Posts Tagged ‘Reloading’

Fathers Day Find – Country Store Reloading Gear

Monday, June 17th, 2013

It was a truly great Father’s Day. It started with a great breakfast around the house with my family, and we decided it would be fun to go out driving country roads and hitting barn sales. The weather was beautiful, and we were far away from traffic. We didn’t see too many sales right away, but the further we got out into the countryside the more we saw. The kids bought clothes and DVDs, and I purchased some gardening tools for our cabin property. It was relaxing, and I always look forward to wheeling-and-dealing. Then it was on to lunch- a small joint named Scott’s Dairy Freeze. Good old fashioned burgers and fries enjoyed outside on a park bench. Good times!

On our way home I saw a gun shop in a small town. It was the tables out front with items on sale that caught my eye, so I stopped and perused the piles. I couldn’t believe my eyes: brass with boxes for $2./50, 40S&W brass in bags: $2./50. 500 S&W magnum brass, $3./50. Dies for $8.-ish a box. This was even better than the garage sales!

gear-600

I even found a powder trickler that I’ve been looking for for $3.00. Yes, this was a great sale on a great Father’s Day. It was even more special given that we’re in such a crazy shortage on supplies right now. This was truly like a breath of fresh air. Now I have items to load with, to trade with friends, or to just give away.

What did you all do on Father’s day? Please share!

-Gavin

Resources: Fundamentals for Super-Accurate Rifle Reloads

Thursday, January 31st, 2013
Measuring and adjusting bullet runout with .223 / 5.56 ammunition - Image copyright 2013 Ultimate Reloader

Measuring and adjusting bullet runout with .223 / 5.56 ammunition – Image copyright 2013 Ultimate Reloader

Recently I blogged about reloading accurate rifle ammunition:
5 Tips for Reloading Accurate Rifle Ammunition

In this blog post I outlined some primary considerations and processes:

  1. Start with proven loads and load data
  2. Fire form your brass
  3. Optimize bullet seating depth
  4. Optimize bullet concentricity
  5. Experiment

I wanted to expand on some of these points by providing additional resources for any of you who want to take a deeper look at these concepts.

Load Data

There’s a ton of great load data available online these days, and here are a few of my favorite online sources:

Optimizing Seating Depth

This should be a mandatory step for anyone reloading rifle ammunition for accuracy. Here are a couple of posts I put together on the subject:

…and if you want to jump straight to the videos: (click on the gear and change to HD if you want high quality :) )

Optimize Bullet Concentricity

Likewise, bullet concentricity is critical for accurate rifle ammunition! Here’s some posts that show how to minimize bullet runout:

Videos:

There you go! Hope these resources prove helpful. Have additional resources to share? Please leave a comment. It’s time to build some tack-driving rifle ammunition (will also need to go to the range)!

Thanks,
Gavin

Ultimate Reloader Is Now Turbocharged!

Wednesday, January 30th, 2013

Hello all: In the last year Ultimate Reloader has seen significant growth. Thanks to all of you who come and visit this site! Because of this growth, ultimatereloader.com has outgrown its former hosting setup, and has just been migrated over to a much faster much more scalable infrastructure. Translation: much better performance overall. With this new setup, I’m looking forward to taking Ultimate Reloader to the next level, and that means bringing you all more reloading content.

Google analytics data over the last few months - too much for normal web hosting!

Google analytics data over the last few months for ultimatereloader.com – too much for normal web hosting!

 

I wanted to thank you all for your patience during the last few weeks, and am glad to be on a more stable setup for the website now. If you have any issues with the site, please let me know!

Thanks,
Gavin

Calling all RCBS Pro-2000 users!

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

Recently, I gathered feedback from Lee Loadmaster owners. Today it’s time to call out to all you RCBS Pro-2000 owners! You APS-loving cast iron frame equipped people know who you are. :)

RCBS Pro-2000 setup to load .223 Remington - Image copyright 2011 Ultimate Reloader

So what was it about the RCBS Pro-2000 that made you decide to buy into that system? What do you like about it now that you have it? What don’t you like? What do you load with it? Do you buy APS strips pre-loaded, or do you “roll your own”?

Here’s some things I like about this press:

  • APS priming system works well – especially when you use pre-loaded strips
  • Cast iron construction is super-beefy
  • Flex-free handle
  • Convenient bin hangers and side tray

Here’s a video showing the Pro-2000 loading 308 Winchester:

This is a great press for loading rifle ammo. The Pro-2000 does not have a case feeder, but for many progressive reloading scenarios you don’t need a case feeder. The press I have (shown here) is of the auto-indexing variety. You can also get a manually indexing version (works kind of like the Dillon RL-550b – you turn a star wheel to index manually).

Anyone use the tube priming system? I haven’t tried it.

OK guys, get your “Green-On” and tell us about your Pro-2000!

Thanks,
Gavin

Poll: What Rifle Cartridge Do You Reload Most Often?

Monday, December 12th, 2011

If you’re like me, as soon as you get a new rifle, you start to anticipate reloading for it. There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of seeing your groups shrink after careful planning and successive batches of reloads. For most of us, there’s a particular rifle cartridge that we tend to reload most frequently. Which one is it for you?

What rifle cartridge do you reload most often?

View Results

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Don’t see your predominant rifle cartridge listed? Please leave a comment listing it!

Thanks,
Gavin