Once You Have the Hardware, How Do You Get Started In Handloading? (i.e., "Recipes")

[Lost Sheep]

Mothdust,

Excellent advice, so far. I will repeat some of it (as it is good advice). Here is what I was told when I started loading (expanded a bit by my own experience). This advice applies equally well to rifle and handgun.

Pick the bullet and velocity you want to shoot. This will be determined by the intended target, (e.g.thick-or-thin-skinned game, long distances, those sort of factors.)

Find load recipes that deliver that bullet with that velocity in the mid-range between the Maximum and Minimum powder charges. You will see just a few powders that do that. (The bullet manufacturer's load recipes are hand for this approach.)

Get primers compatible with that powder (generally, easy-to-ignite powders use standard primers, hard-to-ignite powders take magnum primers-as a general rule. If the load recipe does not specify the primer, find another manual that lists primers, find that powder and use your judgement.)

Start low and work up your loads watching for pressure signs, observing group size and the progression of velocity changes (if you have a chronograph)

Good luck.

Lost Sheep

[Jay24bal]

Power Pistol on the other hand, is a flake powder that ignites quite easily...On the plus side, it's really good at delivering high velocities. It can really move a bullet.

And deliver fire balls. Not to scare you away from Power Pistol as it is a good powder, but I have found that loading for 40 S&W, that when it comes it out a short (under 4") barrel, the flames are present, even when working well under the max load.

Different things such as muzzle flash and others are factors to be considered as well. For example, I do not mind the fire ball for range ammo, but I would never consider using this ammo for self defense (not that I would use handloads anyway, but that is a whole different debate) since the flash would be quite distracting to me in a dark environment.

[Misssissippi Dave]

I would suggest starting with jacketed bullets first. It is easy to over crimp a plated bullet when you are first starting to reload. Over crimping plated bullets will cut into the plating enough to have the plating separate from the lead often enough to make too many un-accurate loads. This tends to put people off from reloading. Jacketed bullets can be over crimped too but it takes more effort to do so.

I like the Speer #14 manual. The load data in it seems to be pretty close to what I have seen once I started using a chronograph to measure the speed of my bullets. I needed this mostly for competition.

I like AA5 powder matched with a 124 grain jacketed bullet in 9 mm. I can load a pretty decent 115 grain round but the 124 grain seemed to be easier to work up a load for. I find 6.0 grains of AA5 works well. This is what I use for USPSA matches. It is a soft shooting load and work very well in every 9 mm pistol I have. My 9 mm pistols are Sig, Beretta, CZ, EAA and I don't recall if another brand is in there or not at the moment.

I like Silhouette powder for .40 with a jacketed 180 grain bullet. Probably in the coming year I will also try some 165 grain FMJ bullets but I haven't done that yet. Silhouette starts to burn cleaner once you get to the mid-range and above. It is also a very low flash powder.

I stick with ball/spherical type powders because they work best in my powder measures. I have used flake powders in the past and they do work but to get very consistent ammo I needed to weigh each load. This is quite time consuming and I prefer progressive presses to produce the amount of ammo I need to keep me shooting the amount I do now.

Remember to only load up a few rounds to test at a time. It is a pain to have to pull bullets from ammo you don't like. I normally load 10 rounds for each load I plan to test. I shoot them 5 at a time and save the second group of 5 to confirm my results on the second go around. I normally skip the first minimum load for jacketed bullets and load in .1 grain steps. I also skip the max loads as well.

I suggest starting with just one caliber. Once you are quite happy with that one you can start working up a load for the next caliber. I hope you have been saving your brass for a while now. You just can't have too much brass. Take your time to get things right from the beginning. If you can find someone to mentor you that is even better.

Remember there are a lot of different powders you can use to load both these calibers. You can make a lot of powders work if you need to. Pistol Powder works quite well but I don't care for the flash I was having from it while shooting at an indoor range. That is my only real complaint with that powder.

Faster powders seem to work best with lighter bullets. Fast powders also tend to have softer recoil but you might not be able to get the bullet going fast enough to make power requirements for competition with some of them.

There are plenty of things to learn over time to improve your ammo. I find mid-weight bullets and the powder to match them is probably going to be one of the best places to start. You can branch out from there once you have all the basics down. I rarely have found max loads to be the best for accuracy in any pistol load. The best seem to normally always be some place lower than max. I also find less than max loads to easier on my pistols and me.

