Preparing to reload

[ART338WM]

My knowledge of prices is admittedly old as I have only bought one major piece of reloading equipment in the last 15 years (about 5 years ago had a week moment bought a Hornady LNL progressive press on sale for $379) and since then the most expensive thing I bought was my last set of HG dies a few weeks ago. But IIRC, your cheapest rout these days for buying new reloading equipment is to buy a reloading starter kit like the ones offered by RCBS that for less than IIRC $350, except for dies and shell holders contains all the BASIC equipment you need to get started reloading. I also strongly agree that you should start with a single stage press. Yes you can buy one piece of equipment at a time, but that will almost certainly cost more in the long run VS saving up and buying a kit.

My two favorite reloading books are the ones offered by Lyman and Hornady.


As far as what starter kit to buy based on my 30++ years of reloading I would say the Lee kit is the most affordable, but if you are willing to spend the extra $$$ you will be hard pressed to beat the RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme Master kit, or the Hornady Lock N Load kit, there so close in value it comes down to which you can get cheaper. I Have AT LEAST $2000 in RCBS equipment, +/- $ 350-$450 in Hornady equipment (IMHO FOR THE $$$ their hand primer is the best), $200-$350 in Lee equipment, about $600 in Redding dies alone, dies from RCBS, and Hornady, and at least another $2500 tied up in assorted reloading tools and equipment from Stony Point, powder dispensers from RCBS, Redding and Lyman, and dozens of other makers of specialty reloading tools and gages for use in all stages of case preparation, reloading and measurement taking.

Based on the above I feel relatively comfortable in my recommendations to you such as one of the starter kits I listed. You can not buy each reloading component separately more cheaply than the kit. If your really trying to start out as cheaply as you can compare what the starter kits from Lee, RCBS and Hornady each have and compare each one VS the other to see which you prefer best. One way to get away cheaply MIGHT be to buy the Lee kit and upgrade certain components as you can afford to. I personally own powder dispensers from Lee, RCBS, Lyman and Redding, and much prefer the RCBS over them all, and as much as I like my Lee equipment (LOVE my Lee case trimmers and reloading dies) their powder dispenser although works well, is no where near as functional as my RCBS or Redding. I also own Balance beam scales made by RCBS, Lee and Redding and MUCH prefer the RCBS over them all.

Just make absolutely certain you read what ever reloading manuals you buy and COMPLETELY understand what you are doing before you start to reload.

Best of luck getting started.

 

[Fullmag]

Stay away from the Lee dippers or powder disks. They measure by volume not by weight which all powder manufactures use to produce their data.

 

[Sterling]

My first press was a Lee turret, which I found to be poor quality. A friend and I went together and bought a Dillon 650. We loved it so much, we bought another. He was transferred to another state, and bought both presses from me, and I bought a Dillon Square Deal B, since all I loaded was handgun. What a mistake! I have found that it has to be adjusted often and am getting ready to send it back to Dillon for a second time. Their customer service is horrible on the phone, and it takes forever to get a press back from them. I just bought a Hornady Lock-N-Load and getting it set up. I'm anxious to see how it performs.

 

[noylj]

Pet Peeve Time:
Why would you buy equipment to clean brass? All you need to do is wipe off the case exterior so you don't damage the sizing die. Any further cleaning is done for the reloader's benefit and not for accuracy or anything else. The only excuse I have heard is: "it makes sizing easier."
First: BUY a manual or "ABCs of Reloading," read it and prioritize what you need.
You can get a press for under $100 that will do everything quite fine. Won't be the fastest or easiest, but it will make ammunition as good as any other press.
GOD, the 550 again. A press with too few stations and manual indexing? For a beginner?
Then, get a Dillon because "you can get a used machine for fairly cheap?" Then we are told that the reason to buy a Dillon is because they keep their value and a used machine costs almost as much as a new machine. Sad to see a machine being made into a religion.
Start with a single-stage and LEARN what you want before you even think about going progressive some day.

Then, we have lists like the following to "help" a new reloader:

