Click here to download the catalog as a PDF file. To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. Competition shooters generally buy powders in four or eight pound kegs, primers 5,000 or more at a time. Powders can vary slightly from lot to lot, and prudent reloaders always retest loads for safety and accuracy when changing powder lots. High cap magazines and “Open” division handguns such as this STI Competitor take a lot of feeding. Small cost savings per round add up when you’re firing 25,000+ rounds annually. Competitors buy in bulk quantities and can save even more by getting together with other shooters to buy in even larger quantities. The Forster case trimmer is really a precision miniature lathe, extremely well made and a classic with reloading accuracy fanatics. Ever get a gift batch of .40 S&W cases expanded so much from firing they won’t go in your sizer die? This Redding die pushes the cases completely through the die, resizing them to factory dimensions. Adding the optional collecting bottle (shown on the previous page) lets you rapidly run your brass supply through the sizer die, and as the bottle fills, dump the cases into the brass tray of your progressive reloading tool. fired 25-30,000 rounds annually, though the average over the whole period was more like 12,000 rounds a year. Not being rich, or good enough to have a sponsor, there was no way to shoot without reloading. I loaded thousands of rounds with a single-stage press before moderately priced progressive tools such as the Dillon 450 came along. Saving money is another advantage of reloading. For most of us it’s likely the prime motivation. The cartridge case is usually the most expensive component of a cartridge and it can be reused can all imagine scenarios in which ammunition supply could “ We be curtailed. It’s a great comfort to have a secure supply. ” many times. In 2008 the cost of many commodities skyrocketed, influenced by speculation and fear of future shortages. Copper and lead, components of most cartridges, were among those commodities and we saw increases in the price of components and loaded ammunition. As I write this in January of 2009 these speculative bubbles appear to have burst, with prices again influenced primarily by supply and demand. But it could happen again. We can all imagine scenarios in which ammunition supply could be curtailed. It’s a great comfort to have a secure supply. I’m not advocating hoarding though, because legal and insurance factors can limit the amount of powder and primers which can be stored. But it’s nice to know that come what may, I’ll still be able to shoot, even if not as much as I’d like. In the Kipling book Kim, Mahbub Ali says, as he presents young Kim with a revolver, “Put it away, but load it first. Of what use is a gun unfed?” I have enough components and loading tools on hand my guns will never go unfed. Reloading means you can feed firearms chambered for wildcat cartridges, 60 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • JULY/AUGUST 2009