Reloadin’ Joe

Leaving the politics out, I can only say this – anything to do with reloading ammunition, or for that matter anything to do with firearms can only be described as being a real challenge. Hopefully, this will be only a temporary situation. I have been told by a reliable source that the primer shortage will be corrected by the first part of the coming year. Well, I’m probably the ultimate pessimist so I can only say, we will see. I am glad that Remington ammunition is back online after going bankrupt some time ago. Thank you for the Speer and CCI conglomerate for stepping up to bat and saving this grand old name and many jobs as well as helping us in this time of need. Having said that, I do have to comment on a couple of issues to do with Remington. First, Remington gained an enviable reputation for accuracy and reliability with their 721-722-700 series of rifles in the 1950’s and 60’s. The people responsible for these fine works of art are now long gone, replaced by a new generation. Quality suffered dramatically as a result. An industry insider I know met some of these people at trade shows and was – let us say – not impressed. These dudes are undoubtedly now out of work at Remington and now involved in making second rate lawn mowers and food slicer dicers. Don’t laugh, it happened with Smith and Wesson back in the 1970’s when the CEO made some bad decisions and wound up working for a second-rate lawn mower company. What goes around, comes around! Well, recently I was at a trapshooting event and on the line doing a handicap round with a fellow who was using some Remington Nitro 27 handicap factory loads. Over the years this load gained the reputation for being state of the art. 5 or 6 misfires occurred in 25 rounds. Primer indents were all good and shells refused to fire in another gun, ruling out weapon problems. My electronic hearing protectors are quite sensitive and I can say with a great deal of authority that the primers did not detonate. My thoughts are that these are some of the last ammo produced before Remington declared bankruptcy. I think one would be wise to use this late production ammo for practice only and purchase some new Remington ammo for more serious pursuits. A few years back, during the last ammo crisis, I purchased a batch of 22 shells that were in no way satisfactory. It wasn’t just me, a writer for a national magazine could not finish a review of an AR Style 22 because he could not get this gun to function using this same brand of ammo. We have a serious problem with supply, but it can be rectified if we start thinking and acting with responsibility. Don’t shoot too much (sob!) and buy only the bare minimum. In short, don’t try to stockpile until the crisis subsides. Then, when the shelves are full again I would try to lay in a four year and preferably eight year supply. Yeah, I know, this could be a severe financial drain but it sure beats what is happening now. Stretch out the buying time and make certain your storage conditions are up to snuff in all respects. Another thing to consider is how hot are you loading? Most anything can be accomplished by loading a little below max. Your hard to come by shell casings will last a lot longer and your precious powder supply will last longer. Plan your range sessions carefully and slow your shooting speed down. Remember, we are not popping off firecrackers at a fourth of July celebration! Brass rifle cases. It used to be that Winchester-Western cases were the very best. Not so anymore. I’ve had the best life out of Nosler Custom and Hornady. In most brands, annealing of the case mouths has been of a low quality with case necks splitting prematurely. Weatherby cases by Norma have been by far the worst offenders. I have experienced up to 50% case loss after 4 or 5 firings. As a result I anneal the necks right off the bat and this has eliminated this problem. My technique is quite odd but it seems to work very well. Case neck tension is also quite uniform and adequate. .4 to .5 MOA is maintained with several loads in a 257 Weatherby. Here’s how I do it. Place your bottleneck rifle cases neck up in a pan of cold water. Water should extend up the body of the case about half to two thirds the way up. I use an ordinary household propane torch with a medium flame to heat the case necks. I like to play the flame on the necks from three different angles for 75 seconds to 2 minutes depending on the case size. Time is really not critical. Tip the case over immediately. After this your cases will look like new military brass! Make sure you thoroughly dry your case before loading! Enjoy! With any luck, the pandemic, ammo and components shortage and all related issues will soon be over and life will return to normal. Hope springs eternal!