FROM what I have heard others say from from
time to time, I believe nearly all riflemen are under the
erroneous impression that the loading of rifle ammunition by the
individual is very dangerous, that it is dangerous to use such
ammunition, and that its use is generally unsatisfactory.
After you have discovered, for instance, that it is possible to
reload 1906 Springfield cartridges with the full charge for
approximately $1.28 per hundred,‘ with components purchased from
the Government, or $3.00 per 100 with materials purchased from the
private concerns, while the same cartridges sell for from $7.00 up
per hundred at retail, or that cartridges like the .25-20, .25-21,
.25-25, .28-30, .32-20, etc., costing $3.00 to $4.00 per hundred,
can be reloaded for from 50 to 80 cents per 100 with the full
charge, you begin to wonder where the danger comes in. Then after
you have discovered that several pet target rifles that were not
accurate with factory loaded shells became regular hair-splitters
with the hand loads, you wonder if it is another case of the
people who yell fire being the ones to profit by the stampede that
follows. Finally, you forget your wondering—and your fear of hand
loading.
The third advantage of reloading is the fact that almost any
imaginable combination of bullet and powder can be used, so that
by changing loads and sighting, one rifle may often be made to
serve as the finest long range target rifle, a splendid big game
rifle, a medium power mid range rifle, a small-game rifle and an
indoor short-range target rifle. It is the one possible means of
producing the all-around rifle.
The last and most important reason for reloading is that it
conduces to study of the art of shooting and proficiency in it.
One acquires an absolute confidence in one's own ammunition that
is not felt when using an article manufactured by someone of whom
he knows nothing, and of which there is no possible way of
discovering the date of manufacture or of the manner of
safe-keeping of the cartridges in the interim.
TOOLS NECESSARY FOR RELOADING
To decide what tools are necessary to reload with we must first
decide what cartridge we are going to reload—what style or styles
of bullets will be used, and the type of rifle that they will be
used in. Then also there is the question of whether we will use
metal-cased bullets altogether. cast bullets altogether, or
whether we will use both styles, with points of different shapes
and the bullets being of different diameters.
Let us take several styles of cartridges for example. Suppose we
wish to reload one of the cartridges for use in a single-shot
target rifle, for target and small-game shooting, like the .25-20,
.25-21, .25-25, .22-13-45, .22-15-60, 28-30, .32—20, etc. These
cartridges take exactly the same style tools, need the same number
of tools and are loaded exactly alike. By that I mean that the
operations of reloading are the same. To reload cartridges for
repeaters having tubular magazines it will be necessary to crimp
the shells into the bullets in addition to the other operations.
We will proceed as if to reload the .25-20 single-shot cartridge.
First we need one Ideal reloading tool No. 3 for the 25-20
single-shot cartridge with single adjustable chamber without
crimp, tool to be ordered to seat bullet No. .25720. This chamber
will seat both the 77- and 86-grain bullets of this other cast
bullets with flat point.
An extra seating screw for one of the sharp-pointed bullets like
.25719 or .257361 will seat practically all of the sharp-pointed
bullets, including pointed metal—cased bullets when they can be
secured. We also will need a muzzle resizer and need it very
badly; also we should have a muzzle expanding plug to expand to
.257 inch. It is possible to get along without the muzzle expander
for a while by chamfering the shells on the pointed end of the
seating chamber, but it will be needed badly after a while when
the shells be come expanded considerably. and this is especially
true if the rifle is cursed with a loose or over-size chamber.
For another thing, we need an Ideal powder measure No. 5 with a
short drop tube of the caliber in use, in this case a .25 caliber
drop tube. With these cartridges this powder measure is plenty
accurate enough to measure the powders that will be used, like
DuPont No. 1, No. 75, No. 80, and Schuetzen. A good pair of scales
are of course more accurate and are indispensable for loading
cartridges for a high-power rifle, but they can be done without if
the price is prohibitive. I use scales altogether because I happen
to be one of those particular "cusses" to whom being absolutely
positive is three-fourths of the game. If I happen to get the idea
that some thing is wrong with the ammunition or the rifle, I
cannot hit anything at all—and plenty of times I make a poor score
when I know everything is right but myself.
In addition, if we make our own bullets, we will need one each of
the Ideal bullet moulds for each bullet that is to be used, one
Ideal melting pot and dipper, and also an adjustable stove lid if
the range is not already provided with one or unless a gas stove
will be used to melt the bullet metal. Also we must secure several
sticks of Ideal lubricant, known as Leopold's banana lubricant. It
is cheap and saves mussing around experimenting.
