Would love to try handloading

[jaime456]

Given how expensive high-end factory loads have become lately, I’m thinking about getting into handloading to shoot more and enhance my skills. I’d be really interested to know how many of you are ‘rolling your own’ to stay sharp without spending a fortune.

 

[HWB13]

Hey Jaime, first off welcome to the forum. Good question , but you have to first define a fortune. The start up cost can vary wildly . If you find a used press, scale , dies, and other stuff to get started, that goes a long way to saving money and producing good rounds for what ever you want to. I do more shotgun stuff. The only reason I save money is that for years I have stock piled components as I find them. Either sales or someone getting out of the hobby. But loading your own can be very rewarding. High volume stuff can be a different animal, as sometimes it's cheaper to buy say 9mm range ammo than to reload it. But when you want something special the affordability changes. Try to find 35 Whelan for less than 50 or 60 bucks a box, when right now I can load them for the price of primers and bullets, as I have everything else. But for the guy just starting out it's more. And most wives think we're a bit on the nuts side. You don't need all the latest ang greatest to get going, just the basics, as you grow you add to the endless piles of stuff. I know it's a bit of a guy thing but I never through anything away. Got rid of my Enfield, but kept the brass, so now I have it to start with my 35 remington rimmed project.

 

[Ed333]

Here , I enjoy reloading as much as shooting, for centerfire rifle I reload to (a) have fun (b) save money and (c) produce more accurate ammo. For pistol rounds except 9mm, the same except an accuracy range i s acceptable, I am not a bullseye shooter primarily, to the extent that I am, I buy high quality .22LR ammo. Start (and maybe stick with) a hand primer, like a 21st Century, very sensitive and high quality, a single stage press, like an RCBS ;rockchucker, get a Lee dipper set and a balance beam scale (I use a Dillon), and a digital calipre for measuring diameters and lengths.

 

[guntha45]

Hey Jaime, first off welcome to the forum. Good question , but you have to first define a fortune. The start up cost can vary wildly . If you find a used press, scale , dies, and other stuff to get started, that goes a long way to saving money and producing good rounds for what ever you want to. I do more shotgun stuff. The only reason I save money is that for years I have stock piled components as I find them. Either sales or someone getting out of the hobby. But loading your own can be very rewarding. High volume stuff can be a different animal, as sometimes it's cheaper to buy say 9mm range ammo than to reload it. But when you want something special the affordability changes. Try to find 35 Whelan for less than 50 or 60 bucks a box, when right now I can load them for the price of primers and bullets, as I have everything else. But for the guy just starting out it's more. And most wives think we're a bit on the nuts side. You don't need all the latest ang greatest to get going, just the basics, as you grow you add to the endless piles of stuff. I know it's a bit of a guy thing but I never through anything away. Got rid of my Enfield, but kept the brass, so now I have it to start with my 35 remington rimmed project.

I want to hear more about your .35 Remington rimmed! Is it for a single shot or a Winchester lever gun?

 

[HWB13]

The 35 Remington rimmed will start life as a ,I think 315 or 325 Stevens hammered sxs. Still sourcing barrels. Going to line the existing barrels. Had a source a while back, but that fell through. Kinda been on the back burner since. Would be the all American double gun.

 

[guntha45]

You might have luck with Shaw barrels if you don't have an unlimited budget. Also, watch eBay. It is hit or miss but there are deals to be had. The .35 rifle is quite ignored by many. The twist rate for .38 Special/.357 Magnum barrels would be a bit slow for rifle application. I would try to find one with a 1 in 14 twist.
Years ago, before the AR craze, the gunsmithing industry focused on barrels for bolt actions. There were pre-threaded short chambered barrels for small and large ring Mausers in all kinds of calibers and chamberings. They are still available, but only in the boring standard calibers. Adams and Bennett sold good quality barrels at a very reasonable price. Green Mountain had reasonable prices on their barrels, but more limited selection.
I bought a bunch of Adams and Bennett barrels back in the day, 6.5x55, .35 Whelen, .416 Taylor are 3 I still have built of M98 Mausers.
I also got a .416 barrel blank and created a wildcat for a top eject 94 Winchester using .303 British brass, shortening it to .30/30 length and expanding it for .416 bullets. I used an RCBS 350gr mold that dropped a 360gr gas check bullet with a semi hard alloy. Using Reloader 7 powder I was cranking out velocities that shocked me, way above what I expected, 1800fps out of a 20" carbine!

