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English
Etymology
By surface analysis, hand + load; possibly a back-formation from handloading (noun).
Verb
handload (third-person singular simple present handloads, present participle handloading, simple past and past participle handloaded)
- (transitive, intransitive) To load (cartridges for firearms) by hand.
1956, Sports Afield, 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, 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, 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, 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.
- (transitive, intransitive) To load (a firearm, usually a pistol or rifle) by hand.
- Antonym: autoload
Noun
handload (plural handloads)
- A cartridge that is handloaded.
1956, W.P., Field and Stream, 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.