{"id":590,"date":"2019-09-21T11:13:50","date_gmt":"2019-09-21T15:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.floridareloading.com\/?p=590"},"modified":"2019-10-18T04:02:31","modified_gmt":"2019-10-18T08:02:31","slug":"interview-in-3-parts-with-a-high-precision-reloader-part-three-of-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.floridareloading.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/21\/interview-in-3-parts-with-a-high-precision-reloader-part-three-of-three\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview (in 3 parts) with a high precision reloader – Part Three of Three"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ernie<\/p><\/div>\n

Interview with Ernie (part 3 of 3)<\/h1>\n

Insights from a precision rifle reloader<\/h5>\n

O: Whose toolsets do you like to use for pistol reloading?<\/p>\n

E: Well one thing I\u2019ve found\u2026 I was using RCBS and Lymans when I first got into it. And after I was shooting a little bit and everything and kind of when I got into the rifle, I found that the Dillon\u2019s tools were pretty close on the concentricity for being production tools.\u00a0 It was pretty close, so I\u2019ve kind of gone back to Dillon\u2019s dies for the pistols.\u00a0 I still have some Lymans and others, but yeah, I drifted over to Dillon\u2019s.\u00a0 I do have a lot of Dillon\u2019s dies that I\u2019ve replaced some of my other sets with.<\/p>\n

O: Do you use cast lead bullets or jacketed bullets or both? For pistol or rifle?<\/p>\n

E: I shoot both in pistols.\u00a0 In my rifles, it\u2019s all jacketed.\u00a0 I don\u2019t shoot any cast bullets in rifles. When I was shooting a lot of handguns, initially, I was buying a lot of commercial cast lead bullets. One day, I told the guy that was making all my cast bullets for me, that I wanted to buy, I think it was like 4,000 .40\u2019s. He told me, \u201cI don\u2019t make em.\u201d\u00a0 And I said \u201cWhat do you mean, you don\u2019t make them?\u201d And, he said \u201cwell my molds went bad, and I never did get back into it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t make .40s\u201d\u00a0 So, I suggested \u201cWell, how about if I buy you a mold and you make them for me, and I\u2019ll still buy them from you. But I\u2019ll buy you the mold.\u201d\u00a0 He replied, \u201cNah, I\u2019m not interested, I\u2019ve got too much to do.\u201d\u00a0 And at that point, he didn\u2019t realize it, but he lost my business. That\u2019s when I bought my own molds and bought everything else to cast and size my own bullets.\u00a0 I started playing with different alloys, different casting techniques, depending on what bullet I was shooting.\u00a0 How hard I wanted to make it.\u00a0 So yeah, on my handguns, I do shoot jacketed and lead, but most of my time I\u2019m shooting lead bullets.\u00a0 Now for my self-defense, you know I carry commercial factory self defense jacketed hollow point stuff.<\/p>\n

O: What level of reloading or precision do you seek, I\u2019ll ask you as two questions, with regard to pistol reloading and then maybe describe how you do your load development for rifles. Do you do load development for pistols also?<\/p>\n

E: When I was shooting pistols, when I first got into it, yeah I did load development for the guns.\u00a0 Cuz I found at that early age, doing that different loads on the gun made it group different.\u00a0 So yeah I played with loads on the handguns for that.\u00a0 So when I got into long guns, I basically knew what\u2019s good for the handguns should be good for the rifle.\u00a0 So I\u2019ve been loading rifles ever since I got into rifles.\u00a0 Never did buy a whole bunch of ammo, like I said, the only thing I bought factory ammo for was the AKs and the Mosins and stuff like that (that I rarely shoot.) But, other than that, I loaded them all from the beginning.\u00a0 It\u2019s just for the last, I\u2019d say 5 years, that I had my own range built, that I started doing a lot more shooting. And, I said, \u201cOk, can I make this better?\u201c And I just kept at it, working towards my new goal of shooting five rounds into a single hole at 100 yds.\u00a0 You know, it took me a while.\u00a0 To me, I look at reloading as a hobby, even my shooting is a hobby.\u00a0 I enjoy shooting.\u00a0 I\u2019ve had many people ask me \u201cdo you hunt?\u201d\u00a0 I said \u201cno I don\u2019t, but I got a lot of hunting guns, but I don\u2019t hunt.\u201d\u00a0 I just like the way the gun shot.\u00a0 I don\u2019t hunt.\u00a0 I could, but that\u2019s just not my deal.\u00a0 I enjoy shooting.<\/p>\n

