Loading Opinion

[Bucksnort1]

So, let's say you are a casual shooter and you have a boat load of cases for various calibers and components to load all of them. Do you load all as soon as you can or do you load some then save the remaining components for a later date?

Three considerations are, shelf life of powder and primers, you will not be passing your components to a family member or friend, and your age. In other words, will you live long enough to load all you have.

[Xfire68]

Shelf live is long as long as you keep the components stored properly.

Can they out last you? Sure but if you shoot enough you will buy more powder and primers.

Right now if I don't start shooting more I will never use the powder I have. I don't have enough bullets to use all the powder I have so I will have to wait.

There is no reason to not start reloading based on the "I will never use the components" excuse unless you really don't shoot much or ever plan to. I once went shooting every week and now I am lucky to 4-5 times a year. I need to get my priorities straight!

[Kosh75287]

I try to use the older stuff first, and if it's very old, I try to use it up, fast.

In 2006, I bought an 8# just of Data-68 powder, for .223s, and it needs to be used. I've been loading up .223s until the world looks level, and it feels like I've barely made a dent. I wish it worked like that for powders that I actually DO like.

[condor bravo]

Well I would recommend keeping three to five boxes loaded of the calibers that you shoot frequently rather than trying to load them all.

[Xfire68]

In 2006, I bought an 8# just of Data-68 powder, for .223s, and it needs to be used. I've been loading up .223s until the world looks level, and it feels like I've barely made a dent. I wish it worked like that for powders that I actually DO like.

Kosh, 8lbs should give you around 2,200-2,500 .223 loads based on a roughly 22g-24g powder charge.

[Nick_C_S]

Shelf life isn't the issue. For the most part - all else being equal - components will last the same whether they are assembled into ammo or not.

I don't assemble a lot of components into ammunition. I prefer to leave them as components until I need them. Reason being, it seems my shooting style and load recipes are constantly being tweaked (thanks to my odd obsession with chronographing everything ). I've learned from experience that it seems every time I think I need to load 1000 rounds of some recipe, something changes and the recipe becomes obsolete for my purpose. There I am, stuck with hundreds of rounds that I don't want or need. I've learned. The only constant in this universe is change. Loading ammo seems to be no exception.

I do have nearly 1000 rounds of both 158 LSWC's, and 148 DEWC's for 38 Special; what I shoot - by far - the most of. But even those have slight recipe tweaks/refinements within those 1000. I "rotate stock" and shoot the oldest first - for whatever reason; OCD probably being the biggest .

Today, I'm going to load 100 rounds for 44 Special. I'm a little low on them. I'm satisfied with the recipe (185gn DEWC, 5.8gn B'eye) - for now. Maybe something will change? And that's why I'm not loading 500 of them today

Another example: for 45 ACP, my pet load is a 200gn LSWC over 5.0gn W231. But I only load them as I need them. Turns out, I have found myself in a situation where I have a bunch of TiteGroup I want to use up. TiteGroup will probably work well for this application and the test rounds are already loaded (chronographing forthcoming ). Once I develop the emulating load with TG, that will become my go-to recipe. See, things change.

[MarkGlazer]

Agreed on the shelf life issue. There have been a number of posts in recent months about how long something might last, many responding that they have rounds and components as much as 20 years in age or greater. I have 357 rounds that I bought over 20 years ago when I purchased my first handgun that are in storage and get used occasionally. They work perfectly and have no doubt they will continue to do so as long as I keep them in the right environment.

I think the real question is supply. How much do you think you want/need on hand to allow you to continue to enjoy your hobby without the interruptions we have seen in the past.

By the way, I walked into a large retailer yesterday and reloading powder was stacked 6 shelves high with kegs on the floor. There were plenty of primer and bullets as well. It was a welcome sight, but I wondered when the next time will come, knowing that, unfortunately, it will.

To answer your initial question, obviously each of us is different, have our own priorities and time constraints. I only load what the wife and I require for the next trip to the range. The time at my bench is one of peace and relaxation, which I covet.

Regards to all.

[Sevens]

I can see how this would vary by different folks, and there is no "right" answer but I can tell you what works for me...

I like to have somewhere between 200 and 500 loaded rounds in any chambering and definitely no more than that. Often I have less than that, simply because I don't have a lot of free time to make large piles of ammo.

I don't like having too much because I quite often play with NEW components and loads, and having a huge backlog of ammo seems to slow the creative process, haha.

