Equipment

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4. Dies

These are needed to “resize” the brass and seat the projectiles. All the reloading manufacturers make good dies, once again Lee offer a big range of dies and very affordable prices, especially if purchased in sets. Redding have a very large range of all different types of dies and these are popular. You will need at a minimum a full length sizing die and a seating die. Die sets often come with a third die, a neck die. It’s recommended that you get all three although you can get by with just the FL and seating dies. Lee sets might come with a crimping die but you won’t need that die. There are many different types of sizing dies but in this article we are only concerned about the basic ones. Different brands of dies tend to have the same threads so will fit any press.

This is a traditional powder thrower which dispenses an approximate amount of powder each time the handle is rotated. You still have to weigh the power and top it up with a trickler.

6. Primer Tool

This tool is what seats the primers in the primer pocket. Most presses have an inbuilt primer seating tool but they are slow and clumsy to use. It’s best to buy a hand held primer seating tool which will significantly speed up the process. You will need a shellholder for it. You can use the one from your press.

8. Case Trimmer

A case trimmer is essential in reloading ammunition to ensure consistency and safety. When cartridges are fired multiple times, the brass casing can stretch, leading to variations in length. Trimming the cases to a uniform length removes these inconsistencies, promoting more reliable chambering and firing of rounds. It also helps maintain consistent pressure levels, improving accuracy and preventing potential malfunctions. Overall, using a case trimmer is a crucial step in the reloading process to produce high-quality, reliable ammunition

10. Neck Brush

A neck brush to clean the inside of the necks – its best to use a purpose made one from one of the reloading suppliers or a gunshop.

11. Case Lube

You will need some kind of lubrication to stop the shells from getting stuck in the die. There are two types of lube, traditional grease type lube or dry lube like graphite. For the grease type lube you can use lanolin or you can buy reloading lube. If you use graphite you will also need the ceramic ball applicators.

Instead of buying individual components for reloading, you can buy a kit that contains most of what you need. This would be cheaper than buy individual components however many kits don’t have everything that you need. You are probably better off buying individual items including an electronic powder thrower rather than a traditional mechanical powder thrower.

The first thing you need to do is clean your brass. This is normally done in a machine (see above), but if you are starting out you can clean shells by hand with Brasso or steel wool. The main part that needs cleaning is around the neck where there will be carbon blow-back from the barrel. You will soon get sick of doing it by hand and eventually will want to get a machine.

Next the brass will need “resizing”. To understand this you need to understand what happens when a round is fired in a gun. The bullet is held in by a tight friction fit and as the propellant burns it builds up tremendous pressure inside the shell until the expanding gas expands the brass enough to force the bullet out. The upper part of the shell and the neck of the shell will have expanded slightly and a fired shell will have a larger diameter neck than an unfired shell. In order to put another bullet in the neck you have to “resize” the neck back to it’s previous diameter. This is done with a sizing die. There are two main types of basic dies, a neck die which only sizes the neck, and a full length die, which sizes the neck and pushes the shoulder back. Neck only sizing works for a few reloads but eventually the shoulder and the upper part of the shell will have to be resized. You will know when a shell needs full length sizing when it becomes difficult to close the bolt on the rife as the shell has expanded too much to properly fit in the chamber. For that reason it’s usually best to full length resize every time you reload.

You should only use brass that has been “fire formed” in your rifle. That is, shot previously in your rifle. That’s because the shell case will expand to fit the dimensions of your rifle’s chamber. If you use brass that was fired from another rifle it may not fit in your chamber. You can use new unfired brass to reload with or use brass from factory ammunition. Unfired brass is usually better quality than brass from factory ammunition as it is specially made for repeated reloading. Some factory ammunition such as ADI does have very good brass and is a good substitute for new brass. If you can find Winchester factory ammunition brass it is thinner than most other brass and can only be reloaded a few times. The most popular new brass is made by Lapua.

How many times can you reload brass? It depends on the quality of the brass but all brass becomes work hardened after repeated firings and eventually becomes hard and brittle. The thinner Winchester brass will withstand about 5 or 6 reloadings before it splits (see photo). Quality brass like Lapua can be reloaded many more times but eventually becomes hard. When you start to see a ring around the bottom of the shell just above the rim or splits in the neck, throw it out. You can extend the life of brass by annealing (covered in a later section).

In the above image you will see there are dimples in the case necks. This is caused by using excessive amounts of case lube, when resizing the brass. 

You will need to set up your die in the press. Lower the handle to raise the ram all the way up and then screw in the die until it touches the top of the ram then back off the die about a quarter turn (alternatively the die will have instructions on how to do this).

