Beginner advice on reloading

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LeducAb

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Hello.

I am thinking I am going to start reloading and I'm hoping for some advice from those that have been through it.

The calibers I will be reloading are 45-70,30-06,308,9mm,7.62x39 and 416 Ruger. I'm listing these as someone may know a trick or tip related to them.

My first thought is I need to accumulate brass. I've done that with the 7.62x39 in federal eagle cases on a bulk ammo purchase. I also have about 600 wartak 9mm's I need to shoot off so those two should be good.

I'm going to try to get up to a couple hundred cases of the remaining by buying good quality ammo and saving the brass up as I go.

So here's where the fun begins.

I've been reading online about different styles of presses. I'm thinking of skipping over the basic single shell design of press and going to a turret right from the get go. A progressive doesn't seem to be in my future at all.

Is it normal to have a hodgepodge of different brands of pieces with one company making a great press but not such a great scale etc? As opposed to a kit?

Is there a turret that allows you to load up dies and have them adjusted to fit the 45-70 and remove that plate to have another plate already set up for the 9mm to just swap?

Is there a company that you favor for the dies that they make, therefore it best to use their press as well?

Bad timing out there for supplies, but I know it'll take me to the end of this year to get to the point where I will reload anyways. So I'm thinking I have a year to accumulate everything and I have a $1500-$2000 budget total for the equipment.

Hopefully some of you knowledgable ones will share your tips.

Thanks for your time.

Jeff
 
I would not go turret for the larger rifle calibers. Get a decent single stage for .45-70, .416, .30-06 ect. can't see the point in turning out those calibers at factory speeds. Rifle calibers generally need meticulous measuring and inspection which won't happen pumping them out turret style. Handgun shells sure, where accuracy really doesn't matter much.
 
if you're thinking of a lee turret- only the 7.62 and the 9mm have cases short enough to accommodate the turret- ie the columns are too short- it's even marginal for 308 win and far 2 short for anything else- now if you were to go with a DILLON it could probably accommodate all your needs, but you lose the auto index on the 550-you could go turret or progressive for the 9, but unless I could afford the Dillon, i'd go with a couple of single stage presses with a powder measure in between for the heavier calibers- and you may need to reef on the press to do some of those rifle calibers- as far as the measure goes, the one I have mounted on my Dillon and the ones I have on my lees throw just as precisely as a stand alone- unless you go electronic and use a dribbler- the 1/10of a grain variance doesn't mean a heck of a lot downrange
 
LeducAb said:
Hello.

I am thinking I am going to start reloading and I'm hoping for some advice from those that have been through it.

The calibers I will be reloading are 45-70,30-06,308,9mm,7.62x39 and 416 Ruger. I'm listing these as someone may know a trick or tip related to them.

My first thought is I need to accumulate brass. I've done that with the 7.62x39 in federal eagle cases on a bulk ammo purchase. I also have about 600 wartak 9mm's I need to shoot off so those two should be good.

I'm going to try to get up to a couple hundred cases of the remaining by buying good quality ammo and saving the brass up as I go.

So here's where the fun begins.

I've been reading online about different styles of presses. I'm thinking of skipping over the basic single shell design of press and going to a turret right from the get go. A progressive doesn't seem to be in my future at all.

Is it normal to have a hodgepodge of different brands of pieces with one company making a great press but not such a great scale etc? As opposed to a kit?

Is there a turret that allows you to load up dies and have them adjusted to fit the 45-70 and remove that plate to have another plate already set up for the 9mm to just swap?

Is there a company that you favor for the dies that they make, therefore it best to use their press as well?

Bad timing out there for supplies, but I know it'll take me to the end of this year to get to the point where I will reload anyways. So I'm thinking I have a year to accumulate everything and I have a $1500-$2000 budget total for the equipment.

Hopefully some of you knowledgable ones will share your tips.

Thanks for your time.

Jeff
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l

Hi Jeff,

Youve got some of the basics covered. Stockpile of brass is a good start, more so on calibers you shoot a lot, less so on ones you shoot only a little bit, ie 20 brass for 30-06 if you only shoot it once or twice a year.

A turret press is an option, but dont rule out a single stage either. Singles work fine for rifle rounds loaded in small batches or large, how you organize things is most important, but a turret is nice for mass loading like pistol calibers. Choice is yours.

