Reloading Survey

DJKH

Reloading present and future

Folks a frequent question arises with respect to reloading:

What are the potential numbers of people who would reload if all the barriers were removed.

I would like to get an idea of how many people currently reload, mindful of the fact that even under current legislation it is not unlawful to reload ammunition as long as you have a firearms certificate for the ammunition being reloaded.

1) If you do not currently reload, would you do so given the opportunity
2) Do you currently reload

Answers to these questions would be much appreciated, if you presently reload and do not wish to make it known please answer that you would reload given the opportunity.

Thank you.

If the stats are good it may help move the reloading issue along more quickly than the present pace.

I am unaware of how to set this up as a poll perhaps the moderators might help.

newby.204

Given the oppurtunity to get a .308, i would reload but im a couple of years off that yet!!

Vegeta

would definitely reload if i could

tikkamark

I would love to reload if it was legal here but i would want a spell with someone who knew what they were at before i would fire a reloaded round in my .223 but it must be very satisfying to nail a fox or deer with something you personally made:)

Hezz700

Definately would.

johngalway

I'd reload for accuracy and consistancy for my rifle. It would however be dependent on the cost of gear and licences and most importantly the inevitable hoops I'd be made jump through in order to be let do it.

Vegeta

johngalway wrote:

I'd reload for accuracy and consistancy for my rifle. It would however be dependent on the cost of gear and licences and most importantly the inevitable hoops I'd be made jump through in order to be let do it.

From my limited research

gear is pretty cheap, get a good starters kit for 200 euro

brass is about 52 cent a go but you could use it 10 times (Lapua stuff) so really about 5.2 cent a round. Also if you have any hornady empties lying around they make good quality brass so keep that or beg for it off someone who isn't reloading. Never just throw it away anyway

Good match grade bullet is about 20 cent a round
Powder works out at (for .223) 660 (hot) loads per kg so about 20 cent a round aswell I think.
Primers are about 3 cents.

So for 50 cents hell lets say 65 cents a round (rip off Ireland and all) and you have a constant supply of decent ammo (compared to over 1 euro a round for anything decent). I am sure if you loaded the rounds a little lighter on the powder and got cheaper heads then you'd make even better savings.

If you are into your target shooting its a no brainer but I'd say purely for a hunter with American eagle or remington cheapy ammo then you'd want to do the math first

johngalway

Vegeta wrote:

purely for a hunter with American eagle or remington cheapy ammo then you'd want to do the math first

That's why I'd be getting my calculator out alright Consistantly getting under an inch at 100 with AE, best being 5/8th, usually around 3/4" soooo.......... Have a box of UMC to try out yet, no rush.

I was also thinking what part of the house would they prefer it in, alarm, monitored, etc. etc. Which would be the single biggest cost.

Vegeta

johngalway wrote:

I was also thinking what part of the house would they prefer it in, alarm, monitored, etc. etc. Which would be the single biggest cost.

They're decent groups for cheap ammo, 3 or 5 shot. What weight (length really) are those bullets John. Find it very tough to get the heavier stuff for the .223. Met Kramer (top top bloke by the way) from on here the other day and nearly wet myself when I saw he had 75grn hornady ammo

But why should there be any more security needed. Ok so a kg is about 660 rounds.

Hands up who has more than this on theie license but didn't need additional security to get the license limit increased. Brother has 500 on his license.

So I suppose the question is, what is more dangerous 500 rounds or the powder for 500 rounds?

johngalway

Three shot groups You know how it is, you get a nice three shot group then get cocky and wonder what a five shot group will be like, feck that done it enough times lol. The AE's are 50grn hollow points in the small white box 12 Euro a box.

I've gotten 75grn hornadys from Galway and in Athlone before, they didn't shoot well at all in my rifle, probably the worst round I tried infact. 50 & 55 seem to work the best for me, 50 more so. But I like cheap

More security shouldn't be needed, I'm only saying that I don't know concrete details so all these things however hypothetical could eventually be a factor. Everything adds up, hopefully it'll be sensible though.

Vegeta

johngalway wrote:

Three shot groups You know how it is, you get a nice three shot group then get cocky and wonder what a five shot group will be like, feck that done it enough times lol. The AE's are 50grn hollow points in the small white box 12 Euro a box.

I've gotten 75grn hornadys from Galway and in Athlone before, they didn't shoot well at all in my rifle, probably the worst round I tried infact. 50 & 55 seem to work the best for me, 50 more so. But I like cheap

More security shouldn't be needed, I'm only saying that I don't know concrete details so all these things however hypothetical could eventually be a factor. Everything adds up, hopefully it'll be sensible though.