O: When you\u2019re doing your load development for rifles, do you do that in like a ladder type development where you do big increments to begin with and then tighten that up and then tighten that up?<\/p>\n

E: I\u2019ve done it two ways.\u00a0 I do shoot a ladder to where you start with like two tenths of a grain apart from one another.\u00a0 And then you work your way to tighter powder amounts.\u00a0 And then you chronograph everything and then you come back and you lay it out and look at how much each shot was, how many ft\/sec, and I actually drew a graph. I know you can do this stuff with calculations on the Internet. I\u2019m not too computer savvy. So I do it the old way, I sit down there and draw up a graph and my data\u00a0 I just put the blank form on a copy machine and print out copies.\u00a0 And I take my chronograph and I\u2019ll sit down there and I\u2019ll see how many ft\/sec shot number one add that data in, and continue from there.\u00a0 I also bought the Bullseye Camera System.\u00a0 The reason I went with that one is because when you\u2019re shooting and you\u2019re putting them pretty much in a 1\u201d group, 12, 15 rounds in a 1\u201d group, it still gives you an idea where that bullet went, because the Bullseye Camera System tracks that.\u00a0 So with the chronograph, I\u2019ll come back and I can look at my shots to see which bullets had a tighter group. And then I can look at my ft\/sec and I put that on my graph.\u00a0 What I\u2019m looking for is the low and find out where my lows at, the flat spots in my graph.\u00a0 And then I\u2019ll take my lows and I go on the outside of em.\u00a0 A lot of people just say to stay in the middle, but what I do is I go a little on the outside and I\u2019ll work my way in.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll make 5 rounds of each one, and I\u2019ll go up two tenths- 5 rounds, two tenths- 5 rounds, and I\u2019ll keep on going up until I get to the outside of my low.\u00a0 And then I\u2019ll go shoot and I\u2019ll see which one is giving me the better group with that.\u00a0 And then I work off of that, eventually reducing the loads to .1 (one tenth of a grain) increments.\u00a0 Once I have the harmonics right for the barrel, then I start working off of how forward off the lands do I seat my bullet including the ogive. Different things like that, start playing with using different primers. Just little things like that that change it up just to see, is it going to give me a better group or not?<\/p>\n

Then one of the things I\u2019ve discovered is I\u2019ve got three Savage Model 10\u2019s, all chambered in .308 Win. \u00a0\u00a0Now, pretty much you\u2019d say, ok, they\u2019re all supposed to be the same rifle. But, what I found, and I knew there was going to be a slight difference in the barrels, and that I was going have to play with the loads a bit. But, even using the same bullet, 175 grain Sierra Match King\u2019s, and using IMR 4320 powder, I was getting dramatically different results. In one rifle, it will make one ragged hole (at 100 yards).\u00a0 I take that powder\u00a0 load cartridge load and I put it in another Model 10, and it opens up.\u00a0 It\u2019s still maybe a one inch group (still a respectable group for just plinking).\u00a0 The guns are not 100% broken in, but then I started playing with loads.\u00a0 The other Model 10 prefers a 168 grain bullet.\u00a0 Same powder load.\u00a0 Everything else is the same, just different bullet. That Model 10 just doesn\u2019t like the 175 grain bullet. So, custom loads for each gun. I keep them separate.<\/p>\n

O: You mentioned a specific IMR powder that you use, do you ever try different powders to try to get a tighter group?<\/p>\n

E: Yes.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got a number of different powders, couldn\u2019t even tell you how many different ones I have.\u00a0 And what I used to do at the beginning, I\u2019d play with my different powders and I\u2019d play with which one gave me the better group.\u00a0 That\u2019s how I actually started off. \u00a0And I\u2019d go out there sometimes with 200 cartridges with five of each powder load. I\u2019d go out there with so many sometimes that I couldn\u2019t get them all shot the same day.\u00a0 But yeah that\u2019s how I used to do it.\u00a0 Yeah playing with the different powders.\u00a0 I hear people talking about one powder that they cannot get to group at all.\u00a0 In my AR-15, I haven\u2019t tried it in anything else, but the IMR 8028.\u00a0 Now I can\u2019t get that stuff to group.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard people \u201cnow that stuff works good\u201d\u2026yeah right, not for me.<\/p>\n

