no idea what to do, worth getting in to reloading?

G

GaryH

New member
EE Expired
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Location
Kitchener, ONT
Here's the low down, I have a 45 and just bought a 357, I have no clue when it comes to reloading!

is it just as easy as buying one of those $500 kits and I will have all I need? what am I looking at as far as cost goes? how much cheaper is it after I have the gear, is the powder, primer and bullets cheap?

does anyone run courses in this kind of thing? how long does it take to do say...1000 rounds?

I will get into it at some point as I plan to have a few guns, I like the idea of messing around with grains and weights but I need to know what I'm doing first!

I see used kits around but again I have no clue what I'm looking at! if they don't run courses they should!
 
to start out is pretty cheap, dies/press/book/powder/primer/bullets/cases/scale/caliper

then it starts costing alot more... progressive press, tumbler, bulk bullets, bulk powder, 1000's of primers, buying once fired brass... it just depends on how much you shoot if you really should invest in reloading... if its 100rnds a month then its going to be cheaper to just buy a box or two every payday...

or like me and alot of folks here, we shoot between 500 and 5000rnds a month so buying ammo in large enough quantity is not only expensive but impossible to find at times...

time wise i can punch out maybe a hundred rounds of large rifle ammo in a busy night of reloading doing everything from size/polish/trim/prime/charge/seat/crimp being super carefull and weighing every charge by hand
handgun ammo on a decent progressive can range between 200 and 500rnds per hour maybe more maybe less depending on the operator...

and no... the $500 kits are not compleat, you will need to or should add something to every kit on the market be it dies, trimmer, caliper, lube pad, powder thrower etc etc.. they do this for the simple reason of keeping costs down or allowing you to purchase a better tool for your specific needs rather then supplying you with something genaric you wont really want/need/use anyway.
 
That's great info, I am new to this so right now I shoot about 200 rounds a week, but that might go down (or up) once its not "new" anymore.

My wife is waiting for her PAL in the post so she will also be shooting at the range, my buddy just bought his first gun last week (9mm) so he to is shooting (might be worth splitting the cost with him)

would it be fair to say to get all the equipment $1500 would cover it? sounds like when you know what your doing you can pump them out pretty fast, but I still need to learn, do they do courses or is it self taught?

forgot to say thanks Hotwheels81
 
If you are reach, you can pay a $500 kit, but if you want just to reload for a handgun, you needn't do that. Kind of $200 will be enough. But yes, it will take some time to load 1000 rounds: 50 handgun loads take me 1 hour. And generally speaking, more you pay faster you go (if you don't waste your money). Me too, I have same calibers as handguns: 45ACP and 357mag. As for the cost, it is just fantastic: with cast bullets, both 45ACP and 357mag are as cheap as 5 or 6 cent a round.
 
Guy....heres the simple answer. If you are shooting enough to justify the expense of reloading then yea. Reloading does not make a lot of sense if you A; dont have the time to do it right and B; don't shoot enough to justify the expense.

Reloading is not cheap to get into (despite what pople say), when you buy the cheaper kits you get exactly what you pay for. I bought the LEE kit and most of the compenents were s**t and I replaced everything but the press itself, wasted money. There are definite benefits to building custom loads but thats another story.

If I were you I would wait and see what youre spending weekly once your usage settles down and the novelty wears off.
 
Fozy said:
Guy....heres the simple answer. If you are shooting enough to justify the expense of reloading then yea. Reloading does not make a lot of sense if you A; dont have the time to do it right and B; don't shoot enough to justify the expense.

Reloading is not cheap to get into (despite what pople say), when you buy the cheaper kits you get exactly what you pay for. I bought the LEE kit and most of the compenents were s**t and I replaced everything but the press itself, wasted money. There are definite benefits to building custom loads but thats another story.

If I were you I would wait and see what youre spending weekly once your usage settles down and the novelty wears off.
Click to expand...

As for me, it's exactly with Lee dies, Lee primer tool and other tools that I reload for my handguns. Many thousands of rounds already. Yes, it's just personal taste: some want good and cheap rounds, others want it to be "cool".
 
The short answer is no - it won't be cheaper in the long run - but you'll have a lot more ammo to shoot, and it will provide another dimension to you in the shooting sports :)
 
depends on what you shoot too, I have a .338 lapua mag and if i want really accurate and cheaper rounds reloading is the way to go, or i can buy semi accurate ammo at the store for 5 bux a round. but then again i was reloading before i bought my .338, I reload for lots of differnt calibers and its like a passtime to reload for me, some even find it relaxing.
 
