When I was 13ish, I remember reloading 12 gauge bird shot with my grandfather for dove hunting. It’s been quite a while, but I wanting to learn to load hand gun calibers. 38+p for s&w 642, and 9mm for Taurus pt111 g2. How would I go about getting some education?
Hi Jason,
I’m Nick, the current head of Hatcher’s Armory and apprentice to Russel (@Gimli) the previous head of the committee. So reloading isn’t difficult or scary as long as you want to follow the paved path, aka following the proven guidelines of others. I’ll give you a starters guide to just learn, after that you can build into developing loads or getting extra precise. Lets learn on 9 mm, because we have all the dies in Hatcher’s for that. I’ll loan you my dies for 38 once you’ve learned on the 9 mm dies.
In Hatcher’s we have a few reloading manuals that explain the correct charge weights of specific gun powders for different calibers and bullets. So the first step would be pop by the area and fish out one of those manuals. I believe they are in the container under the wood reloading bench. The books are about 5 x 5 inches and an inch thick. Look through the book and find the suggested powder and bullet you would like to use. This is the ideal option, but we may have to be flexible.
So you know what you want and you head to Walmart, Bass Pro, Academy, and Cabellas and they are all missing either the bullet or the powder. Welcome our reloading world, now you can probably find the exact item you want on the internet and that is an option, but if you are like me and can’t wait, now we need to improvise. The powder, bullet, or both need to change. The gun powders you will find will have reloading specs on the packaging or online. I’d look through the powders and find one that offers a load for what I’m wanting to shoot. Then I’ll see if I can find the the correctly weighted bullet to match. once you find a working pair your good. Buy them and also don’t forget Primers, you will want small pistol primers for reloading 38 special and 9 mm. If you don’t have brass, we can probably wrangle you up some in Hatcher’s.
So you have the consumables now you need an introduction to the press. Currently, Russel or I have been doing this step, so once you have your consumables, send either of us a PM and we will setup a time to walk you through the process of setting up the press and getting you comfortable. Once you’ve done 5 or 10 rounds, you should be good to go and produce as many rounds as you have consumables for. I would suggest the next time you come back to reload again, you reach out to Russel or I to watch you setup the press unaided just to make sure your not skipping anything and at that point I think you will be comfortable doing reloading unaided.
Did I give you enough detail to get the consumables? I’ll be around DMS tonight 2-24-17 after work if you would like to chat in person, or send me a PM and I’ll give you my cell and we can chat over the phone.
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Absolutely! Thank you so much. Heading up to dms in the next couple hours. I’ll look for you.
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There’s a little gun store just off of I35E at the Sandy Lake/Whitlock exit.
Doc’s Gun Shop
1600 Whitlock Ln, Carrollton, TX 75006
Haven’t been there for a while, but Google seems to think they are still open. They always seemed to have powder when nobody else did.
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It’s not hard at all now days to get powder or primers. If you order them online then you will have to pay hazmat fees. Most places will allow you to bundle the fee. Meaning that you can buy primers & powder, only having to pay 1 hazmat fee.
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Also gun master in Plano has a lot of reloading gear. They have new & used reloading gear. Also the other bits too.
Would I be looking for a specific brand of powder? Or just what I can find. The direction I’d like to go is maybe some target rounds, but also a handful of defense rounds to practice with and stay active. I really like the Winchester bonded hollow point bullets. But at 40$ for 25 at my range here it’s pretty hefty.
Read the book. That will give you a list of powders for a specific bullet. I would gladly let you use some of my pistol powder to let you try it out before buying a pound+ of it. I have HP38/231. Also have a few others but I don’t remember off the top of my head.
As soon as I posted that, I thought … Read the book, that was the first step given! Lol
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Doc’s has some of the highest prices in town, but my brother did find $100 once in his parking lot
Yup. But that’s also why he has stuff when nobody else does. 
The nice thing about using Winchester 231 or Hodgdon HP-38 powder is that it is painfully obvious if you double charge a 9mm cartridge. Winchester 231 and Hodgdon HP-38 are essentially identical and can be used interchangeably. Power Pistol is another good powder, but is more a little more dense than W231/HP38. Unique is another common powder, but I find that it leaves a lot more residue after firing than PP or HP38.
Unique is dirty as hell. For 9mm I would suggest Hogden Titegroup. It’s readily available, burns very clean, and produces very consistent loads. Personally, I use VitaVouri N310 and N320 for pistol, but it’s a pain in the but to find any more.
Bullet wise, for autoloaders, you should start with full metal jacketed round nose bullets (called “ball”). These are the easiest to get good results with. Once you get the hang of it, there’s a zillion different bullets out there.
For .38, you can use same powders, but you should start with a plated semi-wadcutter bullet.
Load data is everywhere for these cartridges. Keep a couple of good manuals (Speer, Lyman are my favorites), but loading your own means you can custom tailor the loads to your preferences. Lots of options, once you get in the swing of it.
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Ditto on the Hogden Titegroup and I find that CCI 500 small pistol primers seem to burn cleaner than Winchester. I usually pick both up at the Bass Pro store near Grapevine Mills mall. At present I’m a fan of Berry’s plated bullets - also available at Bass Pro. I’ve found them to be a good value.