O: I was going to ask you if there was a rifle that\u2019s been a particular problem for you trying to find developed load for<\/p>\n

E: Well, there is one\u2026I had a bullet that I used to buy for my AR-15\u2019s. It was a 55 grain full metal jacket (HPBT.) I used to buy those from this guy at a gun show.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know which specific bullet it was. He stopped doing the gun shows. And, I cannot duplicate those rounds with any other bullet I\u2019ve tried. I can\u2019t find those same bullets (whatever they were) today. One of my AR-15s is shooting less than a \u00bd\u201d group \u2013 it\u2019s a 20\u201d barrel, 1:8 twist, and I\u2019m shooting the Sierra Match King 77 grain and that\u2019s nailing little less than a \u00bd\u201d group at 100 yards.<\/p>\n

O: In your opinion, how important is distance of the lands in your reloads \u2013 or is the harmonics of the barrel and matching the velocity leaving the muzzle more important \u2013 or do the two factors both play into accuracy?<\/p>\n

E: They both play into it. The harmonics in the barrel is the most important\u2013 I actually had some guns that you didn\u2019t shoot accurately at all. Like, I\u2019ve got one .223 that I put together, and it\u2019s shooting some real nice groups. I put a muzzle brake on it. And it wasn\u2019t for recoil. I built it off a Remington 700 receiver and put a 16\u201d barrel on it and I wanted a short barrel bolt action rifle with a 1\/9\u201d twist. But I put the muzzle brake on the front because of the harmonics and to tone it down. After I had it on there and had the gun all together, I went out there and shot it, and broke it in, and worked up a load, I said, \u2018Let me take it off and see how much effect it had.\u201d And I\u2019ll tell you what: the group went to hell..<\/p>\n

After I get the load development right for the harmonics, I adjust the distance off the lands as a way of fine tuning the harmonics. The timing of when the bullet leaves the muzzle.<\/p>\n

When I do a lot of loading, another thing that I do that I use two electronic scales. RCBS 1500 I use to make my powder dump real close. I just drop it in and boom. That scale measures into tenths. And my second scale that I pour it into measures into the hundredths. So I sit down on that scale and make damn sure every powder drop is exactly what I need.<\/p>\n

O: What do you do about record-keeping? Are you an Excel spreadsheet type of guy or do you prefer the three-ring binder type system or how do you keep track?<\/p>\n

E: [laughing] Well, that\u2019s what I\u2019m into. A 3-ring binder and writing it down. The reason why is because I\u2019m not too into computers and sitting down with the Excel sheet and doing all of that. I\u2019ve tried some Excel templates that others have made and I just couldn\u2019t get it to work.<\/p>\n

O: If you\u2019d like, next time I\u2019m over that way I can walk you through how to do that.<\/p>\n

E: Okay.<\/p>\n

O: I know you\u2019re in the middle of getting ready to sell your house (the one you built AFTER Katrina) so you can move to the farm, and all this other stuff. But, if that\u2019s of interest I\u2019d be happy to show you how to do that. I have a nice worksheet that I use for keeping track of my loads.<\/p>\n

Do you keep track of how many times each piece of brass or each lot of brass gets reloaded?<\/p>\n

E: Mm-hmm, yeah. I have these quart cans \u2013 paint cans \u2013 I\u2019m in the automotive business, and at one time we switched over to water-borne (??) paint. Well you can\u2019t put that in a regular paint can, you\u2019ll have to use polyurethane because it\u2019ll rust. So the containers that they had were plastic quarts. They came out with that so, you know, we went through a whole bunch of them. So what I do is \u2013 since it\u2019s plastic and I can see through it, and I\u2019ll make a little label and I put what gun it was in, and how many times it had been fired. I also mark what type of brass, (Lapua or Starline brass or Hornady brass, etc.)
\nSo yes I do count my brass and I do have them marked what type of brass was in there.<\/p>\n