The last items required are a bullet sizing chamber to resize to
.257, and an extra sizing punch for same to fit the nose of the
sharp pointed bullet that is selected. The tool comes out with a
hole in the lower jaw and a movable pin on the top jaw for the
purpose of resizing bullets, but it is a poor arrangement. In the
first place, this pin has a rounded base, which should be filed 05
flat but at an angle so that the side next the hinge is shorter
than the other side. Then, when using flat-pointed bullets and
very carefully seating the pin on the flat nose of the bullet, the
bullets can be sized carefully enough so that a fine target rifle
will make 2 inch groups at 50 yards—not good enough, by the way,
for target work.
(To be continued)
*“Consult the Ideal Handbook. issued by the Ideal Mfg. Co., 103
Meadow Street, New Haven, Conn.
PART
II —OPERATIONS OF RELOADING (pg 196)
THERE should be an iron-clad rule to follow in reloading, and that
is to do but one job at a time and to finish that job on all the
shells on hand before beginning another. It is otherwise
impossible to make time or to avoid accidents.
The
first job is to decap all of the shells. Take the decapper of your
Ideal No. 3 reloading tool and place it in the loading
chamber-base and screw' up the loading chamber until the point of
the decapper is just above1the face of the jaw. Place a shell in
the chamber, close the jaws, and the shell is decapped. A little
practice will be necessary to determine just how far to have the
pin project above the face of the jaw. Then tighten the locking
nut on the outside of the loading chamber to keep it at that
elevation.
After the shells have all been decapped, if they have been used
with black powder, place the whole business in a vessel containing
hot water and some washing soda or stronger ammonia. Boil until
the shells are cleaned; then rinse the shells with clean hot water
and dry in the oven or some other place until they are perfectly
dry inside, being careful, however, to not get them so hot that
the metal anneals. This makes the shells black, especially if
ammonia is used, but it cleans them. If smokeless powder is used
no cleaning is necessary; if a small black powder priming charge
is used, it is seldom necessary.
When the shells are dry, unscrew the loading chamber from the tool
and screw the resizing chamber into its place. Turn in just far
enough so that the shell Will only be resized the length of the
neck, or with a straight taper shell, the length that the bullet
will be seated in the shell. After the shells are all resized,
expand the necks of all with the muzzle expander. Now the shells
are ready to load. They are all the same size, all fit the rifle
chamber perfectly from head to base of bullet, and if the rifle is
chambered closely little is left to be desired. Factory shells are
usually too small, consequently less accurate, no matter how
carefully they are loaded.
The next job is to recap the shells. Place a shell in the hole in
the jaw of the tool that is just under the recapping stud; place a
primer on the head of the shell and close the jaws. This recaps
the shells. I never had a discharge out of the hundreds of shells
I have recapped, and unless the shell is pointed toward the
operator there is absolutely no chance of accident if there should
be an explosion.
CASTING BULLETS
Do not try to cast bullets from a pound of lead. Get all the pot
will hold. It is much easier to work with five to ten pounds of
lead, or rather bullet alloy, as the temperature of the mass is
kept more uniform. Weigh out the lead and melt it. Then add 1/15
of that amount, by weight, of tin. This makes a good average alloy
for bullets of this caliber (.25-20) for use with smokeless
powder. Never make the alloy softer; sometimes it will be
necessary to make it about 1 to 10 to get the most accurate
results. The tin should be weighed very carefully, as a difference
of an ounce one way or the other is the same as practically a
pound of lead in determining the degree of hardness of the alloy.
The advantages of making a large number of bullets at one time are
that they will all be of the same alloy and the same age. Before
laughing about the age of bullets, read Dr. Mann's experiments
showing how age affects their degree of hardness.
While the lead and tin are heating, place the mould on the stove
and get it good and hot. The dipper is of course in the melted
alloy and also as hot as the alloy. Then drop a small piece of
lubricant on the melted alloy and burn it off. In case the
neighbors burst in the door yelling fire at this time, pay no
attention to them. Some people are easily excited. and a man has
the right to make a smokehouse of his own dwelling if he cares to.
A pair of cheap cotton gloves will save temper and burned hands,
because the stingy little bullet mould handles do get hot as—well,
as hot as it is in Birmingham when T. K. Lee make a nine. Probably
fifty bullets will be spoiled be fore the mould is oxidized, but
these can be remelted along with the necks that are cut off by the
mould.
