Reloading your own Ammo as both a Hobby and Preparation

When you consider the popular hobby of prepping, most people think of the food supplies and water storage that families keep to be ready in an emergency. Some stock up on other things as well, like alcohol for bartering and fuel purposes and most have a selection of firearms and a good supply of ammunition.

These are all good things for your preps, but most of these preps will not last long enough for a sustained emergency. For food the answer is obvious, learn to grow your own crops, a chore to be certain, but a skill that can be learned by anyone. On the other hand for the majority of people, ammunition is a finite resource.

Very few people will be able to use their weapons after the initial stock of ammo is spent and while many will have quite large quantities of bullets for every gun, they cannot anticipate which gun will be needed the most or how quickly those bullets will dwindle until their expensive and calibrated firearm becomes nothing more than a crutch. A crutch for walking that is.

Today we’ll take a few steps towards remedying that situation with a quick breakdown of bullet reloading and the merits of being able to put this useful skill into your toolbox when it’s time to get out of dodge.

THINGS YOU WILL NEED

This isn’t a shopping list or a how to, ammo reloading is complex enough that it can’t be. You are going to need a full reloading kit, gun powder, lead, bullet molds, primers and brass casings in order to reload your own ammo. These will take up a bit more room than you’re complete and ready to go ammo, but this ensures that you’ll be able to make more as time goes on. The stock is up to you, but those are the components necessary.

PREPPING THE PREP

Anyone who has seen ammo reloading without understanding much of the techniques involved will immediately picture someone pouring a small packet of powder into the brass, and then using a leaver to seat the new lead slug into the bullet and that’s it. But those are the last two steps in a long process and all of the steps require precision.

First you clean. Spent brass has soot residue all over it and will have to be cleaned, either with a tumbler or a gun cleaning kit and then a wash with a special or homemade brass washing solution. After cleaning, the brass must be inspected for flaws and imperfections and ultimately rejected if they possess any. This is crucial as a weakened casing can cause untold amounts of damage both to firearms and the body wielding the firearm.

Then the case must be sized, requiring a die to work the brass back into the original SAAMI dimensions for the caliber you’re reloading. After the sizing process reshapes the brass, it has to be trimmed to the right length and use a deburring tool to remove the sharp edges on the casing.

Now it’s ready for priming. This is possibly the simplest procedure yet, but by far the most dangerous to perform. The primer is a small explosive and it can cause injury. Fortunately by its design, the primer must be crushed in order to ignite so with caution and safety equipment, the hazard can be minimized. The process involves another tool where you seat the primer and then press the casing over it in order to marry the two pieces.

Then the specific amount of gunpowder is weighed and measured into the shell before it is placed in the bullet press and the bullet is pressed into the casing, finishing the task.

There are many steps to the process and each bullet requires different measurements and dies in order to process into a safe and functional bullet. Not to mention the forming of your own lead into bullets. You will find much more specific instruction elsewhere, including your local ammo supply shop which should have all the supplies you need and manuals detailing the specific calibers you will be interested in.