O: Do you keep track of how many rounds get shot down a barrel?<\/p>\n

E: Pretty much, yeah. I have an estimate, but I don\u2019t write them down, like \u201cToday I shot 10 rounds out of this gun.\u201d I don\u2019t do that. I just know approx.. how many times I\u2019ve reloaded my brass, how much I have, and how many times I have gone through it.<\/p>\n

O: Right.<\/p>\n

E: So it just gives me a round-about\u2026 because like I said I\u2019m not into shooting competition where I\u2019m shooting this thing a lot. It\u2019s like my 6.5 Creedmoor you know, I\u2019m making loads. I did buy a box of 6.5 Creedmoor Federal Gold Medal Match just to see what kind of feet-per-second it would shoot because I never did shoot 6.5 when I got it, and I did not know what the feet per second was going to be like. And I only shot five of them. I still have the rest of them. Just to get an idea of, \u201cOkay. This is what they use. Let me set my goal.\u201d And that\u2019s when I started doing loads for the 6.5 and going from there. I\u2019ve shot the Sierra Match King 140 grain 6.5mm bullets and I\u2019ve shot the Hornady ELD Match and their regular Match-grade bullets, all 140-grain bullets. And I guess you could say 1st<\/sup> place was the Sierra MatchKings and then the ELD Match. I say those would be pretty good for 2nd<\/sup>. The other match grade bullets, I mean, so far I put the Sierra Match Kings in one hole. I put the Hornady ELD Match in one hole. And with the Match grade getting a \u00bd\u201d group, so I mean they\u2019re all respectable.<\/p>\n

O: Yeah. Do you ever build any of your rifles from scratch?<\/p>\n

E: The only ones I\u2019ve done that from scratch are the ARs. A couple of the ARs I\u2019ve built from scratch.<\/p>\n

O: Do you do any secondary machining on them? You were talking earlier about making nitro and weedwhacker engines by doing specialty machining. Do you do any of your own gunsmithing?<\/p>\n

E: On my handguns, I did. I was doing trigger jobs on my handguns. I\u2019ll work on triggers on some of the rifles. If I\u2019m satisfied with the trigger from the factory and I just want to smooth it out a little, I\u2019ll do that. If I don\u2019t like the trigger at all, I\u2019ll look for an aftermarket trigger and put it in. It\u2019s like when I built that little Remington 700 \u2013 when I bought on the lower end and everything, it came with a Remington 700 trigger, you know? I didn\u2019t even shoot the gun with that. I yanked that right out and changed the trigger out.<\/p>\n

O: When you first began reloading, what sources of information did you have to begin reloading with and do you feel in hindsight that those sources were adequate? What did you use for your basis of knowledge?<\/p>\n

E: My basis of knowledge for reloading was the first book I bought, which was the Speer Reloading Manual. That\u2019s the first book I had when I bought my reloading set and that\u2019s what I went with. The information in the front of the Speer book was considered (by me) to be a loading bible. Since then I\u2019ve got several reloading books, and I also go on the internet (for example, hodgdon.com) and have my reloading guides bookmarked. I use these for the rifles and the handguns.<\/p>\n

O: Is there anything \u2013 and you\u2019ve been reloading for a while \u2013 is there anything that still baffles you or that you\u2019d like to learn a little more specifically about anything?<\/p>\n

E: Well I made a new goal \u2013 because I\u2019d see these people shooting these really tight one-hole groups. I was already shooting ragged one-hole groups, but I wanted to get it as tight as it could be by putting a one-hole group in the target paper. I\u2019ve managed to accomplish that with my 6.5 Creedmoor. That\u2019s a Tikka 2.3 Tactical A-1 or something like that. That\u2019s a very fine gun. And that\u2019s the first gun that brought me to where I reached my new goal. So what I\u2019m trying to do now is to do that with the rest of the rifles that I own. I\u2019ve got a lot of .308s. I used to shoot a lot of .308 Win, and like I said when I went into the Tikka, the 6.5, it was walking on new grass I guess you could say. I had no idea where I was at, what I was looking at. I had my loading books but it didn\u2019t tell me what I wanted to see and that\u2019s when I went and bought some factory boxed ammo for 6.5 Creedmoor, and like I said I only shot five of them and chronographed them with my lab radar and said, \u201cOkay now I see where they are, velocity wise, where I gotta be,\u201d<\/p>\n

