Looking for my first reloading starter kit

homslice said:
My friend is a competitive shooter and is able to get a 2" group at 500 yards with a Lee single stage and Hornady Dies. He's Loading 6.5 Creedmore.
Myself on my Lee Turret with Lee dies I can get a 4" group at 500 yards . My rifle is a 223. The quality of a Lee is more than you will need.
This guy here has an excellent video series on reloading
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Thank you for your reply, put things in perspective for sure. I will watch that video right now, thank you much appreciated
 
cosmic said:
That Rockchucker kit in the EE has a lot of (nice) extra bits. I wonder if the press is the newer bushing style?
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I don't know about newer style but seems like a few are saying it would be a good deal. I contacted him, we'll see what happens
 
Longstud said:
Theres a thread in the reloading section "Has anyone had a primer go off seating". There was a common element in almost every case LEE, thats my contribution. Buy once and cry once, RCBS, Redding, Hornady or higher end Look on the EE and pick out deals that suit your requirements. It doesnt have to all match. Be sure to keep your loading area clean and always wear eye protection.
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Thank you, great advice here. I appreciate it!
 
When deciding which press and accompanying accessories to buy, you have to determine how much you will shoot, how much money you are willing to spend, how much time you are willing to devote to reloading. For some, reloading is a hobby onto itself. At one point I had two Dillon 550B set-ups, one for large and the other for small primers. That's when I shot at least a thousand rounds every week or two. Then I slowed down on ammo consumption because I didn't compete anymore. I sold one 550B. Then I slowed down some more so I sold the remaining 550B and bought a Lee Classic Cast Turret and a Lee Loadmaster progressive and of course a Lee Classic Cast Iron single stage. This Lee 3-press setup could reload anything and everything I could possibly need or want. And I was able to buy the thee Lee presses. The Classic Turret and Single Stage presses work like a charm, but the Loadmaster is a challenge for me to set up, so the Classic Turret is my go to. IIRC, I was able to purchase all three Lees for what I sold my 550B for.

The Dillon 550B could produce 400 rds an hour if you set up your primer tubes already filled, fill the powder hopper, position your brass and bullet bins for least motion thus most time and motion efficient, pump like crazy and hopefully don't mistakes therefore wasted primers. Slow down to 250-300 rpm is comfortable. I can do 100 rds per minute on my Lee Classic Turret. The Single Stage was supposed to be for 30-06 rifle that sold many years ago so now I only Use the Single stage for resizing my home cast bullets.
 
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easyrider604 said:
When deciding which press and accompanying accesories to buy, you have to determine how much you will shoot, how much time you are willing to devote to reloading. For some reloading is a hobby onto itself. At one point I had two Dillon 550B set-ups, one for large and the other for small primers. That's when I shot at least a thousand rounds every week or two. Then I slowed down on ammo consumption because I didn't compete anymore. I sold one 550B. Then I slowed down some more so I sold the remaining 550B and bought a Lee Classic Cast Turret and a Lee Loadmaster progressive and of course a Lee Classic Cast Iron single stage. This Lee 3-press setup could reload anything and everything I could possibly need or want. And I was able to buy the thee Lee presses. The Classic Turret and Single Stage presses work like a charm, but the Loadmaster is a challenge for me to set up, so the Classic Turret is my go to. IIRC, I was able to purchase all three Lees for what I sold my 550B for.

The Dillon 550B could produce 400 rds an hour if you pump like crazy and hopefully don't mistakes therefore wasted primers. Slow down to 250-300 rpm is comfortable. I can do 100 rds per minute on my Lee Classic Turret. The Single Stage was supposed to be for 30-06 rifle that sold many years ago so now I only Use the Single stage for resizing my home cast bullets.
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That's very interesting! You basically came from a Dillon 550 to a Lee and you're happy. And you're obviously experienced by the look of it. I did look around and I can get a Lee classic for $400 new. Dillon is just over twice of that at $840 from Tenda. RCBS is just under that at $725. Id like to not invest too much but I don't want to be disappointed either. Many like you say go for Lee but also many are saying go a step up with RCBS or Dillon. Are your comment is not helping me just entirely kidding. I'll watch videos and think about all of this. Thanks for your reply much appreciated
 
Look at the Hornady LnL single stage kit, it’s well made and reasonably priced. There’s noting in it I don’t use, the other thing worth considering is a Lee classic turret press. You can disable the auto index feature and use it like a single stage or run it like a indexing turrret when you want to speed up and load pistol calibers quicker, there’s no setting up dies for each operation. You set them up in the turret and remove the turret to change calibers, its two press styles in one depending on how you use it.

Best thing is to buy a couple loading manuals and read the first sections that go into detail on the reloading process, Lyman and Lee manuals are probably the best starting points. There’s some good YouTube videos as well on the basics, jujitsu2000 really keeps it easy to understand.

