Reloading

The whitetail deer has to be our most popular big game animal in the Continental Forty-Eight, yet the settings in which we hunt them, and the means with which we hunt them has got to be the most diverse ever.  Entire volumes have been written on what makes up the consummate deer gun, and while I’m not going to attempt to define that within this article, I would like to talk about some ideas to optimize your existing deer rifle, or perhaps to choose a different rifle in order to try a different means of deer hunting.

Times change, and technology changes along with it. We hunters have an irrefutable connection with the past; we discuss our favorite cartridges — often with opinions based upon the experiences of our forefathers — and we long for the opportunity to recreate those hunts made famous in the hunting literature we adore so much. However, I feel that if our hunting heroes of yesteryear could’ve had the opportunity to use those tools that we now have available, they’d embrace them immediately. And among all the improvements we’ve seen in the last half century, I rate modern bullet development at the top of the list.

In the world of defensive handguns, those serious about the art are always practicing for worst case scenarios. While we would hope that we would have sufficient time to secure a good grip etc., hope is not a course of action. We must focus on the “what if” situations. One that does not get as much attention as it should is single handed, support side shooting.

The very last step in the reloading process is inspection and packaging. After all is done, I like to combine the inspection and packaging steps. As I put each completed cartridge into a box, I look it over to make sure everything is in order.

Crimping gets a bad rap. Just as we sometimes tend to fix construction mistakes with a hammer rather than taking the time to properly fit parts, we tend to view crimping as a way to “fix” a less than perfect bullet seating. The problem with crimping is that it sounds so logical. The word “crimping” kind of implies the process of locking a bullet in place. But, there is more to it than just that.

So, let’s discuss the topic of seating and crimping in the reloading process. Stated simply, the seating step simply means jamming a new bullet into a cleaned, resized, primed, and powder-charged cartridge case. Crimping “generally” refers to the act of bringing the neck of the cartridge case back to proper dimension after that bullet is stuffed in. There’s a lot more to both actions, especially if you want to be safe, so let’s take a closer look at both steps.

Lyman unveiled their 50th Edition reloading handbook, bleacher blocks, and an advanced target system at SHOT Show 2017. Check em out.

And that, my friends, is when you start looking at Dillon Precision, because Dillon is for the serious reloader.

Bullets are bullets, right? Well, not really. There are a wide array of variables in bullet shape, weight, materials, and construction. Each of these variables can have a dramatic impact on the performance, and safety, of any given load. In other words, loading recipe data for one 147-grain, .308 bullet may be incorrect, and even unsafe, for another projectile of equal caliber and weight. Let’s take a closer look at some of the variables and what you need to know about each.