looking for some advice

I always advise someone starting out to learn the basics first with affordable gear before spending thousands of dollars on stuff like inteledroppers , fancy electronic scales and super expensive dies .
That stuff won't make you more accurate or a better hand loader untill you understand the basics.
This means reading lots, and in this day and age there are lots of yutube videos on learning. And finding a mentor to help you.
Cat
 
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PNW said:
Hey looking for some advice on starting out reloading.
I currently don't have any reloading equipment except for a few dies I've picked up over the years with used guns.
I want to buy a new press, am I best off buying a starter kit or piece out scales, primer, tumbler etc separate?
Best brands? Want good quality reliable equipment that will last a long time so not concerned about price.
Any suggestion??
Thanks
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First, start by watching lots of video's on u tube, if you already haven't. They are free, minus your time, but the learning value is tremendous.

Ultimate reloader, has many, and does some press comparison ones.
Backfire has lots of good ones.
Plus there are many others with great videos out there on reloading. F class John, Eric Cortina.

Then when you get a chance figure out your end goal for reloading. For precision, for saving a buck, for shooting WAY more? The calibers you want to reload for?

This will help determine which route to go, and with what "price point" for equipment.

When I started several years ago, my ultimate goal was to load for precision, and lots of range use. My first year with a press I went from shooting 40 rounds a year to 700 rounds. That has just kept jumping up as well in the last few years.

This helped me determine that I wanted a serious set up, and decided to go the forster press, and mostly whidden dies. Started with a cheapo electric scale and soon realized I would need to step that up, and went to the M1000 beam scale and haven't looked back.
With brass prepped, I load in batches of 50 rounds. So prime, powder and seat bullet in 50 rounds in about 45 min. That is measuring every round for proper seating depth. Yep it can be done with a beam scale.

A good caliper is a must, and don't even bother trying the cheaper options before as you will still spend to upgrade.

I have a hornady manual and glad that I have atleast one. Great for quick ref checks while using others like Hodgdon, vitavori, berger sites.

You can start putting your own kit together for basics to get going, and then add as things come up, or require to keep progressing and learning.
 
PNW said:
Also what about your experience with lee or hornady or rcbs load data books?
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The Lee book is very interesting as Lee does not do their own load data testing, but complies data from many other companies like Seirra ,Speer, Nosler, Etc
This gives ypu a nice cross section for each cartridge .
I also like the Lyman manuals , but use many different ones .
Cat
 
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