reloading newbie needs advice

[burntcrispy]

I'm very new to reloading and have a 650 on the way. Can someone give me a quick rundown on the difference between RN, RNFP and SWC in terms of performance? I need to put in an order pretty soon so that my bullets will be here when my 650 arrives. I've already been saving lots of brass and have it all cleaned and ready to go.

Thanks.

[yoshidaex]

Try here

[superdude]

i don't have anything particularly brilliant to say but i can give you a brief rundown on a couple of issues you might encounter when handloading. note that i'm mostly familiar with 38 super and 45ACP.

accuracy. simply put, it depends on the gun (barrel). some guns (barrels) have preferences. mine do. ultimately you have to find out what your gun (barrel) likes.

bullet brands. the sky is the limit here. different people will tell you what brand their gun likes, and it differs with each person. the major brands, and some minor brands, all produce excellent quality bullets, so its hard to go wrong. you might find that your gun(s) has preferences.

bullet design. i have better accuracy with flat nose bullets, especially in my 38 super, not as big a difference in my 45. but i've seen published results of an accurized 38 super that shot the round nose types as well as the flat nose types. but reliability with flat nose bullets might not be as good as round nose bullets.

reliability. FMJ round nose bullets are hands down the most reliable feeders in semi-autos. Hardness is a factor here. plated bullets, even though they might be round nose, are swaged and made from a soft lead allow and are softer than true FMJ, and they can cause feeding problems - they do in my 45. i haven't tested enough in my 38 super to say one way or the other. Cast bullets are hard and the round nose type feed as well as FMJ in my guns. even the flat nose SWC cast bullets feed well for me.

reloading tip: flat nose bullets, such as hollow point or SWC need to be seated deeper in order to fit in a magazine. see http://www.38super.net/Pages/Overall%20Length.html for the reason why.

if you have other questions then try to give us a bit more detail and we forum members will try to help you out.

good luck

[Richard Bumpus]

The first thing to do is to get at least 3 reloading manuals and read them to learn the proper procedures for reloading. I can highly recommend the ABCs of Reloading as the first one to get.