First Reloading Bench Setup - Help

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rookiehunter

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I am now serious about starting to reload. Lots of theory in my head but now wanting to put it into action. Are these "reloading sets" you can get at Cabellas any good or is there a better way to get set up? In other words, what is the "best bang for teh buck" approach to getting your first (rifle) reloading bench setup?

Thanks in advance for any advise
 
Get one of the kits, you can upgrade piecemeal later on, if needed. I bought a Lee kit 25 years ago, still using it today without any substantial upgrades.
 
I’m in the same situation looking at setting up my first reloading bench. I’m leaning towards the Lee Classic Turret Press Kit.. about $400 and other than dies comes with all the gear to at least get started.
 
Getting a Kit is the quickest start, but you will be paying for upgrades or buying more accessories in no time. (Plus most kit comes with it you would get rid off very quickly).

I picked up all my reloading stuff here in EE (press, dies, powder measure, scale, all work very well). Also, try buying local, as the seller will be able to share some of his / her experience and know well in their equipment.
 
One of the best kit is the Lyman offered with the turret press that include the digital powder dispenser for about $900
BUT if you want to reload in any quantity and shoot pistol - get a Dillon 500 and a digital powder scale. Forget about doing 200 rounds of 9 mm on a single stage, this is not reloading but torture. You set up should be able to produce ammo for the amount of shooting you do.
Tool up to meet your actual and futur need.
 
I would ask how dedicated you are to start?
What do you want to load for now? What are your plans for the future?
Has someone shown you the basics and demonstrated proper procedure?
Have you got a location for proper set up?
Have you read any number of books on the subject?

There are a number of high grade complete packages on the market from "rookies" who lost interest to hunters past there best before date and estate sales.
 
I found over the years that my preferences changed - first major purchase was a single lever RCBS press - since then have got a RockChucker - could not afford one to start. Started with an Ideal (?) balance beam scale given to me by acquaintance - now use a Lyman DPS, but often using a Hornady balance for making one or two loads when making pressure test series, versus remembering to plug in and warm up the DPS. Had picked up a used RCBS Uniflow powder measure and stand - used that to "rough throw" initial weights, then trickle up to finish weight on the scale. Loaded 1,000's (?) of centre fire rifle rounds that way. Started out with Lee primer pocket tools - have since moved on to larger one - RCBS, and maybe one is a Sinclair?? Started with a Speer and a Sierra loading manual - have upgraded to newer versions several times - now have 6 different bullet or powder maker's "manuals" on the bench, plus a box with at least two or three times that many "older" versions - "old" ones sometimes useful for obsolete cartridges that are no longer listed in newer manuals - 7x61 Sharpe and Hart, for example.

I started with no one that I knew that did reloading - actually very first purchase was the Lee reloading tool that you pound the brass into the die with a soft hammer. That was it - cheap - and it worked to make 308 Win rounds that went bang. The only information I had was the card and the sheets that came with it. Very best would be to be able to sit with someone who has done reloading for a while - has tried different items - has chosen "tools of choice" for reasons. I have a lot of RCBS stuff, but really most all makers are represented in my stuff - sometimes all that I could find, sometimes I think that version works better than the others that I had tried.

Also, sort of boils down to - Do you have more money than time, or more time than money? For example - you can get very accurate, well functioning case length trim set from Lee for $20 or from RCBS for $800 - can not tell the difference between the finished product. The RCBS that I am thinking of give more choices / more flexibility which may or may not ever be used. Also, I have never loaded for hand-gun rounds - centre fire rifles only, so that might influence what is the preferred gear to chose.
 
Lots of different ideas and opinions. I say figure out right now if you want to start inexpensive and upgrade, or spend lots of money upfront. Each have pros and cons.

Unless you have a store nearby that you can pick up items a few at a time, shipping costs will kill you so a kit is maybe a good idea.

Rifle only? Single stage. Pistol only? Really depends on quantity. 1000 rounds a month? Progressive. Maybe a turret. 50 rounds a week? Single stage will be fine. Rifle and pistol? Turret or single stage.

I started with a Lee pound-and-load, then a Lee Single Stage C press, and now am on a Lee 4-hole turret press and reload many hundreds of pistol rounds and maybe a hundred rounds of rifle rounds a month. It works well for me.
 
Some fair questions: so I have read a number of books including “the Nosler” and also have shadowed a friend a number of times. I have a solid and safe location I can set up.
Looking at rifle only, for now 100 rounds a week.
 
rookiehunter said:
Some fair questions: so I have read a number of books including “the Nosler” and also have shadowed a friend a number of times. I have a solid and safe location I can set up.
Looking at rifle only, for now 100 rounds a week.
Click to expand...

Then you will be find with a basic kit and beam scale, all you'll likely need extra is your dies, shell holder ,consumables and some type of brass cleaning method as well as calipers , case trimmer.
 
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I wouldn't say 100 round a week of rifle rounds as "insignificant". For a newby, with a rudimentary so-called "beginners set-up, your probably going to take 3-4 hrs a week to load that many shells...as you gain experience and fine tune your methods and include "batching ' when passible, you will probably end up with a 3 hour expenditure of time per week. That's still a 12 hr work day per month.

With that amount of loading planned I would sure recommend a rotary press of some kind. I have owned several Dillon progressives & rotaries ( contrary to popular thoughts the 550 is not a progressive...at best it is a manual rotary press), a number of single stage press's over more than 50 years of re-loading...and my "never sell until I'm in the ground" will be my Lee Classic Cast rotary press...that's not to run down a Dillon 550 by comparison as it is a very fine rotary machine. There is no difference in the quality of ammo coming from either machine...it's the price point difference for a beginner that seals the deal for my recommendation...the Lee press will be 1/3 the initial cost of a Dillon.
 