I recommend a kit, as its usually cheaper than buying every piece individually, but it certainly is possible to get better things individually apart from a kit, such as a more accurate trimmer, scale, etc. Stating out however, a kit is your best bet and even the cheapest kits have everything you need (less dies and components) that will get you up and running. As you learn and improve, you can upgrade things like the scale and powder drop if believe they will aid you. Case in point, other than a scale, im still using all the tidbits from my lee anniversary kit i got 10 years ago; they work and i cannot justify upgrading them. You might however.

Yes, hodge podge of items is normal. Ive got a lee press, rcbs bits, redding dies. This is normal.

Yes, turret plates are adjustable. If you have 5 calibers you can buy five turrets and only install tand setup the dies once.

Die preference for the beginner doesnt yield you any immediate benfit, dont worry about it. You lee, redding, rcbs or hornady will do, amounst others. Each brand carries everything you need if you wanted to stay brand loyal, but isn't necessary

As the cost of everything is going up, reloading is as popular as ever, hence, parts can be scarce. There are options like brownells for hard to find parts however.

Sky is the limit, but you can be up and going for $500 or less if you choose. A good solid bench you can dedicate for reloading ONLY is yours best bet, and organization skills will be your largest asset.

Im not far from you; send me a PM and i can walk you through if you have any more questions. Its seems like a lot at first, but i promise its only as difficult as you make it out to be. If you can manage to bake cookies, you can reload.
 
t-star said:
if you're thinking of a lee turret- only the 7.62 and the 9mm have cases short enough to accommodate the turret- ie the columns are too short- it's even marginal for 308 win and far 2 short for anything else- .....
Click to expand...

That is why Lee sells the Classic Turret press. It can size brass up to a length of 3.313".
 
frigpig said:
That is why Lee sells the Classic Turret press. It can size brass up to a length of 3.313".
Click to expand...

I use the Classic Turret. It is a fine press. I have drooled over the Redding turret for years but see no real good reason to buy one yet.

As for dies. Get what you can get. That's my advice to you.
 
I've been thinking about getting into reloading as well. I've been collecting 300 win mag shells for a while now and I am eager to start loading them.
 
as yu get further in, try to get calibers that use the same shellholders/plates- ie 45acp, 308, 06 and 8mm and a bunch of others use the same shellholder-saves BOTH expenses and time
 
All well appreciated guys!

So a single stage kit with all the goodies needed in the budget range of 15-2000

Which would you get considering those calibers?
 
LeducAb said:
All well appreciated guys!

So a single stage kit with all the goodies needed in the budget range of 15-2000

Which would you get considering those calibers?
Click to expand...

A single stage will work for all the calibres mentioned but will be tiresomely slow for reloading 9mm. $1,500 to $2,000 is a healthy budget to get started and the RCBS Rockchucker Supreme kit is a good start as is the Hornady Lock-N-Load Classic kit. I would add in an RCBS Chargemaster (from Natchez Shooting Supplies), A Franklin Armory Platinum Case Prep Center and a brass cleaning system f(wet or dry tumbling) and you will have all of the main pieces needed.

Additional items will include: A manual (one or more), dies, bullet puller, case gauges, and a micrometer. Items that you will likely get later are a Hornady Comparator/OAL tool, flash hole trimmer, primer pocket reamer, primer pocket decrimper and the list grows as you get more into the precision side of things with annealing tools, run-out gauges,etc.
 
geez, talk about expensive way to get there I've been doing this for over 40 years and I don't have half that stuff, and I do 9mm, 45,223, 308, 338 and 44 mag- I've got 3 lee 1000s for the pistols( I;m ju
st lazy)a loadmaster fro the 44, anda Dillon 550 for the rest- and I accumulated as I went along- i'd start off with a 45 and a 308/06- and a good manual - and watch the flea markets and garage sales- my scale is a beam bonanza-which predates pacific/hornady- and the lyman 2500 does my cases- watch the videos on reloading and READ THE BOOKS- follow the recipes to the letter, and you'll be fine
and I wouldn't buy anything fulton armory- there's nothing that they offer that the other 3 /4 don't at inflated pricetags- here's a tip look for features that save you time and money0 ie if you use the LEE case trimmer , the MANDREL is already set for the correct case length - so you don't need a big trimmer- and get a Vernier or dial calipers fro measuring case length- although wit the lee it seems redundant- most folks don't know how to use a micrometer,and i's fiddly
 
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I've been using a LEE turret press for a few years now, it is my first press and it has served my needs for reloading: 7mm MAG, .270, 7.62x39, and a boat load of .357/.38. I like being able to simply pull the turret disk and dies out and then drop in another with the dies in place for another calibre. For the rifle rounds, I remove the centre rod that makes the turret spin after each pull and more or less use the press like a single stage - but I never have to insert and readjust the dies. Now, I am just making hunting rounds and do not need to be precise to the point of making a 5 group clover on a paper target - though with enough trigger time and relative good load developments, you can get there on a LEE budget.
 
