How do make time to reload

[cjm135]

I seem to have little time to reload. I was wondering how some of you take or make the time. The only way I can do it is to sacrifice sleep to reload. This might not be the best or safest way to do this. How do you do it?

[jdad]

Reload in steps.

Clean one day, size and prime the next, then charge and seat on the next day.

I do a modified version. I clean all my brass immediately after a match, then 2-3 days before the next match I size and prime, then the day before the match I charge and seat.

[Peter M. Eick]

I do it as my relax time. Like tonight. Hit the web for a bit and then I will relax in front of the reloader and make maybe 1000 rnds of 38 special. I was thinking 4.6 grns of Unique with some 158's SWC. Kind of just a nice way to ease back and take it easy. The key for me is to turn the TV off. Once you get rid of the TV then it is very easy to find time for reloading.

[runfiverun]

there are a few areas you can save time and still do a good job.
primer filler from dillon.
seating with a rcbs primer seater.
a lyman electronic powder measure, with a powder drop set up behind it.
and do your rifle stuff at least 200 at a time.
just batch process them.
i will set up the neck sizer for the 257 rob. do them
then unscrew it for the 25-06.
you can also use the same seater for these two.
and the same powder.
i also use the same powder drops for my dillons on my 9mm and 38.
44 mag load is the same as the 45 colt is.

[Lefty Dude]

I do it as my relax time. Like tonight. Hit the web for a bit and then I will relax in front of the reloader and make maybe 1000 rnds of 38 special. I was thinking 4.6 grns of Unique with some 158's SWC. Kind of just a nice way to ease back and take it easy. The key for me is to turn the TV off. Once you get rid of the TV then it is very easy to find time for reloading.

Try 3.9 gr of Unique with that 158. It's a tack driver in my Ruger 3 screw BH 6 1/2". I use this load for CAS long range pistol side match out to 75-80 yards.

Oh, and I am Retarded, I mean retired, Shooting & reloading is my Hobby. I can do it all day long.

Y'all keep paying your SS ya here. So I can keep on shootin. I need that check every Month.

[jnyork]

I The key for me is to turn the TV off. Once you get rid of the TV then it is very easy to find time for reloading.

Yes!!

Also turn off the computer!!

And, as mentioned before, dont try to do it all in one night. Just one step at a time, you dont get burned out and you have less chance for a mistake.

[jnyork]

Y'all keep paying your SS ya here. So I can keep on shootin. I need that check every Month.

[Hobie]

I prep in steps...

1. tumble/clean
2. size
3. trim
4. prime
5. charge and seat

Since I don't use a loading block but immediately seat over each charge and work from tub to tub I can quit anytime I'm interrrupted.

[rjohns94]

i like the idea of turning off the tv. amazing how much time you can save. As I make preps to move onto my boat, one of the things I had to do was make room up forward for my reloading stuff. I have simplified my reloading to just four cartrides if you include 12 gauge (brass cases). I reload .38/.357, .45LC, 45-70. I have a dillon progressive press so I don't have to reload in steps, I just sit down and start cranking out rounds. One week I do .38/.357, the next 45LC. the Brass 12 gauge are all loaded right now for dove season, after that, I will load some for ducks, some for pheasants, some for small game, all with a lee hand loading tool. I have three boxes of the brass 12gauge. The 45-70 I load on a lee single stage press and I load about 250 at a time, taking it in stages as I load the rest of the items. I made a bench top that conforms to the vbirth on my sailboat, the components go in one of the drawers below the bench and the press fits in tub crates when not in use. The bench top is also used for minor repair work for the boat. I have a tv on the boat, but I hardly ever turn it on, always something to work on while on the boat. I am transitioning to full time living on board and as I continue to purge down to bare essentials. So my tricks to finding time to reload and all the other important things is:

turn off the tv
have a progressive reloader for your bulk reloading, hand loaders for the rest
simplify your reloading calibers
break the hand loading down in steps
make things conveinant and neat
make it a priority

[TedH]

I haven't had the need to reload anything, because I ain't had the time to shoot any!

Next week though, the wife is working evenings and my daughter is going to Grandma's all week. I HAVE to get some shooting done for the Postal Match. Now if I could just figger a way out of work..............

[1886]

This response is of no help but I shoot so I can reload. 1886.