O: As you already know, it\u2019s one of the reasons to stay current with the reloading books every four years or so the companies like Hornady and Speer and the others come out with the new and updated books. With those new cartridges that have become popular in the meantime and that\u2019s one of the reasons to stay current with the reloading data.<\/p>\n

E: Oh I do, yeah. Matter of fact, recently got the new Hornady book. I\u2019ve got the Speer \u2013 I got the Nosler book, the Speer, and the new Hornady.<\/p>\n

O: I also like the Lyman Book, it\u2019s in its 50th<\/sup> edition. Because it\u2019s got a lot of cast lead bullet data and load data for cast lead bullets like for your pistols. Cast bullet data is different than jacketed data. They have two books, one that is more about HOW to cast lead bullets, and the other (50th<\/sup> Edition) is load data for both cast and jacketed bullets.<\/p>\n

E: Right, right. Now I\u2019ve got both Lyman books. Like I said I had the Speers and after I got into lead casting that\u2019s when I went ahead and bought the Lyman books.<\/p>\n

O: Do you carry a pistol for self defense in your day-to-day comings and goings?<\/p>\n

E: Yeah.<\/p>\n

O: What\u2019s your common\/favorite carry pistol?<\/p>\n

E: Well it\u2019s not my favorite pistol, but the only reason I do use it is because it\u2019s small and very well concealed. In my line of business I\u2019m with customers and I don\u2019t wear jackets and I keep my shirt tucked in my pants. I\u2019ve been carrying a Ruger LCP .380 because I have a wallet holster for it, and if someone\u2019s looking at me from the back, it looks like a wallet. I do carry that on me all the time. WhenI\u2019m taking a trip or whatever, let\u2019s say going to my son\u2019s house which is about 80 miles from me. I\u2019ll have my .380 in my pocket at all times, and then I got two or three other handguns with me.<\/p>\n

O: Right<\/p>\n

E: But yeah wherever I go, I got my .380 with me all the time.<\/p>\n

O: Do you reload for self defense, and why or why not?<\/p>\n

E: No, I don\u2019t. I don\u2019t reload self-defense loads. Hornady\u2019s (Critical Self Defense) is what I carry in that gun. The reason why \u2013 I see these attorneys talking on TV and YouTube saying that they have to worry about the ammo. So now what I do is I\u2019m using that factory ammo, and that way that question (about reloads) can\u2019t come up.<\/p>\n

O: Are there some tips that you would pass along to a beginning reloader?<\/p>\n

E: Well first of all, you are going to have to decide what you want to get into: long guns or hand guns. Loading rifles is nothing like handguns. It\u2019s a totally different animal. As a matter of fact, I have one of the guys who worked for me, who was interested in reloading. He finally bought himself a loader, the Dillon 550C which is the latest 550 model and he was loading for his 9mm and stuff and he said, \u2018I like to load .223s\u2019 and I said, \u201cOkay, but you\u2019re talking a different animal here. If you want to load for it, that\u2019s not a problem. I\u2019ll walk you through it and help you get set up. But just remember you\u2019re going to buy more equipment because what you have right now for loading handguns isn\u2019t enough because now you\u2019re getting into case trimming and sizing and doing this other stuff.\u201d So he went ahead with it and after he loaded it and played with it and he came back and said, \u2018You\u2019re right. That is a totally different animal.\u201d So if someone wants to get into loading, that\u2019s pretty easy. I want to say, I would tell them, \u201cHey get your feet wet with handguns first because it\u2019s more forgiving.\u201d When you get into rifles, you\u2019re playing with different pressures, different head spacing, which if you do something wrong you could blow your gun up. You could blow a handgun up also, and most of the time I see that is just from double loads. But with a rifle it\u2019s not so much the powder load all the time. There\u2019s a lot more involved.<\/p>\n

O: Have you ever given any thought or notion \u2013 I know you told me about you not wanting to get into the speed RC boat business, but have you given thought to making ammunition commercially?<\/p>\n

