The ABC's of Reloading, 10th Edition: The Definitive Guide for Novice to Expert

By Philip Massaro

Now in its 10th edition, The ABCs of Reloading has taught countless firearms owners safe, reliable methods of creating their own ammunition. This long overdue new edition brings detailed reloading instruction to shooters who want to improve accuracy, save money and ensure themselves a constant supply of ammo regardless of supply and demand on retail shelves.

Reloading expert and frequent Gun Digest contributor Phil Massaro lays out the basics of reloading and then digs further into the details in a fresh approach that introduces beginners to this valuable hobby while helping those already familiar with reloading take their skills and knowledge to the next level.

As a bonus, long-range shooters searching for tips on making ultra-consistent ammo using high B.C. bullets and fine-tuning for precision accuracy will greatly benefit from Massaro’s insight into that topic as well.

Massaro’s coverage of the vast array of reloading gear and components that have been introduced during the past decade alone makes this edition invaluable for the enthusiast who might be overwhelmed with questions. From the very basic questions of “How does a cartridge work?” and “What components do I need to get started?” to more advanced information on understanding cartridge pressure, headspace and using a chronograph to check your work, this is THE book to help shooters sort it all out.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gun Digest Books
• Release date: Apr 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781951115296

Philip Massaro

Philip P. Massaro is the seventh editor of the Gun Digest annual, is a regular contributor to Gun Digest the Magazine and Cartridges of the World, and contributes to many different firearms and hunting publications. He has been an avid handloader for three decades, is a land surveyor by trade, a musician by choice, and is happiest in the wildest places on Earth.

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DISCLAIMER: Any and all loading data found in this book or previous editions is to be taken as reference material only. The publishers, editors, authors, contributors, and their entities bear no responsibility for the use by others of the data included in this book or the editions that came before it.

WARNING: For any modern firearm, it is essential that you adhere to the loading recommendations put forth in the reloading manuals of today’s components manufacturers, as well as to the owners manual of the maker of your individual firearm (some of today’s firearms are so specialized that they will chamber and function reliably only within a very narrow set of criteria in a given caliber range). The potential for things to go wrong is exacerbated in guns long out of production, those chambering obsolete cartridges, and those using cartridges containing black powder or cordite. As a separate caution, you must never fire any cartridge in any gun just because it looks similar to, or has a similar designation to, the cartridge the gun is chambered for. This can be extremely dangerous. Almost is not good enough, so if you are at all uncertain about the proper cartridge, have a competent gunsmith check the bullet diameter and case dimensions and firearms chamber and headspace.

ISBN-13: 978-1-951115-27-2

Design by Jong Cadelina

Edited by Corey Graff

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Chapter 1 – Overview

Chapter 2 – Reloading Components

Chapter 3 – Reloading Tools

Chapter 4 – Case Preparation

Chapter 5 – Cartridge Assembly

Chapter 6 – Headspacing

Chapter 7 – Cartridge Pressure

Chapter 8 – Load Development

Chapter 9 – Reloading Safety

Chapter 10 – Handloading Economics

Chapter 11 – Problem Solving

Chapter 12 – Shotshell Reloading

Chapter 13 – Long-Range Loads

Chapter 14 – Advanced Ideas

Chapter 15 – Casting Lead Bullets

Chapter 16 – Progressive Presses

Appendix

Reloading Resources

Glossary

Powder Burn Rates Table

A Guide to Contemporary Powders by Brand

INTRODUCTION

Hello, and welcome to The ABCs of Reloading 10th Edition, your guide to learning how to reload your own ammunition. The act of reloading ammo, if done carefully and responsibly, is a safe, fun, and productive pastime. It will allow you to reuse spent cases and hulls and have more expendable ammunition for hunting, target practice, and plinking. It gives you the freedom and control to tune the ammo to the firearm; you can choose the projectile or shot size and weight, the velocity, and many other parameters that will affect your chosen combination’s performance.

There is a special pride when you approach a target and see a tiny cluster of shots printed by loads you’ve assembled, or when you stand over a game animal taken with your creation. As you’ll see, the process of reloading is simple. Yet, the subtleties of the methods and the results they yield can easily take one ‘down the rabbit hole,’ making the handloading process a lifelong pursuit of accuracy and optimum ballistic performance.

