Tired of waiting, I am going to reload!

[Wally2528]

Gents, this last gun crisis is going insane, after weeks of walking empty shelves of ammo in every place, even Wal-Mart all over south Cal, I decided to go reloading, so for some of you with experiencie reloading their own rounds, where do you recommend to beging? What type of equipment you recommend? Any suggested brand in particular? Where to buy it? I believe this is the way to prepare if this craziness keeps going, or worse, if future restrictions in buying ammo arises. Suggestions are all welcome.

[ke6guj]

now you get to see empty shelves of reloading components


Once the ammo got scarce, everyone started buying up powder, primers, and projectiles. everything is backorderd, just like ammo.

[FX-05 Xiuhcoatl]

Start by buying powder and primers if you can find any.

[12voltguy]

you are 3 months late for reloading supplies too................

[Kinsel83]

now you get to see empty shelves of reloading components


Once the ammo got scarce, everyone started buying up powder, primers, and projectiles. everything is backorderd, just like ammo.

This.

[Blademan21]

Buy the book "The ABC's of Reolading" and read it a few times before you take the plunge in buying re-loading stuff. ALWAYS follow the re-loading manuals on powder charges. Don't rely on what someone tells you works for them if the manual says different. Be safe, God only gave you 2 eyes and 2 hands.

[rccarufel]

powders up here are not hard to find yet, premium bullets are dwindling and primers are nonexistent unless you are there with the truck pulls up to to doors of the sporting good dept. My strategy has been to stick to a couple calibers and stock up on the supply's for them only. For me 300 win mag, 30-06 and 243. I have found IMR 4831 to be a good universal powder for most high power rifle cartridges. You cannot load 22lr buy all you can!!!!

[Wally2528]

That was exactly what I thought it would happen with reloading components supply going dry. Simple economics. Still since I live near Yuma and Phoenix and going down there almost once per month I think I can sniff around to see if I can get somehting. Since our neighbor state is way more gun friendly that ours I believe I can find a wider supply of parts there. Please let suggestion to flow.

[railgunner]

Good luck on finding supplies to reload. Everything is going to factories for bullet production.

[appagohm]

yeah, i've been reloading for years, everything is sold out at the moment. i ended up selling off my 40sw reloading equipment and bullets for cheap.

THe tools you'll need
-Caliber
-scale
-press, if your starting out don't go overboard.
-die set
-if your press doesn't have a powder flow through, you need to buy it seperate.
-reloading BOOK important if your starting out and don't have any loading data.

you won't have trouble with the equipment, but the primers, powder, and bullets are sold out everywhere. Companies are trying to fill rounds before they fill bullet orders.

[milotrain]

I don't see the missing reloading supplies. Everyone is out of stock sure but you shouldn't have less than 8lbs of powder 5k primers and 1k bullets at any given time when you are reloading, and that will last you three months, which is more than enough time to keep an eye out for when things get back in stock.

Between powdervalley, angeles reloading store, and various group buys you should be fine. As long as you aren't doing massive load development with many different bullets, primers and powders then you should be ok. When you get a chance to buy, buy as much as you can, it's not going to get cheaper and almost none of it goes bad unless you let it sit for 5+ years, and even then only primers are to worry about.

Now Dillon reloading machines are hard to find.

[rccarufel]

MIlotrain, why are you saying primers will only last 5 years or so? any evidence to support this Im just wondering. Thanks

[JeremyS]

now you get to see empty shelves of reloading components

Seriously. The truth is, the reloading components stock is going to lag behind the loaded ammo stock. The companies that make primers and brass and other "components" are supplying the ammunition manufacturers first, as they try to meet demand for military/police/civilian markets. Individual components for reloading won't be coming back into stock until the demand falls for loaded ammo and less than 100% of the manufacturing capacity of the component makers is needed by the ammo companies.

Finding small pistol primers and rifle primers is basically impossible right now unless you're willing to pay crazy auction prices.

[jvpark]

Look at the lee classic turret press. It's a cross between an single stage (one action at a time) and a progressive press (automatic). I find it a great starter press, that will grow with you.
Regardless if supplies are hard to comeby, eventually it will free up and you can accumulate more supplies and reduce future risk from ammo shortages and control your cost.
I have 10,000 primers, 20 pounds of powder, 5,000 bullet and 5,000 casings (all various). I still feel I don't have enough.
I can still shoot 223 for under 30 cents, 45 for 20 cents and 308 for less than 50 cents (both match grade quality). Even with price gouging cost really don't change that much because of economy of scale and your overall inventory cost.

[milotrain]

I don't have personal experience with expiring primers but I have seen a friend on the line pop some duds which he attributed to old primers. In his case I think thy were like 8 years old. He's a reliable source of information so I assume about 5 years for primers. I'll load them up after 5 years but I won't use them in a match.