E: No. Never did. Because then again it comes down to taking my hobby and making it a job. I\u2019ve already got a job, I don\u2019t need another one, you know?<\/p>\n

O: Yeah.<\/p>\n

E: That\u2019s like when I started fishing and teaching my boys when they were really young. 6 and 10. I bought a bass boat and was equipped to go out and fish in tournaments. I had people out there that said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you come out and fish tournaments full time with us?\u201d I said, \u201cNah you don\u2019t understand, I\u2019ve come out here to get away. I don\u2019t want to be under pressure or do nothing. If we came out to fish and we go some, we did great. If we didn\u2019t catch anything, we still did great.\u201d The idea of my two boys enjoying ourselves and we had a good day, and that\u2019s how it\u2019s always been. But like I say, my bass boat was set up for fishing tournaments and we didn\u2019t do it. When a hobby turns into a job, you kind of lose interest in it I would say. If I got into commercial loading, it would be the same way. I\u2019d have people calling me up saying, \u201cHey I need this, I need that\u201d and I\u2019m not interested.<\/p>\n

O: Is there a pistol powder that you especially have a liking for?<\/p>\n

E: The one I used a lot was the Winchester 231. Yeah, I use that a lot. I used also, believe it or not, .. when I first started loading, my buddy John put me onto Unique.\u00a0 They came out with new load data for Unique (with the bullet I was loading) and I bought that, and I still use that. I\u2019ve got maybe 8 pounds of that left, but I do a lot of my loading for regular pistol with 231 Winchester.<\/p>\n

O: How about for rifles: is there a powder or style of powder or a manufacturer that you tend to gravitate towards for your rifle reloading?<\/p>\n

E: When I find going through all my stuff, each one of my guns virtually have their own powder. I use a bunch of Benchmark, it\u2019s a good powder. On some of my guns, I use Reloader 17, and man, that one works great with the 6.5 Creedmoor. I\u2019ve tried the Hodgdon\u2019s H4350. I shot that a couple of times and I found my Varget did a better job.<\/p>\n

O: Do you have any opinions about some of the new designer \u201cpowder of the month\u201d types like the copper fowling eliminator, the CFE powders, any opinions about those types of powders?<\/p>\n

E: The only one I\u2019ve used was the IMR 8208 XBR. And I\u2019ve only tried that in the AR-15. And I just can\u2019t get it to group. Like I said I haven\u2019t spent a lot of time running different ladders, different powder loads, and different bullet seating to really say, \u201cYeah, this is good or not good.\u201d Don\u2019t get me wrong, when I\u2019m saying that I can\u2019t get it to group, it may be an 1.25\u201d or 1.5\u201d groups. Great for plinking rounds. But, that\u2019s not what I strive for. I strive to get that gun to shoot the tightest group (goal is one tight hole, five shots) I can make it shoot.<\/p>\n

O: You mentioned earlier 1903 A4. Do you have many of those vintage service rifles?<\/p>\n

E: Yeah. I don\u2019t have every one that they\u2019ve used in World War II. I don\u2019t have any machine guns of course. But I\u2019ve got a German Mauser 98K and I have five M1 Garands. I have the one 1903 A4. I have got a couple of English guns (Lee Enfield \u2013 303 Brit). I\u2019ve got four Mosin-Nagants (91-30\u2019s). I have the M4A4 and I think the M38 which are short guns. I have one with the bayonet, the flip-out kind. And I\u2019ve heard \u2013 I didn\u2019t do a lot of research on these guns \u2013 I\u2019m more of a collector. I\u2019ve heard that they used two stocks, two different types of wood for their stock. So, I got one rifle with each of those two types of wood.<\/p>\n

O: You mentioned the M1 Garand, which has an operating rod, as part of it\u2019s gas cycle system. And, it\u2019s similar in concept (operating rod) also with the M1A (the M14 is the full automatic version.) Any comments about picking powders so that you don\u2019t cycle the gun too fast and bend the operating rod?<\/p>\n