[KirkD]

I have a small reloading bench just outside my office and reload in steps, over a period of days. One lunch hour I may de-prime and size, another lunch hour prime, etc. I very seldom spend more than an hour at the reloading bench.

[JReed]

My reloading nights are usualy late nights due to the fact that I ussually do it after the kids go to bed. I like to do it on weekends but that gets kinda hard between all the Honey does and Daddy does just not enough time in the day.

[Old Ironsights]

Another reason I like reloading on a Lee Loader.... One cartridge at a time, stop any time.

No half loaded case left on the machine.

When I take the time to do .357 on the 1000 it's crank until I'm done... but I prefer hammering on .45-70s every now and again and just building a little stockpile.

[Ysabel Kid]

Another one that does things in steps. If I am in the home office for the day I will set up the tumbler and let it run, setting my watch to remind me to change it over. I will de-prime with a Lee hand press in front of the TV with the family. Often prime with a Lee hand-primer the same way. That leaves charging the brass and seating the bullet for "real work" at the bench. Another way to save time is to find a load you like and reload a bunch of it - that way you can leave your dies set up for that specific load. Helps to also have an automatic powder dispenser (such as the Lyman DPS 1200) or, if a little less precision can be accepted, the Lee Auto-Disk. Makes charging the cases a breeze!

In fact this evening I primed 100 cases of .38 Special while sitting with the family watching the boob-tube. I had cleaned them in May and deprimed them in June (along with 688 other .38 special cases!). I set up for a new load I'm trying (3.0 grains of Alliant "Green Dot" under a 147-grain LSWC), and cranked out 50 of them after the rest of the family went to bed, and before I checked out this site for the evening. Will do the other 50 tomorrow!

[Andrew]

I don't do it yet, but, when I get to reload it will be at times like right now: Wife/kid asleep,or, when I get Friday off.

[El Chivo]

I also do it in steps, I had 1000 .357 cases which i
I prepped before doing anything. Then I primed a lot of them, and lastly I only charge and seat what I'll need for a match (or what I want to shoot).

It's very fast to do 50 if all you have to do is charge and seat.

Then I put on a movie. I've seen them all before so I pay more attention to the reloading, but it gives it some entertainment value.

[RIHMFIRE]

If I am running low on ammo...I pick a caliber
and reload 50, maybe a 100 at a time..and quit...
So one day I will load 357...
next day 44-40....and so on...
When we go to the range, I bring 5 or 6 rifles and
shoot maybe 20 rounds per caliber...
this way I can make 2 trips to the range...
I reload in my garage so I need to do it when its cool...
early morning or evening...and when no one is around
to bother me...

[BenT]

It's my quiet time . It's tough to find time in the summer with so much going on with the kids. But I load either first thing the morning or after the kids go to bed. I do it in 50 to 100 round lots . I might prime and size one moring and finish it the next day. I don't watch TV in the summer much at all and do get up at 5 AM.

[Pete44ru]

I save some time by not cleaning cases via tumbling, etc.

I throw at least 100 at a time in an old pillowcase, then toss it into the clothes-washing machine with a towel load.

But I created more "time" by retiring.

[86er]

Mostly I let Ricky do it for me.

[AndyM]

My reloading nights are usualy late nights due to the fact that I ussually do it after the kids go to bed. I like to do it on weekends but that gets kinda hard between all the Honey does and Daddy does just not enough time in the day.

about the same for me - leaving the house at 6:45am and not getting home until 5:30 pm. Spending until 8:30 pm with my 3 wonderful kids - then trying to help around the house with dishes, laundry, etc... My limited reloading time is from about 9:30 pm to 10:30 pm at night

[C. Cash]

Definitely steps: Run them through the resizing die, trim one night, then prime another, I always charge and seat on the same night.

[Bluehawk]

Steps for me too and I dont put a time frame on it I just got finished sizing -de priming and trimming about 180 22 Hornet cases did it in a three dya period as I had a little time her and there Now I have the casgings sitting in the living room with the hand primer and the tools to chamfer the mouth and clean the primer pockets it will take me the rest of hte week while im eating dinner or breakfast, watching a few innnings of the Base ball game , or chatting with the bride once they are all primed and readdy to go then they get put away tillimready to actualy load some of htem and I have about 250 pieces of Lake City Brass to start on for the Garand Ill do the same, with them . This sunday I SHOULD get a few minutes to get some of the Hornet brass actualy loaded. If not maybe monday night who knows While im charging and seating bullets is th eonoy time I actualy devote my entire attention to the process and take some time

[Bigahh]

Reload in steps.

