How long does it take to reload ammunition?

Reload or build your own ammunition

This is not as crazy as it sounds. Ammunition reloading is something that people have done safely for decades. Almost any caliber cartridge can be safely refilled at home. All you need is the right equipment, the right supplies, and a set of detailed instructions. After that, all that is needed is time. That is what we are going to see now.

Steps to reload or build ammunition

Let’s take a detailed look at how long it takes to reload or build ammunition. First, let’s go through the steps of the recharging process.

1. Eliminate priming and resize the housing.

2. Remove the crimp around the primer pocket. (Only necessary the first time you reload military brass.)

3. Cleaning and uniforming the primer pocket.

4. Insert a new primer.

5. Loading the case with powder.

6. Seat the bullet.

7. Crimping the bullet.

There are several different types and manufacturers of recharging equipment. Some of these combine some of the steps listed above and shorten the process. To answer the question about how long it takes to reload or build ammunition, we organized an experiment and reloaded 20 military brass boxes once fired. Here are the results.

Timed Steps to Reload 308 Winchester Brass

I set up my reload press, camera, and timer. I counted 20,308 clean Winchester boxes and timed each step of the refilling process. Also, I didn’t rush or slow down for the camera. Here are the results.

1. Delete and resize cases = 9:30

2. Cut the boxes to the proper length = 7:30

3. Remove the primer crimp and even the primer bag = 9:45

4. Build the cartridge = 9:30

5. Crimp the bullet in the case = 2:00

Total time to build 20 308 Winchester cartridges was 38:15 seconds. That is less than 2 minutes per cartridge. Using this data here are the build times for larger quantities.

• 20 rounds = 38 minutes

• 100 cartridges = 3 hrs. 10 minutes

• 500 cartridges = 15 hrs. 50 minutes

• 1,000 cartridges = 31 hrs. 40 minutes

Understanding of each step of the construction process

Reloading ammo is fun, easy, and safe. When you’re done, you’ll have quality ammo to shoot for fun, hunting, or defense. The cost of reloading ammunition is less than buying the same quality already manufactured.

The equipment that is used varies in cost but is affordable. There are also books to read, videos to watch, and even social media groups to get you started.