Reloading
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July 9
Now we're working from home. Got laid off due to "lack of work" from the last place. I was promised I would be the last one laid off, but I was the first. Go figure.
Anyway, I was able to get some Ramshot Magnum and Big Game, and three boxes of Nosler bullets. I haven't been able to get any brass yet.
I haven't been able to go practicing, yet, either. Hopefully, soon. I've got three young'uns to teach. One needs to get started shooting, the other two need to learn how to use a "big game hunting legal" rifle. (For those of you outside of Wyoming, in this state, any caliber that starts with "22" is not legal for use on anything bigger than a coyote.)
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January 2007
If not plenty, I should have enough ammo for practicing. I'm not sure what is going to happen this hunting season. No days off, or vacation policy. I would like to get out for a few practice sessions, at least. I usually keep a few of each types of rounds so that I do have something to hunt with, at least. I'm needing to buy so many tools for my new job, that I don't know what I'm going to be able to reload, or buy.
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September 2006
I got my arsenal completed just before hunting season began. Next year maybe I will be able to start a little earlier.
I now have ammo to practice with, but no time to practice. Even worse, I now have a job that has me working six days a week. Time - there is always a lack of time.
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I keep reading where with today's factory make ammunition, it doesn't really matter whether you handload or not. Factory loads seem to be doing just as well as handloads, with today's bullets.
But one of the reasons that I took up handloading was as a cost cutting measure.
I just inventoried my supplies from last year to see what I need to get in order to get ready for this year's hunting season. I could spend half as much money on four boxes of factory ammo, but I would only get 40 rounds of 243 and 270 Short - for a total of 80 rounds. (Have you noticed that the new Short ammo is running about $5 to $10 more than the regular stuff. Here in Wyoming boxes of ammo are running about $20 to $25. The new Short Magnums are running closer to $35 to $40 per box.)
For about the same amount of money, I can make between 250 to 300 rounds! That sounds like a good deal to me. But then again, there is that time thing.
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I've already started asking the question, at work - "Is it hunting season, yet?
I'm not sure if I'm going to reload this year. I'm a little behind on my budget. Also here in our part of the Rocky Mountains, the past week has been below 20 degrees. What does that matter, you ask? My reloading equipment is out in the backyard, in a non-heated shed.
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I only have two hunting rifles that I load for - a Ruger M77 Mk II in .243 Win, and a Winchester Super Shadow in .270 Winchester Short Mag.
I've developed a preference for 95 grain bullets (for my 243) in either Nosler Ballistic Tip, Hornady SSTs, or Combined Technologies (CT) Ballistic Silvertips for Deer and Antelope. I like the same bullets in 150 grains for my .270.
I use 150 Grain Nosler Partitions, or Hornady Interlocks for my Elk loads.
I use mostly Hodgdon Powders for all of my hand loads. I've used the Ramshot variants, from Western Powders, in the past, but I haven't been able to get any of their Hunter powder for my .270 yet.
I don't have a lot of time or money for experimenting with what I make, so I tend to just use the recipes outlined in the manuals, and let it go at that. I sight in at an inch high at 100 yards, and try to be consistent on a two inch dot at that distance.
This was the first year that I attempted to do any practicing at 200 yards. My Elk hunting buddy advised that, so I took a whack at it. Fortunately, for me, there is a 200 yard range behind the oil refinery at Sinclair (Just outside of Rawlins).
The range there not only has a target board for that range, but it also has a gong target. There are actually three gongs hanging on the target. The top one is quite large, there is a medium and a small target. I used the small target to make sure I was hitting where I was supposed to. Even when I missed, the dirt cloud from the hill behind the target was close enough to where the target was to let me feel good about where I had hit.
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Federal Ammunition
Hodgdon Powders
Hornady Bullets
MTM/Casegard
Midway USA
NRMA
Natchez Shooters Supply
Nosler Bullets
Western Powders (Ramshot)
RCBS