Looking to Reload
- Thread starter futa_mill
- Start date
The best place to start is to buy a reloading manual from one of the major component manufacturers. They all have pretty good introductory sections in them on how to get started in reloading.
Personally I started with "The ABC's of Reloading" by Rodney James. It's under $20 on Amazon.ca
You need to look at what you are looking to do with reloading and that will determine what setup you should look into. If you are reloading pistol ammo or 223 or something and want hundreds of rounds a week for target shooting you should probably look into progressive presses. If you are looking to produce a couple hundred rounds a year for hunting or occasional target shooting it may be a lot less money to get a single stage or turret press. If you want to produce match grade high precision ammo there is a lot of specialist stuff to look into but you will probably want a single stage press as they tend to produce the most accurate ammo.
Which brand you look at also comes into play. Lee is the least expensive but also has some of the lowest quality products. That isn't to say they're garbage as I still use a lot of Lee dies because I can't be bothered to replace them and they can load sub MoA ammo for me so I have no reason to complain. They do have a higher rate of failure and issues with them but do have a good warranty service. RCBS is pretty good for quality but higher priced but also have one of the best warranties in the business. Dillon are famous for their progressive presses but they cost even more again but have arguably the best warranty. There is also Lyman, Hornady, CH4D, Pacific, and others out there to look at.
Two presses I would avoid are the Dillon Square Deal B and the Lyman 310 handheld press. Both use proprietary dies so they can't take dies from other manufacturers or even dies from themselves that weren't made specifically for those presses. That's not to say they are bad presses, they are in fact very good presses that produce good ammo but not being compatible with all the other dies on the market is a huge downside for me. Almost all dies are standardized at 7/8-14 for thread so, for example, a Lee die could be used in an RCBS press or vice versa.
Personally I started with "The ABC's of Reloading" by Rodney James. It's under $20 on Amazon.ca
You need to look at what you are looking to do with reloading and that will determine what setup you should look into. If you are reloading pistol ammo or 223 or something and want hundreds of rounds a week for target shooting you should probably look into progressive presses. If you are looking to produce a couple hundred rounds a year for hunting or occasional target shooting it may be a lot less money to get a single stage or turret press. If you want to produce match grade high precision ammo there is a lot of specialist stuff to look into but you will probably want a single stage press as they tend to produce the most accurate ammo.
Which brand you look at also comes into play. Lee is the least expensive but also has some of the lowest quality products. That isn't to say they're garbage as I still use a lot of Lee dies because I can't be bothered to replace them and they can load sub MoA ammo for me so I have no reason to complain. They do have a higher rate of failure and issues with them but do have a good warranty service. RCBS is pretty good for quality but higher priced but also have one of the best warranties in the business. Dillon are famous for their progressive presses but they cost even more again but have arguably the best warranty. There is also Lyman, Hornady, CH4D, Pacific, and others out there to look at.
Two presses I would avoid are the Dillon Square Deal B and the Lyman 310 handheld press. Both use proprietary dies so they can't take dies from other manufacturers or even dies from themselves that weren't made specifically for those presses. That's not to say they are bad presses, they are in fact very good presses that produce good ammo but not being compatible with all the other dies on the market is a huge downside for me. Almost all dies are standardized at 7/8-14 for thread so, for example, a Lee die could be used in an RCBS press or vice versa.
What caliber are you looking to load? I'm no expert, but the basic gear will get you started if you wanna spend some bucks. Here's a couple of links that might help:
http://www.theammosource.com/index....ath=15&zenid=3bd571a496da6a6f4bcdfd3f3e8004c9
http://web.barnesbullets.com/blog/bid/224622/The-Basic-Tools-You-ll-Need-to-Start-Reloading
Hoped that helped.
Doug V.
http://www.theammosource.com/index....ath=15&zenid=3bd571a496da6a6f4bcdfd3f3e8004c9
http://web.barnesbullets.com/blog/bid/224622/The-Basic-Tools-You-ll-Need-to-Start-Reloading
Hoped that helped.
Doug V.
Thanks for the info, that is just the sort of info I was looking for. Currently reloading would only be for my 7mm Rem Mag, which is my hunting rifle. Though next year I am looking at getting myself a range membership and my restricted pal, so that could lead to other purposes.
OK, as someone who just got into reloading, here is what I did.
First, I got a couple of ebooks on my ipad (don't have to wait for them to be delivered): Hornady reloading manual 9th ed. and the ABCs of reloading. Of the two, I found that the latter wasn't all that more informative and I would have been fine with just the Hornady manual. That, as well as Hodgdons reloading data site, should provide you with enough data to start reloading safely.
Then, I built a reloading bench. I made mine 4'x26" since that was all the space I could spare in my garage. The benefit was that I could make it out of a single full sheet of plywood and a bunch of 2x4s, so it wasn't too expensive. It is pretty solid setup. If you want, I can email you the Sketchup file I created when designing the bench.
