How do i get started?

johntrace

johntrace

Regular
EE Expired
Rating - 66.7%
2   1   0
I wish to reload my 7RM. I have saved all my cases and my friend has given me a press.

i have read good things about the Lee loader, i figure if i buy that and use the press instead of a hammer i would be in business.

I just need to leanr about primers and powder :confused:
 
If you have a press, just buy as set of Lee dies. One type comes with a shell holder and a powder measure (dipper) that will allow you to load up basic rounds. Keep it simple until you need more. The Lee Loader will not work in a press.
 
It depends which product you re talking about. I have a particularly low opinion of Lee's powder scale, IMHO it would be charitable to call it unreliable, and the one I had was simply dangerous. On the other hand I have a pretty high opinion of Lee's Factory Crimp Dies, particularly the ones made for straight wall pistol cartridges. I prefer die sets from RCBS, Forster, and Redding, but this is simply a personal bias and the Lee dies can produce ammo of equal quality. I liked the little Lee C press for primer seating, bullet seating, and neck expanding, but it was not up to full length resizing and I peeling the die recess of mine when attempting to full length resize .30/06 brass. Lee has a good warranty and the press was quickly replaced without any fuss. This was an early example and the subsequent ones are supposed to be beefier. I simply dislike Lee's large presses, and the progressive is junk compared to a Dillon. The powder measure spoons should be on every handloaders bench. The Lee Universal neck expander looks good to me, but I've found that very long cartridges don't leave much of the die body in my old style Rockchucker. The Lee case trimmer should be good, but there are few tools that have given me such a level of frustration, and don't even consider the deburring/chamfering tool they sell. The hand primer they sell today is in my opinion lower quality than the hand primer they sold in the '70s that only seated one primer at a time, but had thread in shell holders so you could precisely adjust the depth the primer was seated. The priming tool that threads into a press and feeds from a tray is OK, but the primers often get hung up in the feed rail. I prefer the RCBS bench mounted priming tool.
 
The two top items I would suggest in getting started is;
  • - 1st, get someone as a mentor. A friend or someone you know that could walk you through those first few tentative steps.
  • - 2nd, get a few manuals and read carefully through the reloading process steps.
Quite a few of the manuals available are geared towards the products of a specific manufacturer but there are also a few such as Lyman that are not. You may be able to have too few manuals but not too many;).
 
Johnn Peterson said:
The two top items I would suggest in getting started is;
  • - 1st, get someone as a mentor. A friend or someone you know that could walk you through those first few tentative steps.
  • - 2nd, get a few manuals and read carefully through the reloading process steps.
Quite a few of the manuals available are geared towards the products of a specific manufacturer but there are also a few such as Lyman that are not. You may be able to have too few manuals but not too many;).
Click to expand...

IMHO this is the best advise you can get.
 
"...Lee loader..." Not made to go in any press. They only work with a plastic mallet(no steel hammers). You'd still need a scale, calipres, a case trimmer(with a chamfering/deburring tool, powder trickler, powder funnel and a reloading manual as a minimum. Those silly scoops aren't accurate enough(they can vary the powder charge +/- by a full grain) and no load data is given in CC's. A Lee Loader will turn out decent ammo, but slowly and they neck size only. Neck sizing is ok in your case though. Neck sizing is for bolt action rifles using brass fired out of the same rifle, only. New brass or once fired in another rifle must be full length resized first.
"...given me a press..." Which one?
Buy a copy of The ABC's of Reloading. Read it cover to cover. Then look into buying the rest of the required kit. Or just buy an RCBS Beginner's Kit. Comes with everything you'll need less dies and shell holder. The included Speer manual is ok, but only has data for Speer bullets. Buy a Lyman book too. RCBS' warrantee is on the kit, not the owner. Have any problems, even if you caused it or bought used, and they'll fix it, forever, with a phone call. They'll ask for your mailing address and nothing else.
At the very least, look on RCBS' site for what comes with it. You'll need all of it. Buying used is ok, but you'll end up spending more money. Takes a lot of abuse to damage modern loading kit.
"...Lee's reloading equipment compare to RCBS..." Lee kit is low end, entry level, stuff. RCBS's kit is the standard. Lee's warrantee isn't as good as RCBS' either. Dillon's is the same as RCBS, but their kit is considerably more expensive and not entry level.
 
Johnn Peterson said:
  • - 1st, get someone as a mentor. A friend or someone you know that could walk you through those first few tentative steps.
Click to expand...

Great advice. I have be going it alone and it's been pretty painful. I really wish I had of found a mentor before getting started. Thankfully the pain is starting to ease up and I'm getting some OK results but it's taken way longer than it would have with a knowledgeable teacher.
 
I remember churning out thousands of rounds of 9mm, .38 special, .303 british, etc on my Breech Lock Challenger from Lee when I first started. There is no better way to get into reloading than to buy a single stage press and read a book.

Right now you can buy the Lee reloader's kit, comes with the book and a single stage press for $40.00, all you need is a priming system and some dies. If you're doing rifle, you'll want a case gauge and primer pocket cleaner. I'm going to price this out on wholesale sports, but I know reloaders.ca can get this for you (because I got Drew to order it in for me) and you'll save the PST and he seems to be about 5% cheaper than everywhere online.

Book + Press: $47.00
http://www.wholesalesports.com/storefront/hunting/reloading/presses/anniversary-pack/prod56408.html

Chamfer Tool: $3.50
http://www.wholesalesports.com/stor...ading-accessories/chamfer-tool/prod54895.html

Lubricant: $4.00
http://www.wholesalesports.com/stor...accessories/resizing-lubricant/prod54150.html

Primer Pocket Cleaner: $3.00
http://www.wholesalesports.com/stor...essories/primer-pocket-cleaner/prod54910.html

Handheld Priming Device: $20.00
http://www.wholesalesports.com/stor...loading-accessories/auto-prime/prod55215.html

Now you're going to need a case length gauge + cutter, so add another $10.00. You'll also need a scale, they're $30.00. I've got a brand new Lee perfect powder measure never used in box I'm selling, but here's what they cost new:

http://www.wholesalesports.com/stor...ies/lee-perfect-powder-measure/prod55397.html

I'm getting $120.00 before components. Primers are $5.00 for 100, Rifle bullets are about $20-$40 per 100, let's say $30.00. Powder is about $30.00 per pound so there's another 65 bucks. Your total cost to make 100 cartridges is going to be under $200.00
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom