Reloading courses - is there a demand?

[ovenpaa]

There is a huge difference between case preparation, primer seating, the set up and use of a press, powder throwing and finally seating of a bullet and determining the correct and then maximum load and optimising a load to suit a particular rifle or discipline and I think reloading courses need to take this into account. I have worked with arguably some of the finest shooters in the world and frankly some of the reloading practices I have seen are worrying to the degree that I can think of a couple of very accurate shooters I would rather not shoot next to. Equally look at people like ENS who has taken batching of brass and bullets to a new level which people could learn a lot from.

So what makes a good reloading course? The basic building blocks of reloading are the important part and equally the ability to determine between right and wrong when it comes to load development are critical. We have probably 100,000 plus people here in the UK who reload some or all of there ammunition and the vast majority are self taught with learning based upon out of dates books biased towards American concepts or Youtube clips often demonstrating techniques that are bordering on criminal.

[John25]

Reloading courses are not an essential. Many shooters (myself included) reloaded for years without doing a course. And, in times before the internet, bought a book and followed what was written. I actually bought a 'Lee Loader' kit and followed the single page (A5) sheet included. We added our own experience and, provided we stuck to the written rules, experienced no difficulties.

I believe that there are three stages to reloading; basic, intermediate and advanced.

After forty years I would consider myself to be an intermediate+.

I did the NRA reloading course as an employee (explained on a different post) which was informative.

If you take up reloading from scratch, without a course, but follow a book (any manufacturer's book - don't mix them) you will not go wrong.

Producing SAAMI Spec ammo. is a doddle, as long as you have new cases and the components recommended in your book.

Change something and you move from basic to intermediate. Experience and common sense will tell you whether the changes you propose will be safe.

IF your procedures follow what your chosen book says - no problems.

My reloading course emphasises three 'C's

Components

Consistency

Concentration.

All must be within +- as little % as you can make them - especially the last one.

[DaveT]

For me the bottom line(s) are this...

1) It is entirely possible to teach yourself BUT ..it takes a LOT of time to read & absorb all the required knowledge AND it is all too easy to misunderstand something or fail to appreciate the safety aspects....... you will only have to get something badly wrong once to have a potentially fatal result ( for you or the shooter next to you) .

2) As Ovenpaa states above the internet is FULL of stuff on reloading..... some excellent and some 'hair-raising'...... trouble is that its all either taken as 'gospel' or you have no way (as a novice) of knowing what is good or bad advice.

3) Given that a course is a small investment in getting rapidly up-to-speed on the processes involved AND the reasons why certain techniques are employed / are important, with safety issues covered (including component choices and what NOT to do re pressures etc) and also optimising loads for your rifle and intended usage ( simply loading a round to book COL and book loads clearly does NOT give greatest accuracy unless you understand everything to do with load development and adjusting Headspace & COL) .... why wouldn't you save yourself a lot of wasted time and effort by getting a decent 'leg-up' at the outset?

The biggest surprise for me given our laws is that we are even allowed to buy and assemble these materials without some form of preparatory tuition.... and NO I am not advocating any mandatory training by that statement...... its just good sense IMHO.