After the mould is properly oxidized it's all clear sailing—and
sweating; unless. in haste, someone leaves water in the bullet
mould chamber, while cooling the handles. There are only two
things to watch: watch the tire and keep water out of the melted
alloy.
LUBRICATING AND SIZING THE BULLETS
Place some lubricant in a shallow vessel—a large baking-powder can
lid or a jar-top will do—and melt it slowly. Then dip the bullets,
one at a time, into the melted lubricant until they are covered
from base to the first band. Set them on a board to cool. If the
bullets are sharp pointed it will be necessary to use tweezers to
hold them when dipping into the lubricant; or else rub the acid
lubricant on with the fingers, which job is not any too
satisfactory or enjoyable. This is the dirty work of reloading. A
lubricator and sizing machine does away with the ugly part of it,
but is not worth the cost to the fellow who only shoots a few
hundred times a year.
Now for sizing the bullets. Screw the bullet-sizing chamber into
the tool. Take a bullet and fit the proper plunger over its nose,
place it, base first, in the opening in the sizing chamber and
close the jaws onto the butt of the plunger. The bullet will drop
out of the hole in the bottom. A little practice will be necessary
to find out just how far to screw in the bullet— resisting chamber
to get the best results. After wiping off the excess lubricant,
pack the bullets in layers until needed.
Note. A can full of nice new bullets makes a dandy baby's rattle,
but it spoils the bullets. It is excusable for baby's mother to
think of the first part, but she should think all the way through.
I believe the important thing about reloading—when using cast
bullets—is to cast your own bullets. I have never yet received
cast bullets by mail that were not nicked up. The finest kind of
ammunition is worthless for target shooting if the bullets become
deformed.
(To be continued)
Note: These two targets are the best of six sent to RECREATION by
Mr. Landis in compliance with his agreement to produce scores to
prove hand loaded ammunition to be unexcelled. These six targets
were shot consecutively, at 50 yards, and the more was 595 out of
a Possible 600 - Ed.
PART
III LOADING AND RESIZING THE SHELLS (pgs 258-259)
MY opinion is that all smokeless loads in these calibers should
invariably be primed with black powder primers and a 1- or 2-grain
priming charge of F F F G or F F G black powder, and the smokeless
charge on top of that. I do not know of anyone who has used
factory loaded smokeless cartridges in these calibers to any
extent, but has been troubled from pitting, in spite of the most
careful cleaning. I do know that from several years’ experience
with this kind of loading, using Schuetzen smokeless and cleaning
with 26 per cent ammonia at the end of the day, I have had
absolutely no pitting whatever. I might add that I shoot more days
in the year than anyone I know personally. I shoot the whole year
through, and this in a very damp climate. If this style of
loading, with proper cleaning, will give pitting, then I should
have trouble from that source, but such has not been the case.
Having decided upon the proper powder charge from experiment, the
experiments of reliable parties, not by guesswork, we are ready to
fill the shells.
LOADING
The shells are lined up and each receives its priming charge and
is then placed in a separate row, so that none may be missed or
double charged. It is important that this priming charge be
measured or weighed accurately, as a very small difference adds or
deducts a considerable percent to the priming charge, which, of
course, adds or deducts speed to or from the main charge.
After all the shells I want to load that day are primed, I thr0w
the main charge of smokeless and tap it into the shells through a
small funnel which I had made for the purpose. The funnel is
necessary to save spilling powder and to keep it packed uniformly
if the powder charges are weighed. Tap the shells with a rod or a
nail while the powder is settling down through the funnel. ' It
saves time to charge all the shells at once if there is a loading
block to set them into after they are filled, but if none is at
hand or any youngsters are likely to come thumping around the
table, it pays to seat every bullet as soon as the shells are
charged. Otherwise the whole business may be knocked over with one
whack and a policy of armed neutrality give way to one of
unrestricted war.
After the shells are charged, take a loaded shell and place it in
the chamber of the loading tool, then screw the chamber into the
jaw until the loading chamber fits up against the shell. Then
tighten the binding nut. Unless this is done it will usually work
loose and the bullets will not be seated the same depth.
Now take a charged shell, place a bullet in the mouth of the shell
and fit the tool over the shell while it is held vertically in the
fingers. Then close the jaws. This seats the bullet and the shell
is ready to use.
