The good thing about reloading your own ammo......

The good thing about reloading your own ammo, is when you need more ammo, you simply reload more. The bad thing about reloading your own ammo, is when you need more ammo, you gotta go reload more ammo!!!

I like making ammo for others, but when I make my own ammo, I always wait til the last minute!

I find it therapeutic -- but then I'm only loading for myself, and only rifle, so no huge quantities like with pistol and shotgun.

Im the same way. I still like it, reloading used to be therapeutic... now it is just as stressfull as the rest of life with the wife shouting in the background... what are you doing? How long is it going to take? Whats for dinner? etc.

The good thing about reloading your own ammo is tailoring a load around the bullet YOU need for the purpose YOU need it for that YOUR rifle likes.
The reward returns every time you use it...

The bad thing about reloading your own ammo AND being anal is the time required as I try to check everything on every piece of ammo I load.
I'm all manual but been doing it like that since the late 60's....so yeah, it takes time!

Load development is a chore.
Keeping the rifles supplied with ammo is a chore.

Shooting is fun!
Shooting ammo perfectly tuned to the rilfe is even more fun!

I don't mind any of the process except brass prep like trimming.

i hate load development....

Every so often I'll change the workshop from a woodshop to a reloading shop and load up everything that needs loading. I'll leave it set up that way for a week or two and load a LOT of rounds for this gun and that one. The last time was when I had that new barrel and I pulled apart a bunch of 223 ammo that I had loaded for the old barrel. And that reminds me to mention that I reloaded all those pulled 40 gr Nosler BT's that had been slightly messed up by the RCBS collet puller. Generally speaking, I think they shoot as well as the new unmarked Nosler BT's. I reloaded 100 of the pulled ones and have shot about 15 and they group with the new bullets.

And count my vote with Cleric, in that I really don't like load workup.

shooting is fun
loading is boring but necessary

Reminds me , I need to load some .223's for the new Seekins first range session next Saturday. dang thing better shoot great or its for sale

Needed to load today. I took a nap instead. I "needed" the nap worse.

I assembled some yesterday for the first time in a while. They were bottle neck that needed de-primed, tumbled, cleaned, de-crimped ...blah blah so it took a long time. In the midst I did prep on 500+ 9mm in anticipation of loading all those on a single stage (two really). Yes, I said that.

I bought a lot of factory lately, took a four day weekend....and paying back by making my own dinner (so to speak/figureatively).

I assembled some yesterday for the first time in a while. They were bottle neck that needed de-primed, tumbled, cleaned, de-crimped ...blah blah so it took a long time. In the midst I did prep on 500+ 9mm in anticipation of loading all those on a single stage (two really). Yes, I said that.

I bought a lot of factory lately, took a four day weekend....and paying back by making my own dinner (so to speak/figureatively).

I built a new AR last year with a Seekins 18" barrel.It's the worst shooting barrel that I've ever tried.I've tried 12 different powders and 15 different bullets out of it, with very few groups under moa.
Good luck with yours!

Txhillbilly, check your scope (swap it out). Twice now I've had scopes go bad during load work up.

Scope not the issue,that's the first thing I check besides mounts/rings when problems come about. I swapped the optics from my RRA AR15 over to the Seekins while at the range the first test session. The Seekins still shot like crap,the RRA never missed a beat with the scope off the Seekins,it just had a different POI.

It's a barrel issue.

Re "the good thing..."
Appeals to my Scot's - Hebrew nature to get the most out of as little as possible...

Helps me focus on the task at hand and gives me a sense of pride in my craftsmanship when all the bullets go in the same hole... and not have to question who or why when it doesn't happen...

Allows me to tune a load for a given scenario and not have to rely on the "Great Average Ammo" someone else decided was the right answer...or rely on some retailer to stock...
Just Sayin'
Ron

Txhillbilly,

Tell me what bullets you have tried with what powders and what charges, and I may be able to help you some. I have found some of the AR's to be very picky about certain powder, powder charge, and bullet selections. Also, what twist rate you have.