handload

English

Etymology

By surface analysis, hand +‎ load; possibly a back-formation of handloading (noun).

Verb

handload (third-person singular simple present handloads, present participle handloading, simple past and past participle handloaded)

(ambitransitive) To load (cartridges for firearms) by hand.
- 1956, Sports Afield‎^[1], volume 138, page 85:
  He handloads his match ammunition. For long range he uses 49½ grains of 4064 powder, the Sierra Match King (boattail) bullet and Government (F.A. [Frankford Arsenal]) primers. How does he get Government primers? He pulls the bullets out of […]
- 1956, Field and Stream‎^[2], volume 61, page 118:
  You need what all of us could do with more of—off-season practice on running targets. That moral thought is all very fine if you live where jack rabbits skitter twelve months a year. The man from Butte or Boise can shoot moving-target rifle practice until he handloads or goes broke. But what of the chap from Binghamton, from a settled section […]
- 1958, Henry M. Stebbins, Rifles: A Modern Encyclopedia‎^[3], Stackpole, page 111:
  […] in the .30-06. Of course he handloads, and American primers are easier to punch out than the foreign Berdan, a simple cup primer, for the anvil is formed in the case's primer pocket. Accuracy of the 6.5x55 and 6.5x.257 is about the same, he finds. The .30-06 […]
- 1958, Henry M. Stebbins, Rifles: A Modern Encyclopedia‎^[4], Stackpole, page 348:
  […] adequate power for the game in question, and as a matter of course he handloads. Instead of going to the 50,000-pounds-pressure levels he gets a case that's big enough to start with and doesn't need to be strained!
- 1988, John E. Phillips, Outdoor Life: Complete Turkey Hunting, →ISBN, page 208:
  He handloads his shells with less powder than factory loads have. The lighter load seems to kill a turkey just as quickly, but doesn't do as much damage to the meat.
(ambitransitive) To load (a firearm, usually a pistol or rifle) by hand.
Antonym: autoload

Related terms

handloader

Noun

handload (plural handloads)

A cartridge that is handloaded.
- 1956, [columnist] W.P., Field and Stream‎^[5], volume 61, page 89:
  Factory pressures on these items don't run over 46,000 but your handloads undoubtedly would, and the old action design seems to me a poor bet. If you want to build a 6 mm. single-shot, I'd suggest a Winchester high wall, or the action made by Wilbur Hauck of West Arlington, Vermont. —W.P.