There is absolutely nothing dangerous about the work, nothing
hard, and nothing difficult to learn. The only things liable to
cause an accident that I can think of are water in the bullet
moulds, smoking while loading powder, or the possible chance that
someone might feel like pounding a loaded shell into a shell
resizing die. In such cases there might be fireworks. It is also
poor policy to let the youngsters play with powder cans, lest some
time they get the wrong can.
HIGH-POWER CARTRIDGES
All the reloading tools needed for reloading high-power cartridges
with metal cased bullets are a pair of powder scales and an Ideal
tool with single or double adjustable chamber suited to that
particular cartridge.
Suppose we take the 1906 Springfield shell for an example. Order a
No. 10 Ideal tool for the Spitzer bullet. This tool with the
single adjustable chamber without crimp will do the work. I have
had an order in for a set of Newton tools for the Springfield
shell for the last nine months, but I can .not say how
satisfactory they will be until they are actually on the market.
In case there is no decapper furnished with the tool or if it is
unsatisfactory, or gets broken, a new one can be filed from a wire
nail in a few minutes. I have such a mechanical masterpiece and it
does very well. The shells do not have to be cleaned unless they
are loaded a very long time; mine never last long enough to rid
out if such trouble actually exists.
In loading these cartridges with the full charge I always weigh
the powder charges. I have a weight that has been accurately filed
and tested until it weighs just 46 grains. The full charge for the
service bullet (weighing 150 grains) runs from 46.4 to 46.7 grains
with the different lots of powder that I have received from the
Frankford Arsenal. This powder is, so I understand, supposed to be
Du Pont No. 20, or practically the same as No. 20. The regular
charge of No. 15 Du Pont is 50 grains, of No. 18 is 48 grains, and
of No. 20 is 46 or 47 grains. The use of several small weights in
addition to the 46- grain weight gives the full charge for any of
these powders I may want to use, and which is specified upon the
can or by letter as the proper charge, by weight, for that
particular lot of powder.
As can readily be seen, it is practically impossible to make a
serious error in get ting the right weights upon the scales, as
could be done with a miscellaneous collection of small weights. In
addition, these small weights are seldom accurate. In case you
think they are accurate, test a various collection of small
weights collected from several pairs of scales against say a
50-grain weight that you know is accurate. The results may make
your hair stand up if you have been blissfully using that method
of weighing powder in the past.
The advantage of weighing coarse grained powder can easily be seen
by filling several shells with No. 15 and No. 18 and tapping or
shaking them differently when getting it in. The No. 15 is coarse
and the No. 18 comparatively fine, and one can readily see how a
measure that will do well with fine powder will likely give
considerable variation with, say, 15 or one of the other coarse
powders. The shells will not by any means be filled evenly.
If one is blessed by being a member of a N.R.A. club or happens to
be friendly with the range officer of a National Guard
organization, in case they are not all called out by the time this
gets into print, he can usually obtain by purchase, or otherwise,
quite a supply of empty cartridges that have been fired in a
various collection of rifles. Such an individual is wise if he
stocks up while the opportunity presents itself.
Now do not accuse me of saying that these shells are just as
uniform as if they had all been fired in your own rifle. They are
not, but they will do a great deal better work than a good many
people imagine they will do. Besides, once they are refired they
will all be the same size.
I have not seen a quotation since the last raise, but the empties
did cost about $1.20 per hundred. If these can be obtained for
nothing, or practically nothing, that much is saved. In fact about
one half of the cost of reloading is saved.
If these shells are used just as they are, and the rifle for which
they are being reloaded has a tight chamber, there will be all
kinds of trouble from sticking shells, especially in rapid fire,
and all the smart alecks in the club who know nothing about
loading shells and who pay their little $3.90 per 100 as a result,
will have one grand laugh.
RESIZING THE SHELLS
One way to get around this difficulty is to buy an Ideal shell
resizer and resize the whole shooting match. This weakens the
shells and is not necessary. The other way is to get the shells on
a pile, hunt a nice soft place and sit down with the rifle; then
take the shells one at a time, and make the bolt fly like blazes.
All the shells that stick will either be thrown away or resized
and kept by themselves. All that chamber correctly will not stick
when they are loaded. unless they are expanded excessively to seat
a super caliber bullet, most of the ones that do stick will work
if the necks are resized; and the necks must all be resized anyhow
or else the bullets will not fit the necks and will dig back in
the powder.
