Reloading Equipment

Handloading or reloading is the process of loading firearm cartridges or shotgun shells by assembling the individual components (case/shotshell, primer, powder, and bullet/shot), rather than purchasing completely-assembled, factory-loaded cartridges. more...

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Generally only Boxer-primed cases (see internal ballistics) are reloaded.

Historically, handloading referred to the private manufacture of cartridges and shells using all newly-manufactured components, whereas reloading referred to the private manufacture of cartridges and shells using previously-fired cartridge brass and shells with new bullets, shot, primers, and powder. In modern usage, however, no distinction is made in these terms, and they are considered synonymous.

Reasons for handloading

Economy and increased accuracy/performance are the common motivations for handloading cartridges. Reloading fired cases can save shooters a significant amount of money. Hunters may desire cartridges with specialized slugs or specific performance as regards bullet velocity. Target shooters seek the best achievable accuracy, as well as the best shot-to-shot consistency. Many handloaders customize their cartridges to their specific firearms, usually in pursuit of accuracy: they can assemble precision ammunition using cartridge cases that have been fire-formed in the chamber of a specific firearm.

Collectors of obsolete firearms often have to handload because cartridges are no longer commercially produced. Handloaders can also create cartridges for which there are no commercial equivalents, such as wildcat cartridges. As with any hobby, the pure enjoyment of the reloading process may be the most important benefit.

There are three aspects to ballistics: internal ballistics, external ballistics, and terminal ballistics. Internal ballistics refers to things which happen inside the firearm during and after firing but before the bullet leaves the muzzle. The handloading process can realize increased accuracy and precision through improved consistency of manufacture, by selecting the optimal weight and profile of the bullet, and tailoring the velocity of the bullet. Each cartridge reloaded can have each component carefully matched to the rest of the cartridges in the batch. Brass cases can be matched by volume and weight, bullets by weight and bearing surface, powder charges by weight, type, and case filling (the amount of empty space between the top of the charge and the base of the bullet). In addition to these items that are considered critical, the equipment used to assemble the cartridge also have an effect on its uniformity/consistency and optimal shape/size; dies used to size the cartridges can be matched to a given weapon's chamber. Modern handloading equipment enables a firearm owner to tailor fresh ammunition to a specific firearm, and to precisely-measured tolerances far exceeding the comparatively wide tolerances within which commercial ammunition manufacturers operate. Where the most extreme accuracy is demanded, such as in rifle benchrest shooting, handloading is a fundamental prerequisite for success.

Read more at Wikipedia.org