Beginner Press and Reload questions

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hmr-hound

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Hey Guys

I am new to reloading. I have a Savage 111 in .270 win w/ a timney trigger and I want to start loading for it.

I have about 75 of once-fired winchester brass from super x ammo. I bought a 2-piece rcbs die set from the EE, A rcbs 505 scale, a lyman trimmer, a #2 shell holder and a hammer style bullet puller. My uncle gave me an open pound of varget to start off with. I need a powder thrower too eventually. I want to load with Winchester 130gr pp bullets

I need a press now, I'm on a pretty strict budget so I've been looking at the Lee Hand Press and the Lee C style press from Cabelas.

Does the hand press work as good and as easily as the bench mounted C style press?

How do you tell how far you are seated off the lands? I always read about this but don't quite understand how its measured. If I follow the standard overall case length should I come up with a good .75-1 MOA load?

Do I need to buy a priming tool to prime my cases or do the dies do this some how? I have a lee loader for 22-250, Can I use the hammer style jig to prime my cases?

Or should I just buy the Lee Anniversary kit?


Any other tips or need to knows for this newb would be great.

Thanks
 
x2 with the lee anniversary kit. Very affordable when just starting out.
I bought mine in '95 and still use it for reloading. I've since upgraded to the lymann DPS3 1200 electronic scale, but I keep the balance scale close by.
i also have had success with the rcbs reload dies.
I mostly reload for hunting and a bit of fun target shooting, so, it's worked awsome for me with no problems.
Go for the lee kit :D
 
You have a scale. Get a set of the Lee Scoops, and use the appropriate one to load the scale with. You will find that you can get very consistent with the scoops, but not super accuracy kind of consistent, just dead gophers or dead deer kind. Scoops will get you loading and the scale will keep it accurate.

I bought a Lee Classic cast for $120 at Wholesale Sports. Big heavy and solid. If you can scrounge up a Lee Challenger type "O" frame press, they are quite more rigid than the "C" frame presses. The "C" frame ones will get you going though. The hand press can be used while you watch TV, the bench mounted one, not so much.
FWIW, for the last few years I have been using an older Lyman die cast "C" frame press that is convertible between being a hand press or a bench mount, by changing some pins around. It's worked well for me. I typically load maybe 100 rounds of .308, or a couple hundred .223 at a time, and the ammo shoots well enough for my needs.

Measuring off the lands. A couple different ways to do that. Do some digging around on Google or whatever search engine you favor. Essentially, you have to measure at which OAL that the ogive actually touches the lands, and adjust from there by changing seating depths. Try not to get wrapped around a post over it at this stage. Look at the 'book' OAL max, and compare that to some commercial ammo, if you have any around.
I have modded some cases for guys that wished to use them for checking their seating, by threading the case heads so that the bullet can be pushed out to make contact. More advanced stuff than you need to be really worrying about at this stage.

Look at all the stuff in the kit, and figure out if you need all of it, or how much is in there that you do need or want. For what is in the kit for the price, you would be hard pressed to scrounge up all the capability, for less coin.

The die cast Lee stuff is really nothing special, but it will make ammo for you. Budget, is what Lee stuff is best at! It works, but it won't make you feel like you just drove a Ferrari, or anything like that. :D

Cheers
Trev
 
I would avoid the Challenger press.If I had to have a LEE press,it would be the Classic cast iron press.Go with the LEE Autoprime,they are easy to use,and reasonably priced.
 
If your loads will equal the accuracy of normal factory loads from a major company, you will be doing good.
Varget is too fast a burning powder to be very good in a 270. You can use it, but you will not get the velocity out of it you would with slower powder. It also requires greater care in using it. That is because the case will be well short of full, with a maximum load, and could more easily be over loaded. Put another way, faster powder is more critical in the area of full load.
4350 is a much better powder, but 4831, or equivalent is best of all.
You probably couldn't load 130 grain bullets to touch the lands. Load the bullet to go most of the way through the neck. Or, if you have a 130 grain factory load, just load yours the same length. If the bolt will close on it without effort, which it almost certainly will, you are good to go.
There is a practical way to seat the bullets in relation to touching the lands, but no use going into it with you at this time. You have too much to remember, without getting confused about prescission bullet seating.
 
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