The Revival of Handloading
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guns&shooting narrow canyon and the sound would roll up to us each time the bull proclaimed The Revival of to the world that it was feeling good. As we closed the gap, a second bull joined in harmony. The two elk were on our side of the canyon, someplace above us on the steep hillside and down the canyon. Handloading As we moved further along the canyon, the trees opened up a bit to scat- Faced with ever-higher prices for factory-loaded ammuni- tered aspen and low willows and visibility tion, hunters are discovering what their forebears learned improved. We were moving cautiously long ago: Handloading produces the best ammo and a now, trying to be quiet and keeping our better hunting experience. silhouettes low. When the bull bugled again, I caught movement far up the By Bryce M. Towsley, Field Editor We moved in close on this bull, so hill. Slowly creeping forward, I found a close that when it bugled I swear I could downed tree to use as a rest. The first elk flatlander living at 800 feet will feel the ground shake. But in the thick had moved out of sight and I only caught look like a fish out of water while timber I just could not see it. Even my a glimpse of its tan rump as it disappeared Awalking hard at 10,000 feet, and scarred and mistreated eardrums could along the trail, but the second elk looked I was doing my best dying carp imita- hear its footsteps, and I knew it was close, good. I put the crosshairs on the center tion. But the elk were on the move and and the frustration kept building. When of its shoulder (the rangefinder later we needed to close the gap. So I sucked you are this close it’s only a matter of time confirmed my estimate of 250 yards), it up, literally, and tried to keep pace before something goes wrong, and I could eased pressure on the trigger and lost with the guide. It helped that each time feel the odds stacking against me. sight of the bull with the recoil. I worked the bull bugled my adrenaline surged Finally, I picked up its breath blowing the bolt fast, but there was nothing there and my boots grew a bit lighter. white in the cold air. With a place to focus, to shoot. Still, it all felt good, and when it more parts soon appeared. I realized it feels good it usually is. was staring right at me, but all I could We quickly found blood along tracks see was from its nose to its ears. Then it that were turning up the rich black soil bugled again and started moving to my like a cultivator during spring planting. right. I caught glimpses of its antlers as it Following was not a problem and it passed through tiny holes in the brush, wasn’t far before someone spotted the but never enough to confirm whether it bull where it had rolled down the hill. was a shooter. The general impression I The 225-grain Trophy Bonded bullet was getting was that it was not. So, we had broken both shoulders and exited, let it walk. By the time we got back to the leaving a path of destruction behind. Elk horses and sat down for a late lunch, my are tough, but this one didn’t go far and hands had finally stopped shaking. what distance it did travel was powered That was the third bull I had passed more by gravity than muscle. More game up since daybreak and it was not yet would fall to this new wildcat cartridge mid-afternoon. After multitudes of over the next few months, but this bull empty elk hunts this volume of bulls was the first ever, and that is significant. seemed a bit surreal, and, as if it could As a gun guy, this elk hunt was read that thought, another bull bugled enhanced by the fact that my ammo was before I finished my sandwich. Within handloaded. seconds we were laying boot prints I believe there is a connection with again, lunch a memory, its remnants the hunt that can only be achieved with scattered in the leaves. handloads. The great gun writers of the We were hunting in a deep, steep, past knew this, as did their readers. But 38 American Hunter ■ August 2009 handloading for hunting has fallen out price of copper and lead jumped into of vogue. Too many of today’s hunters the stratosphere and suddenly “cheap know nothing except factory ammo. ammo” became a thing of the past. More recently the “Obama Guns and How Did It Come to This? Ammo Economic Stimulus Plan” went The once common practice of handload- into effect. Once this guy won a seat in ing hunting cartridges changed after the White House, ammo and gun sales Federal brought “handloader” thinking spiraled upward unlike anything ever to factory ammunition. In 1977, with before seen in history. If you have tried the introduction of the Premium line of to buy ammo lately, you know what I factory-loaded ammo, they developed mean. Finding .308 Winchester, .223 “store-bought” ammo using the same Remington or any semi-auto handgun concepts that attracted handloaders. ammo has become like the search for They designed the ammo with the best the Holy Grail. The manufacturers are aftermarket bullets and with close atten- running their machines day and night tion to quality. With better bullets, better trying to keep up with demand and, as a ballistics and better accuracy, several result, are likely ignoring a lot of hunting Photos: Author Photos: “reasons” for handloading were negated. cartridges. If existing supplies continue It took a while, but eventually this caught to be depleted without being restored, I on big. All the other ammo makers soon think we can expect to see a shortage of 10 Simple Steps followed suit, and before long a hunter all ammo by fall. could find just about any of his favorite Handloading is of course the answer, to Handloading bullets in somebody’s factory load. and a lot of hunters know it. All the For several decades following the companies who manufacture reloading Rifle Ammo introduction of Federal Premium, products that I have talked with are 1 Inspect case, including length ammo costs stayed relatively low, and experiencing huge growth. I think a lot 2 Lubricate case as good economic times gave us more of the current generation of hunters will 3 Resize and deprime case disposable income many shooters elected pick up handloading out of necessity. But to buy ammo rather than invest time in they will discover what the old writers 4 Clean the lube off the case handloading. and hunters often took for granted— 5 Deburr and chamfer case mouth It wasn’t long before gun writers handloading is an interesting and (first reload only) were crafting an obituary for handload- challenging hobby that pulls you deeper 6 Seat a primer ing. A common article title some into the hunt. While today’s hunters may 7 Charge the case with powder years back was “Is Handloading Still start to save money, they will remain 8 Seat the bullet Necessary?” We all wrote it at least once handloaders for deeper reasons. Perhaps 9 Put loaded ammo in a box and and I was one of the few who concluded it is true that history repeats itself. label the box with load data that it indeed was. Many other writers took the opposing opinion and a lot of Benefits Hold True Today 10 Shoot the ammo the public agreed, as handloading for More Than Ever hunting experienced a decline. Not so long ago when most serious .338 Winchester. Cabela’s lists Federal Then, a few years ago, some things hunters loaded their own ammunition, Premium .338 Winchester ammo with a started to change. Due to world they did so for multiple reasons. The first Barnes 225-grain TSX bullet for $67.99 economics and increased demand by and foremost was cost. Quite simply, it for a box of 20. China and other places, the cost of was much less expensive to handload With Federal 215 magnum primers, materials began to rise dramatically. The than to shoot factory ammo. The same Alliant RL19 powder and Barnes Triple- holds true today. Handloading has always Shock X-bullets (TSX), the components OntheWeb saved money over factory loads, but to reload 20 empty cases cost $23.57 from Log on to www.americanhunter.org today the gap is growing. For example, Cabela’s. So the savings is $44.42. That’s for more information about handloading. one of my favorite elk cartridges is the assuming you have the empty cases, American Hunter ■ August 2009 39 to allow hunters to use bullets of their 225 grains. If you want the top-of-the- choice. In years past, before Federal line tungsten-core, polymer-tipped MRX Premium ammo, all the big ammo bullet, you can get that in 185, 210 or 225 manufacturers had their own bullets, grains. Then of course there are the bul- which they put in their factory ammo, lets from Speer, Hornady, Swift, Nosler, but the majority of them were chosen Sierra and many others that you can put for cost rather than performance. This in your handloads. Handloading always kept the ammo competitively priced, has a much wider range of options than but really did little to advance terminal factory ammo.