If you are using grease type lube, put some on the upper parts of the shell with your fingers. Don’t use too much lube, only a thin film is needed. Too much lube will result in a “dimple” in the neck where the lube has no where to go and accumulates in one spot and creates a ding in the brass (see photo).  You will also need to lube the inside of the neck. Use a cotton bud to do this. Alternatively it may be easier to use dry lube (graphite). This is applied using ceramic balls in a container. Sprinkle some graphite into the ceramic balls and dip the heck of the shell into the ceramic balls to coat the inside and the outside of the shell neck and shoulder. You will need to periodically top up the graphite as it gets used up. After sizing the lube will need to be removed from the shells. Wipe it off with a cloth or paper towel from the outside of the shell. Getting it out of the inside is harder – if using grease lube, use paper towel. If using graphite use the special neck brush.

The dies we are using here have a decapping rod and a sizing button. The decapping rod (or pin) pushes out the spend primer as the shell is pushed up into the die. If the primers don’t come out, turn down the adjustment screw in the top of the die. The sizing button sits just above the decapping pin and easily fits through the unsized (expanded) neck of the fired shell. As you exert more pressure by lowering the press handle you can feel the shell neck being reduced in diameter (resized). At the top of the stroke after the sizing is done you then raise the handle which lowers the shell and has the effect of pulling the sizing button up through the inside of the now sized neck. This will require considerable force. It is very important that the inside of the neck is lubricated otherwise the sizing button may get stuck. The reason the sizing button is there is make the inside of the neck concentric so that the bullet sits straight in the shell.

After sizing make sure all the lube or graphite is removed from inside and outside of the neck.

It’s always a good idea to check to see if you have sized your shells enough. You can do this by putting sized shells in your rifle. The bolt should close easily. If there is resistance closing the bolt, the shoulder probably needs bumping back a bit more with the FL sizing die. Turn the die clockwise (die goes down in the press) by about a half turn. Size the shell again and then test it in the rifle. Keep doing this until the bolt closes easily. Lock the die on that setting for future use. There should be a locking ring on the die for this.

Next comes cleaning the primer pocket. It will be black with carbon from the fired primer. You can use a special primer pocket cleaner but it’s just as easy to use a small flat blade screw driver.

Next comes chamfering. Use the special chamfer tool to take the square edge off the inside and the outside of the top of the necks.

If you haven’t already, use the neck brush to clean out the necks of the shells.

Now you are ready to seat the primers. Either use the seating tool on the press (if it has one) or fill your hand primer with primers. Make sure they are all facing upwards. As you seat them you should feel an equal amount of pressure required to seat each one. As you seat each one inspect the primer to make sure that it is flush with the bottom of the shell. They should not be protruding from the shell base.

Once your shells are primed you can now put powder in. Different calibres often work best with certain powders so ask at your club mates for a recommendation as to which powder to use. Different powders have different burn rates so require different amounts to be used. All powder manufacturers publish a reloading guide that tells you what the safe loads are for each powder they make. Become familiar with these loads for the powder you use. The most popular powders are made by ADI and here is the link to the page on their website for .308 Winchester http://www.adiworldclass.com.au/data-rifle/308-

We generally use 155 grain bullets so scroll down until you find the 155gr section. It lists various powders. Selecting say AR2208 you will see that the starting load is 44.0 grains of powder and the maximum is 47.0 grains. Note that the 47.0 grains has (C) after it meaning that if you put 47 grains in the shell, when you seat the bullet it will likely compress the powder. This should be avoided as it could result in dangerously high pressure. A good place to start your load is the mid point between the minimum and maximum, in this case 45.5 grains. Better still, ask someone in the club how much powder they use. Club members will have tested their loads so should be safe to use.

Next put powder in the shells. If you are using a powder thrower, calibrate it so that it throws slightly less than what you want and then top it up with the trickler. The pan with the powder should be on scales so you can trickle until you get to your load amount. It’s important that the exact amount is put in each shell and it’s the same for each shell. Don’t put filled shells back onto the same loading block as empty shells as you will inevitably get them mixed up and end up putting bullets in empty shells. Either use two loading blocks or put the empty shells upside down in the loading block.

The last step is seating the bullets. There is a lot of different opinions about seating depth, that is, how far into the neck the bullets are positioned. For basic reloading we are going to seat them to a standard depth which approximates factory ammunition. You can do this without special tools by simply seating a bullet and comparing the overall length to a factory round. Start with a sized shell with no powder. Make sure the shell goes into the chamber of your rifle so that the bolt closes easily.

The seating die has an adjustable seating stem. Wind this up so that when you first seat a bullet it will sit quite high in the neck. Put this in your rifle and see if the bolt closes easily. If it doesn’t then the bullet is touching the lands (beginning of the barrel). Wind down the seating stem a few turns and seat it again. The bullet should be seated a bit further into the neck. See if it chambers easily in your rifle. Keep doing this until you can close the bolt easily. You can wind the seating stem down a fraction more and this should be your seating depth. The other thing you can do is compare the overall length of your loaded round to a factory round which should fit easily into your chamber. If your loaded round is the same overall length as a factory round, it should fit in your chamber.

One other thing to be aware of is the length of your brass. As brass is fired it grows slightly in length. Eventually you have to trim the brass back to a reasonable length. For basic reloading you will get quite a few reloadings before you need to trim your shells. We will cover trimming in a later section.