First reloading kit

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RielM

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I know this question has probably been asked many times over the years. As prices and products change I just wanted to get a few experienced opinions. Any suggestions for a good entry level press kit?
I would like to reload mostly for my rifles, however wouldn't mind being able to do pistol too down the road. Looking at something in the $4-600 range. Some options that caught my eye are the RCBS supreme master, the Hornady Lock and Load and the Lee Turret kits. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.
 
I think the Lee Classic Turret Kit is an excellent place to start. Lots will tell you to start with a single stage press, but for many people that means upgrading later on. The Lee Classic Turret can be readily used as a single stage, but also offers the speed and convenience of a turret. When you move on to pistol cartridges, a single stage gets old fast.

The kit comes with the new auto drum powder measure, and it is one of the best available. The scale that comes with the kit is not the best, but will get you started.
 
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Classic turret kit is the way to go for starter. Simple and effective and at 250-300$ leaves room for dies and components.

Buy the press, read the book, buy the rest.
 
Rcbs. They have good customer service. Many long term reloaders have a rcbs for there single stage (I do as well)

I would say look for one on EE sometime you can find a good deal there not sure if

I would go with hornady locknload as you need special bushing, you can get similar results with a nut w/ set screw in it (I think RCBS dies and maybe Dillon come with this and a few others) the nut with the set screw can also be bought (cheaper than a locknload bushing)

Make sure you get a good scale and powder thrower
 
Go with the Rock Chucker Supreme Master kit.

Wholesale Sports sells these for $589.00, and you can no doubt find them cheaper elsewhere.

You could go cheaper with a Lee Classic cast press, but the Rock Chucker is better. The Lee has a hollow tubular handle while the Rock Chucker is solid steel. As well, the Rock Chucker has a solid cast iron block where the handle attaches to the linkages, while Lee uses a weaker multi-part clamp system.

For rifle reloading, you won't need a turret press, and if you elect for one later, you should buy the RCBS one, or even better the Redding T7.
Both are stronger and better than the Lee, which uses the same tubular handle, and multi-part clamp mechanism as the Classic Cast single stage press.
Also, the Lee Turret presses use a plastic part to auto-rotate the turret, which has been known to wear prematurely.
Both the RCBS and Redding feature a better on-press tube-feed priming mechanism, if that is your priming choice.

The RCBS kit comes with an excellent beam balance scale and a very good powder measure, both of which you will need right off.
Lee kits come with a cheaper plastic scale (much-disliked), a cheaper powder measure, and an aluminum press, which you will want to upgrade fairly quickly.

IMHO, the Rock Chucker option is your best bang for your buck.
Even if you later upgrade to a turret press, I think that you will always have use for the Rock Chucker as a secondary press.
 
RCBS, Redding/Forster or Dillion. Buy used or if you are near the U.S border buy it there.

Research rock-chucker, RCBS Turret Press, big boss I & II, T-7 turret, Co-Ax, Dillion 550 and Dillion 650.

PM me your email I got bunch of PDF reloading books that I can share to get you started.

Cheers,
 
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I have a single stage press too, and if I had known then what I know now I would have bought lee turret press first. Like most off us you will start Loading "rifle only " and then you will want to use it for other cartridges too. Once that happens the single stage will become too slow for you and you will be looking to turret or progressive.buying a 500 or 600 dollar single stage is crazy talk unless it's to say look at how much I can spend. All presses come with rock solid warranty so I wouldn't worry about handle composition again unless your going somewhere warrantys are not honoured.
 
I agree with the "buy used" idea and with the single stage for beginners or lower volume re-loaders.

This equipment does not wear out and any used presses will give you many years of good service. Some people buy a complete single stage kit and then find out that re-loading is not for them, or lose interest for some reason or upgrade to progressives. Then they want to get rid of all this equipment that is taking up room in their gun room.

Check local buy and sell, kijii, gun shows etc. EE has reloading stuff but because of the weight shipping can be high unless you can buy local. Go for a basic set up if you find one : press, powder measure, scale. You can then add other bits as you find you need them for what you end up reloading for (trimmers, dies etc).

A final bit of advice: Get a reloading manual - information on the internet can be suspect or downright dangerous.
 
