Looking to start reloading my own ammo, need advice

If you want just one book, the Lee loading manual has most of the loads from all the powder companies, all the bullet companies and everyone else in one book. It also has very good theory and practical instruction at the start. For 25 bucks you can buy it and not need others until you want to read all the Bla Bla Bla they all waste on general info on a specific calibre... I prefer useful data.

Also, I have had 8 presses now. If I started again, I'd get a Coax Single Stage and a Dillon XL 650. That's the best of both worlds to me.
 
Yup, a co-ax and a XL650 or LNL AP makes reloading a lot easier. A chargemaster combo never hurts.
 
Having just started out myself I ended up going with the Lee 50th Anniversary Reloader Kit it comes with everything you need besides dies for $150 it is perfect for beginners and has excellent reviews by everyone. The scale people say is the biggest issue it has a tendency to hang up occasionally but the problem is that when they cut the base the groove the arm hangs on if you rub your fingers along the edge you can feel the burrs left by the cutter and that is what is hanging up the arm so I took the file on my leatherman and a couple swipes along the edge to remove the burrs and that took care of 99% of the problem easily I found a youtube video about it and sure enough it fixed mine.

Question tho you want to get into reloading for .223 and 9mm however those are easily two of the cheapest ammo you can buy factory and so reloading will not really save you money you will need to reload thousands and thousands to even begin to recoup the start up cost for the reloading equipment and supplies. I reload .223 but that is because I want to shoot 75gr ammo from my tavor and you really just cannot find any of that out there its all 55gr so that was my reasoning for getting .223 dies but the big reason to buy was for shooting my .308 that stuff is like $50+ for 20 rounds its retarded. If your looking to find the best most accurate load for your gun in .223 then reloading will help for sure but if you just shooting an AR at plates you really don't need to reload for .223

It is definitely a time consuming hobby the actual reloading is fairly quick and easy but the case prep is a time killer especially if your going for precision you might look into getting callipers surgically attached to your hand in some way to make life easier reloading :) As for the 9mm I want to get a JR Carbine 9mm so I looked at reloading 9mm as well but when most of the sponsers here sell quality boxes of 1000 rounds of 9mm for $300ish looking at the time involved you really cannot reload them for less then the 0.30 cents you can buy them for if you factor in what your time is worth.

So really unless there is a specific reason you want to make custom .223 or 9mm it really isn't worth it to reload those but bigger ammo for sure it is a definite must like $50 for 20 rounds of factory 308 is just robbery so reloading is way cheaper and ive been able to get much better groups consistently by reloading. So ya that lee press kit is a winner and if your loading for precision you want to use a single stage press because your going to be going slow and taking your time to do everything perfect so a big progressive press is just not a the way to go. I bought my lee kit from cabela's .ca
 
I'm on the same page with Ravage, single stage is great for beginners because you slowly learn all the steps. However, although I met a guy at the range who uses it for 9mm, can't imagine doing any volume of 9 on a single stage. Progressive presses are great for volume, but I just load .308 since it's expensive to buy quality and you can tailor the loads to a specific rifle. I'm a novice but have dialed in my .308 loads so if I do my part, I am surprised if it doesn't shoot moa or better. I use a RCBS which has worked well for me, even though inexpensive. The point people have made about powder is a key point, make sure you can actually find it before you invest in all the equipment as it can be tough to source in Canada.
 
Chas59 said:
I'm on the same page with Ravage, single stage is great for beginners because you slowly learn all the steps. However, although I met a guy at the range who uses it for 9mm, can't imagine doing any volume of 9 on a single stage. Progressive presses are great for volume, but I just load .308 since it's expensive to buy quality and you can tailor the loads to a specific rifle. I'm a novice but have dialed in my .308 loads so if I do my part, I am surprised if it doesn't shoot moa or better. I use a RCBS which has worked well for me, even though inexpensive. The point people have made about powder is a key point, make sure you can actually find it before you invest in all the equipment as it can be tough to source in Canada.
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I can, and I don't recommend it. Right now, I have 400 out of 1000 pieces of 9mm brass that are flared and primed. 600 to go, then comes powdering and bullet seating. This is the last time I reload for pistol on a single stage; it's doable, but tedious.

I'm buying a Lee Classic Turret Press in October.
 
Single stage vs. progressive.

Being fairly mechanically confident I started with the progressive one casing at a time watching as the casing rotated through all five stations. Doesn't take long to build enough confident to do several at a time.

If you plan to do high volume, lower precision rounds like handguns get yourself a progressive. Trying to crank out several hundred rounds off a single is painful.

If you plan to do precision or larger caliber you will eventually want a single stage so maybe start with that.
 
Ravage said:
Having just started out myself I ended up going with the Lee 50th Anniversary Reloader Kit it comes with everything you need besides dies for $150 it is perfect for beginners and has excellent reviews by everyone. The scale people say is the biggest issue it has a tendency to hang up occasionally but the problem is that when they cut the base the groove the arm hangs on if you rub your fingers along the edge you can feel the burrs left by the cutter and that is what is hanging up the arm so I took the file on my leatherman and a couple swipes along the edge to remove the burrs and that took care of 99% of the problem easily I found a youtube video about it and sure enough it fixed mine.

Question tho you want to get into reloading for .223 and 9mm however those are easily two of the cheapest ammo you can buy factory and so reloading will not really save you money you will need to reload thousands and thousands to even begin to recoup the start up cost for the reloading equipment and supplies. I reload .223 but that is because I want to shoot 75gr ammo from my tavor and you really just cannot find any of that out there its all 55gr so that was my reasoning for getting .223 dies but the big reason to buy was for shooting my .308 that stuff is like $50+ for 20 rounds its retarded. If your looking to find the best most accurate load for your gun in .223 then reloading will help for sure but if you just shooting an AR at plates you really don't need to reload for .223

It is definitely a time consuming hobby the actual reloading is fairly quick and easy but the case prep is a time killer especially if your going for precision you might look into getting callipers surgically attached to your hand in some way to make life easier reloading :) As for the 9mm I want to get a JR Carbine 9mm so I looked at reloading 9mm as well but when most of the sponsers here sell quality boxes of 1000 rounds of 9mm for $300ish looking at the time involved you really cannot reload them for less then the 0.30 cents you can buy them for if you factor in what your time is worth.

So really unless there is a specific reason you want to make custom .223 or 9mm it really isn't worth it to reload those but bigger ammo for sure it is a definite must like $50 for 20 rounds of factory 308 is just robbery so reloading is way cheaper and ive been able to get much better groups consistently by reloading. So ya that lee press kit is a winner and if your loading for precision you want to use a single stage press because your going to be going slow and taking your time to do everything perfect so a big progressive press is just not a the way to go. I bought my lee kit from cabela's .ca
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With this being said... Maybe i should reconsider... Anyine wanna buy
1000 rounds of canadian bdx 9mm? Bnib $120
 
spooksar said:
I can only say read as many reloading books as you can, ABC's of reloading is excellent. As a second one Hornady or Lyman though the others are good to. I have 4 presses, a single stage RSBC for most of my rifle, a Dillon 550 for semi auto handgun and rifle, a Redding T7 for revolver and a 50 BMG for the big stuff. I hand load for 175 calibers so use them a lot.
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175 calibers?

Can we hang out:)?
 
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