does anyone out their got good advise on which reloader kit to start with i want to reload for 38/357,9mm,3006,22-250,and 7mmrem mag . i have herd that RCBS and Hornady kits are good and dilan is realy good and to stay away from lee any info will be great.
getting started
- Thread starter jcbruno
- Start date
Hmmm, lets see..Where to start? Firstly, buy yourself a good manual and read it. Then, maybe take some more time and look through this forum to see whats here. Chances are all of your questions will be answered oh maybe 4 or 5 times... As for avoiding Lee, thats pure poppycock. Everybody has an opinion and are always quick to share it. Lee has produced a lot of reloading equipment over the years and folks have been using it for decades and continue to do so. They may have some problems indeed, but so do the other manufacturers. Its like Ford owners saying that GM is crap and the reverse.
Spend some time, read the postings contained. They are a great source of info for a newcomer and you will learn as you read as opposed to somebody just telling you what works for them. Welcome to the world of reloading. Take your time and make sure you understand what you are doing.
Cheers
dB
Spend some time, read the postings contained. They are a great source of info for a newcomer and you will learn as you read as opposed to somebody just telling you what works for them. Welcome to the world of reloading. Take your time and make sure you understand what you are doing.
Cheers
dB
Like mentioned
do some homework. Maybe go to a friends house or someone that you know that reloads with confidence and watch and ask questions.
You do not need to spend hundreds of dollars on a press alone. Basically any press will due unless you tend on loading Magnum cases then something on the beefier side would be in order. I have owned 2 cheep Lee presses and have loaded thousands of rounds between them. The press is not what makes the great round it is the dies.
Dies is where I would not scrimp on. I have never used the Hornady dies or there new dimension dies so I cannot speak for them. I have also not used the Lee Collet dies that a lot talk about. I can tell you is that I would put my money on a set of Redding Full Length bushing dies with the competition seater. The Redding dies are awesome dies. Yes, that set is pricer at around 103.00 US when I checked, but they are worth every penny. I will leave it at that about dies.
Scale go with any beam type scale. I would stay away from a digital.
Sooner or later a case trimmer will be required. One of the best out there is the Wilson. Many have not heard of it but trust me it is far better than RCBS, Lyman etc.
Then there is the usual smaller ticket items, case chamfer tool, primer pocket cleaner (I personally use a primer pocket truing cutter to clean my primer pockets), brushes for cleaning inside of case necks (I use a old bore brush wrapped in 0000 steel wool for that), funnel, digital calipers(I got mine from Princess Auto for under 20.00, works flawlessly), powder trickler. You can get into truing your primer pockets and deburring the flashholes if you want to. I think that covers it.
As you get more experienced in reloading then you can buy a few more measuring tools to help you out in getting more consistent seating depths. These are not very expensive either.
This is just my thoughts on reloading equip. Everybody will have there own but ultimately the final decision is yours. I treated it as if I were buying the rifle that I wanted off the shelf. I did not buy what I thought would be okay, I got what I wanted. Treat it like optics, you get what you pay for.
JMO
Calvin
do some homework. Maybe go to a friends house or someone that you know that reloads with confidence and watch and ask questions.
You do not need to spend hundreds of dollars on a press alone. Basically any press will due unless you tend on loading Magnum cases then something on the beefier side would be in order. I have owned 2 cheep Lee presses and have loaded thousands of rounds between them. The press is not what makes the great round it is the dies.
Dies is where I would not scrimp on. I have never used the Hornady dies or there new dimension dies so I cannot speak for them. I have also not used the Lee Collet dies that a lot talk about. I can tell you is that I would put my money on a set of Redding Full Length bushing dies with the competition seater. The Redding dies are awesome dies. Yes, that set is pricer at around 103.00 US when I checked, but they are worth every penny. I will leave it at that about dies.
Scale go with any beam type scale. I would stay away from a digital.
Sooner or later a case trimmer will be required. One of the best out there is the Wilson. Many have not heard of it but trust me it is far better than RCBS, Lyman etc.
Then there is the usual smaller ticket items, case chamfer tool, primer pocket cleaner (I personally use a primer pocket truing cutter to clean my primer pockets), brushes for cleaning inside of case necks (I use a old bore brush wrapped in 0000 steel wool for that), funnel, digital calipers(I got mine from Princess Auto for under 20.00, works flawlessly), powder trickler. You can get into truing your primer pockets and deburring the flashholes if you want to. I think that covers it.
As you get more experienced in reloading then you can buy a few more measuring tools to help you out in getting more consistent seating depths. These are not very expensive either.
This is just my thoughts on reloading equip. Everybody will have there own but ultimately the final decision is yours. I treated it as if I were buying the rifle that I wanted off the shelf. I did not buy what I thought would be okay, I got what I wanted. Treat it like optics, you get what you pay for.
JMO
Calvin
Last edited:
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
I've owned some Lee equipment over the years, some of it I liked and some of it was crap. I very much like Lee's Factory Crimp Dies, especially for straight wall pistol cartridges. The little C press they market I found very handy for priming and bullet seating, but it didn't stand up to resizing full sized rifle cartridges. Never the less, these presses are good if you want a small low cost second press on your bench. The newest version of the hand priming tool is no where near as good as the original one which required putting the primer in the shell holder by hand, yet the press mounted priming tool I thought was quite good.
Lee makes one product which I consider dangerous unless they have improved it since I owned mine, and that is their scale. The first time I saw this thing I thought the design was great. The beam would weigh a maximum of 100 grs rather than 500 grs which is the industry norm. This should result in a far more accurate scale. But not only was it less accurate, it would stick, and no matter how many times you bumped the pan, it was difficult to get the same measurement twice, and when it did measure the same weight twice, you had no confidence that the weight was true. Sometimes the measured weight was off the true weight by several grains. I'm surprised this thing is still being sold.
My standard advise is to suggest that you purchase as many manuals as you can. As you gain experience you will find that it is useful to get data from more than one source.
When it comes to reloading tools all manufacturers are capable of making good products, and all have had stuff fall through the cracks. I prefer RCBS to most other stuff, but there are some things that the other makers do better. I have gear by RCBS, Lyman, Redding, Wilson, Sinclair, Lee, Giraud, and some I've made myself. Start with a beginners set from the manufacturer of your choice - I believe the best value is RCBS, but other folks have different ideas. I would not purchase the Lee set if that ####ty scale is part of the package. As you gain experience you can begin to add the tools you discover will make your operation more efficient.
Lee makes one product which I consider dangerous unless they have improved it since I owned mine, and that is their scale. The first time I saw this thing I thought the design was great. The beam would weigh a maximum of 100 grs rather than 500 grs which is the industry norm. This should result in a far more accurate scale. But not only was it less accurate, it would stick, and no matter how many times you bumped the pan, it was difficult to get the same measurement twice, and when it did measure the same weight twice, you had no confidence that the weight was true. Sometimes the measured weight was off the true weight by several grains. I'm surprised this thing is still being sold.
My standard advise is to suggest that you purchase as many manuals as you can. As you gain experience you will find that it is useful to get data from more than one source.
When it comes to reloading tools all manufacturers are capable of making good products, and all have had stuff fall through the cracks. I prefer RCBS to most other stuff, but there are some things that the other makers do better. I have gear by RCBS, Lyman, Redding, Wilson, Sinclair, Lee, Giraud, and some I've made myself. Start with a beginners set from the manufacturer of your choice - I believe the best value is RCBS, but other folks have different ideas. I would not purchase the Lee set if that ####ty scale is part of the package. As you gain experience you can begin to add the tools you discover will make your operation more efficient.
