OK so it is single digits outside on a weekend when you should be out doing something outdoors, ice fishing, predator hunting, rabbit hunting, etc…. What to do you ask? Stay inside where it is warm and do a little ammunition reloading I say! That is exactly what I did this weekend!
I was going to do a little ice fishing and decided against it since the weather was terrible. Below zero wind chill isn’t exactly my idea of fun! I thought to myself I could do something productive to get ready for next deer season, so I broke out my reloading equipment and began to plow through some cartridges that I had started to prepare sometime ago. I had two boxes of 30-06 cases with new primers already in them along with a box of 30-30 cases in the same condition.
I started with my 30-06 rounds first. I broke out the trusty load charts and dug through my powder selection to see what I had and then made my selection according to what my load charts recommended. I used a bottle of H4350 powder for my 180 grain bullets that I had purchased. After looking at the load specs I knew which Lee dipper to choose to make my powder measurements correct.
After setting up my dies and doing some measuring with my calipers I began to run round after round into the press. It didn’t take to terribly long to run 40 rounds through which made two complete boxes of new hand loaded cartridges for my deer rifle! I can’t wait to get to the shooting range to give them a try and see what they can do. I will be taking my chronograph to check my speeds to see where they line up to the factory Remington loads of 
the same grain.
Next up was the box of 30-30 cases that needed loading. After looking at my load charts I had to switch to the IMR 4227 powder to produce my rounds. To me it looked like the amount of powder was a little on the small side. So I did some checking to see what they would be in the 30-06 load chart. I found out if I used this same powder in my 30-06 rounds that they would measure almost half of what the H 4350 powder that I used measured to. This IMR 4227 powder was a much finer grained powder than what the H 4350 was. I also compared the speeds on the 30-06 load chart between the two powders. The finer IMR powder speeds were much slower than that of the H 4350 for the same caliber and grain. This is why you MUST check your load charts when figuring out what powders to use along with how much!
After double checking to make sure I had the right measurements, I began to load the 30-30 rounds and within a few minutes I had a box of hand loaded rounds to take to the shooting range to test the next time out. Hand loading ammunition can be a fun and rewarding way to spend a cold day inside when your not able to get out and play! Not to mention it can also save you quite a bit of coin along the way!