Jesus, you have a tikka don't ya. The heavier bullets should(well in theory anyway but we all know how different practice is) suit it better. My best group, which is pretty poor is 5 shots of 55gr hornady into a 20 cent coin sized whole (that's edge to edge rather than center to center) at 100 yards

I have not had the chance to shoot heavier rounds as they are pretty rare round these parts. Have 40 rounds of 64grain federal stuff and I'm looking forward to shooting that

bunny shooter

I would if it were legalised

Dvs

Yes, I Would.
Dvs.

tikkamark

johngalway wrote:

Three shot groups You know how it is, you get a nice three shot group then get cocky and wonder what a five shot group will be like, feck that done it enough times lol. The AE's are 50grn hollow points in the small white box 12 Euro a box.

I've gotten 75grn hornadys from Galway and in Athlone before, they didn't shoot well at all in my rifle, probably the worst round I tried infact. 50 & 55 seem to work the best for me, 50 more so. But I like cheap

More security shouldn't be needed, I'm only saying that I don't know concrete details so all these things however hypothetical could eventually be a factor. Everything adds up, hopefully it'll be sensible though.

Them umc's are a great round john very hard hitting;) I did'nt get a chance to try any ae ammo yet in mine have 2 boxes so must see what they group like in mine there made by federal so should be decent enough.Did you ever try any balistic tip 223 rounds yet a local shop has them in hornadys but are €26 a box.

johngalway

tikkamark wrote:

Them umc's are a great round john very hard hitting;) I did'nt get a chance to try any ae ammo yet in mine have 2 boxes so must see what they group like in mine there made by federal so should be decent enough.Did you ever try any balistic tip 223 rounds yet a local shop has them in hornadys but are €26 a box.

The 55 grainers? If so I've tried them. Most of the ammo I've tried has been prior to adopting a new cleaning regime (in other words I rarely do a dn never use wire brush) and it's proved remarkable!

Sparks

Not much point for smallbore shooters of any kind, and for those shooting 300m, it's damn difficult to exceed the performance of factory loads from lapua, at least according to those in the know. There's also the conditions attached to the reloading licence to consider, and what sort of facilities you'll require.
All that said, reloading is something that needs to be brought in, especially for higher calibre pistol and rifle users.

Vegeta

Sparks wrote:

Not much point for smallbore shooters of any kind, and for those shooting 300m, it's damn difficult to exceed the performance of factory loads from lapua, at least according to those in the know. There's also the conditions attached to the reloading licence to consider, and what sort of facilities you'll require.
All that said, reloading is something that needs to be brought in, especially for higher calibre pistol and rifle users.

Maybe the lapua stuff is accurate enough but how much does it cost for a round of it?

Anyway as I said earlier why should their be any extra security needed for reloading. The equipment itself is inert and about as dangerous as a heavy saucepan. All you need is a decent well lit bench in a ventilated room in terms of facilities.

Obviously the powder and primers are dangerous in the wrong hands, no more dangerous than the live ammo we all have at home though. If someone up to no good stole 500 rounds he could easily remove the bullets and colect the powder.

So the only thing needed for reloading should be a safe for the powder and primers. Am I being naive here but I cant see the difference between having the powder for 500 rounds and having 500 rounds.

sidneyreilly

Vegeta wrote:

Maybe the lapua stuff is accurate enough but how much does it cost for a round of it?

Anyway as I said earlier why should their be any extra security needed for reloading. The equipment itself is inert and about as dangerous as a heavy saucepan. All you need is a decent well lit bench in a ventilated room in terms of facilities.

Obviously the powder and primers are dangerous in the wrong hands, no more dangerous than the live ammo we all have at home though. If someone up to no good stole 500 rounds he could easily remove the bullets and colect the powder.

So the only thing needed for reloading should be a safe for the powder and primers. Am I being naive here but I cant see the difference between having the powder for 500 rounds and having 500 rounds.

Recon you will find you will require seperate cabinets for the powder and primers. Dealers will have to have this in a structure constructed with side walls of reinforced concrete with a roof of weaker material. Basically a sarcophagus, this the present requirement for powder and primers as I understand it.

Sparks

Maybe the lapua stuff is accurate enough but how much does it cost for a round of it?

Lots Didn't say it was cheap, I said it was hard to make a more accurate round than a factory load. And for 300m ISSF shooting, accuracy is all that matters.

why should their be any extra security needed for reloading

There you go again with your common sense. This is law we're talking here!

Clare gunner

So the only thing needed for reloading should be a safe for the powder and primers. Am I being naive here but I cant see the difference between having the powder for 500 rounds and having 500 rounds.