The concept is simple: Start with the used cartridge case or shotshell hull (the only reusable component of the equation). Reform it to a proper dimension, install a new primer. Add an appropriate charge of powder. And press the shot column or projectile. You may have seen eager-eyed shooters hunched over at the range, greedily picking up spent brass cases; these people are reloaders, and they intend to turn those spent cases into new ammunition. Quite obviously, you’ll need a healthy supply of components (primer, powder, and projectiles), but you’ll also need a specific set of specialized tools. That toolset can be minimalistic — I’ve made an obscene amount of ammunition with the simplest setups or those comprising the latest and greatest tools available. No matter, the goal is the same: to make the best ammo possible.

The author at the reloading bench.

The 6.5-284 is an accurate cartridge, which can deliver pinpoint accuracy with handloaded ammunition.

Neat little groups like these make any handloader happy.

Let’s be honest about a few things to keep things in perspective. Our factory ammunition is the best it has ever been and — when readily available — is more affordable than ever. If you are looking into reloading for its economic value, you may find it difficult to justify the investment unless you look at the big safari cartridges. With the expense of factory-loaded Nitro Express cartridges, you may be able to cut those costs considerably. But if you’re comparing the prices of reloading the standard cartridges (say .223 Remington or 9mm Luger) vs. buying factory ammunition, you will be hard-pressed to beat the cost of factory ammo.

But cost isn’t everything. Twice in the last decade, there has been a severe shortage of ammunition, to the point where the shelves are bare, and shooters began to panic. Having the means of providing your own loads is quite liberating, and it’s nice to know that if the components are there, you will have the expertise to assemble them safely and reliably. Sheer availability is an excellent reason to learn how to reload ammunition.

Then there are those firearms chambered for cartridges, which are nearly impossible to obtain; you can either retire the gun or learn how to make cartridges for it. Reloading obsolete cartridges will put those guns back in the field. For example, I am very passionate about all things African safari, from the wildlife to the people to the classic rifles and cartridges associated with it. One of the more popular cartridges of the Golden Age of safari is the .318 Westley Richards, yet there are no factory-loaded ammunition sources. I turned to reloading to solve the problem, and I’ve had the pleasure of taking my .318 rifle and handloaded ammunition to Africa.

Lastly, there is the control and flexibility that reloading offers. There are projectiles available in component form for hunters, which aren’t loaded by the ammunition manufacturers. Reloading will allow you to create custom loads, enhancing your standard cartridge’s performance. The target crowd — and especially those who enjoy the extreme long-range shooting that has become so popular lately — very often rely upon handloaded ammunition to achieve the highest level of accuracy and precision.

The author handloaded these 250-grain Woodleigh Weldcore bullets in his .318 Westley Richards. He recovered the bullet from a bull kudu.

Throughout this book, you will read the terms reloading and handloading. While often used interchangeably, I would like to differentiate between them for our purposes within this book. I use reloading for the processes of using spent cases or hulls and merely bringing them back to the point where they will function again. I may be attempting to replicate the original factory performance, or I could be concerned about the economic advantage. Handloading is more specific, in that its goal is to make ammunition as least as good as any factory stuff, if not better, often using new components. It’s a slight difference, but you’ll often hear shooters say, I would never shoot reloads... as if they are unsafe. Follow the processes outlined in this book. Your ammunition will not only be perfectly safe but in many cases, it will outperform factory loads when it comes to accuracy.

Reloading has a rich history, and many of our most revered gun writers were proficient handloaders. Philip B. Sharpe, Jack O’Connor, Elmer Keith, Col. Townsend Whelen, Finn Aagaard, Jon Sundra, Craig Boddington, and Layne Simpson all had a part in cartridge development. Each helped to keep old cartridges alive, and all are well-versed in metallic cartridges. Companies such as DuPont and Hodgdon (which began to sell surplus smokeless powder at the end of World War II), RCBS and Redding (developing reloading gear), Speer, Hornady, and Sierra (bullet manufacturers) all played a crucial role in the development of the equipment and components we use. Lyman has provided reloading data for decades, and there are many superb reloading manuals both in print and now on the Internet. Think of them as a list of recipes in a cookbook.

