Handloading costs less, provides better accuracy

Hunting big game in Alaska is a dream for many Lower 48 hunters and others from around the world, but is a normal activity for hunters fortunate enough to live here. Handloading the ammunition used on these hunts adds another dimension to the Alaska hunting experience.

There is not have the space in this article to get into a thorough discussion of all the facets of handloading necessary to produce top-notch ammunition, or even to adequately discuss in detail the steps required to reload a rifle or handgun cartridge. For that specific information, I would refer readers to several of the dozens of reloading manuals available.

These reference manuals go into considerable detail in explaining the necessary handloading equipment and give a step-by-step explanation of the basic reloading procedure. They also contain loading "recipes" for many different rifle and handgun cartridges and ballistics information for many different bullet weights at a multitude of different velocities.

In a nutshell, handloading requires that the fired cartridge case be cleaned; resized to original factory dimensions and deprimed, using a resizing die; a new primer inserted in the primer pocket at the base of the case; the proper type and amount of powder poured into the case; and finally, the bullet seated to a specified overall length, usually the same length as factory loaded ammunition, using a seating die. As you get into reloading and become familiar with the process, you will read about many variations and refinements involved in each of the reloading steps. For instance, do you use a tungsten carbide resizing die or a regular steel die, a small base resizer or a regular one, neck resize or full-length resize?

With this much information to wade through, why bother to reload at all? Wouldn't it be easier to just buy factory ammunition and save all the hassle? That depends.

A box of factory ammo for a typical big game caliber can easily cost in the neighborhood of $2 a cartridge. If you shoot as much as you should to become both proficient in hunting situations and to maintain that proficiency, the cost of factory ammunition can be considerable.

Your rifle may shoot factory ammo "OK," but you're not comfortable with this mediocre level of accuracy. How can you improve the accuracy of your shots? Assuming your rifle's barrel and action are correctly bedded in the stock, your next step is to reload ammunition custom-tailored to your rifle and shooting requirements.

The initial cost of a complete reloading setup is not cheap, but it is an investment that can easily last a lifetime or more. I'm currently using some reloading dies my father originally purchased 40-some years ago and they still work just fine. One of my reloading presses was purchased nearly 30 years ago and it continues to function as my main handgun cartridge reloading station. Once you have the basic handloading equipment, like a reloading press, powder measure and scale, you can easily add additional calibers to your shooting inventory simply by purchasing additional reloading dies and the correct shell holder. You can experiment with different bullet weights, often not available in factory ammunition, and powders to custom tailor a hunting load to your particular rifle. You should easily be able to match the level of accuracy you currently achieve with factory ammunition and it isn't unusual to improve your accuracy with loads specifically developed for your rifle or handgun. But you do need to experiment.

One caliber I enjoy using for moose hunting is the 35 Whelen, a cartridge that is basically the 30-06 case expanded to 35 caliber. This cartridge was developed in the early years of the 20th century as a larger caliber hunting round for large, heavy-boned animals like elk, moose and bears out to ranges of 200 to 250 yards or so. It packs a pretty good punch without the tremendous recoil of today's modern "magnum" calibers.

My first 35 Whelen was a Remington 7600, pump-action rifle. From a bench rest, this rifle would consistently group Remington brand 250-grain factory loads under two inches for three shots at a hundred yards. This is very acceptable hunting accuracy for this style rifle.

A few years later, I had a bolt-action rifle using a military Mauser action custom built in this caliber. This rifle also shot the Remington factory ammunition quite well. However, I wanted to develop my own reloads because of the high cost of the factory ammo, and because of the difficulty in finding the ammunition. To locate factory cartridges, I specifically had to go to a gun store and, even then, the ammunition wasn't always in stock. Further, I only had the choice of two bullet weights in the Remington factory ammunition. The other major ammunition manufacturing companies did not load this caliber. The versatility of the round for my hunting purposes was reduced because of this limited availability of factory ammo.

I began developing handloads using the commonly recommended "recipes" from the reloading manuals. They shot fine. I started trying different types of powders in slightly differing charge weights, looking to tighten up the groups. I also experimented with different bullet weights in these reloads to accommodate the different animals I envisioned hunting with this caliber.

Several things became apparent in this process. First, I was able to custom tailor a particular reload, using both bullet weight and velocity, for the types of hunting conditions I usually encounter while moose hunting. Second, the availability of several different bullet weights, beyond those loaded in factory ammo, gave me a lot of choices in developing specific handloads for different sized animals, ranging from Sitka blacktailed deer to bison.

Third, I had significantly reduced my ammo costs by reloading to the point where I was shooting about three times as many shots for the same dollars as when I only used factory ammo. I saw a noticeable improvement in my shooting abilities with this increased practice. And finally, I developed a load in the bolt-action that shot one-inch or less, three-shot groups at a hundred yards. This same load in the pump-action rifle shot groups that looked like a shotgun pattern. Yet, when using a load developed for the pump-action rifle, groups shrunk back into the two-inch or less category. This was a real eye opener about how individual rifles, even in the same caliber, can have very different preferences in ammunition.

A critical point to keep in mind while crafting reloads for Alaskan hunting is the quality of the bullet used. Manufacturers have produced bullets designed specifically for different activities like target shooting or hunting small, thin-skinned game like deer or varmints. Other bullets have been designed to provide maximum penetration on the largest animals hunted.

You must use the proper type of bullet in your reloads for the type of shooting you intend to do. A bullet designed for target shooting, while producing very accurate groups on paper, will not penetrate and "shock" an animal like a bullet developed for hunting would. Since my thrust is primarily hunting, I use the so-called "premium" hunting bullets available from several bullet producers.

The Nosler Co. makes a premium-hunting bullet known as the "Partition." This bullet has been around for many years and is well proven in real hunting situations as a top-quality, deeply penetrating hunting bullet. I have developed several loads in different calibers for hunting specifically using this bullet. The 35 Whelen load I mentioned that shot so well in my bolt-action rifle uses a Barnes "X-Bullet," a solid copper, hollow-point hunting bullet. Swift "A-frame," Hornady "SST," Speer "Grand Slam" and "Trophy Bonded Bear Claw," and Kodiak "Bonded Core" are other brands of premium quality bullets available to the handloader for use in reloads designed for hunting. I'm sure there are other brands I have failed to mention that will work equally as well in your favorite hunting handload.

In addition to obtaining and studying several of the reloading manuals, I recommend subscribing to a bi-monthly magazine from Wolfe Publishing Co., located in Prescott, Ariz., called "Handloader." This publication is the technical journal for reloading ammunition.

Probably the premier "recipe" book for handloaders is another publication from the Wolfe Company called "Ken Waters' Pet Loads." Mr. Waters has written a column in virtually every issue of Handloader magazine since it was first published nearly 40 years ago.

Each column explored a wide variety of loads he developed or tested for a specific cartridge and several articles revisited a particular cartridge as new powders or bullets offered significant improvements in that cartridge's performance.

Pet Loads has over a 1,000 pages covering hundreds of calibers and my copy, from 1998, is already the sixth edition. This book is a must have for any reloader's library.