If you do look at the Lee Classic Cast Turret, I wouldn't worry about the build quality. They are built quite heavily, much heavier than the standard Lee Turret. I reload for over 30 calibers, and in quite high volumes. My Turret is 10+ years old, and in that time I have replaced 1 plastic advancing disk. The press came with a spare, but I bought a spare pk/3 for about $5 in case I ever need another one.

I used a RCBS Rock chucker for years, and personally couldn't imagine going back to one. Although many people are fine with the volume that can be done on them, I couldn't hope to produce the volumes I need on a single stage. But that totally depends on the individual and their needs.

The main things I like about the Classic Turret is it built quite solid, changing between calibers is quick, it can produce accurate ammo at a respectable pace, and i prefer the priming system.

The Lee Auto Drum powder measure that comes with the kit is excellent. One of the few that can measure fairly course powders well. This is due to the use of an elastomer wiper, that doesn't try to cut powder kernels. It comes with 2 drums, one for small volumes, and one for larger. You can buy additional drums in sets of 4. So you can set each drum for a specific load and powder. Whereas most powder measures require you to reset them in between various loads.

The Lee reloading book that comes with the kit is very good, especially for someone just getting started. It cover the basics of reloading very well.

But whatever you finally choose, have fun. They all work, and will give you flexibility in what you shoot, that you just can't get with store bought ammo.
 
simpleman said:
I have a single stage press too, and if I had known then what I know now I would have bought lee turret press first. Like most off us you will start Loading "rifle only " and then you will want to use it for other cartridges too. Once that happens the single stage will become too slow for you and you will be looking to turret or progressive.buying a 500 or 600 dollar single stage is crazy talk unless it's to say look at how much I can spend. All presses come with rock solid warranty so I wouldn't worry about handle composition again unless your going somewhere warrantys are not honoured.
Click to expand...

The Rock Chucker press only costs about $275.00 on it's own.
It is the high quality kit, including the Rock Chucker press, beam balance scale, powder measure, hand-held priming tool, loading block, reloading manual, case lube kit, powder funnel, and hex wrench set that costs around $589.00 at Wholesale Sports.

When you compare the Lee Classic Cast press at around $199.00 and the Rock Chucker at around $279.00, you save only about $80.00.
If you can afford the better press, why bother with the inferior handle and clamp setup, even if a warranty will repair it for you?
And the Lee Turret press uses the same handle and clamp system.

Also, like I said, both the aluminum and cast iron Lee Turret presses use a very short-lived plastic part to auto-index the turret, which requires frequent replacement.
The RCBS and Redding T7 are much better presses, even if you have index the turret manually.
 
Lonesome Donkey said:
The Rock Chucker press only costs about $275.00 on it's own.
It is the high quality kit, including the Rock Chucker press, beam balance scale, powder measure, hand-held priming tool, loading block, reloading manual, case lube kit, powder funnel, and hex wrench set that costs around $589.00 at Wholesale Sports.

When you compare the Lee Classic Cast press at around $199.00 and the Rock Chucker at around $279.00, you save only about $80.00.
If you can afford the better press, why bother with the inferior handle and clamp setup, even if a warranty will repair it for you?
And the Lee Turret press uses the same handle and clamp system.

Also, like I said, both the aluminum and cast iron Lee Turret presses use a very short-lived plastic part to auto-index the turret, which requires frequent replacement.
The RCBS and Redding T7 are much better presses, even if you have index the turret manually.
Click to expand...

Just wondering, have you actually used the Lee Classic Turret. As I mentioned, I've changed one advancing disk in 10 years. I don't consider that as "requiring frequent replacement". Personally i don't understand why anyone would want to manually advance a turret. But if the urge strikes, you can also do that with the Lee Turret.
 
Lonesome Donkey said:
The Rock Chucker press only costs about $275.00 on it's own.
It is the high quality kit, including the Rock Chucker press, beam balance scale, powder measure, hand-held priming tool, loading block, reloading manual, case lube kit, powder funnel, and hex wrench set that costs around $589.00 at Wholesale Sports.

When you compare the Lee Classic Cast press at around $199.00 and the Rock Chucker at around $279.00, you save only about $80.00.
If you can afford the better press, why bother with the inferior handle and clamp setup, even if a warranty will repair it for you?
And the Lee Turret press uses the same handle and clamp system.

