WOW, With the price of bullets and brass, I am better off to keep buying the ammo from my ammo connection for 1000 rounds at $160. I believe thats about $0.07 a round???? Its some good stuff to I guess. Out of 3,000 rounds, i had one that was crimped incorrectly and did not feed. Not too bad if you ask me. I always keep the guns loaded with good name brand rounds that i trust for carry and home protection.

 

Well, I also vote for RCBS. I've had a Rockchucker for decades, and I love it. I mainly use RCBS or Lyman dies. I've used some Lee equipment, and except for bullet moulds, I'm not a big fan... For a progressive, you can't go wrong with Dillan.

Shooting a 44 in college, casting my own bullets and handloading was really the only way I could afford to shoot much.

Later I got into .357 Herritt, a wildcat based on 30-30 winchester punched out and shortened, and of course this required handloading.

With 45, 9mm, and 40, though, loaded ammo in bulk is pretty cheap, so to make handloading pay you would really have to look for bargins and/or buy components in bulk, or get into casting bullets...

Anyway, if you haven't handloaded, I'd suggest spending a little time with someone who is experienced.

 

But if you load those .44 Mag rounds to full house loads, you will pay for your press in no time. And get loads you can't buy at any gun shop, or if you did find some Buffalo Bore or Cor-Bon ammo, it will cost you about $50-$60/50rds. You do ge some satisfaction in not having to run to the store for ammo anymore though. Most who do this don't do so to save $$$. They are enthusiasts who benefit from the savings and who can load whatever thay want when they want.

 

Reloading isn't just about saving money. With a little patients and practice, you can get ammo loads on par with the high end, quality ammo for the price of the cheap stuff. another benefit of reloading is that you can work up combinations that your particular gun really likes.
Like my Savage 110 7mm Remington Mag, really likes this one type of powder loaded about 5 grains below max. I get penetration (the old newspaper test) on par with $30/box factory ammo, but I can load it with Balistic tip boat tail ammo (which isn't available in a factory load) for varmints, or a soft point boat tail for deer, or a solid copper bullet heavier game, better penetration.

 

Fronty, what kind of 110 you got? Mines the Weather Warior 116 Stainless in same calibur. My fav. pet load is the 120gr. Barnes X loaded in front of about 74gr. of Reloader 22 pushing 3400+fps and still 2.5gr. below max. Its one heck of a screamer, and accurate as all get out. Shoots sub MOA 5shot groups all day long.

Sorry for the thread highjack Dmax.

 

I have got the 110 synthetic package from wally world. Unfortuneatly, I got mine just before Savage released their accutrigger
Mine likes 150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip boat tail loaded with 58 gr of IMR 4831.
Its hitting about 2700 fps at the muzzle.

 

Dillon 550 for the straightwall, Lee or RCBS for the bottlenecked cartridges - I've zillions of rounds through the Dillon, never a hitch (10mm, .45 ACP, .44 Mag, .41 Mag, .40 Short N' Weak); I like the one-at-a-time approach for the bottlenecks, lets me trim each to the same length, and I've found that full-length resizing WILL stretch your cases.

 

You know, Fronty I haven't found a load mine didn't like since handloading. Of course I only neck size with Lee's collet die and that helps. Best load to date was 139gr. Hornady SST's in front of 88gr. or so of cheap bulk 50 BMG H-870. Shot several 100yd. 5shot groups under .625in with that combo.

 

I was really impressed with the "out of the box" accuracy of my savage rifle. but I agree, with lighter hand loads, it improved over factory loads.