[Ashbane]

Get on Midwayusa.com and setup a notification when used brass is available. Got my first 1000 cases of .40 cheap that way. I started with the Hornady manual that came with my press and found a powder that I saw worked across several different loads. Bought a Lee manual to compare data, you learn a lot more from multiple sources. Your bullet choice may depend on availability. I wanted Hornady bullets but the local Scheels always had Berrys plated bullets in stock and they get good reviews so guess what im using, heh. Once you make a couple rounds and fire them off you learn a lot. I subbed to a couple magazines too, trying to soak up as much as I can.

[Gunnels]

I started reloading about a year and half ago. I started reloading 9mm. After acquiring my press, dies, and brass cleaner I started looking for components (brass, bullets, powder, primers).

Powder - I researched all available sources for reloading data. This included two books I had bought and all the powder and bullet sites online. My goal was to come up with a list of the most common powders for 9mm. The list I came up with was Bullseye, Unique, Universal, Win 231, HP-38. Don't go shopping for one particular powder, you will never find it. Go shoopong with a list of powders. I never buy powder or primers online because of hazmat fees. I shop 4 or 5 stores at least twice a month and I find powder maybe once a month.

Primers - I buy primers while I am shopping for powder.

Brass - I bought brass from people off of Craigslist. The gun ranges I frequent allow me to police my own brass (and any others). Now I seem to have all the brass I need.

Bullets - I reload lead and plated bullets. I stay away from jacketed bullets because they are too expensive. I order all my bullets online.

[Jeff2131]

May i ask what gun you are shooting? I load for 9 and 40. What i found is that starting with the minimum charge for my 9 was a fail right out of the gate. I shoot a Ruger SR9 and i loaded up 50 rounds and headed to the range. Every single round i shot did not have enough snap to cycle my slide properly. Luckily, my buddy has the SR9 compact and i was able to sell him the rounds and they cycled fine in his compact. I then bumped to mid range and the cycling issue was gone. Then for my 40, im shooting a beretta PX4 storm. I started at mid range this time and out of 50rounds i had about 10 stove pipes. I bumped up .5-1.0 grains and the issue was resolved. My point being, depending on what you are shooting, you may want to start right in the middle and avoid those issues. I dont.know what you are shooting and how the reloads will function in that particular gun...maybe tell us what you are shooting and someone who puts rounds through that same gun can chime in on the particulars of where you may want to start.

[Ashbane]

In my opinion you should still start with starting loads just don't make soo many. 5 or 6 of a test load is plenty to see if they will cycle. Once past that I'll make bigger batches. I would never sell anyone my reloads anyway, if I screwed one of them up it could blow up in their face.

[BWM]

Buy your self some reloading books The Lyman and Lee will do a good job of getting you started. READ READ THEN READ it till you have it down. Then if you know some one ask then for help if they have loaded for a few years. GOOD LUCK

[jamaica]

Yes with the variety of loads you can find in looking at 2 or 3 manuals, it may be frustrating for a newcomer to the game. In today's market, it may be more a matter of what you can find than what you want. Here is what I suggest:

After looking at the manuals decide on a bullet type.

See what powders are used for it. Look at a couple of manuals if you have them.

From this make a list and go shopping. Hope you find something close to what you want.

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I load for 380 auto, 38 Spl, 357 Mag, 44 Spl, 44 Mag, 45 Auto

Powders that have served me well are Win 231, Unique, Titegroup, 2400.

Others have given you some good ideas on the powders they use. Point is: there are a lot of options. Just choose one and go for it. You can't go wrong as long as you choose a load from a published manual and follow directions.

You will let us know how it went?

[MarkGlazer]

Check your local gun store/range. Some offer a basic loading class. If that is the case, I can assure you that the dollars spent are well worth it. Procedure is EVERYTHING and they will teach that, and more.

The people on this board teach from experience, some you don't want to ever have. Read as much as you can and work your way slowly through the process. Until you settle in and feel somewhat comfortable with handling your guns, including field stripping, don't go near the high end of your load data. Work your way up slowly and incrementally.

Good luck and ask as many "dumb" questions as you want. As I have learned, the question not asked could get you killed, or worse, have to explain something to your wife.........................

[johnjohn]

The LGS that I shop at keeps a copy of the latest Lyman manual on the counter in case they don't have the powder/primer/bullet you need,you can find whatever else will work.