Calling MarkB Mi.

Just need to ask you. What gun ranges have you been to in the area. I was at the Ortonville range off of Sands road when I shot my M-15.
I read your comments from yesterday about reloading my own ammo. I dont shoot that much and from what I understand (correct me if I am wrong) but if you reload ammo do you have to deburr the casings to get the nicks and scratches off of them before reloading so as not to mess up your accuracy. A box of .223 Remington brand is about $13-15.
I remember you saying that you are in the Springfield area, (where abouts?)

I'm not Mark, but here is some info on reloading. Nicks and scratches are not a large problem. The resizing operation generally take care of them. A common problem with rifle cases is the case stretching and getting too long. You can get case trimmers which are miniture lathes about 8 inches long and hand powered. You can also file off the case being careful to keep the cut level. This will leave a burr on the case neck and you need a small reamer to cut the burrs off. Sharpening an old screwdriver in a triangular shape will work also. You don't have to do this after every fireing. A case should last for 6-10 reloads.

You need a reloading manual which gives load data and instructions on reloading. The Lyman 48 edition costs about $17.

Lee makes inexpensive reloading tools. A press adequate for the little 223 is $22. Dies which include a shell holder cost $21. The shell holder is to hold the base of the cartridge while resizing, depriming, repriming, and seating the bullet are done.

You need a powder measure to weigh powder charges. Loading for accuracy involves trying different amounts of powder. I know Lee makes one, but I didn't see it in this sale paper. Look it up at WWW.natchess.com.

Powder costs $17-19 per pound. Powder charges are measured in grains which refers to a unit of weight. There are 7000 grains in a pound. I have never reloaded 223 but maximum loads appear to be about 27 grains. DO NOT START WITH MAXIMUM LOADS.

Primers cost less than 3 cents each. I would get them locally, getting only 100 at a time.

Least expensive 55 grain bullets appear to cost about 10 to 13 cents each. Bullets are sold in packs of 100.

The assumption is that cases cost nothing since you would save your old fired cases or somtimes find cases at the range.

All of the above prices don't include shipping.

Hope you find this interesting.

KEH

G.G.,

I've shot at the following ranges:

Bald Mountain off M-24, south of Lake Orion. Very nice place to shoot if you want to sight in off the bench, but other than that it is so tightly regulated as to be a miserable place to shoot. I would only go there to zero a scope or to work up loads for accuracy.

Linden Sportsmens Club, west of Linden. Nice club, but private. They host a few public highpower matches, which is when I've been there. The highpower range is 100 yards, which is pretty short.

Lapeer Sandpit. Or at least that's what I call it. It is my favorite range, because it's totally unregulated. It's about half a mile north of the Lapeer drag strip. No benches, no nothing. Just a bunch of guys blasting away. I understand that once a year a bunch of the full-auto crowd has a big meet there; they come in with a dumpster and completely clean the place up.

My back yard. I only shoot very low-powered stuff at my house, so as not to bother the neighbors.

I'm not familiar with the Ortonville range; I'll have to check it out. I've checked out some of the state park ranges, such as Big Fish Lake but haven't been impressed with any of them.

With regards to reloading, case preparation is up to the individual. I've never heard of deburring cases, except for the case mouth when the case has been trimmed to length. I tumble my brass, but mainly so I can find my spent brass easier. To put the cost in perspective, the main expense of a reload is the bullet. A box of 100 Sierra .22 caliber bullets runs about 15 bucks. Figure powder and primers in and you're still less than 20 cents a round for .223. The initial equipment purchase is around 300 bucks, but you can do it for less. The point is not so much to save money as it is to shoot more often and tailor your loads to you needs. A good place to start is to pick up a Lyman or Speer reloading manual and go from there.

I'm close to Davisburg, FWIW.

Sources of reloading supplies and equipment:

midwayusa.com
sinclairintl.com
powdervalleyinc.com
Cabela's

Good information from KEH.

I now buy my powder and primers from Powder Valley on the net, as they are getting increasingly difficult and expensive to procure locally. You have to pay a Hazmat fee for primers and powder, but Powder Valley will box everything togeter, so you only have to pay one fee per order.

Word of caution about range brass: Berdan! Much of the brass you find at the range will be Berdan primed and non-reloadable. It will break your decapping pin if you try to use it.

I went to the Bald mt. area 2 times and it sucked big time. The guys that work there made me feel like a second class citizen.
The place in Lapeer I have not heard of and sounds fun (might be dangerous)
I used to know the leader of the Michigan Militia for Macomb county and he and his buddys used to go to Richmond in a big field and blast away, just a bunch of whackos. With ammo being so expensive now I would bet that they dont do that anymore. This Mich. militia guy also went to jail for the night for shooting his neighbors dog right in the head with his Winchester rifle. He lives in Warren Mi. (not too smart)

The place in Lapeer is reasonably safe. It's in a sandpit so there's a high backstop. Generally speaking, if someone gets out of hand, somebody else is going to tell them to straighten up. The guys that go there regularly know that all it would take is one bad incident and the county would shut the place down. I had to tell one nitwit not to put his target on the TOP of the backstop!

A friend of mine used to live in North Branch and sometimes on summer nights, with no wind and no rain...real quiet outside he could hear a full machine gun in the distance. (I would like to blast off a .30 full auto rifle) I never was in the military.