I was going back and forth on what type of press I wanted. I decided early on that I didn't want a single stage, but it is the cheapest way to go especially if you are not loading a lot of ammo. In the end, I went with the Lee Classic Turret Press kit, since it came with many of the accessories I needed. In addition to the kit, I also got the Lee rifle charging die and double disk kit. Now the kit comes with a scale, but it isn't really good, so I ordered a Gempro 250 from Amazon, which is an electronic scale and much more useful.
I also ordered a Lee Reloader single stage press and deluxe quick trim and appropriate rifle die. The Reloader is probably the cheapest single stage press you can get. I wouldn't do any serious reloading on it, as it is pretty light and I'm not sure how well it will handle heavy use, but for things like case trimming, and maybe decapping it should be fine.
I ended up buying a set of Dillon carbide rifle dies, which is pretty much overkill. I could probably have gotten away with a set of Lee dies which would have been significantly cheaper. The Dillon set comes with a taper crimp die, but I also ended up getting a Lee factory crimp die. There is a bit of controversy over whether crimping is necessary. I've found no appreciable difference in accuracy between the taper crimp, factory crimp, and no crimp.
Other accessories included a Lyman case length/headspace gauge, a funnel, and a kinetic bullet puller. I did not buy a case tumbler, instead I just wash the brass with hot water and some laundry detergent, then dry in the oven. Works well enough but doesn't get the brass looking like new. Everyone raves about stainless steel media tumblers but they are a bit pricey and I would rather use the money to buy more components.
One other thing I got was some liquid lanolin off Amazon, and some 99% isopropanol from London Drugs, which makes a decent and cheap case lube. The Lee kit does include a small tube of case lube as well.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with my setup. I load .223 only, and I can get it to be pretty accurate, close to 1/2 MOA from my AR if I do my bit. Right now I don't load for handgun, mainly because it is next to impossible to find handgun powder, and bulk 9mm ammo is pretty damn cheap. Right now I don't shoot a lot of .45 auto, which is the only other cartridge I would reload, but that may change in the future. One nice thing about the Lee turret is how cheap and easy it is to set up another caliber.
I think, all totaled, I spent under $1000 for everything. Going with a single stage press and cheaper dies (and maybe a cheaper scale) would save you a few hundred dollars, so it might be do-able for about $500 or so.
First, I got a couple of ebooks on my ipad (don't have to wait for them to be delivered): Hornady reloading manual 9th ed. and the ABCs of reloading. Of the two, I found that the latter wasn't all that more informative and I would have been fine with just the Hornady manual. That, as well as Hodgdons reloading data site, should provide you with enough data to start reloading safely.
Then, I built a reloading bench. I made mine 4'x26" since that was all the space I could spare in my garage. The benefit was that I could make it out of a single full sheet of plywood and a bunch of 2x4s, so it wasn't too expensive. It is pretty solid setup. If you want, I can email you the Sketchup file I created when designing the bench.
I was going back and forth on what type of press I wanted. I decided early on that I didn't want a single stage, but it is the cheapest way to go especially if you are not loading a lot of ammo. In the end, I went with the Lee Classic Turret Press kit, since it came with many of the accessories I needed. In addition to the kit, I also got the Lee rifle charging die and double disk kit. Now the kit comes with a scale, but it isn't really good, so I ordered a Gempro 250 from Amazon, which is an electronic scale and much more useful.
I also ordered a Lee Reloader single stage press and deluxe quick trim and appropriate rifle die. The Reloader is probably the cheapest single stage press you can get. I wouldn't do any serious reloading on it, as it is pretty light and I'm not sure how well it will handle heavy use, but for things like case trimming, and maybe decapping it should be fine.
I ended up buying a set of Dillon carbide rifle dies, which is pretty much overkill. I could probably have gotten away with a set of Lee dies which would have been significantly cheaper. The Dillon set comes with a taper crimp die, but I also ended up getting a Lee factory crimp die. There is a bit of controversy over whether crimping is necessary. I've found no appreciable difference in accuracy between the taper crimp, factory crimp, and no crimp.
Other accessories included a Lyman case length/headspace gauge, a funnel, and a kinetic bullet puller. I did not buy a case tumbler, instead I just wash the brass with hot water and some laundry detergent, then dry in the oven. Works well enough but doesn't get the brass looking like new. Everyone raves about stainless steel media tumblers but they are a bit pricey and I would rather use the money to buy more components.
One other thing I got was some liquid lanolin off Amazon, and some 99% isopropanol from London Drugs, which makes a decent and cheap case lube. The Lee kit does include a small tube of case lube as well.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with my setup. I load .223 only, and I can get it to be pretty accurate, close to 1/2 MOA from my AR if I do my bit. Right now I don't load for handgun, mainly because it is next to impossible to find handgun powder, and bulk 9mm ammo is pretty damn cheap. Right now I don't shoot a lot of .45 auto, which is the only other cartridge I would reload, but that may change in the future. One nice thing about the Lee turret is how cheap and easy it is to set up another caliber.
I think, all totaled, I spent under $1000 for everything. Going with a single stage press and cheaper dies (and maybe a cheaper scale) would save you a few hundred dollars, so it might be do-able for about $500 or so.