Caution: Always clean the rifle with stronger ammonia immediately
after this chambering stunt, or else the primer and powder residue
that works into the barrel and chamber will rust as bad or worse
than if the rifle had been fired.
The method of loading these shells is exactly the same as with the
smaller shells, as described in previous articles. The cast
bullets will measure .311 and possibly the necks will not have to
be resized for the cast bullets. If they happen to be too small
they will have to be expanded to .311 with a muzzle expander of
that size. The government metal cased bullets that I have used
measure about .3083 and will need a .308 expander, or they can be
seated without any expander at all by just reaming them out on the
pointed end of the chamber of the tool, this job is hard on the
hands, as the shells are slightly crimped as the government sends
them out loaded, and this slight crimp will have to be pressed
out. These shells are good and tough and will last a good long
time, longer than the shells made by the private manufacturers.
I cannot see the economy of casting lead bullets for the
Springfield at the present price of metal-cased bullets purchased
from the government when one also considers that lead is selling,
around here at least, for 16 cents per pound. I have my doubts
about this terrific wear of metal cased bullets on a barrel, as
hard as the Springfield barrel, when used with reduced funds. I
have an idea that if cast bullets, cast from the usual hard alloy,
.003 super caliber, and were fired, and could be fired, at the
same velocities as the metal-cased ones, with naturally the same
chamber pressures and chamber temperatures, the barrels would be
ruined just about as fast as they are now. If the barrels are worn
out by friction why are they not worn out faster at the muzzle
than at the breech? The velocity is the greatest at the muzzle and
naturally the friction would be greatest at that point. I believe
that were it possible to create as great a chamber pressure and
temperature and sustain it for the same length of time without any
bullet at all in the chamber, the rifle would lose accuracy almost
as fast as it does at present.
After one sees a flame at high temperature eat right through steel
as hard as any rifle barrel by just directing the flame against
the steel, such an idea is liable to present itself with
considerable force. It would be interesting to examine a barrel
fired, say 15,000 shots with metal-cased bullets and 11 or 12
grains of Marksman or No. 80, and another fired with an Ideal cast
or gas-check cast bullet of the same weight and slightly greater
diameter, and the same powder charge. I have an idea that with the
terrific chamber temperature absent this metal-cased bullet wear
business would get a shock. (To be concluded)
PART IV
- CONCLUSION (pgs 476, 503, 504)
IT seems to me that when the prices of f government ammunition and
accessories to members of N. R. A. clubs is considered any person-
is considerable of a fool to habitually shoot any other cartridge
than the .30 model 1906 for long range work, especially long range
target shooting.
Just note these prices; prices in effect after the rise in prices
in the spring of 1917. Frankford Arsenal prices. Powder .70 per
1b., powder can (5-lb.) extra .40, making 5 lbs. of powder cost
$3.90, or approximately .78 per lb. Bullets, 150 grain metal
cased, .68 per 100; primers, .10 per 100, or a total cost of
loading the full charge, using fired shells. of $1.28 per hundred.
Consider also that it is impossible, so far as I can learn, for
anyone except a few experimenters and writers, to buy metal cased
bullets for the .280 Ross and the .250-3,000 Savage, from the
large factories- at the present time. A 3,000 ft. per sec. rifle
shooting a gas check or a cast bullet at from 1,400 to 1,800 ft.
per second is not a particle more effective than a bullet shot
from any other rifle at the same velocity. Shooting stub nosed, 86
grain, 25 caliber bullets in the 2503000 Savage is a darned poor
substitute for the full charge spitzer bullet factory loads.
Cartridges at $7.00 to $10.00 per hundred shots is pretty
expensive shooting for most people.
Prices for comparison.
If purchased from private manufacturers, primers cost
approximately twice as mtich as from the government; empty shells,
of a very inferior quality, two or three times as much; and powder
almost twice as much. Bullets cost three times as much. The powder
from the private manufacturers may be a little better than that
from the government, and so may the non-mercuric primers, but the
bullets are nearly always of an inferior quality and the empty
shells are a scandal in comparison.
Government cartridges, for the Springfield, cost $3.90 per
hundred. Just at present writing they cannot be obtained, but I
believe that they will shortly be available again. These
cartridges are very accurate. Considerably more so than the usual
run of factory loads. Hand reloads, using fired shells, government
powder, primers and bullets, $1.28 per 100.
