New to reloading

[Harry2110]

Ive recently been giving a .40sw and was thinking about starting to reload otherwise I wont be able to afford to shoot the pistol much. I recently saw the Lee breech lock hand press and was wondering if anyone had one? Are they any good for sitting down in front of the tv and reloading or just for 5 rounds at a time? Also I was looking at a limit of 300 for reloading equipment is this a realistic budget for a standard press and 2 pistol calibers?

 

[netsecurity]

I just got started with the breech lock kit, and it seems as good as any single stage kit for getting the job done. I paid around $130 for my kit. Lee is basically the cheapest. When I'm ready to move up to a progressive, I will buy Dillon, but single stage presses rely more on your arm then mechanical stuff, so I don't see any huge advantage to spending more. It just goes up and down.

Oh, make sure you get the hand prime tool with whatever kit you buy, or you'll need to buy it separate. It is indispensible. I don't think anyone uses the press to prime anymore, unless they have a progressive.

 

[Harry2110]

I was looking at the hand press. Does it take alot of force to seat a round?

 

[Wannabe Alchemist]

I advise against the TV or any other distraction.

 

[Leo]

I have an old hand press. For most pistol cartidges, it is not hard to squeeze. You are not going to be able to full length size .300 Winchester Magnum rifle cases, but .40 S&W will be fine. One thing about "sitting in front of the TV", if your TV is in the house, be aware that even from clean brass there will be little flakes of powder or primer residue getting shaken loose as the brass flexes through the dies. It is a very small amount, but when you do a couple hundred cases, it is enough dirty stuff to notice. I would not sit on the good upholstered furniture.

I really do not like the hand press for the bullet seating part of reloading. You have to balance the hand press, balance a stubby little case full of gun powder, balance a loose bullet on top the brass (that has loose gunpowder) and work the two levers smoothly enough to not disturb the alignment of all that stuff until it is in the bullet seater/crimper die. It can be done, but I like a stationary press better. I have a small press mounted to a short piece of 2X4 that I can "C" clamp to anything stable.

For some of my life I have had a nice house with a fully equiped reloading room. Some of my life has also been in apartments or the married student dorms at 3 different colleges. During those times, my main equipment is boxed up in a storage building. If you go to my profile, in my picture album, there is a picture of a little kit that all fits in a 16" x 16" X 8" box. I have loaded in my office, my kitchen, motel rooms and even the back of my van with that little kit.

I would link you directly to the pictures, but I cannot figure how to work the new system.
Good Luck

 

[netsecurity]

I was looking at the hand press. Does it take alot of force to seat a round?

Oh, are you talking about the Lee Classic hand loaders? I have those too. It uses a mallet to do the resizing and everything, so it isn't too difficult. It is totally impracticle if you are planning on doing hundreds of rounds, because hitting a live bullet with a mallet is just not something the nerves tolerate too often. I kept my hand loader for 30-06, since I only shoot a couple dozen rounds a year.

Get the press for pistol ammo.

 

[Harry2110]

I have an old hand press. For most pistol cartidges, it is not hard to squeeze. You are not going to be able to full length size .300 Winchester Magnum rifle cases, but .40 S&W will be fine. One thing about "sitting in front of the TV", if your TV is in the house, be aware that even from clean brass there will be little flakes of powder or primer residue getting shaken loose as the brass flexes through the dies. It is a very small amount, but when you do a couple hundred cases, it is enough dirty stuff to notice. I would not sit on the good upholstered furniture.

I really do not like the hand press for the bullet seating part of reloading. You have to balance the hand press, balance a stubby little case full of gun powder, balance a loose bullet on top the brass (that has loose gunpowder) and work the two levers smoothly enough to not disturb the alignment of all that stuff until it is in the bullet seater/crimper die. It can be done, but I like a stationary press better. I have a small press mounted to a short piece of 2X4 that I can "C" clamp to anything stable.

For some of my life I have had a nice house with a fully equiped reloading room. Some of my life has also been in apartments or the married student dorms at 3 different colleges. During those times, my main equipment is boxed up in a storage building. If you go to my profile, in my picture album, there is a picture of a little kit that all fits in a 16" x 16" X 8" box. I have loaded in my office, my kitchen, motel rooms and even the back of my van with that little kit.

I would link you directly to the pictures, but I cannot figure how to work the new system.
Good Luck

That almost anwsers my question as i really wouldnt want to stain my carpets or get powder all over my laptop. I figured reloading was pretty clean.

 

[flashpuppy]

I would advise a brand new reloader to steer away from the hand kit. There are a lot of variables and things to consider when reloading. Many ways for a simple mistake to have a seriously unexpected and potentially dangerous result. Reloading requires total focus and concentration, especially for an inexperienced reloader.

The cost for a low-end, single stage press kit is not too much more and it is definitely worth it. You will have that press forever and will always have use for it. Even more so, if you are anything like me, you'll be reloading a LOT of pistol ammo and squeezing that thing that many thousands of times every month. Sounds like a great way for carpal tunnel....

 

[mac45]

I'm one of the few that don't care for single stage presses, and I definitely would not recommend a hand press for a new reloader.
I'd go with the Lee Classic Turret. Pretty much the most bang for your buck out there.