This book is not a compilation of load data — that is what the reloading manuals are for — but rather a detailed how-to book, covering the parts, nomenclature, function, and processes involved in creating ammunition. Load data will be referenced. But the intent of this book is to be used in conjunction with safe, reliable load data. I hope this book encourages you to delve deeper into the world of reloading and continually expand your horizons. While the methods and procedures covered here are a means of safely and responsibly loading ammunition, there may be other techniques that are equally safe. I can confidently say that my methods are the product of decades of experience.

At this point and again at other points throughout the book, I would warn you against data you find in Internet chatrooms, forums, and other sources that are unproven. Some people push the boundaries and post data they insist is safe in their rifle or handgun; I’ve seen the terrible results of using such unproven data and will advise you to stay away from it. Please use safe, proven data to keep your anatomy, and your firearm, in its proper configuration.

You have an incredible amount of power in your hands when you grab the handle of your reloading press, and I’ll ask that you do not forget that statement. Reloading ammunition is no more dangerous than driving a car, using the kitchen stove, or operating a chainsaw. Yet, like any of those examples, we can become complacent in using or implementing the tools, and the results can be catastrophic. Reloading ammunition is not to be rushed. It requires an environment of complete focus, with no distraction from phones, or children, or any other potential source. If that isn’t possible, wait until it is. Reloading will require you to be on point for each session to ensure that the finished product is safe. The safety of reloaded ammunition is a large focus of this book, and I will reiterate, ad nauseam. However, lest I frighten you to the point of declining to participate, if you develop a routine and stick to it, avoid pushing the envelope and other silly ideas, you’ll have a lifetime of enjoyment and an outstanding supply of ammo.

So, let’s get the ball rolling and start your journey. You’ll be reloading ammo before you know it.

ABOUT THE COVER

The Frankford Arsenal F1 Single Stage Press is an ergonomic design incorporating some new features with a familiar look and feel. Constructed with steel rod frame pillars for strength without bulk, the F1 uses a steel ram that rides on ball bearings for an ultra-smooth feel on every press stroke. Designed to hold standard 7/8-14 reloading die bodies and standard shellholders, Frankford’s F1 also comes with a switchable LED light to illuminate your work while reloading. A roomy, quick-detach bottle takes spent primers, or you can convert to a 5/16-inch hose to deposit used primers into a bucket or can. For an affordable, effective, and convenient press, the Frankford Arsenal F1 is a solid choice.

Winchester’s StaBALL 6.5 powder, which is manufactured by Hodgdon Powder Company, has proven to be an excellent choice for reloaders. It has a burn rate suitable for a multitude of rifle cartridges, from the .223 Remington and .22-250 Remington, through the 6.5 Creedmoor, 7mm-08 Remington and .270 Winchester, all the way up to the .375 H&H Magnum and .416 Remington Magnum. It is also useful in the .300 WSM and .270 WSM. Its spherical grain structure takes up less room in the case and meters very well through powder measures and dispensers.

Berger Bullets have an excellent reputation — especially among reloaders — for superb accuracy. Berger holds its highly concentric J4 bullet jackets to extremely tight tolerances, and the sleek bullet profiles make a natural choice for long-range work where consistency and accuracy are paramount.

01

OVERVIEW – CARTRIDGE FUNCTION

It’s easy to take today’s ammo for granted: you load your firearm, and with a squeeze of the trigger, the projectile or shot column speeds on its way to the target. Replace the cartridge or shotshell, and repeat the process. It wasn’t always this way, as just 150 years ago or so, the second shot in anything other than a double-barreled gun took a considerable amount of time. The individual components — powder, bullet, and percussion cap for the more recent guns, or priming charge for flintlocks — needed to be loaded and carried separately. Watch any movie on the Civil War, and you’ll quickly see how soldiers needed time between volleys and why a saber, bayonet, or sidearm was so crucial.

By the 1870s, the metallic cartridge and shotshell were available to the shooting public, and it was an absolute game-changer. The revolver, developed for cap-and-ball, was converted to use cartridge technology. But the metallic cartridge directly influenced the development of the repeating rifles and shotguns that would dominate the last quarter of the 19th century.