I agree with fingers - I find I do up the brass first - do that in one evening - get it "ready to load" - de-prime, sized, trimmed to length, chamfer and primed - often batch of 50 or 100 cases. Sometimes end up with several sets of brass "ready to load" - for one day!!! Never used to worry too much about tumbling - am convinced it is "for the eyes only" - but cases need to be clean to start with. A second sitting to weigh and place powder and seat bullets at same time. Wet tumbling, drying, annealing all add more time - never bothered with any of that for 20 years or so - I do that now, sometimes, but do not really see any performance improvement in my "off the shelf" production hunting rifles. Usually do the "full meal deal" - tumble and anneal - with pick-up brass or previously fired by someone else. Bought a really inexpensive RCBS kit from Cabela's a few years ago - a Partner Press was included - often set that one up just with a Universal de-priming die and de-prime everything handy, while the RockChucker sits idle... I found I prefer to use the RCBS primer pocket swage tool in the RockChucker for both 5.56 and for 7.62 NATO - but had done it previously on a single leverage press.
 
Start simple, and focus on safety. Learn all the steps involved in going from brass to cartridge, learn which measurements are important, learn things like how much resistance you should feel as you press a primer into place, or a bullet into its place. Don't overcomplicate things straight off. I always make sure I see a reasonable powder charge in each case before placing a bullet on top (not empty, not double or otherwise visibly wrong).

Later can come the refinements for ultra-identical rounds for benchrest rifle, or a progressive press for high-volume pistol or whatever you want to progress to.

Avoiding temptation to go up to the maximum charge possible should also lead to a longer and happier life.
 
old303 said:
Avoiding temptation to go up to the maximum charge possible should also lead to a longer and happier life.
Click to expand...

Yes, longer life sounds pretty good :) For now, I think I'll get set up with a $899 Lyman set from Cabellas and see where it takes me. Appreciate all the feedback from everyone!
 
OP you have been getting good advice here from old hands. This is going to be a lifelong hobby. You will be gathering different tools along the way as your interests change.

Super accurate, benchrest rifle will lead you into different tools than IPSC pistol. Both will be different from high volume trap/skeet/sporting clays, although those games have changed to where it has become uneconomical to volume reload. Reloading shotguns is now more about hunters custom tailoring patterns.

Beam scales such as the RCBS 5-10 are slow, but if you keep them covered when not in use, they can be trusted. Have more than one, or use check weights. I do not trust electronic scales and only use them to sort brass or check new boxes of bullets. Do a search; there has been much discussion on these things.

Sooner or later you will have more than one press on your bench. Make sure you allow enough space for this possibility. It works like this. Have you ever tried working on a machine with one of those multi-bit screwdrivers? Yes they are handy in a minimalist tool kit, but sooner or later having an array of the right screwdrivers on your workbench makes the work easier. It's the same with presses. The great feature of being able to screw dies in and out, becomes a hassle, when you have taken time to adjust a perfect headspace dimension. You remove the die to do another stage and then find that next time it is not quite where it was set before. I am being very fussy here, but you get the idea.

I have an old Bair C-frame press with a Lee universal decapper that does nothing else. This also save wear on my better presses.

Three quality measuring tools in order of importance are:
1. Dial caliper. easy to read and no batteries. use it to measure almost everything, OD, ID, depth.
2. Tubing horseshoe micrometer. The proper way to measure neck wall thickness, important if you plan to do precise rifle reloading for tight chamber necks and/or neck turning.
3. Sinclair style case runout tool. Not cheap, but the dial indicator has other uses. Again, a rifle tool more than anything.

So, what else can we add to the wish list?

A vibratory cleaner is great to clean and polish brass. I like the corn or nutshell media. There is some debate about steel pins and ultrasonic cleaners Keep reading.

Sooner or later hand cleaning primer pockets and chamfering brass gets tedious. I have the Lyman prep station machine, great addition.

If you plan to do lots of full length resizing, case forming, or bullet swaging, invest in the biggest, highest leverage press you can find. This will not be a high volume press.

To close, and get off the exotic and costly trinkets, some of the best equipment you will acquire will be bits of wire, paper clips, tweezers, needle nose pliers, funnels, magnets, small vacuum cleaner, magnifying glass, etc. etc. Have fun.
 
The turret press kit from lee was my first purchase, and I still use it for some low volume rifle calbers. The scale sucks though. It is not dampened and takes for ever to settle. A used $50 dollar lyman beam scale took about 20 seconds a round off my loading time.
 
I will echo bc308 regarding scales. I have a Lyman DPS 3 - I thought it was great, at first. Then became frustrated with it as it started doing "odd" beeps and flashing things. I no longer trust it - calling for another calibration after 10 or 12 throws is nuts!! - so I basically use it like a powder measure - verify and trickle all my loads on a beam scale now - have never known gravity to quit or be influenced by a cell phone ringing. So for your scale - get a few things - bullets, cases, whatever. Weigh them. Do some loading - now weigh them again - exactly the same numbers? Then your system is working like you hoped. And that seems what it is all about - same, same, same - every time. Learning to use a calliper - measure something for length or ID or whatever - now do it again two more times - did you get three identical numbers??? Any measurement - if you can not get dead nuts identical a second or third time, something is not working - you, the tool or something - goes for callipers, scales, etc.
 
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