The first and most important advice you should listen to is this: be careful with advice - lots of people don't know the difference between fact and opinion. Being new to reloading, you don't have experience to judge, and believe me you have already gotten some less-than-100% factual advice.

If you want a turret press there is no good reason not to. There are several options depending on your budget. The best turret presses are perfectly capable of loading very accurate rifle ammo.

I use turrets in some cartridges because it is convenient to keep the dies loaded in the turret and just change turrets whenever you want to reload a different cartridge. LEE is not the best turret press on the market but it is a good starter and I certainly have reloaded cartridges much bigger than 9mm without any issues on my LEE turret when I started out - 30-06, 300winmag, 458winmag, 375H&H, and so on. The better quality turret presses by RCBS and Hornady are good and if you have the budget they will do very nicely for you.

A single stage press would work fine as well, it certainly is not the best for 9mm but is do-able.

Considering that you reload mostly for rifle, if it were me I would get two presses - a good quality single stage like the RCBS Rockchucker or similar for the rifles and a LEE Turret Press equipped with an auto index and a LEE Auto-Disk powder measure for loading 9mm. The Lee will be good for about 200-300 9mm rds/hr, where the single stage will only be capable of 50-60 per hour. IF you want to upgrade later it is easy to sell because there are always new people looking for used reloading gear.

If you shot A LOT of handgun (many 1000s of rounds/yr) then a progressive might be in your future but otherwise you really don't need it.
 
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I'm a big fan of turret presses (especially the Lee Classic Cast) if you want just one press, don't shoot more than about 300 hundred rounds per week (1-2 hours of reloading time) and are value-oriented.

if you are willing to get 2 presses, I think that a single stage and a progressive makes more sense. Dedicate the single stage to precision loads and the progressive to volume (pistol calibres and 223). Space and budget usually tell you which way to go initially. A Dillon 650 (my choice in a progressive) with parts for all the calibres will eat most of that $2k budget. There are cheaper options for a progressive (Dillon 550, Hornady, etc) that might allow you to squeeze both presses into the budget.
 
You have a substantial budget so really, anything is possible. the scope of your question is huge and will gain a huge range of opinions.

I will simply give a few points to think about as you put your purchase list together.... If you feel that reloading is something you want to do, focus on tools that do any job well and offer the least amount of headaches and the highest level of performance. Cost is NOT a good indicator of this... nor is the brand.

No company makes the best of every desired tool... pick and choose from the get go. Yes, it can be very confusing as everyone is screaming how good their stuff is. Because I offer pretty much all of the gear, I get to see alot, try a bunch, and get customer feedback. Quickly, you see things that work and things that don't.

The key is precision vs volume. Have a good understanding of the goals you have for the ammo produced. If you are making 20rds to go on a dangerous game hunt, speed is no where as important as utter and complete perfection in that ammo for fit and function.

If you desire to go plinking with the buds on the weekend and need a few buckets of bullets, speed becomes king so....

When I get similar requests to help set up a reloading bench, I always start with the shooter making clear goals for each chambering and rifle they are going to shoot. With your type of budget, you should end up with both a single stage AND progressive.... I am not a turret press fan.

Many single stage presses have very fast die changes so that argument is moot to me.

So plan out your priorities AFTER you have a solid understanding of the reloading process for each type of firearm you are loading for. Here a few reloading manuals is a very good idea. Once you understand the basics, shooter posts and opinions will be easier to understand/shift through... no shortage of conflicting/incorrect information.

Then the right tool to meet that particular set of tasks. There will be plenty of overlap but I treat each firearm as unique to ensure each firearm has the right set of tools to make loading the best, easiest and fastest possible to meet my goals.

Jerry
 
Glad someone finally mentioned Manuals; I have several Nosler; Hornady; Speer; Barnes; there are others; whatever bullet that I am loading, that is my go to information ......
 
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