Who is the laziest reloader?

[ntsqd]

I refuse to reload for common caliber auto-loaders, I just don't have that time to spare and the ammo is too inexpensive. Some of it is even cheap. The only .223 for an AR that I've ever reloaded was for a custom flat-top that I built & shot in a local BR match in 1988.

The idea of a tight neck chamber makes me cringe. I like accuracy as much as the next guy, but frankly my shooting skills won't know the difference between a tight neck chamber and a std. neck chamber. A good rifle will still be more capable than I am. And that is my goal, for the misses to be mine and not the rifle's. A rifle that is more capable than that is wasted on me. I've too many competing hobbies to run down that rabbit hole very far.

So, I do now have a tumbler for cleaning brass. On and off reloaded small volumes for a couple decades without even that. Only recently got a powder thrower. Time was I was pretty good at "eyeballing" how much powder to put in the scale's pan.

 

[Pro2A]

You don't mess with primer pockets, your powder thrower is good to maybe 0.1 grain, you definitely don't neck turn, you still need to buy that one Hornady tool that measures stuff, you might have mixed in a different head stamp or two, you've never annealed anything...

But you still get impressive results out of your ammo. I want to hear from the guys doing the minimum. And by lazy I don't mean dangerous or careless. Not stuff that risks a kaboom, just dotting the i's and crossing the t's to get your ammo made safely, nothing more and nothing less.

Guess laziest loader would be my brother. He's so lazy he won't even shoot my reloads. I have to aim and pull the trigger for him on factory ammo. Is that lazy enough to win?? Fact of the matter, he was so lazy he quit breathing several years ago. Need to get around to burying him someday.

 

[javman]

If it's not for precision shooting I don't go through all the hassle you listed.

 

[Pointman]

Perhaps I'm more "anal" about my loads. My theory is if I make the absolute best rounds ai can then the only excuse for poor performance is the "nut" behind the trigger. Since I shoot mostly paper I can see to the smallest detail how my performance as a"marksman" is going on any given day. Plus, bring retired, if I'm not shooting at a range, cleaning my weapons or my main focus is the reloading process. Yes, you can make good ammunition by simply priming a fired case (no prep other than sizing) dumping powder in the case, and seating a bullet, but where's the enjoyment in making the absolute best round possible within the limitations of your equipment. Besides, it's an integral part of the shooting experience in my opinion.

 

[jasonco]

With the right components and a good progressive press, you'd be amazed at what you can turn out. Lots of pistol and 5.56 ammo loaded this way. Remember, there is ALOT of factory ammo that shoots amazingly well that's made on large commercial presses and their brass prep regimen involves dumping a barrel of manufactured brass into a large hopper! Same for powder and bullets.

I crank out match grade 223/556 on a Loadmaster, it's a wonderful thing to behold!

 

[DavidleeCole]

Do a fair bit of reloading and for two of my bolt guns I do a bit of steps but not like I read here. For every thing else its Size the brass full length, prime with hand primer, drop or auto dispense powder, and seat a bullet. Kill more stuff with those bullets and never have an issue with it, than I do with my bolt gun ammo. I think we often complicate things to much and then think everyone else that dont do the same or more is less than par. Oh that ammo is 1 MOA to 3/4" MOA. Any thing more is not worth it. Vitals is vitals and dead is dead.

 

[Quintus]

Funny, when I started loading in 1994 I THOUGHT I was pretty meticulous. I did what alota guys said was a waste of time like sorting cases by head-stamp, trimming to a constant length every firing, measuring my powder to the kernel, tumbling, and cleaning primer pockets. As time has gone by there have been times that I hate to admit how "lazy" I am cause that is still all I do. I have found that with a good rifle that is set up correctly, my method will produce 1/2 MOA ammo and I am frequently not a 1/2 MOA shooter. Since getting a magneto Speed years ago I did start to venture past 600 yards at paper as I could calculate ES and that has helped my load development, but has not caused me to take any extra steps. I do actually hope one day to get one of those Hornady gauge things to measure stuff with though.

 

[Joe-boy]

My process:
1)Deprime and resize (Deer hunting ammo full length resizing for reliable feeding, for fun or small game ammo only neck size because lazy and I very rarely have faced any challenges with neck sized)
2)Trim if needed; I always measure the length to be sure
3)Chamfer if trimmed
4)Prime
5)Insert powder. For 223 I use the Lee thrower, for 30-06 I weight.
6)Seat bullet.

I seem to achieve very reasonable accuracy, it's difficult and rare to exceed MOA. I don't anneal, neck turn, or sort brass or bullets by weight. I use the same brass manufacturer for a load and try to be aware of how many times it has been used.

I do understand different level of consistency is needed when the range is closer to 1000 yards. I don't shoot that far at anything that lives.

 

[ButterBean]

1" maybe ok for a hunter, but not for a target shooter

What's wrong with hunters? This is Long Range HUNTING after all.

We have had this conversation with him before, he has this site confused with Bench Rest Central

 

[30BR]

Back in the day, one of the guys I was fortunate enough to shoot a bit with was Dave Milosevich. He was a Palma Team shooter and won his share of loot at the NRA Nationals back in the 90's. (Once, in very foggy conditions, story is, he held on the TARGET BOARD, because he COULD see it, and adjusted his windage and elevation to where the bull SHOULD have been. He won the match.) He spoke about PGA vs DGA. Pretty Good Ammo vs Darn Good Ammo. Pretty good ammo was looser in terms of meeting exact dimensions and powder weights. One of the things he found was that with SOME powders, increasing the charge had a diminishing effect on the velocity change RATE, and the vertical induced by the minor variation was negligible. So he advocated PGA, and more time behind the trigger to learn wind calling.

 

[rewiltshire]

Depends. For LR big game hunting (for which I don't need a lot of ammo) I do a fairly rigorous routine. High volume loading for the old prairie dog town, the old Dillon 550 is "close enough'. Clean, lube and start pulling the handle. If I miss one at 300 yards, well I got plenty of ammo and there are plenty of dogs. If it ain't for money, who cares.

 

[bullet man]

I think I got this, I buy pulldown LC brass 556 and 762. I run it through my Lyman m die for a little flare, then charge them with my rcbs large size powder thrower it holds a pound of powder so I don't have to keep filling it up. Then I seat the bullets, I finish up with the lee factory crimper and that's it. I use ball powder in both because it flows and weighs great, I check the weight every 100 rounds and it never changes unless u go below half a hopper. Match bullets go about a half-inch fmj about 1 inch.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

for my kid's 25 wssm I trim the brass (if needed), scrape the pockets, and volume charge h4895 then seat the 100gr sierra pills... the load is good for .25 to .75 moa depending on conditions in a off the shelf m70 coyote... the other end of the scale is my tight necked, short throated 8" twist 7rum that I weigh the charges, trim and turn the necks, etc... that rifle usually runs just over an inch at 200 even in heavy wind...

 

[DrDave]

I tend to be a little less stringent about loading for my M1, SKS and Yugo M70b1. No neck turning, no tedious die adjustments for the perfect bump and no concentricity checks. That's why I call it "loading for fun". They all go "bang" pummel the crap outa whatever I'm shooting at and put a smile on my face out to 50-100 yards. Good times.

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Me too, YZ. When I first got my M1 I threw light charges and trickled to exact charge on scale. Now I just throw the charge, seat bullet and go shooting. The GI barrel is not a precision shooter and my old eyes make it futile to pursue diminishing returns. I love shooting the old Garand.