Hand loaded reloads, using government primers, bullets and Du Pont
No. 15, 20 or No. 18 powders, $1.68 per 100. Hand loaded reloads,
using Du Pont powders, U. S. Cartridge Co.'s non-mercuric primers
and government bullets, $1.79 per 100.
Hand loaded reloads, using Du Pont powders, U. S. Cartridge Co.'s
non-mercuric primers and bullets from private manufacturers, $3.00
per 100.
The natural inference concerning these reloaded cartridges would
be that because they are cheap and do not look as pretty as new
cartridges, that they are inferior in quality. This, however, is
not the case if they are reloaded by someone who knows his
business.
In the N. R. A. Club, to which I belong, there are at present
about 150 members. This includes all but two of the 1916 N. R. A.
Pennsylvania state team that was sent to Jacksonville for the
National shoot.
This team was nothing remarkable. but it was good enough to clean
up one four man team match to the extent of 4th and 9th places,
shooting against teams from all over the United States.
So far this year, which is up until the middle of July, I have
shot on the club's ranges on every shooting day, except one or
two. There is considerable good-natured personal rivalry among the
different shots in the club and we have individual matches of 10,
20 and sometimes 40 shots per man almost every Saturday. Very
little is said about actual matches, but men who wish to compete
together always quietly manage to get squadded up together and
shoot like a house afire to trim each other.
I am the only one in the club who so far has habitually used hand
loaded ammunition for competitive shooting. All of the others have
been using government loads or those loaded by private
manufacturers. So for this year I have only been beaten once in a
match shoot from the prone position, losing out in one in stance
48 to 49 at 500 yards. I have cleaned up in every twenty-shot
match.
My lowest 20-shot score at 200 yards on the 8-inch bull was 89. At
300 yards on the 8-inch bull 88 and at 500 yards on the 20-inch
bull was 90.
I have had but one ten—shot score this year, up to and including
500 yards, that was less than a 44. This includes all prone
shooting of several dozen scores. I shot one 40-shot score at 500
yards to try the, regularity of the shells, and scored 180 out of
200 in each case. Nearly all of the 4's were very close.
A friend who was watching me shoot the 40-shot score at 500 yards
said very little until I had finished and then remarked that I
would have missed just one man out of the 40 shots. I thought that
possibly four of them would have been misses on a target of this
kind.
Last week I fired 26 shots at 200 yards on the 8-inch bull. This
is an odd number, but it happened to be the number of shells that
I had along that were hand loads. The score was 121 out of 130. An
average of just over 93 per cent. This is no better or no worse
than I would be likely to do again. Twenty-five of the shots
grouped into about 9 inches. Probably eight inches might have
included this many of them. This group is shown, not as the best
that hand loaded ammunition will do but just as an average every
day group made by an average shot with a fine rifle and the best
ammunition. In shooting this group I called the shots so closely
that a spectator declared that I could see the bullet holes. I
wish that I had eyesight like that.
From what I have been able to do so far, and judging pretty
accurately my ability in holding and wind doping, or rather the
lack of such ability, I would estimate that the load of 50 grains
of No. 15 Du Pont, government bullets and primers, and old fired
shells that had been previously examined for tight shells, would
throw pretty nearly everything into 4 or 5 inch groups at 200
yards and 12 to 15 inch ten-shot groups at 500 yards, using
military sights and trigger pull, shooting prone with sling.
This load costs just $1.68 per 100. I have shot several hundred
loads of this had one split shell neck. Sometimes the shells stick
some and must be resized the full length through an Ideal Shell
resizer. Then they work all right for another shot, and some times
several more. I have had no trouble at all from punctured primers
or flying oil, gas, etc. There is about one—half as much metallic
fouling as from the government shells, or when using No. 20 or No.
18 powders, or at least that has been the case with my rifle.
I can shoot more accurately with this load them with National
match ammunition, for I have tried ZO-shot strings to find out
which was the better and I prefer my hand loads to anything that I
have tried so far.
Does it pay to reload? I think that it does. It certainly has paid
me so far, for I can make more accurate ammunition for any rifle
that I have ever tried to reload for that I have been able to buy.
I can shoot two to four times as much for the same money. I have
absolute confidence in my own ammunition, for I know just how
accurately it is loaded, how old it is, and how it has been
preserved.
If these conditions are inducements to you, it would pay you to
reload, provided that you use a reasonable amount of caution,
knowledge, patience and common sense.
