The Smallest Minority blog has a little ditty I saved on reloading ammunition. I thought it was selfish to keep it to myself so I share it with you now.
Heck, people that are reading this and interested in reloading have already seen the original, chances are.
As I've mentioned a few times, reloading .308 ammunition for my Garand, or any future purchase of an M1A, is frowned upon in the literature I've read. Literature from Garand experts and such. Like Scott Duff. The reason? Re-working the brass for reloading causes case fractures and alters the case geometry a timy bit. A case fracture during extraction on a bolt-action rifle is a pain in the arse. It can be an abject disaster with a semi-automatic rifle. At least, that is what more than one expert says. I have no idea if they are right, but prudence says to come down on the side of extra caution when it comes to explosives and projectiles that move at more than 2000 feet per second. You don't want to try to push a whole cratridge into the brass case tube of the prvious cartridge when the extrator has just ripped on the bottom off of it.
But reloading for a future .308 or .30-06 bolt action is a definite possiblity. Same with .38 and .357 in the revolver and the future lever action gun. Probably .45 for future purchases of firearms firing THAT venerable round.
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As I've mentioned a few time, reloading .308 ammunition for my Garand, or any future purchase of an M1A, is frowned upon in the literature I've read.
Well that simplifies things for me then.
I'll buy the ammo for the M1 and use the empties to load for the 1903a3.
Once I get my reloading kit that is.
Reloading for semi-autos is not that much different than for bolt-actions. The things to bear in mind when reloading for a Garand is that the firing pin is free-floating, so military primers (hard cup) are strongly recommended to prevent slam-fires, and the brass is worked more heavily in a semi-auto, so its life is correspondingly shorter. Shoot virgin brass, reload it not more than about three times, then relegate it to bolt-action rifles, or discard - your choice. The actual life of the brass will be dependent on the initial quality, and that varies by manufacturer, and to a lesser extent to the lot.
And thanks for the link!
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