New to reloading

[vector16]

I have not been reloading for too long but have been thinking of it for a while. I was told to read thru at least 3 reloading books before I even bought my first pound of powder. That was one of the best pieces of advice I have ever gotten. I have not bought a press yet and am on a Classic Lee Loader in 30-06 that I traded someone here for 150 rnds of 40 cal ammo. Also the best trade ever.

I first loaded up with H380 in the 30-06 and 243. brought guns home and cleaned the filthy guns as usual. Last time I loaded up both with IMR4895 and shot 100+ rounds out of both rifles. This was a little over a week ago. I just sat down to clean both of them. HOLY C**P! I used (1) one 2" patch on both rifles and there was not even a spec of residue on the patch. That is the cleanest burning powder I have seen. Both barrels did not have any fowling on them at all and either did the bolts.

Now I need to start reloading for my pistols and hope for the same results.

Why did nobody tell me about this? If you want to get into this, do the 3 books first and you will not regret it. You will be able to communicate clearly with suppliers and others.

[pacrat]

There are a great many advantages to rolling your own. Cleaner burning than factory ammo is just one of the things you can incorporate into your reloading goal.

The opposite can also happen. When you start loading for your pistols. If you make the unwise choice of buying 2400 powder to use in low velocity target loads. You will have plenty of crap to clean out of your gun afterward.

Just because something is written in a book. Doesn't mean it is the best route.

[vector16]

What do you suggest for good HV pistol powder?

[pacrat]

What do you suggest for good HV pistol powder?

Did you read what I wrote in the 'Which Manual Do I Believe" thread?

It all depends on the variables. What caliber, what bullet weight, what barrel lenght if revolver or single shot, what goals, hunting, targets, most accurate, most powerfull, most reliable cycling a semi, etc, etc.

There never is a one size fits all for all calibers and loading goals. If I could only have one powder to load for all my straight walled pistol calibers? It would be UNIQUE. It is best in some, good in others, but not poor in any.

JM2c

[JMP]

Fouling is also dependent on the projectile you use. Traditional jacketed lead bullets engrave and pull some of the prior fouling back out of the barrel so it is a somewhat self-cleaning process. If I shoot lead bullets, I do not clean after only 100 rounds.

For long range shooting, I pretty much exclusively use monolithic bullets of copper and brass. Because these bullets are not full diameter except for the driving band, with the harder metal, they do not engrave, rather, under the extreme pressure copper atomizes to the barrel. Thus, I'll clean every single time I shoot, even if it is 10 rounds.

This is from last weekend. I fired exactly 54 rounds from 3 guns that were perfectly clean before I shot. Here's the copper salts that drained out my barrels without even running a single patch.



Also, one of the big problems is that people do not really know to sufficiently clean a barrel as they lack the right materials.

[9mmepiphany]

Depending on the caliber, I've had very good luck with BE-86 in 9mm, 38spl, and .40

[Divernhunter]

OP--What cartridges do you plan to load? What bullets do you plan to use? The purpose of the ammo--Plinking--target shooting-hunting --OR??

All of these things will help determine the powders to use.

[Eljay]

re: clean burning handgun powder - I was ASTOUNDED when I started shooting N320 at how little residue it leaves. It's one of the more expensive powders but you use so little for pistol calibers it's hard to care very much (extra half cent per round or whatever).

[Jjwisled]