Recommended list of items needed for the Beginner
(Rifle & Pistol)
1.Reloading Manual: Accurate Arms, A-Square, Barnes, Hodgdon, Hornady, Lapua, Lee, Lyman, Nosler, Sierra, SPG, Speer and Vihtavouri.
*Most of these are well into the cult/special needs category. For the beginner, it would be Lee, Lyman, Hornady.
2.Press: Single Stage, Turret or Progressive
*Beginner: single stage or Lee turret.
3.Dies
*Beginner--get Lee and be done with it
4.Shell holders (if the die set doesn't have them)
*see #3
5.Case Tumbler: Media, Polish, Sifter, Bucket and Clear Lid
*Beginner: wipe off the cases with a rag-that is all you need to do. If you MUST get a machine, get a cheap vibratory "tumbler" and 20/40 corn and NO polish. You can buy a colander from a thrift store to separate brass.
6.Loading Block (caliber specific)
*This is fine, except that some of us find that we are a lot less likely to spill a bunch of charged cases or miss an over- or under-charged case by simply charging a case, immediately inspecting the charge in the case and seating a bullet. Despite EVERYONE talking about using loading blocks, they almost all have stories about missing an incorrectly charged case.
7.Case Lube (you won't need if using carbide dies)
8.Case Neck Brush
*Beginner here. In over 40 years, I have NEVER used one. Despite loading lots of .30-30, .223, .30-06, and 7mm TCU, I have NEVER needed a neck brush or neck lube
9.Dial Calipers: Stainless Steel or Electronic
*This is a tool that is very useful, but NOT needed. You can run a "plunk" test and save inert dummy rounds so you can return to the same COL. However, they are cheap enough and useful enough to include in "things you really should have."
10.Case Trimmer
*only needed for bottleneck cases. The Lee is all a beginner needs.
11.Deburring Tool
*only needed after trimming. If you don't trim, don't need. For me, it is still a "thing you really should have" and something you should do at least once to every case
12.Primer Pocket Clean
*Beginner. NEVER needed to do it. Never saw any reports that proved it did anything. If you deprimer prior to cleaning in tumbler, the white powder found occasionally in a case will be removed. I do this because I don't want the powder brought into the house. If cleaning a primer pocket was that important, the Dillon 1050 would clean the primer pocket rather than swage the primer pocket.
13.Primer Tray
*Useful, but not needed
14.Priming Tool (if the press doesn't come with a primer attachment)
*Beginner: get a ram primer and be done with it. All you need to do is load individual primers and prime the case. Remember, this is a beginner who is learning and not someone who needs to crank out 1000 rounds a week.
15.Powder Scale
*(unless you want to stick to a few limited loads from the Lee Dipper "loading guide")
16.Powder Funnel
17.Powder Trickler
*most folks don't have one, so it can't be NEEDED
18.Powder Measure (nice for faster powder charges)
*Then, you can eliminate 16 and 17.
19.Bullet Puller
20.Plastic Ammo boxes and labels
*Nice, but not NEEDED. You can wrap each rifle load with a rubber band and place in plastic bag with a piece of scrap paper with load data. Do need to put load data into log book, so there should be some sort of log book on the list.

 

[Snipercop]

Just saw that you were in Bloomington! Go Hoosiers! Anyway, stop in to Atterbury Range and check out what they've got. Ask some questions. I've always been treated right and their prices are unbeatable for all your reloading needs. Extremely helpful folks as well.

 

[Broom_jm]

Stay away from the Lee dippers or powder disks. They measure by volume not by weight which all powder manufactures use to produce their data.

Nothing personal Fullmag, but this is pure rubbish.

As a matter of science, the volume of a charge for a given lot of powder is critical; the weight is used to verify that a suitable volume is likely being used.

All factory ammo is loaded by volume, not weight. The vast majority of powder measures used by reloaders are volumetric, with weight used to verify, as in, "weigh every tenth charge".

If you want absolute proof that volume is what's critical, consider the following experiment:

Load one cartridge with the correct volume of powder, as verified by weight, using a scale.

Load an identical cartridge with the same weight of powder, but ground very fine, such that the volume is noticeably reduced.

Don't actually SHOOT the second cartridge, because it may very well blow up your gun.

Now you understand that cartridges are loaded by VOLUME, and weight is used to verify it.

Lee dippers and other volumetric measuring devices are perfectly suitable for charging cases, and they have been doing so for decades.

 

[Leadeye]

^ This, can't add more.

 

[billybob44]

Their customer service is horrible

My first press was a Lee turret, which I found to be poor quality. A friend and I went together and bought a Dillon 650. We loved it so much, we bought another. He was transferred to another state, and bought both presses from me, and I bought a Dillon Square Deal B, since all I loaded was handgun. What a mistake! I have found that it has to be adjusted often and am getting ready to send it back to Dillon for a second time. Their customer service is horrible on the phone, and it takes forever to get a press back from them. I just bought a Hornady Lock-N-Load and getting it set up. I'm anxious to see how it performs.

^^^I do NOT see this often. All of my dealings (Over 30 years worth) with Dillon has been VERY positive..You must have caught one of their phone reps on an off day. (They will not work for Dillon very long)

I have had my RockChucker since '71' and my Dillon RL550 since '82', along with a LOT of other Dillon tools..They have been GREAT to me..Bill.

 

[Dosproduction]

So I also am now thinking of getting into reloading. I have read the "so you want to reload but you don't know where to begin" forum and man was that a good start. Im the type of person who likes to buy the best thing the first time. So What brand is better? Seems like a lot of people like Dillon but ART338 is leaning toward the RCBS or lock n load kit? Where do you all stand. Im thinking the progressive set up seems the easiest going. Is there one better then that. And what about dies being interchangeable?