Clean one day, size and prime the next, then charge and seat on the next day.

I do a modified version. I clean all my brass immediately after a match, then 2-3 days before the next match I size and prime, then the day before the match I charge and seat.

+1, good advice. It is how i do it also step by step. If i start losing interest or I get tired I simply stop.

[dr walker]

I do it in steps as well.
My daughter is nine years now and is fully capable of all case prep and sizing. She has always enjoyed operating the press. She is now learning to understand the mechanics of the powder scale, I bet she could tell you how much a cotton swab weighs or how heavy Barbie's shoes are.
I understand about the lack of free time, but you just make the time for things that are important to you. Often times reloading gets put off. I always have plenty of 22 lr to shoot

[hickok45]

Dude, if you have time to drive to Wal-Mart to buy ammo, or to drive to a shooting range, you have time to reload. There's no rule that one has to reload six boxes of ammo per sitting. I keep both my progressive presses loaded and going at all times. I just walk away whenever I want and then step out to the barn and resume cranking 'em out whenever I want.

I leave them at the same point with a bullet sitting on the charged case ready to seat. Been doing it for twenty years with no problems.

If you really don't have time to handload at all, please think about a new career. You got a stop and smell the roses occasionally, or in this case, stop and smell the gun powder!

Hickok

[Asherdan]

I'm like every one else that does it in steps with limited time. With a new little one at home my time got even more limited so I started taking my lunch and my hand press, hand primer, brass and primers to work. I eat at my desk and then go out and sit on the tailgate and size/deprime, bell and prime in stages for half an hour. I can get 100 45/70 and 200 44 mag ready for powder and bullet in a work week so when I have weekend or evening time it's powder/bullet/crimp and in the box.

Heck, I'm saving money by reloading and not going out for lunch!

[Old Savage]

Sorry Hickok, can't agree with you on this one. Welcome and have enjoyed some of you videos.

[Hagler]

Fred,

Do you think that hickok45 is still visiting this forum, after 5-plus years? Although, you have just given some newbies something to think about.

Shawn

EDIT:

Yep, he sure does!:

http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... 7&start=20

[Old Savage]

Not sure. I do know that time or opportunity to reload change through situations. Has with me for sure.

[AJMD429]

Once you get rid of the TV then it is very easy to find time for reloading.

Basically, "Once you get rid of the TV then it is very easy to find time for __________."

We got rid of the television back in the late 1980's and raised our kids without television. Television is a big time-waster that keeps people sitting on the couch and getting fat. Kills more people than most any other physical item I know of.

[Streetstar]

Mostly I let Ricky do it for me.

I need to have my own personal Ricky ! - shooting for me is the recreation part -- reloading seems like work (to me that is), but I couldn't afford to shoot .45 Colt and a number of other calibers I like without it

[cas]

Maybe you're trying to spend too much time at once doing it.

Years ago my method to cranking out tons of pistol ammo wasn't to sit down for hours at a time once or twice a week, but rather 30 minutes a night. Same time every night, no more no less.

[Griff]

You either shoot to reload, or reload to shoot. One or the other will seem to be a chore. Casting is a chore. But I keep lead and molds around so I can if I want! (I mostly cast for BP; and for that it doesn't seem to be as much a chore).

Yep, reloading in steps seems to ease the work of it. Also, getting out of the house, away from the TV, etc. helps. Mondays are a non-TV nite, so it's a good time. A progressive helps in keeping production up and reduces the overall time.

I too, usually clean brass immediately after a match, then do the reloading in stages. Pistol calibers are easy, couple hundred of this bullet, then the other, change the dies and shellplate and do the same with another cartridge... 4 or 5 hours and I'll 500 to 1,000 done. Easy. Rifle cartridges the number shot is lower, so the reloading time is also lower.

[Old Savage]

Griff - lost track during the pistol era if I was reloading to shoot or shooting to reload - you hit it on the head.

[KiwiKev]

All else fails try muzzleloading.

Seriously I reload in steps. Once you have them primed and expanded it goes quick.

Television, usually nothing but rubbish on anyway.