Here’s his video on loading 44 mag, you don’t need to have all the latest and greatest gear honestly. Being consistent in your process and understanding the steps will be more important in the long run, once you have the knowledge you can start buying fancy equipment.
 
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ELEMENT WIND said:
ELEMENT WIND said:
Actually that's one thing I wanted to ask. Do you have books to recommend?
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ELEMENT WIND said:
No not crazy precision which I think it's good for a beginner. I don't want to skip steps and think I'm going to make the best ammo out there on my first go. I think it's cool too, I like to learn things and how they're made. If it saves me some money in the long run great but like you said... We'll see! For now I'll tell my wife it will save money ha ha. Cheers man
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Regarding books: The Lyman and Lee reloading manuals have information on a variety of components (different bullet and powder brands, cast bullets) as well as a front 1/3 of the manual telling you most of what you need to know to get started.
There is also the ABCs of Reloading, which I think is out there somewhere as a pdf.

As a noob, your goal should be to make ammo that goes bang, but not kaboom! I'm not a noob, and that's still one thing I aim for.
 
The Lyman and hornady reloading books are good I highly recommend them
When I got into reloading everyone told me to get a rock chucker but I wanted a progressive to load 8mm mauser for my MG34
I chose the lee loadmaster and everyone told me that was the worst press to go with
It does have it's issues but they were mostly worked out with ajdustments and how i use the press
I was going to get a dillon 650 but at this point i was reloading over 30 different rifle/pistol cartridges so it would have been cost prohibitive to get the press plus over 30 different caliber conversion kits.
The Lee is cheap and easy to switch calibers as all you need is the shell plate and turret plus the dies, the down fall to the loadmaster is it uses proprietary shell plates and some cartridges do not fit well with some of the plates
I started reloading some bigger stuff so that's when i got the classic turret press as it handles the bigger stuff better
The loadmaster got discontinued by lee a couple years ago so I bought a spare for 250 bucks with dies and shell plate when they went on sale
These will last me until I'm in the dirt
Don't be scared to jump into a progressive unit from the start just take it slow and load one round at a time until you get used to it
Rock chuckers and single stage presses are so last century you couldn't give me one...
 
I've been using LEE since I got a starter set from my dad as a teenager.Branched out a bit since then with expensive odds and ends...but I'd try and find someone you know who reloads and can show you the ropes starting out,once you find a set you like....best of luck..it's tedious,but fun...
 
Butcherbill said:
Look at the Hornady LnL single stage kit, it’s well made and reasonably priced. There’s noting in it I don’t use, the other thing worth considering is a Lee classic turret press. You can disable the auto index feature and use it like a single stage or run it like a indexing turrret when you want to speed up and load pistol calibers quicker, there’s no setting up dies for each operation. You set them up in the turret and remove the turret to change calibers, its two press styles in one depending on how you use it.

Best thing is to buy a couple loading manuals and read the first sections that go into detail on the reloading process, Lyman and Lee manuals are probably the best starting points. There’s some good YouTube videos as well on the basics, jujitsu2000 really keeps it easy to understand.

Here’s his video on loading 44 mag, you don’t need to have all the latest and greatest gear honestly. Being consistent in your process and understanding the steps will be more important in the long run, once you have the knowledge you can start buying fancy equipment.
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Thank you very much for your comment and the video link, very appreciated. I will look into it the Hornady you suggested right now. A few guys actually mentioned it so! Cheers
 
Deathrawt said:
The Lyman and hornady reloading books are good I highly recommend them
When I got into reloading everyone told me to get a rock chucker but I wanted a progressive to load 8mm mauser for my MG34
I chose the lee loadmaster and everyone told me that was the worst press to go with
It does have it's issues but they were mostly worked out with ajdustments and how i use the press
I was going to get a dillon 650 but at this point i was reloading over 30 different rifle/pistol cartridges so it would have been cost prohibitive to get the press plus over 30 different caliber conversion kits.
The Lee is cheap and easy to switch calibers as all you need is the shell plate and turret plus the dies, the down fall to the loadmaster is it uses proprietary shell plates and some cartridges do not fit well with some of the plates
I started reloading some bigger stuff so that's when i got the classic turret press as it handles the bigger stuff better
The loadmaster got discontinued by lee a couple years ago so I bought a spare for 250 bucks with dies and shell plate when they went on sale
These will last me until I'm in the dirt
Don't be scared to jump into a progressive unit from the start just take it slow and load one round at a time until you get used to it
Rock chuckers and single stage presses are so last century you couldn't give me one...
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OK well I'll take your comment with serious consideration on the progressive presses. But I won't be doing many different calibers like you though. Thanks for pitching in!
 
SA85M1 said:
I've been using LEE since I got a starter set from my dad as a teenager.Branched out a bit since then with expensive odds and ends...but I'd try and find someone you know who reloads and can show you the ropes starting out,once you find a set you like....best of luck..it's tedious,but fun...
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Thank you, I will have someone helping me out but they all have Dillon's.
 
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