 

[HWB13]

I have looked at several different barrels , the 1 14 twist is part of the challenge. The other is I have so many projects in the works some hit a bump and it's on to the next one. I have had a rifle setting on the floor in my gunroom for 2 years waiting for the stock I finally ordered 2 weeks ago. Just finished a air rofle project that I started the second week in February.

 

[guntha45]

The 35 Remington rimmed will start life as a ,I think 315 or 325 Stevens hammered sxs. Still sourcing barrels. Going to line the existing barrels. Had a source a while back, but that fell through. Kinda been on the back burner since. Would be the all American double gun.

I had wanted a double rifle for years and finally got around to building one.
I had a Crescent Arms 12ga internal hammer sidelock double as a gun show parts gun and rebuilt it.
I sourced a couple Marlin 1895 .45/70 barrels off eBay for $50/ea Ballard rifling not micro-groove., this was more than 10 years ago (where does the time go?).
I turned those Marlin barrels to fit like a sleave/insert into the shotgun barrels and shortened the shotgun barrels to the length of the Marlin barrels. You could use Marlin barrels, but the .35 Remington barrels are hard to come by, are expensive (for a used barrel), and will likely be micro-groove rifling. That might work for you but I'm a cast bullet guy and want Ballard rifling.
Here is the sticky wicket- double barrel shotgun barrels are not parallel with one another. They are made for the shot to converge at about 30 yards, so the trick is in regulating the barrels so both of them will hit at the point of aim at a given distance. You can try doing some complicated math to figure out at about where the barrels converge and then cut an eccentric on the muzzle end of the rifle barrel to compensate for the windage difference between shotgun ranges and rifle ranges. I chose to not do that. I just cut the rifle barrels straight and cut a stop at the chamber end of the rifle barrels that fit in the rim of the shotgun chamber.
Once I had both rifle barrels fitted but not fixed in place, with no extractor cut in the rifle barrel and with the shotgun extractor removed I started test firing. I knew the windage between the 2 would be off so I focused on elevation differences. I rotated the rifle barrel sleeves inside the shotgun barrels to regulate the elevation of each barrel so they shot at the same elevation. I then drilled and tapped a hole in each shotgun chamber up from the bottom and screwed in a 10-32 set screw to hold the barrel in that position and cut the barrel for the extractor after adding material to the 12ga extractor to work with the .45/70 cartridge.
Oh, the rear sight is for a model 600 Remington (with the rib so it's flat on the bottom) and the front sight is from one of those Marlin barrels, modified to fit flat on the shotgun rib.
The bullets converge at about 25-30 yards but I'm ok with that. It is just a novelty gun for me and won't be used for hunting, it's way too heavy, but it is totally cool!

 

[guntha45]

I have looked at several different barrels , the 1 14 twist is part of the challenge. The other is I have so many projects in the works some hit a bump and it's on to the next one. I have had a rifle setting on the floor in my gunroom for 2 years waiting for the stock I finally ordered 2 weeks ago. Just finished a air rofle project that I started the second week in February.

You sound just like me!

 

[guntha45]

I have looked at several different barrels , the 1 14 twist is part of the challenge. The other is I have so many projects in the works some hit a bump and it's on to the next one. I have had a rifle setting on the floor in my gunroom for 2 years waiting for the stock I finally ordered 2 weeks ago. Just finished a air rofle project that I started the second week in February.

Here is a 20in..35 Remington Marlin micro-groove barrel on eBay- I would want to use a longer barrel, but this gives you an idea

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2367436823...77Xzx/S37b2m+knM8NWQspVw==|tkp:Bk9SR8z3p7GuZw

 

[guntha45]

I have looked at several different barrels , the 1 14 twist is part of the challenge. The other is I have so many projects in the works some hit a bump and it's on to the next one. I have had a rifle setting on the floor in my gunroom for 2 years waiting for the stock I finally ordered 2 weeks ago. Just finished a air rofle project that I started the second week in February.

Here is a picture of a muzzle of a converted double shotgun to double rifle on gunbroker right now showing how the rifle barrels are off center in the bore to make them more parallel.