AK Reloading

AK Reloading: reloading in Alaska.

  • Here we go…

    Here we go…

    Welcome to AK Reloading! I decided I may as well capture some of what I have learned about handloading and organize it in such a way that it might be useful to others. I started my reloading journey with an older Hornady Lock N Load progressive press. I never really got it set up and…

  • MP 580 Smokeless Rifle Powder

    A little while back I saw some MP 580 smokeless powder on American Reloading’s site and it was labeled as “Similar to IMR 4451”. The reference data for it was for a 243 Winchester with a 100gr SP. I figured I would give it a try since the IMR Enduron powders are well regarded. At…

  • MP540 Powder in the 308 Winchester

    I made it out to the range with my initial test loads using the American Reloading MP540 powder. It worked very well. This is suppose to be similar to Vihtavuori N540 powder, so I started with their published starting load of 41.7 grains. From the published load data, the expected velocity from a 24″ barrel…

  • 308 Winchester Reduced Recoil Results

    Finally made it out to the range and have some results to report from the load detailed here. This was Barnes once fired brass, CCI 200 primer, and 2.80″ COAL. Here are the results. Even though the velocities were all over the place, I was happy with the .598 MOA group, and with average velocity.…

  • Reduced Recoil Loads for the 7mm PRC

    I saw a post about whether doing reduced recoil loads for a 7mm PRC would be feasible, so I figured I would do a quick write up about my thoughts on it since I have been spending a lot of time working out some hypothetical reduced loads for a few different calibers. Most recently was…

  • The New Winchester StaBALL Powders Have Shipped

    On Wednesday the new StaBALL powders showed up as available to order from Hodgdon’s website. Five pounds of Winchester StaBALL HD had shipped out to me a day later. The Reloading Data Center has also been updated with the load data for both powders, so it’s no longer necessary to have a copy of the…

  • Troubleshooting Inconsistent Shoulder Bump

    A while back a friend was having trouble with inconsistent shoulder bump. I thought that this would be a good topic write a bit about since it happens rarely, but can be maddening. So what was happening was that they were full length sizing their brass, and after spot checking several pieces of brass, they…

  • The 2023 Hodgdon Annual Manual is Here!

    The 2023 Hodgdon Annual Manual is Here!

    The Hodgdon 2023 Annual Manual dropped today, and there are some great additions that will make this a must have manual. First, it has a feature article on reloading the 7mm PRC and they have load data for it with the new Winchester StaBALL HD powder that I wrote about last week. They have it…

  • New Winchester StaBALL Powders

    A little while back, in October 2022, Hodgdon had posted on their Facebook page that they were going to be adding some new Winchester StaBALL powders to the StaBALL line. Currently, they only have the StaBALL 6.5, which has been a great powder in terms of getting good velocity, though accuracy seems to be a…

  • 308 Winchester Reduced Recoil Setup

    308 Winchester Reduced Recoil Setup

    Thought I would share a project that I’m going to start working on for a 308 Winchester reduced recoil set up that is good out to about 300 yards. This setup should recoil a bit more than a .243 Winchester, but less than a 30-30 Winchester, both of which are common starter rifles, but both…