OT--reloading advice

[Deaf jeff]

its been several years now of being difficult if not impossible to buy .308 ammo for hunting so i am considering getting into reloading for this one cartridge only.. any and all advice as to where and what to look for and learning the in's and out's. I am not doing this to save money or work up the "perfect" round. i just want a way to have my ammo when i need it for target and whitetail hunting....TIA

[Normous]

If you don't mind the upfront cost of your essential handloading equipment, handloading is rewarding, just like making your own arrows.

Don't dismiss the perfect round but strive for a consistent accurate round that your gun likes using the best performing deer bullet your wallet can afford.

Google is your friend to facilitate searching favorite 308 deer loads commonly used with today's modern powder and bullet selections.

Hope you can find suitable brass, bullets, primers and powders in today's environment.

Producing the finest detailed and most accurate handloaded rounds is one of my interests in life.

Here are four (5) shots 100 y groups from my Custom .17 Ackley Hornet , all well under a dime using every handloading detailing trick in the book.
Groups shot on differend days in different temperature, humidity and wind conditions.

[flightattendant100]

Since it’s to save $ and since you won’t be shooting bunches of rounds / week, a single stage press will be fine, a used one even better. 308 is popular so finding a set of dies should be pretty simple. A powder scale, ( in low volume loading you can weigh all charges which will be slow but you aren’t doing lots of rounds. A case trimmer of some sort and a deburring tool, and you can load. And a good loading manual. Make it fun, and be safe. If you have any questions there are several folks on here that can help.

[artifact]

The initial cost will be quite a bit, but then you should be set set for quite awhile and be able to load as much ammo as you desire. I started reloading quite awhile ago and I am glad I did, two calibers I reload for are out of control as for price, I load for both the 6.5 and .350 Rem. Mags, just the brass for the .350 went from $27.50 per hundred to $200 per hundred, OUCH, and the 6.5 Mag brass is extremely hard to come by and also sells at a premium. Hopefully since Remington has been sold piecemeal, whoever bought the equipment will start making brass available for all the calibers at a reasonable price, not holding my breath on that though!

[janesy]

Buy a reloading handbook and read it twice

[AJ01]

Nice shootin' Norm!!

Deaf Jeff...

And yes...There are a lot of reloading manuals on the market. If you are striving for top notch accuracy...then all your brass needs to be the same manufacturer. Primers same. Bullets same. Find a powder that works for you and stick with it. You will have to "tinker" with what load, bullet, brass, primer combo works best for your particular rifle. Or....
You can simply find whatever gives you satisfaction in a hunting round and then reload that all the time. Reloading manuals from Speer, Hornady, Barnes and others are available on line. They will give you a good place to start. And like Flightattendant100 says, single stage presses like those made by RCBS are excellent. RCBS makes a whole array of reloading equipment that you can purchase as a "kit". Can you guess what manufacturer I like?

Anyway...there is a whole new world out there for folks who "roll their own"!! Get in to it and you won't regret it!! Gives you something to do on cold wet rainy, snowy wintery days. Or on hot summer days when its too dang hot to be outside.

And I know folks on here will answer any question that you have!!

ENJOY!!!

AJ

[Riflemanz]

Go with the RCBS Rockchucker press kit. I use a hand held rcbs priming tool.

[Deaf jeff]

how sturdy/large of a bench is needed for these presses? im going to redo my light duty arrow building bench so i can add/remove the reloading press as needed, my work room is smaller than i would like

[Normous]

Jeff I think your light to med duty bench is fine and you don't need a lot of space.

What I did was build a portable press box out of 1" board for my RCBS. Now I can use it anywhere , field, tailgate , deck or any surface.

[janesy]

Jeff I think your light to med duty bench is fine and you don't need a lot of space.

What I did was build a portable press box out of 1" board for my RCBS. Now I can use it anywhere , field, tailgate , deck or any surface.

You're a lucky man Norm, my wife would draw the line at me reloading on her washer-ma-thing

[Normous]

Chris, its got a a rubberized non slip, non mare coating on the bottom

[Deaf jeff]

Jeff I think your light to med duty bench is fine and you don't need a lot of space.

What I did was build a portable press box out of 1" board for my RCBS. Now I can use it anywhere , field, tailgate , deck or any surface.

cool i will just beefen up the 3/4" top on my light duty bench
thanks norm

[elkaholic]

Fairly easy to load one at a time with a hand lee loader.

They make kits for all cartridges .

[xcaliber]

Jeff I think your light to med duty bench is fine and you don't need a lot of space.

What I did was build a portable press box out of 1" board for my RCBS. Now I can use it anywhere , field, tailgate , deck or any surface.

You're a lucky man Norm, my wife would draw the line at me reloading on her washer-ma-thing

Hilarious!

[xcaliber]

Jeff, I don't shoot my .308 that much anymore, and for some reason I don't hunt much with it. I will start saving my brass when I do shoot, and zip it up to you. Right now stuff is hard to find according to my buddy, also named Jeff, but now that the election is behind us sort of, i think it will get better before it gets worse. I'm not seeing the ridiculous lines at the guns shops by me now.

Good Luck, and I can't wait to hear how it's going.