You can certainly save money in many calibres. 7.62 x 39mm, 5.56mm NATO and (sometimes) 9 x 19mm and 7.62mm NATO tend to be available at very low prices anyway, so it would take longer to pay off your investment.

On the other hand, for .357 Mag, the savings are more immediate.

There are two main problems. The first is that you tend to spend the same amount of money and simply shoot more (not entirely bad). The second is that reloaders are generally gear whores sans parallele - as bad as fishermen; every time we see a new toy, we need to buy it.

If you stick to the same quantity of rounds, if the rounds aren't already dirt cheap and if you don't keep pouring more money into the equipment, then yes, you can save money. The more you reload, the faster it pays - no surprise there.
 
Before you spend any kind of money, buy a good reloading manual. I would suggest ABCs of Reloading. Read it. When you are done, read it 2 more times.

I reload because I enjoy it. It's somewhat become more of an addiction to me then even shooting has.

Some calibers I save money on, some cost me more than factory but I end up with a much better product.

I have 3 presses and load for: 9mm, .357, .45, .44MAG, .223, .308, .3006, .300WSM and 12 gauge slugs and buckshot.
 
At 200 rounds per week, you need a progressive press if you don't want to spend a ridiculous amount of time reloading. About $700-800 should get you a Dillon 550 set up for one calibre, plus other tools like calipers, scale, etc.
 
mbarcher said:
This lil tool might help in figuring out costs of reloading ...
http://www.10xshooters.com/calculators/Handgun_Reloading_Cost_Calculator.htm
Click to expand...

This is a neat little calc - I had all the numbers available cuz I just bought all the stuff for my new toy - Beretta 92A1 ;)

So it turns out that I will have to reload 897 times to recoup the cost of my equipment - but I knew that going in. Factory loads in 9mm are $15 - I can reload for $5.

However the savings would be greater in larger calibers - my other toys include a 44mag and a 12 gauge and I reload both.

Also I enjoy reloading - it a great hobby, and as I said above - it adds another dimension to the shooting sports !
 
Ignoring the noticable savings you would see on reloading if you ignore the initial cost of the press, dies, scales, etc.. (tools), think of this in a different way.

For about 1/3 or less for the cost of supplies (brass, primers, powders, shells and bullets) when compared to store bought loads, you are opening yourself to an entirely new dimension in shooting.

Even the cost of set-up is usually less than the average new handgun. You've got a 45 and a 357 now. Do you want a 40 or 9mm for the wife as well? For the price of one of them, you'd have your reloading tools and books, and have an entirely new hobby that will drive your shooting hobby, as well as be driven by your shooting hobby.

Friends that want to reload as well? Buy the press yourself, have them buy their own supplies and dies, and leave the dies with you. Extra dies are always nice to have if you ever change calibers.

There are plenty of books available to read about how to reload, where to sstart, and what the different types of presses and dies are, how they work and which is best for (in the author's opinion) for each type of reloader. I'm sure there will be someone in your area that would be willing to walk you through the basics after you've done a bit of reading and have a rough idea on what types of questions to ask as they show you the process. Reloading can be as simple or complicated as you want it to be.
 
phatman said:
The short answer is no - it won't be cheaper in the long run - but you'll have a lot more ammo to shoot, and it will provide another dimension to you in the shooting sports :)
Click to expand...

Best and most honest answer.

I thought I would save.
I just shoot way more.
And discovered a new addiction.:)
 
I am with those that tell shooters not to get into reloading to save money. Do it only if you want to add the "reloading dimension" to your shooting hobby.

You can't really save much money. You will spend considerable time learning and doing it. If you spend a lot, you can reload faster. Reloading your own has performance advantages; it creates a whole new money pit in your shooting; it make shooting a really interesting combination of the science of reloading and the art of shooting; it's fun; you'll very likely become a better shooter.

You won't save money.
 
GaryH said:
That's great info, I am new to this so right now I shoot about 200 rounds a week, but that might go down (or up) once its not "new" anymore.