 

[OHOIAN]

Dies are almost universally interchangeable, with the exception of Dillon’s Square Deal B, abbreviated SDB. There are also a few out of production press models that do not accept standard dies with 7/8-14 threads.
You ask what press is best, that is a question you can ask 50 people and get 50 different answers. It has a lot to do with personal preference. I suggest you start with a single stage press, RCBS is a good choice. Once you have learned the process and are ready to move up to a progressive press you can keep the SS for odd jobs or sell it. You will not be wasting money or sorry you did.

 

[Seancass]

On buying you first press: "progressive set up seems the easiest going." This is absolutely completely wrong. The progressive is the most complicated, most difficult press that mandates your complete attention. It's doing three to seven processes all at the same time, all of which must be correct or you're going to have a bad time. It is completely possible to start reloading safely on a progressive, but I always discourage it.

You need to ask yourself "How much do I shoot?" and what calibers. Very little money is saved reloading 9mm and 223, so unless you shoot them a lot, it's not a financial gain. For example, I save about $0.12 per 9mm by reloading instead of buying at the store. If I bought a $600 Dillon progressive, it'd take 5000 rounds of 9mm to pay off that investment. (which isn't bad since the dillion retains it's value) However, if you only shoot 50 rounds a month, reloading that in four minutes on a Dillon would not be a smart use of your dollars.

If you tell us how much you shot last month and last year, we can give a more educated reply on what sort of reloading equipment you might like to buy.

 

[Hiker1911]

It took about $130 for me to have a decent, used setup that went a bit beyond the items you've listed. Why not wait on the depriming idea until you've started sizing the cases with a reloading die.

My method of depriming is using one of my two universal depriming dies (one is Redding, and the other is RCBS). First, I raise the pin in the sizing die, and do not use that die for depriming purposes. When I'm ready to deprime, I insert the universal die into the press. BTW, I'm going to add a turret press to my setup in the next year, probably the Lee Classic Turret (not the less expensive Deluxe).

 

[red_zr24x4]

On buying you first press: "progressive set up seems the easiest going." This is absolutely completely wrong. The progressive is the most complicated, most difficult press that mandates your complete attention. It's doing three to seven processes all at the same time, all of which must be correct or you're going to have a bad time. It is completely possible to start reloading safely on a progressive, but I always discourage it.

You need to ask yourself "How much do I shoot?" and what calibers. Very little money is saved reloading 9mm and 223, so unless you shoot them a lot, it's not a financial gain. For example, I save about $0.12 per 9mm by reloading instead of buying at the store. If I bought a $600 Dillon progressive, it'd take 5000 rounds of 9mm to pay off that investment. (which isn't bad since the dillion retains it's value) However, if you only shoot 50 rounds a month, reloading that in four minutes on a Dillon would not be a smart use of your dollars.

If you tell us how much you shot last month and last year, we can give a more educated reply on what sort of reloading equipment you might like to buy.

The part I put in bold type I disagree with. If you load and stock pile your ammo it doesn't matter if you shoot 1 round or a 1000 rounds a month.
I guess the way I look at it is if you have the time to reload it doesn't matter how much you shoot, ammo sitting in an ammo can isn't going anywhere or hurting anything, you'll always have it in the lean times.
Be it another run on ammo because of a mass shooting, a new law, or your unemployed you'll always have ammo.

Edit to add-
I just used my reloading calculator, Casting my own lead buying components by bulk (primers,powder, brass) and picking up brass at the range, I'm loading 9mm for about $.03 a round. Granted I'm not figuring in the cost of electric or time, but If I wasn't casting or reloading I'd be sitting in front of the tv, so wasting time and electric there.

 

[OHOIAN]

Another thing to consider is if you stockpile large quantities of ammo and then you find a better bullet, powder, or load for your gun, or purchase a new gun, you will be stuck with all that ammo. Take it from someone that knows, I would rather stock components.

 

[Seancass]

The part I put in bold type I disagree with. If you load and stock pile your ammo it doesn't matter if you shoot 1 round or a 1000 rounds a month.
I guess the way I look at it is if you have the time to reload it doesn't matter how much you shoot, ammo sitting in an ammo can isn't going anywhere or hurting anything, you'll always have it in the lean times.

Huh? A guy doesn't need to know how much he shoots before he starts reloading? If you only shoot 1 round a month, you can build a pretty sweet stockpile with a Lee loader! If you shoot 5,000 rounds a month, you won't have time to stock pile even with a Dillon 650! Knowing your needs is definitely among the first things a person needs to consider before buying a press.

