The art of putting bangs into tubes

Box of home loaded .357 ammo

FAC holders are allowed to manufacture ammuntion from scratch for their rifles and pistols, and it’s a popular skill to acquire.

For pistol rounds such as .38 special, .357 magnum, .44 special, .44 magnum, 9mm and similar not only can it be significantly cheaper than buying factory ammo, the rounds can easily be tuned for accuracy and performance.

For rifle rounds the cost savings aren’t so great compared to factory BUT the big change is in accuracy. With rifle shooting every last bit of accuracy is desirable and home loaded ammunition can be tuned to equal or out perform any factory round for your individual rifle.

In order to shoot home loaded ammuntion at Bisley or on an MOD range the FAC holder must posess a Shooter Competency Card issued by the club with the “Home loaded Ammuntion” qualification – this course satisfies that requirement.

Reloading isn’t without risk.

To reduce that risk WRPC runs regular reloading courses which are free of charge to members.

Taking place over a whole day at the club, the course covers the basics of reloading, covering the risks and risk mitigation in some detail.

Each candidate will physically manufacture, shoot and measure the performance of their rounds in a group ladder test for .357 magnum ammo.

Also covered is how to select the right powder and projectile and how to perform a basic ladder test to find the initial accurate loads for a rifle as shown on the chart below ;

Real results from ladder testing a batch of home loaded .223 ammunition

The course is very popular and has given many of our members the confidence to safely start reloading pistol and rifle rounds.

.223 Remington SAAMI specifications