, Panhandle Precision to name a few.