The cartridge/shotshell principle is simple: a single unit houses all the components. After trying copper, early innovators settled upon brass as the case material. It is hard enough to resist deformation yet malleable enough to be loaded into a chamber and reshaped and reused. Companies such as Winchester and Lyman offered accessory tools in the late 1800s to reload ammunition using fired cases. The centerfire brass case is more than just a vessel to hold the powder charge; it has a centrally located pocket at the shell’s base to hold the primer, and the mouth and neck contain the projectile. Those constructing early shotshells used brass. They kept the charge inside the hull.

A vintage box of (now obsolete) Winchester No. 4 primers.

For this book, we’ll ignore the rimfire cartridges, as reloading them is just not feasible. The actual priming compound would need to be kept on hand and applied, and those processes are beyond the scope of the recreational reloader. So, from this point forward, I’ll be discussing centerfire rifle and pistol cartridges and shotgun shotshells.

The primer begins the ignition process. It initiates a chain of events that sends the bullet or shot down the barrel. Modern, non-corrosive primers use a metallic cup containing a small amount of priming compound held against an anvil. Primers get pressed into the pocket in the center of the case head. When the firing pin crushes the primer, a shower of sparks is driven through the flash hole (located centrally in the primer pocket) to ignite the powder charge. The resultant pressure from the burning powder’s gases pushes the bullet or shot column in the only direction possible — out the barrel.

This violent process, sometimes generating pressures over 65,000 psi, not only launches the payload but causes the brass case to expand to the dimensions of the chamber. But, through the use of reloading tools, you can bring that cartridge or shotshell back into the proper measurements to be used again. Two organizations standardize those dimensions. Here in the United States, the governing body for cartridge and shotshell dimensions is SAAMI, the Sporting Arms & Ammunition Institute, Inc (saami.org). In Europe, the governing body is C.I.P. or Commission internationale permanente pour l’épreuve des armes à feu portatives (Permanent International Commission for the Proof of Small Arms). Ammunition, firearm, and reloading tool manufacturers must adhere to the published dimensions for a particular cartridge or shotshell, or the ammo wouldn’t fit in guns.

Modern primers are cleaner and more reliable than they’ve ever been. These are Federal Gold Medal Large Rifle Magnums.

Modern Federal 28-gauge shotshells, with plastic hulls.

SAAMI drawing of .470 Nitro Express dimensions.

Our cartridges and shotgun shells’ jargon can be quite an interesting history lesson, if not downright confusing. Shotshell terminology is the easiest to grasp, as all but one are named by gauge, which is the number of lead balls of that particular diameter it would take to comprise one pound. So, 12 gauge means that 12 lead balls of that diameter would make a pound, 28 gauge would take 28, and so on. This rule’s exception is the .410 bore, which measures the hull diameter in decimal portions of an inch.

Metallic cartridges come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

Metallic rifle and pistol cartridges are a whole different ball of wax. The naming system is a mix of metric and imperial dimensions, nominal bullet diameter (or possibly some number close to it), or the diameter of the lands in the barrel. Some cartridges list the powder charge, some the year of development; some contain all or portions of the name of the case from which it was developed, others bear the company’s name or the person who created it. I’ll give some examples.

The .308 Winchester is a cartridge developed by Winchester, which uses a bullet of .308-inch (nominal) diameter. The .300 Winchester Magnum uses the same .308-inch diameter bullet, but in a more massive case to give faster (magnum) performance. The .30-30 Winchester uses a .308-inch bullet and a powder charge of 30 grains, while the .30-06 Springfield is a .30-caliber (.308-inch) cartridge, developed in 1906, at the Springfield Armory. The .307 Winchester is a rimmed variant of the rimless .308 Winchester yet uses the same projectile. And I’m just scratching the surface. We’ll cover this in greater detail later on.

There are different shapes of metallic cartridges, grouped (typically) by their headspacing method. What is headspacing? Headspace is the distance from the chamber wall stopping the cartridge’s forward motion to the face of the bolt. Our earliest cartridges and shotshells used a rimmed base. The rim simplified effective extraction and made headspacing consistent. Some examples of rimmed cartridges are the .30-30 Winchester, .22 Hornet, .38 Special, .45-70 Government, .470 Nitro Express, and .44 Remington Magnum. The rimmed cartridge works wonderfully in revolvers, single shots, double rifles, and traditional lever-action guns. The cartridges are loaded one at a time, and the ejector or extractor pulls them out of the chamber. However, in the bolt action and semi-automatic rifles, they can be a problem, as the rim can get hung up in a magazine.