E: Yeah. I heard is that the operating rod on the M1A is a little bit straighter than the one for the M1 Garands, and less easy to bend than the rod on the M1 Garands. I know the M1 Garands work better with IMR 4895 and IMR 4064. I tried those powders, but had better luck with but Reloader 15.\u00a0 It\u2019s in their loading book in the Service Rifle section. So I decided to try it, because I had some Reloader 15. I went one grain under their hot load (max load) on that and it dropped me down to about a 1\u201d group at 100 yards. These are not CMP barrels, not match-grade barrels. It\u2019s off the rack rifles you can just buy, you know? I did buy one of the M1 Garands from CMP. One of their refurbished rifles, that were completely re-done, and it\u2019s supposed to have a match barrel in it, etc. But, I\u2019ve never shot that gun so I don\u2019t know exactly how it shoots. But the Reloader 15 loads that I did shoot out of another M1, improved the hell out of my group. When you look at it and chronograph it, I\u2019ve been happy.<\/p>\n

O: How about some of the imported powders like the Vitavouri. Have you tried any of those ever?<\/p>\n

E: No, I haven\u2019t. There\u2019s a guy that I look at on YouTube that tries a lot of that powder and that\u2019s Johnny\u2019s Reloading Patch. And he uses a lot of these crazy different powders and I\u2019ve watched what he\u2019s done. And I\u2019ve seen when some of these powders work well but I\u2019ve seen when he\u2019s gone back to the more standard powders.<\/p>\n

O: When you buy supplies, do you buy them locally from local suppliers or do you like to do the mail order?<\/p>\n

E: It depends on what I\u2019m buying. It depends on the quantity. If I want to buy a powder we have Sportsman\u2019s Warehouse on the other side of town.<\/p>\n

O: Yup.<\/p>\n

E: If I\u2019m going to buy a pound of powder or something like that, I go there. I have a friend of mine that has a little shop and he sells reloading stuff. Matter of fact he\u2019s the Dillon representative. If he doesn\u2019t have it, I\u2019ll see if they have it at Sportsman\u2019s Warehouse. When I\u2019m going to buy a couple of 8-pound containers of powder, then I\u2019ll buy that online. Because the quantity breakdown makes it worth it doing that. Midway now has tax, too, so I kind of stay away from them. They\u2019d be my last choice for buying powder.<\/p>\n

O: Do you have any good tips for how to mark your powder and primers so that you\u2019re rotating your inventory? What\u2019s the way that you like to do it?<\/p>\n

E: When I\u2019m buying and when I have my load made up for a gun, what I try to do is to buy my powder in lots. I\u2019ll try to buy two, three 8-pounders where it\u2019s all the same lot. That was when I\u2019m doing that it\u2019s the same thing. Primers: I\u2019ve got a lot of primers and I – believe it or not – the primer I use a lot which I\u2019ve found to be very accurate as far as their loads and I\u2019ve talked to people that shoot competition and some of them use it and it\u2019s a shame we can\u2019t get them anymore, is the Wolf primers. I\u2019ve been using that and a lot of these guys that were shooting pistol were saying, \u201cIt\u2019s better than some of the match-grade primers.\u201d I do have some of the match-grade Federal primers and I don\u2019t see a difference because I\u2019ve compared them to each other and I don\u2019t see that much of a difference to go with that. Just be careful to use up the older stuff first.<\/p>\n

O: Besides Wolf because we can\u2019t get them any more, which US suppliers do you like as an alternative?<\/p>\n

E: I was buying Winchester primers and I would say it\u2019s between Winchester and CCI.<\/p>\n

O: Do you have any recommendations for storing powder and primers?<\/p>\n

E: I\u2019ve got them in a climate-controlled area where it\u2019s air conditioned and it\u2019s dry. Primers, once I put them down, I don\u2019t move them around. I don\u2019t shake them around. Once I set them down, they stay set down. I don\u2019t move them around.<\/p>\n

O: Actually, the way everybody makes boxer style primers these days is that they form the outer cup. They put their layer of chemical inside. They put a thin metal layer, actually a layer of anodized aluminum foil. And then they put the anvil in on top of that. So it\u2019s actually the foil that keeps the humidity out of the primers and keeps the primer chemical from decomposing. And, everything tight inside the primers. It\u2019s that foil that does that job. No need to worry about moving primers around. It\u2019s the reason they can get away with just storing the primers in cardboard sleeves.<\/p>\n