But the most simple answer is that I am extremely happy when I have lots and lots and LOTS of components, more so than when I have piles of ammo.

[jmr40]

I have several hundred pieces of 308 and 30-06 brass. I tend to wait until I have a lot of it needing to be prepped and will do all the prep work and prime all of the brass. It may take most of a day, but this is only about 2-3 times a year. Right now I have quite a bit primed and ready to load.

When it comes time to actually load the brass I usually only load 20-50 rounds at a time. But with certain loads I may load over 100 at a time. I have at least 100-200 rounds loaded for each at any given time.

[FrankenMauser]

I don't compete.
I don't often go blasting through hundreds of rounds at a time.
I really don't shoot much, at all, any more.

So...
I usually have somewhere around 1/2 of my handgun components exactly as I bought them, so that I can tweak loads, try something else, or trade a particular component off, should I want to try something new. The rest is loaded with a favorite load. That may only be 2-3 boxes for something like .44 Mag, but it could also be several thousand rounds for something like 9mm.

For rifles, it's all over the map. I have a lot of bullets, powder, and primers for my rifle cartridges, with brass typically being the limiting factor for loaded ammo.
For some cartridges, I might have 80% of the cases loaded at any given time.
Yet, for other cartridges, I might not have a single loaded box of ammo. (Such as 7.62x54R, right now - I shot it all and wasn't in much of a hurry to try the same load again. )
Most cartridges are probably somewhere around 15-30% loaded, with the rest in reserve (either for testing, or just for future use once the current brass gets recycled).

Regardless... I do still try to always have at least 1-2 boxes worth of brass available for any given cartridge, so that I can put together a new test load.

[Clark]

A lot of my bullets, brass, primer, and powder comes from guys who died a long time ago.

My IMR4895 surplus bulk powder is pull down from the 1960s.

The only trouble I have had is my Grandfather's factory black powder 38 S&W ammo from just after the Alaskan Gold rush, only half went off when I shot it in 1972.

And 10% of my surplus bulgarian ammo fails to fire.

[rtpzwms]

Like Clark and many other posters have said, I don't worry about the age of the round. I have some that I loaded in the early 80's that I still trust 100%. As far as loading I keep everything up to date. If I shoot it I load it, period. Just easier for me to keep track of that way.

My kid and grandkids show up and want to go shooting we just grab what we want and go. I must admit that some of it has gotten out of hand. I came up with a general rule of thumb of 500 rounds per firearm should be enough to enjoy a good trip to the range. I now have some with almost 6x that number.

I also keep enough in supplies to reload every cartridge again. So with that in mind the past shortage was just a minor bump in the road. Every round is in a color coded box and labeled with the components used and the date of final assembly. Stock is rotated to use the oldest first.

[stubbicatt]

Other than 308 and 9mm, which I have loaded in abundance on a progressive press many years ago, I pretty much load as I go.

Since I sold my pistol in the 9mm, I don't have anything to shoot it through. It will be with me quite a long while I think.

My question is what to do with the 5000 308 cases in the garage that I will likely never shoot?

[lordvader]

Your primers and powder should last a long time. Just keep them cool and dry. I still have primers and powder I purchased over 20 years ago, and still load them. No issues. Even though I didn't practice what I preached. Cool and dry. I kept some of my powder in 90 degree temperatures and to some extent humid conditions. I live near the coast in South Texas. Still smells fresh and ignites my ammo.

[buck460XVR]

I generally load in batches of 200 of a caliber at a time. This is mainly for handgun. I have components on hand for thousands of each. The reason I don't load them all at once is because the reason for the ammo may and does change virtually every time I go to the range. I load powder puff loads for my granddaughters and other newbies. I load moderate loads for general range shooting and heavy loads for hunting and SD/HD. Sometimes when loading 200 of one caliber, I may use two different bullets and three different powders/charges. Powders and primers stored properly have a very long shelf life. Having said that, at the present rate I go thru them, they'll only need to last a coupla years.

[mikld]

Personally, I like to reload so I don't use up all my components as soon as I get them. But sometimes I'll process and prime a bunch of brass so when I find a load I'd like to try, it's easy to just charge and seat. Each caliber has it's "go to" load so I'll keep some of that on hand, but I like trying different combinations of components/loads. Part of the fun, and if I had only one load to reload for each caliber (a "perfect" load, no fiddling needed) I'm sure I'd get bored pretty quickly...