:eek: :eek: A safe with powder???NO no no! If you have a fire your powder will cook off in the safe and blow the safe apart like a bomb!Anything around powder like metal cabinets or safes is out,due to the bomb like qualities or static electric buildup.Wooden crates or cabinets are the safest way in this security measure. In a fire the powder can is safe enough,moreso athan an aerosol can,as it is designed to cook off by melting thru the plastic cap.So all you get is a thrilling big cloud of smoke. If you had to store more than a can or were selling it.A really cool mag can be built out of a old steel oil tank and a angle grinder and earth work in your back garden or a carberry coal bunker.Anywhere else the fire cheif rather than the police cheif is worried about storage.Here we do it bass ackwards.:rolleyes:

Vegeta

Sparks wrote:

Lots Didn't say it was cheap, I said it was hard to make a more accurate round than a factory load. And for 300m ISSF shooting, accuracy is all that matters.

With a little bit of experimentation they could get just as if not more accurate rounds and be saving money. And you would be getting 100% consistent ammo as you are loading it yourself so you don't have to worry about buying in bulk and lot numbers.

There you go again with your common sense. This is law we're talking here!

Forgot about that but you're dead right

Vegeta

Clare gunner wrote:

:eek: :eek: A safe with powder???NO no no! If you have a fire your powder will cook off in the safe and blow the safe apart like a bomb!Anything around powder like metal cabinets or safes is out,due to the bomb like qualities or static electric buildup.Wooden crates or cabinets are the safest way in this security measure. In a fire the powder can is safe enough,moreso athan an aerosol can,as it is designed to cook off by melting thru the plastic cap.So all you get is a thrilling big cloud of smoke. If you had to store more than a can or were selling it.A really cool mag can be built out of a old steel oil tank and a angle grinder and earth work in your back garden or a carberry coal bunker.Anywhere else the fire cheif rather than the police cheif is worried about storage.Here we do it bass ackwards.:rolleyes:

Apologies, I agree with you.

Just wondering about metal safes though. If they were to cause an explosion they would need to be failry air tight to allow for the pressure to build up. Otherwise the gas from the powder would just escape through all the gaps and burn harmlesssly.

If it is pretty airtight then no naked flame would touch the powder. What internal temperature would the safe have to reach for the powder to ignite?

civdef

If they were to cause an explosion they would need to be failry air tight to allow for the pressure to build up.

The barrel of a rifle is open at one end, pressure still builds up nicely during firing. Dynamic pressures are a bit strange.

The autoignition temperature of smokeless powder is listed around 150 - 200 degrees C. Things get a lot hotter than that in a typical room fire.

Vegeta

civdef wrote:

The barrel of a rifle is open at one end, pressure still builds up nicely during firing. Dynamic pressures are a bit strange.

The autoignition temperature of smokeless powder is listed around 150 - 200 degrees C. Things get a lot hotter than that in a typical room fire.

Your second point I accept, I'd love to do a practical experiment or see this on mythbusters or something

The barrel being open is not true it is blocked by the bullet and the casing, in fact guns became more powerful when the bullet was designed to fit the barrel better

johngalway

Veg, do a search on PW see if the lads keep their powder confined in metal :eek: Especially old military ammo boxes, it's a no no from what I've seen they are liable to blowing up in a fire. Don't know the ins and outs but seems to be accepted knowledge.

CJhaughey

I have just looked up Corbins excellent bullet making site, swage.com.
I would like to start making some bullets out of spent .22lr cases, of which I have plenty.
They also sell a swage that turns .22WMR into 105gr jackets for the .243.
Thats a really interesting site if you are interested in making your own bullets and not just reloading.

Keelan

Would not be botherd.
Going threw all that hassel of red tape, tick guards ect ect ect and with it being cheaper with the .223 to get fcatory ammo, why consider it??

Keelan.

Vegeta

what are you guys paying for the ae stuff? Are there ever shortages of that brand of ammo.

sidneyreilly

Vegeta wrote:

The barrel being open is not true it is blocked by the bullet and the casing, in fact guns became more powerful when the bullet was designed to fit the barrel better

Veg, ever seen the damage a blank does close to the muzzle with no bullet "blocking " it?

Vegeta

No but i'd say its nothing compared to the damage when someone tries to fire a gun with a clogged barrel. We've all seen the pics.

Besides I've accepted that a metal safe is not a suitable place to store powder but then again i now think any enclosed space is dangerous to store powder

Clare gunner

Not evey enclosed space is dangerous Veg.It is a question of the right materials and the laws of physics.
Vol of gas produced Vs the enclosed space + strength of the enclosing container where the gas is produced.
Metal is out anyway due to the chance of static or loose powder hitting off a hinge ,rim of door etc and sparking off.Wood is your only option.