So you want to start shooting lead bullet huh? Using lead bullets is a great way to save money over using jacketed or plated bullets. However, there are a few things to look for when buying lead bullets.

First, you don't want pure lead bullets. In fact, you'd probably have a hard time finding any. Pure lead is soft. It will deform when heat is applied or impact and are not suitable for most shooters. Pure lead bullets will leave liberal amounts of fouling in your barrel and can create an unsafe condition in your barrel.

Cast lead bullets are what you want. Cast lead is mixed with Antimony and Tin. By combining the 3 ingredients it yields a much harder bullet which is much better at resisting heat and deformity. Cast lead bullets are usually rated with a hardness. Known as the Brinell Hardness Number (BHN) a scale between 6 and 40 rates the hardness of the projectile.

Pure lead comes in between 4 and 5 BHN. A good cast lead bullet should have a BHN rating around 18. Bullets with a rating of 18 usually contain somewhere between 5-7% antimony and 2-3% tin. Purchasing cast lead .45 ACP bullets in bulk can be done for between $.08 and $.12 per projectile. Jacketed bullets can cost anywhere from $.20-.30 which makes cast lead attractive for reloading.

Remember to always wear gloves or wash your hands after handling lead products.

If you are new to reloading you probably have done some research on different types of reloading presses. If you want to reload large amounts of ammo you will absolutely want a progressive press. However, there are several instances where a single stage or hand press can be useful.

Single stage or hand presses are very slow. Each stage must be done separately and manually loading the powder for each round will take a considerable amount of time to yield a small batch of rounds. However, this is usually the best way to create several different loads for testing new powders or bullets. More often than not, you will go through several different powder loads before you find one that performs to your liking.

Making adjustments to a progressive press can be very tedious. A single stage or hand press gives allows you to easily adjust things like bullet seating depth, crimp, and powder charges. All of these things will drastically affect the performance of your reloads and therefore it easier to the do the leg work with a single stage or hand press.

Some shooters will only load defensive or competition rounds with a single stage press because it provides the ability to measure each powder charge individually and pay more careful attention to each stage of the process.

Are single stage presses a substitute for a progressive press? Absolutely not. While they are cheaper, you will probably get tired of spending 2 hours of loading only to produce 50 rounds. Personally, I have a Lee hand press that I use for the process mentioned above.

If plan to shoot frequently at a gun range you will need to buy some range gear. In this article, I will discuss things you need for range trips like bags, targets, and safety equipment.

The most helpful thing you will need is a bag or gun case. Your needs will depend mostly on where/what you are shooting. However, a fairly inexpensive range bag is always useful. Most range bags have padding, pockets, and zippered compartments to separate and organize your gear. I frequently use a few different range bags depending on what I plan to shoot. Some bags can only fit handguns, while others can fit a subgun.

The pockets and compartments easily organize all your ammo, magazines or other accessories. Here are the accessories I usually bring on short range trips:

• Eye and ear protection
• Range membership/ID card
• HK multi-tool
• Pen/paper
• Gun oil
• Targets
• Gloves

I shoot a lot at indoor ranges so the HK multi-tool allows me to change out broken target clips from the last shooter who shot them off and didn't tell anyone. It's also useful to adjust sights and other adjustments that use an allen key.

If I am shooting reloads I may want to take some notes about how they performed so I usually have a pen and some paper. It is also useful if you want to mark your targets or label them with the gun/distance you were shooting.

Depending on how many rounds I am going to shoot, I bring oil in case the gun starts to get really dirty. This happens a little more with re-loaded ammo and/or shooting suppressed.

For most pistol shooting I use standard 8.5" x 11" printed targets from Targetz. They have a great assortment of all types of targets and colors. If I gently fold them I can fit them in one of the back compartments of smaller range bags.

I'm not big on shooting with gloves, but it does make your life a lot easier if you want to remove a hot suppressor from the end of your gun. If you are shooting wet, it's also a good way to ensure you hands don't get as dirty.

The videos below give you a quick look at two range bags that I use for short pistol shooting trips.