guest article

GUEST ARTICLE
RELOADING IN A TENT.

Any of you who have read my recent posts will have noticed my fondness for cast bullets as a form and expression of self sufficiency, in a time of increasing co dependency between ourselves and various expressions of our governments. Good news! Wolfe Publishing has just released a DVD on casting bullets. This will take you through the very basics up to more advanced techniques. The cost is reasonable and the presentation form in a DVD is far easier to learn from than a text oriented book. The trend today, in cast bullets is to cast hard alloy, and, if only penetration is of concern to you then by all means cast as hard as you like. I have found, again, from my experience, that when I am harvesting animal protein, a softer alloy expands well, up to 2X diameters, doesn’t break up and anchors the animal more quickly. To not harvest an animal quickly is neither humane, nor, ethical, nor smart.

In my last post, I promised another post on assembling high quality hand loaded ammunition while one is in the field. This can be done in a “kit” that will easily fit into a relatively small duffel bag. When assembling this kit, be sure to choose a duffel bag that will block as much water and moisture as possible. Pack as many of the components into large freezer size “zip lock” bags as possible.

The first decision you need to make is whether or not you will be reloading for only one rifle per caliber. If, for example, yours is the only 308 in the camp then you need to assemble your kit with the LEE CLASSIC LOADER. Each “Loader” allows you to reload only one caliber and again, for only one rifle. Midway is selling these “loaders for $22.00 so your investment costs are minimal. This “loader” will de-prime, prime, neck size the brass (which is why you can reload for only one rifle), charge the brass with powder and seat your bullet, cast or gilded. You do need a small block of wood and a hard plastic mallet but these are not hard to find in most camps. I have personally loaded ammunition this way, in a tent, in the arctic (I used the Coleman stove as a pounding surface and the handle of a large hunting knife as a mallet), and produced ammunition that gave a three shot group of ½ inch, extreme spread at about 70 yards. This is good quality ammunition. Many bench rest shooters use this type of reloading system to load very accurate ammunition at the shooting bench, so it works! This “LOADER” is available for a wide variety of calibers so check Midway or Lee’s web sites.

If, however, there will be several 308’s in camp that will need reloaded ammunition, then purchase the “LEE HAND PRESS”. This is exactly what the name suggests, it is a hand held press that along with your regular reloading dies will allow you to fully resize, that is full length resize, brass of nearly any caliber. The largest caliber I have used it on was a 9.3 X 62 and it resized with out considerable effort. Don’t forget to lubricate the brass. This press functions exactly like a bench mounted press except that it is small enough to be easily hand held. Midway is selling these for $28.00, currently.

The second unique aspect of this system is the method of measuring the powder to charge the brass. Most bench reloading systems measure the powder charge by weight with some sort of scale, usually, today, electronic. This method is simply not practical for field use. Both of the above “LEE” systems use a small scoop to measure the charge by volume. This is, again, a more consistent form of measure as the volume of powder is not affected by the relative humidity in the air. Many bench rest shooters use this system and their loads need to be extremely consistent if they are to be competitive.

The day is not too far off when having the ability to reload your ammunition, away from governmental approval, may spell the difference between having hungry children at home and those that are well nourished. This sort of situation has happened before and can happen again, very quickly and without warning. A further suggestion, pay for your essential supplies with cash as the evidence is simply too strong that our governments regularly track credit card expenditures for specific items. Don’t just stock pile supplies acquire skills in the use of those supplies, in the field, long before the crisis hits. Learning how to reload or cast bullets when your children are hungry is not a really choice learning environment.

Respectfully

MUKWAH