Joys of Hand Crafted Ammo: Reloading .308

It only took me 30 years to finally get around to it. Even though I've had raw components (read: lots of brass) on hand since my earliest firearms purchase nine years ago, the last puzzles pieces just fell into place. In order to make one cartridge, one must have brass, bullet, powder, primer and the hardware to assemble these four components. A set of dies to punch out the spent primer & re-size the brass, a tool that seats fresh primers, scale and funnel to measure and pour a correct powder charge, and most importantly the press which holds the dies and shell plate. The reloading press is akin to the "Flux Capacitor" in Dr. Emmet Brown's DeLorean Time Machine... it makes all of this possible.

Recreational shooters like myself hoard empty brass casings with the dream of "Someday I'm going to reload. Brass is the most expensive part so I'm halfway there. It's an investment!" and somehow forget to go buy the rest of the kit. I actually started purchasing dies for higher volume firearms two years ago. A .45ACP set here, a carbide .357 set there, and before long I've got 5 sets of dies stored with a pile of empties. Then I told myself last fall, "either get serious or get rid of it" and to wit now have a can of powder, several primers, and the bullets to go on top (pointy side facing out). My knowledge base grew exponentially in the past two years as I milked every colleague and customer I knew on the subject. We actually have the excellent DVD from RCBS on loop at my workplace that I've seen several times now (in 5 minute increments).

Finally, I got the blessing of a colleague to come over after work and use his bench. Of particular interest to me was tapping his vast knowledge of the title caliber: .308 Winchester. Apparently there are two distinctly different methods depending on end use. If you plan on shooting a .308 bolt action, then standard dies will work fine, but if your intended use is a semi-automatic, which I have, then 'small base' dies plus 'neck sizing' dies are the way to go. Without going into exhaustive detail, fired brass is ejected with vigor from a semi-auto rifle, thus requiring a bit more prep work than empties collected from a bolt action shooter. The former is a very dynamic platform, whilst the latter is quite static. That extreme force stretches brass longitudinally and radially, whereby the hand loader has to take extra caution to make sure his casings are back in spec, a rather tedious task.

After getting the cases sized and trimmed down to spec, we primed them, added forty-two grains of IMR 3031 powder, and lastly seated a 150 grain Sierra Game King bullet. What is a grain? Seven thousand grains equals one pound, so a five hundred grain bullet weighs slightly more than an ounce. Our fifty cartridges consumed 2,100 grains or roughly a third of one can of powder. A hundred count box of Sierra bullets costs on average $35... so that's thirty-five cents each. CCI #200 primers also come in sleeves of 100 and cost $5 or less. Powder ranges from $20 to $30 a pound. The reloader's goal is to make it for half the price of factory ammo. These figures are considering $0 for "once fired" empty brass. If one starts with store bought virgin brass, he may not realize any savings.

Let's do a little math. I figure if $25 retail is what you'd pay for a 20 round box of Hornady, Winchester, or Federal and my unit cost is $0.53 instead of $1.25 then I am reaching the elusive "inexpensive ammo" goal. A break-even point is readily passed when reloading pistol rounds such as .45ACP, .44 Magnum, 9mm, .38 Special, and .357 Magnum. The powder these calibers consume is minuscule (5 to 14 grains) and in the case of sub-sonic loads like .45ACP, brass can be reloaded a couple dozen times due to lower chamber pressure & less fatigue. As some old timers say, "reload & shoot it 'til it cracks!" I now have 50 rounds of meticulously crafted .308 ammo and the ability to produce more. Dreams do come true!

CAUTION: THE AUTHOR'S INTENDED AUDIENCE IS COMPETENT, SOBER, SAFETY MINDED ADULTS. READ PUBLISHED DATA/ INSTRUCTIONS FROM REPUTABLE SOURCE BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO RELOAD AMMUNITION. HANDLING GUN POWDER & PRIMERS CAN BE INHERENTLY DANGEROUS. MISUSE MAY RESULT IN SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH. ALWAYS WEAR SAFETY GLASSES! CLICK IMR OR CCI FOR MORE INFORMATION.