Factory ammunition is safe, just mass-produced. I don't trust it much, not for accuracy at long range.
It's labour intensive. Today all I did was load the powder and seat projectiles...All the rest was done.
- Remove primer from case (from the last firing)
- Tumble for 2 hours in a solution and stainless pins to clean
- Rinse
- Dry ( I use a food dehydrator for this)
- Resize on resizing die
- Measure case length and trim if required
- Chamfer case neck in and out
- Insert new primer
- Add powder charge
- Seat projectile
I do this in batches of 100. E.g. Remove primer, tumble, rinse and dry. That might take say...3-4 hours for 200.
Resize 200 might be around 2 hours.
Measure, trim and chamfer maybe 1.5 hours.
Insert new primers about 1.5 hours.
Add powder and seat projectile about 4-5 hours.
It was this last step I did today.
This all takes into account all the gear is set up and ready to operate...Mine is always good to go.
Precision hand loading takes a long time. This is why I am always reloading...I try to keep my stocks up.
Yes, music, and snacks, is required.
P.s. I have really simplified this process...There are other steps that happen. (Checking each one for damage, batching cases by weight, annealing case necks etc.)