 

[Dr.Midnight]

I would also recommend the Lee Classic Turret. I've been reloading for over two years now, and the Lee is still what I use. I have never used a Dillon, and even though I've heard nothing but praise for that company and their presses, the Lee has yet to give me a reason to consider switching. I think you will be glad you started out on a turret style press once you see the ease of use and the quantity of ammo you can make.

 

[Broom_jm]

With a budget of $300 and a desire to reload for 2 different pistol cartridges, there is simply no better recommendation than the Lee Classic Turret press. You likely won't be able to use it in front of the TV, but that is for the best since reloading is definitely something you should do w/o distractions! The great thing about this press is that it's very affordable, but also high quality. You can learn with the indexing rod removed and then add it in when you're ready to crank out 150 rounds per hour, or more. I'm not suggesting you go that fast, but you can do 120 rph with no trouble at all. The various hand-held or whack-a-mole reloading tools work well enough, but for a few dollars more you get a lot more versatility and quality, IMHO.

 

[shibumiseeker]

The hand press is certainly inexpensive and portable, and the bushing set allows for quick changing of dies, but given your budget you will be better served with a bench mounted press, and the Lee single stage classic is a great value for the money, especially one of the kits. Even if you don't have a bench, the press mounted to a board and some C clamps will allow you to anchor it to a table.

There are certain steps, like priming, that CAN be done in front of the TV or the like ONCE you are an experienced reloader, but as a novice you will be much better off and safer if you concentrate solely on the task of reloading. Other steps like charging cases absolutely should NOT be done when there are distractions around regardless of how experienced you are as mistakes there are critical and impossible to detect later until the ammo either fails to fire and lodges a bullet in the barrel or blows up a gun.

The turret press several have recommended is a good way to semi-automate the process if your budget allows but don't be afraid to buy a single stage press first, even if you upgrade later it will not be money wasted.

 

[netsecurity]

I would also recommend the Lee Classic Turret. I've been reloading for over two years now, and the Lee is still what I use. I have never used a Dillon, and even though I've heard nothing but praise for that company and their presses, the Lee has yet to give me a reason to consider switching. I think you will be glad you started out on a turret style press once you see the ease of use and the quantity of ammo you can make.

I avoided the turret press on my first purchase, because it seemed unnecessarily complex, and perhaps prone to get misaligned. However, it isn't that much more expensive, and I just learned the Lee will auto index (rotate), which is a pretty cool feature, although I can't see myself using it that way. But I do like the idea of the turret just to keep my dies organized. It is easy as heck o swap out the dies, but I would prefer to keep die sets together. For that reason I suppose I would go with the Turret if I had it to do over. I do appreciate the simplicity of the breech lock though--it is infallible, so you probably can't go wrong either way.

Here is how I do it, and as you can see, I usually only have to swap dies once:

1) Insert depriming/resizing die and deprime all used brass
2) Tumble brass
3) Use hand primer tool to prime all brass
4) Throw powder directly into brass [new RCBS Uniflow on the way ]
5) Insert seating die and seat each round
6) Optionally - Insert crimping die and crimp (on cannelured auto rifle rounds only)

This seems probably more efficient and less prone to error than trying to do one complete cartridge at a time in a turret, but a turret can do the same by simply turning off the auto indexing.

 

[SSGSAD]

Ive recently been giving a .40sw and was thinking about starting to reload otherwise I wont be able to afford to shoot the pistol much. I recently saw the Lee breech lock hand press and was wondering if anyone had one? Are they any good for sitting down in front of the tv and reloading or just for 5 rounds at a time? Also I was looking at a limit of 300 for reloading equipment is this a realistic budget for a standard press and 2 pistol calibers?

I am in Greenfield, and would be willing to help. in any way I can .....

 

[U.S. Patriot]

You can get a Lee single stage breach lock kit, dies, calipers, bullet puller, etc. for under $300.

 

[U.S. Patriot]

You can get a Lee single stage breach lock kit, dies, calipers, bullet puller, etc. for under $300.

 

[Leo]

Breech Lock Hand Press - Lee Precision

This is the hand press I was talking about. It does work, but I think the negatives outnumber the positives.

 

[kludge]

the Lee C press is at least as cheap as the hand press, maybe cheaper, and will do fine for pistol rounds.

Reloader Press - Lee Precision

With a budget of $300 and a desire to reload for 2 different pistol cartridges, there is simply no better recommendation than the Lee Classic Turret press.

Agreed!

This kit is $300 MSRP, but I suspect you can get it for much less... also you can put together your own "kit" and just get the stuff you want. With the Classic Turret Press, a couple sets of dies, and some other necessary tools, $300 is very doable.

Classic Turret Press Kit - Lee Precision

For ~$110 at Natchez or MidwayUSA you can get this kit...

Breech Lock Challenger Kit - Lee Precision

 

[Pharmacist]

The only steps I do with the TV on are sizing/depriming and flaring straight walled cases. Any steps that could involve BOOM! or precision don't involve a TV...

 

[Leo]

The only steps I do with the TV on are sizing/depriming and flaring straight walled cases. Any steps that could involve BOOM! or precision don't involve a TV...

+1, wise decision.