My wife is waiting for her PAL in the post so she will also be shooting at the range, my buddy just bought his first gun last week (9mm) so he to is shooting (might be worth splitting the cost with him)

would it be fair to say to get all the equipment $1500 would cover it? sounds like when you know what your doing you can pump them out pretty fast, but I still need to learn, do they do courses or is it self taught?

forgot to say thanks Hotwheels81
Click to expand...

yer welcome!

as for the next question, $1500 is alot of money to play with when it comes to parts and presses but setting up a reloading area will chew that up pretty fast... do you have a dedicated space that you can close a door and keep kids/pets/wife (jk) out of? last thing you want is little johnny messing with your charge bar or playing with your powder when your not looking!

tons of threads on this forum and on youtube about setting up a loading bench and room... a sturdy bench in a spare bedroom is about all you really need tho... some folks even clamp there presses onto the kitchen table in a gorilla reloading fashon :confused:

if i had $1500 to spend on hardware in your situation i would probably do this.

surf youtube with keywords "Dillon 650" "Dillon 550" "Hornady LNL AP", everything from setup to full automation is on there, hours and hours of how to vid's of various complexity... then figure out what tickles your fancy as far as machines go, nothing wrong with jumping into reloading on a progressive if your smart and cautious about whats going on.

i'm sure you wont need to look farther then the local gun club to find a wise old coot with a large handgun who can teach you a thing or two about reloading but for the most part your allmost better off letting the CGN community answer your questions and walk you thru the teething pains when you get started, atleast here we have others looking over our shoulders who know more then any one person and who can call bull$h1t if wrong advice is given or in most cases have learned the hard way and can give you a faster soloution to a problem thru hands on experiance with the exact same problem.

but give it some indepth thought, price out raw components and do the math yourself (check the EE under ammo and reloading components, alot of great vendor deals in there)...

oh and not that im biased or anything but when it comes to buying a press... i wont say what to buy but i will tell you this... i bought a LEE loadmaster because i figured it was a cheap way into progressive loading... between what i paid and what i lost i could have bought a much nicer unit that was made out of real metal instead of 50% plastic junk, one that when you looked for info on fixing the issue with it not feeding primers the results are mostly to not use the primer system on the press but to do it by hand... i just spent 10min thinking of a good analogy for LEE's crapmaster but nothing foul enough came to mind.
 
A lot of solid advice here- I'd go progressive-Hornady LNL AP or Dillon 550 type press and the rest of the kit. Go to it with a will, man! Enjoy, and welcome to the hobby!You will not save money, but will shoot more rounds for the dollar spent, and it is another asprct of the shooting sports, I find reloading enjoyable in and of itself.

I use a Dillon SDB for both calibers you mentioned staring with, as well as a couple other conversion kits I bought.If you believe that you will stick with strictly handgun loading, an SDB might be ok, but it does not work for any rifle cartridges, and takes proprietary and specific Dillon SDB dies and conversions.Thge press is a bit less than a 550,but conversion kits are not cheap at $80-$100 per conversion.Whereas the others (550,LNL) use standard size dies and are capable of full on or semi progressive operation, or single stage mode,and loading both rifle type and handgun cartridges IIRC.If I were buying my reloading gear over, I would buy one of those.
 
I have to respectfully disagree. A nooby should start with a single stage press, not a progressive. Yeah, I know, lots start with progressives, and I shot against lots of them when I shot IPSC. The number of pops instead of booms, and BOOMs instead of booms was positively amazing. Of course no one here has ever done that, but we all have ssen it - broken fingers, plugged barrels, shatter grip panels, magazines blown out.

Not that a guy can't screw up with a single stage, and that is my next point. Don't get most of your "how to" here on the CGN. As a source of misinformation, this forum is unmatched. Really. But the good loading manuals, the instructions with the dies themselves, the manufacturers websites, and of course The ABC's of Reloading will all guide anyone half-literate, and with a an IQ approaching warm, through safe, enjoyable, handloading, with quality ammo as a product. Here, not so much.
 
ykkid said:
I have to respectfully disagree. A nooby should start with a single stage press, not a progressive. Yeah, I know, lots start with progressives, and I shot against lots of them when I shot IPSC. The number of pops instead of booms, and BOOMs instead of booms was positively amazing. Of course no one here has ever done that, but we all have ssen it - broken fingers, plugged barrels, shatter grip panels, magazines blown out.

Not that a guy can't screw up with a single stage, and that is my next point. Don't get most of your "how to" here on the CGN. As a source of misinformation, this forum is unmatched. Really. But the good loading manuals, the instructions with the dies themselves, the manufacturers websites, and of course The ABC's of Reloading will all guide anyone half-literate, and with a an IQ approaching warm, through safe, enjoyable, handloading, with quality ammo as a product. Here, not so much.
Click to expand...

True, but I think we all know how much fun loading hundreds of rounds a week on a single stage press can be... And by following the advice here on CGN the noob will know a powder check die and a decent load book are a must...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom