Mr. Cunningham.

brass, your powder cost is negligible--probably a penny a cartridge, half a cent a cartridge for a .38 Special. So it saves you so much money if you are a target shooter, for instance, it is advantageous to do it if you like to shoot.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Is that a skilled operation, hand loading?

Mr. Cunningham.

Basically, no. Once you have the basic--if you do any reading on it, and you take your time, and are very careful, it is not a difficult operation at all.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Now, would a--

Representative Boggs.

How are these cartridges loaded mechanically--not like this hand loading.

Mr. Cunningham.

It is all done on large machines. They buy their lead, for instance, in rods. They ask for a lead alloy of a certain hardness. Then these machines--they feed in the rods in the bullet- making machines, and they cut them off to length. They have different diameter rods. For a .38 the-rod diameter would be approximately .357" or .358". Then this machine comes down in a swaging operation.
Another machine puts the knurling around--forming the lubricating grooves, and another groove. They tumble out as fast as the machine can run.
Then you have your case formation. They buy their cases--they look like little cups of copper:. Actually it is a copper alloy. And then you go through a drawing process, and then an annealing, and a drawing and annealing, and a drawing and annealing of these brass cases. And then once you get them to approximate length, you full-size them and form the cases. The machine keeps tumbling them out.
And a small lathe as these cases are going around--turns the case and puts, in the extraction groove all automatically. Another machine comes up from the bottom and puts the head stamp in. Another one is a drilling operation, and it puts in the holes for the primer and also the flash holes into the case. All done automatically. And they tumble into a big box.
Then they take those components and they put them on the line. The primers are all done by hand, except for shotgun primers at Western.
There are girls sitting at these presses who do 50 or 100 at a time. They put guide plates into the machine in which the girls put the primers. They are automatically loaded. All the primers are put in by hand, in essence.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Mr. Cunningham, what is the advantage of hand loading in terms of cost, if you do not have your own shells to start with?

Mr. CUNNINGHAM There again your initial cost is fairly expensive. For instance, for the .38 Special, unprimed cases, the list price per hundred last year, was $4.60 a hundred. The primed cost $5. The primers cost 20 cents--

Mr. Eisenberg.

So there is a saving even if you do not provide your own shells?

Mr. Cunningham.

Oh, yes--and the bullets would cost---

Mr. Eisenberg.

How many primers?

Mr. Cunningham.

One hundred. And 158 grain lead, .38 Special bullets are $2.80. So $7.80 plus $2.00 worth of powder and you are in business.

Mr. Eisenberg.

For $9.80?

Mr. Cunningham.

Yes.

Mr. Eisenberg.

And how much would the bullets cost you if you bought them commercially already prepared?

Mr. Cunningham.

I think it is $2.50 per 50.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Well, that is more. $2.25 per 50, did you say?

Mr. Cunningham.

$2.85? I never buy any ammunition of that type. I do not know.

Mr. Eisenberg.

So for a hundred that would be $5.90.

Mr. Cunningham.

I would say it is closer to $8 per hundred for .38 Special.

Mr. Eisenberg.

So it is cheaper to buy them that way than to buy the components?

Mr. Cunningham.

It is cheaper to buy your components when you do not have to buy the cartridge cases.

Mr. Eisenberg.

Well, now, is it possible that a gunsmith would buy the components, including new cases, and reload together a case from Western-Winchester and a bullet from Remington-Peters?