E: Okay, I didn\u2019t know. I thought it was paper.<\/p>\n

O: How about, and this is one of the final questions, \u00a0believe it or not, how about recommendations for storing loaded ammo?<\/p>\n

E: My loaded ammo I keep in ammo cans. I\u2019ll keep that ammo can in a climate controlled area, air conditioned in the house and leave it open, and when I put that ammo in there, I put it in there and seal it up, open it up when I need it. That\u2019s why a lot of times when you go to open one up and sometimes they are hard to open, you know? You gotta really jerk on them hard because it forms a suction.<\/p>\n

O: The gasket seals them up really well.<\/p>\n

E: So I keep them in that. That\u2019s also kept in a place where it\u2019s pretty dry. And, each can is marked with the load data for that cartridge and the date I made it.<\/p>\n

O: How about your precision rifle where you develop a load for each rifle. Do you keep those in little plastic ammo boxes?<\/p>\n

E: I keep those in plastic ammo boxes, but I don\u2019t have \u2013 you know like my test loads are in there, but when I make up a load of one that I\u2019m sure of and everything \u2013 I don\u2019t load up a whole bunch of them. If I\u2019m going shooting I say, \u201cOkay I\u2019m going and maybe going to shoot 25-50 rounds.\u201d If it\u2019s 25 rounds I\u2019m going to shoot, I\u2019m going to make 30 rounds of them. But I make those as I go. It takes me so damn long to get what I\u2019m reloading for in my rifle loads and the precision I\u2019m striving for.<\/p>\n

O: It\u2019s the most tedious of all the reloading. As you said earlier, somebody that starts loading off from pistols and wants to start loading for rifles, they have to know what they\u2019re in for.<\/p>\n

E: Oh yeah, what I\u2019d recommend is that if someone is into pistols and they want to get into loading rifles: it\u2019s cheap and not too expensive to load .223 and whether you choose a bolt\u2014action rifle or semi-auto, it\u2019s cheap to load and you can make those as accurate as hell, you know?<\/p>\n

O: Yup.
\nE: When you start getting into the .308s and the 6.5s and 7mm magnums and start getting into that big stuff, it\u2019s a little bit more expensive to load.<\/p>\n

O: Are there any things that you thought we would cover that we didn\u2019t cover that you\u2019d like to make some comments about?<\/p>\n

E: No, it\u2019s just that it\u2019s like any other hobby when you look at it. You can make the hobby as big as you want or you can make it as small as you want. That\u2019s one of the options. It\u2019s not like \u201cOh, it\u2019s going to cost you 10 grand to get into reloading for rifles.\u201d No, it ain\u2019t going to cost you that. It depends on you and how much you want to put into it and also depends on, well basically the more money you put into it \u2013 sometimes it makes the job of reloading a little easier or it\u2019ll bring you to more of a consistent load. I mean it just depends on what you\u2019re after but you\u2019ve got everything at your fingertips and do it any kind of way you want. And that\u2019s the beauty part of it and it\u2019s just like the radio controlled boats and airplanes \u2013 how far do you want to take it is what it\u2019ll bring you. Same thing with this hobby here, you know? You look at the Wilsons die sets I bought, they\u2019re $210. You can buy a set of Hornady dies or Lee dies for $35. So I mean there\u2019s a difference there between the quality of the two dies as an example. But you can carry it as deep as you want or as shallow as you want. Whatever you set your goal to you can do it, but the higher you set your goal, the more expensive it\u2019s going to be on the equipment<\/p>\n

O: Well Ernie, I really appreciate you finding this time. I know how busy you are between your business and your new farm and everything else that\u2019s going on. So, I really appreciate the time that you\u2019ve set aside for this interview.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interview with Ernie (part 3 of 3) Insights from a precision rifle reloader O: Whose toolsets do you like to use for pistol reloading? E: Well one thing I\u2019ve found\u2026 I was using RCBS and Lymans when I first got into it. And after I was shooting a little bit and everything and kind of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridareloading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridareloading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridareloading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridareloading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridareloading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridareloading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":626,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridareloading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590\/revisions\/626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridareloading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridareloading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridareloading.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}