Reloading In Volume

Organization

A key element of volume reloading is brass management. I had on hand 3,000+ .45 ACP cases. A big tarp caught most of the brass from training sessions. I dumped the brass from each session into a big old cook pot. Brass for reloading needs to be clean. It doesn’t need to be shiny. On Saturday the cook pot contained about 1,000 cases. I filled the pot with boiling water and a bit of dish soap, then agitated them vigorously with a wooden spoon. I’d flush the cases with two or three fills of hot tap water, then dump them on an old towel to air dry for a week.

On Sunday I’d load the cases that had dried during the previous week. Keeping track of rounds loaded was simple: I’d start with a brick of 1,000 primers and load until they were gone. I always seemed to lose a few cases, which I made up from my reserve stash. The RL-1050 really would load 1,000 rounds an hour, including filling primer tubes and emptying the loaded rounds tray.

Keeping costs down meant looking for small savings that added up over time. A few friends and I used to order components in as large quantities as we could manage, usually getting a volume price plus saving on shipping costs. We’d get 100,000 primers, 64 lbs. of powder, 100,000 cast bullets and share them out. I was constantly watching for bargains.

My standard powder for .45 ACP was WW 231 but I’d try others if the price was right. A retiring trapshooter I knew was selling off some stuff and I was able to get WW 452 AA at a bargain price. Without being too crass about it, I used to keep tabs on older shooters who might be cleaning out their reloading room.

I’m staggered at the current prices I see for powder and primers. I can remember buying primers at around $70 for 5,000. Eight-pound cans of WW 231 were around $60 as I recall, and I used to burn 20–24 lbs. a year. I don’t know how anyone can afford to shoot in large volume today although there are a couple of young guys who call every few months to ask how I’m feeling. I don’t know, seems a bit crass …

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