The rimless cartridges use a base the same diameter (or sometimes a little less) as the case body and have a built-in extractor groove. Some cartridges headspace off the shoulder where the body angles toward the neck of the case. Others headspace from the case mouth. The former group includes the .308 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield, .270 Winchester, .223 Remington, and 6.5 Creedmoor, while the latter group consists of the 9mm Luger, .40 S&W, and .45 A.C.P. The bottlenecked cartridges usually (but not always) have a considerable shoulder angle, say over 15 degrees, one exception being the .404 Jeffery, which has a slight 8-degree shoulder. These cartridges perform wonderfully in bolt actions, semi-automatics, and fully automatics and have been the cartridge-style choice for U.S. military firearms since the early 20th century.

The British firm of Holland & Holland came up with an ingenious blend of rimmed and rimless cartridges in the first decade of the 20th century (when so many of the great British safari cartridges were developed) by using a belt of brass at the base of the cartridge. This unique design gave the rimmed cartridges solid headspacing, with the ease of feeding like the rimless cartridges. The most famous were the .375 and .300 Holland & Holland Magnums, though there were others. These belted cartridges became synonymous with the word ‘magnum.’ They became the basis of the Weatherby cartridges of the 1940s and the series of Winchester cartridges in the 1950s. All the cartridges that wear the Holland & Holland belt use it for headspacing, though most popular belted cases can be handloaded to use the shoulder for headspacing instead of the belt.

Magnum is reserved for those cartridges that give a faster velocity than the standard rounds. Some magnum cartridges — such as the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum — look like magnums, while others (for example, the .338 Lapua) aren’t called magnums but certainly have the performance. To the unknowing, the outward appearance of the .44 Magnum that Dirty Harry famously carried is hardly different from the .45 Colt, which dates to 1873.

Why do we need to know this seemingly useless information? Well, if a reloader confuses a cartridge designation, the results can be catastrophic. A .270 Winchester can look an awful lot like a .280 Remington, but firing the latter in a rifle chambered for the former will be, let’s say, very bad. Likewise, you can modify a case to make ammunition for another related cartridge. For example, I routinely use cases that began life as the .30-06 Springfield to create ammo for the .338-06 A-Square, .35 Whelen, and .318 Westley Richards. As a reloader, I need to know — either at a glance or by measuring the cartridges — that I’m not handling .30-06 ammo when I should be using something else.

The .375 H&H Belted Magnum and many of its children.

Simply put, the reloader needs to be very familiar with the various families of cartridges and have both a library of reference materials with the data to ascertain the type of ammunition they are working with and tools for accurately measuring cases or shotshells.

The .30-06 Springfield and its offspring — shown here ranging from the .25-06 Remington to the .35 Whelen — can look similar. A book like Cartridges of the World will help shed light on the wide variety of cartridges.

I said earlier that our centerfire metallic cases are made of brass, though you will invariably find nickel-plated cases. Such plating provides a harder surface and is used for corrosion resistance as well as for smoother feeding. Note that I’ve seen instances where the volume of a nickel-coated case may differ significantly from a standard brass case. Nickel cases have the potential to scratch the inside of your reloading dies and may require a bit more lubricant during the resizing process. Admittedly, this hasn’t posed a real issue for me over the years.

As you become more particular about the subtleties of your ammunition, you may find slight, though significant, variations between brands of cartridge cases. Not all brands are created equal, and Federal, Winchester, Remington, Hornady, Norma, and Lapua cases for the same cartridge may show minor dimensional differences. For ammo used in hunting guns, for example, where reliable feeding is paramount, those differences may be insignificant. But when developing a load for precision shooting, say out past 1,000 yards, they may make all the difference in the world.

The centerfire cartridge case hasn’t changed radically in design since it first saw the light of day in the 1860s and 70s. Having an intimate knowledge of the history, development, and nuances of the myriad cartridges we have will undoubtedly make you a better reloader. Though it is beyond this book’s scope, I recommend one of the best references available, Cartridges of the World (available at GunDigestStore.com). Also, most reloading manuals give a cartridge history at the heading of each cartridge, along with a detailed, well-dimensioned drawing to best