Also, like I said, both the aluminum and cast iron Lee Turret presses use a very short-lived plastic part to auto-index the turret, which requires frequent replacement.
The RCBS and Redding T7 are much better presses, even if you have index the turret manually.
Click to expand...


The lee classic turret kit has same as the "high quality" rcbs kit but at a price of 250-300

Anyways I wasn't trying to upset you, just save o.p the heartache we have all been there why not save someone from following our beaten path
 
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I can't imagine why anyone would presume that I am upset by this discussion. :confused:
Certainly not the case.

As has been said, I only want to make suggestions to assist the O.P. in making good decisions without having to upgrade needlessly later.

Honestly, if the O.P. wants to go with a turret press, then the Lee classic cast turret press is certainly strong enough.
But, what I'm saying is that the RCBS and Redding turret presses are better.

The one feature that the Lee turret press does offer is automatic indexing of the turret, but since it uses a tiny plastic part enclosed inside a plastic clamp on the ram to accomplish this, I find it unimpressive.

IMHO It's completely insignificant anyway, because indexing on an RCBS turret press or Redding T7 press is fast and easy.
You operate the press lever with one hand and index the turret with the other hand at the same time. It's just as fast.

To gain a better picture of this, have a look at this video of the Redding T7 press in operation.
The RCBS turret press is very similar and would operate about the same.

The actual operating demonstration starts at 6:15 in the video. Everything before that is preamble.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3R7PkPklUM

Also, the Lee Classic Cast turret press kit contains the cheaper plastic Lee beam balance scale (which many dislike), and a powder measure which IMHO isn't as good as the one in the RCBS kit.
 
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My experience went something like this. I sat with a friend and watched him reload, decided that I would like to do it and bought a couple of manuals. Read the manuals cover to cover and bought a used Rock Chucker with a bunch of accessories (scales, lube pad, trays etc) that was in about 1993. I used that set up for rifle and pistol, at times shooting quite a bit. Yes, pistol can be slow but you learn and appreciate the whole process. 18 months ago I bought Hornady's Lock and Load AP press. I mostly use it for pistol but for load development and rifle I still use the Rock Chucker, after over 20 years in my shop it is still good as new. I couldn't imagine using a more advanced press without starting on a single stage and understanding how the thing works. With the exception of high volume small case (5.56), I wouldn't bother with the progressive for rifle.
Bottom line, read lots. Start simple, learn and be safe.
 
A lot of good info here!

If I could do something differently I would have paid a bit more and gotten a T7 instead of Big Boss as my second press.

Keep us posted what you have decided to go with;

Cheers,
 
Great info, thanks everyone. I have found a rock chucker supreme master kit for $450 vs wholesale's 589.. If you add up the price of components included, it seems like a pretty good deal... If the RCBS measure, scale, hand priming tool, etc are all good in the long run and superior to the items in the Lee kits, I am leaning towards going with this. I could always add a turret press to the works down the road.
 
Not a fan of manually advancing a press. But did watch the T7 video, and was surprised at just how awkward the turret advance was. There is no doubt it is built really sturdy, but personally I would hate having to contort my arm to advance the turret.

There is always so much discussion over which press is the most heavily built, which I think is irrelevant. As long as a press is sturdy enough to do the intended job, over building it is somewhat of a waste. Old Russian saying "Better is the enemy of good enough "

I agree that the Lee scale is not the best, but is cheap, and will get a guy started.

On the other hand, I think the Lee Auto Drum measure is one of the best. I have owned a RCBS Uniflo, and found it to be a pain. Thus why many people set them short of the intended load, and trickle the last bit. Or stick with ball powder exclusively in order to get some accuracy out of it. No such constraints with the Auto Drum.
 
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I did a ton of research reading, watching videos etc. I finally settled on a Redding T7 turret press. I have no regrets even though it was $$$. Buy once, cry once. Finding used is difficult but I got it from Grouse River when the US $ was lower and got it on sale.

It's solid, high quality and works very well. It has to mounted onto a solid surface so it doesn't rock all over the place. I got the primer feeder and I really like it. S&B primers flip over so you gotta watch that.

I have loaded most pistol calibers and .223 and I can usually crank out ~100 rounds an hour of pistol. So far I have reloaded close to 10000 rounds on it with no probs.

I found a used and older Lyman powder measure which is accurate enough for hitting paper and as long as you are below max loads.

I like Lee 4 die pistol dies. Can't beat them.
 
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