 

[Mgderf]

On buying you first press: "progressive set up seems the easiest going." This is absolutely completely wrong. The progressive is the most complicated, most difficult press that mandates your complete attention. It's doing three to seven processes all at the same time, all of which must be correct or you're going to have a bad time. It is completely possible to start reloading safely on a progressive, but I always discourage it.

^^^This.
Think of it like this. You didn't start learning to drive in an Indy car. You don't learn to shoot on a full-auto firearm.
Baby steps. Go slow and learn the process.

If you get too much going on too soon you'll miss small (but possibly critical) problems that will eventually occur.

Safety should be your first and foremost concern.
It's just a lot easier to learn the basics when that's ALL you're learning at the time, just the basics.
Once those are learned, you'll have a lot better idea which direction you may want to go, progressive or turret...

Have fun but stay safe. Not just for you, but for everyone who may be near you while you're shooting your reloads, or while someone else is shooting your work.

 

[red_zr24x4]

Depends on how much time he has to reload. I work on the road alot, I might go months between shooting, but everytime Im home I load, even if its only for an hour.
When I do get a chance to shoot I can take as much with me as I want.
As to Ohoian about getting different guns-
I have loads Ive worked up for specialty guns, my bolt gun I figured out what it likes and loaded for it.
Ive figured out a good load for my AR's for range ammo, works in all of them.
I cast my own bullets for 9mm, 45acp, 45Colt. What I load for these works in all my pistols.
30-06 for the Garand and 308 for the M1A Ive bought lots of 150g bullets and surplus powder I load these to stay in the pressure curve for their op rods.

 

[Fullmag]

Nothing personal Fullmag, but this is pure rubbish.

As a matter of science, the volume of a charge for a given lot of powder is critical; the weight is used to verify that a suitable volume is likely being used.

All factory ammo is loaded by volume, not weight. The vast majority of powder measures used by reloaders are volumetric, with weight used to verify, as in, "weigh every tenth charge".

If you want absolute proof that volume is what's critical, consider the following experiment:

Load one cartridge with the correct volume of powder, as verified by weight, using a scale.

Load an identical cartridge with the same weight of powder, but ground very fine, such that the volume is noticeably reduced.

Don't actually SHOOT the second cartridge, because it may very well blow up your gun.

Now you understand that cartridges are loaded by VOLUME, and weight is used to verify it.

Lee dippers and other volumetric measuring devices are perfectly suitable for charging cases, and they have been doing so for decades.

Should have been more specific your correct the wording is wrong. It was my biased opinion clouding facts so here are the reasons.

The Lee loading books are in their code to dippers or disks or grain weight, too confusing for me.

Have seen people post asking questions about substituting powders not listed by the Lee engineers for their disk number. Dangerous.

Like the last powder drought you could not substitute another powder until your favorite powder was available. Unless you had the extra disks or dippers. Their data is limited and not listed by powder manufactures. Inconvenient.

Not many powders can be used with those disks and add to that it so there is little variation in the load. For instance working up a load for 45acp with WST have with a start load at 4.3 grains up to 4.9 grains for a 200 grain lswc. If using the dipper or disk set up then I would not have the choice to range all the way from recommended minimum to maximum. With a quick burning powder a 1/10 grain variation makes a difference. Not everybody needs to be this particular.

Most Lee equipment is good for the money. Their powder measure is not too bad. The disks speed up the loading process which is good but my opinion money not well spent. This my opinion.

 

[Dosproduction]

A couple of more questions for you knowledgeable ones. Do any of you melt lead and make the bullet? What is the cost savings in that? If you have the progressive press can you not do one bullet at a time and work your way up to multiple bullets at once? I often see different powders what are the differences? Do the books you buy specifically say which powder to use at what rate or is more like use grade A powder at this rate? Why is the square deal b dillan set up use different dies and is there a reason to buy a press that does not self standardize? IE is this a much better press? Can you load rifle and shotgun shells in the same press? And sorry for making it sound like the progressive would be easier I ment as far as getting top of the line right off the bat. Also sorry for all the noob questions.

 

[superluckycat]

A couple of more questions for you knowledgeable ones. Do any of you melt lead and make the bullet? What is the cost savings in that? If you have the progressive press can you not do one bullet at a time and work your way up to multiple bullets at once? I often see different powders what are the differences? Do the books you buy specifically say which powder to use at what rate or is more like use grade A powder at this rate? Why is the square deal b dillan set up use different dies and is there a reason to buy a press that does not self standardize? IE is this a much better press? Can you load rifle and shotgun shells in the same press? And sorry for making it sound like the progressive would be easier I ment as far as getting top of the line right off the bat. Also sorry for all the noob questions.

Hop on youtube and search for how to reload. Many of your questions will be answered.

I started on a Dillon 650 but spent months researching beforehand.