New To Reloading, any starter kits recommendations?

Ron AKA said:
Didn't your kit come with a hand primer? I find the Lee hand primer works much better than using the press to prime. You get a much better feel for when the primer hits bottom, so you don't under or over seat the primer.
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The Lee Aniversary Kit comes with the safety prime which is a press mounted kit.
If you want the one with the hand primer it's the Leee Challenger kit. The Challenger kit is around $20.00 more expensive.

I load on the lee Aniversary kit for .45ACP. I can load around 125 rounds per hour once the cases are deprimed and cleaned.

I fully intend to go with a Hornady LnL AP progressive press in the spring.
If the question being asked is would I buy the Lee Aniversary Kit if I were dong this all over again my answer would be Yes.
 
heavyBullet said:
If coin is an issue, and you are only reloading .308 for now, and if you have brass already saved from your rifle, you can always buy a "Lee Classic Loader" in .308. ( $19.99 U.S.) With that you could pick up a decent scale in the EE ($50-$80), and a nylon head hammer( $15).
You can reload accurate ammo with this tiny set up, and give yourself a taste of reloading your own ammo at a very minimal cost.
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+1 for this. I just got in to reloading myself, and I settled on the Lee Classic Loader for my 270. Now, this approach isn't for everyone, but it made sense for me for the following reasons:

- I will only load for one rifle/caliber for the foreseeable future (I have a POL, not a PAL)

- I've been saving fired brass from my rifle since day one (20 years ago)

- I have access to very high precision scales (accurate to +/- 0.0001 grams), so it doesn't make sense to buy a kit with a scale

- I like doing things slowly and methodically, so using the Lee Loader suits this mentality

- I like the idea of taking my gear to the range for load development. My whole setup fits in a small toolbox (I pre-measure powder charges in small glass vials to take to the range).

- I'm dutch, so I like a good bargain :)

With the Lee Loader and a decent scale you'd be good to go for cheap. These little kits make very accurate ammo - as good or better than with presses. If you want to tumble brass (I did) you can make your own tumbler. I made one out of an old bread maker and other bits lying around the shop - check it out here (on huntingbc) if you're interested.
 
Lots of different views on this one...I wonder how many of them have experience with other kit though. My guess is the guys proclaiming the Lee kit is the way to start have very little experience with other presses.

I started with a Rockchucker kit, and while pretty decent stuff, I've moved away from alot of what came with it.
My first recommendation is to get out and see what some people in your area run with if you can. Sit with them while they load ammo for a bit.
Get out to some of the retailers if you can and see the presses first hand. View some of the loading that is being done and posted to utube.
Be honest with your loading needs.
Loading any type of pistol on a single stage sucks - it is very time consuming. Same goes for rifle ammo if you go through a fair amount.

If you are shooting more than a couple of hundred rounds a month of any given ammo, I'd recommend a progessive to start. Two I'd look at are the Dillon 550 and the Hornady LnL.
 
I went with the LNL progressive as my first press. I have a couple little kids and quite honestly don't have tons of spare time to devote to reloading. When I get an hour to myself, I want to pump out 4 or 500 rounds :). Its going to cost me $1000 but should pay for itself in a year or two. I chose the LNL over the 550 as I wanted auto indexing and liked the lock and load bushing system.
 
Had lots of experience with the RCBS kit before I owned anything Lee. Still recommending the Lee kit for a new single stage loader.
 
Had plenty of experience with other brands. I belonged to the North Mountain Gun Club when I lived in NS and it was full of numerous older guys who reloaded. One guy had set up the top of his barn with 10 or 12 different loading stations for various disciplines. I got to use Dillon, RCBS, Lyman, Pacific, MEC, and even some Hornady stuff. There was Lee gear all over this shop. When the time came for me to start my own press stuff, at least half of the guys there told me to start with Lee. My first was the Lee Loader. I loaded hundreds of rounds with this and still have it today, just in case. I moved to bits and pieces of gear I could get second hand. Lee Challenger press, press mounted safety prime tool, RCBS hand primer, and because I was still young and bigger is better, a Rock Chucker. I now own mostly Lee tools, but there are several other brands of gear on and around my bench. Today, I de-prime on the rockchucker with a Lee universal decapping die. De-burr and uniform primer pockets with Lyman tools. Trim to length with the Lee kits (too much trouble setting up the Hornady case trimmer each time). FL or neck size on my Lee Turret press, so that I don't have to constantly adjust for cailbre. Prime with a Lee auto prime (like it better, but my wife uses the RCBS one). I use an RCBS Chargemaster 750 scale with a Lyman powder pan and funnel and when I am ready to start throwing charges, it is in either the Lyman of the Pacific measure. Bullets are most often seated and crimped now in the livingroom watching TV with the family using a Lee handpress. Completed cartridges are stored in MTS plastic boxes. My loading block I made from a piece of styrofoam about 15yrs ago. See, completely eclectic. But this works for me.
I don't like to always be in a hurry. When I REALLY want to relax...I reload. No hurry, no stress. I am forced to slow down, so I get to relax.
My Shotshell reloading is done on a Lee Load All2, for 12ga skeet, a MEC Jr for field loads, a Load-All 2 for 20ga, and a another MEC Jr for .410.
This does not have to be about big dollars.
If I were starting out today, I would tell myself to get a Lee hand press, set of Lee dies, Lee case length trimmer set, used Lyman, hornady, pacific, or RCBS measure (anything BUT Lee in this case), a decent scale (again not a Lee), and a Lee Auto-prime. I also like the Lee case lube.
 
I started out with mostly Lyman. However, as of late I have been replacing it with Lee as well as Forster for dies. I would go with the Lee collet die instead of Forster if they were available in the cartridges I have. Forster makes great dies but more costly than Lee.
 
I just bought the LEE 50th anniv. kit recently and am new to reloading. It seems to serve the purpose just fine, but as stated before the scale is awkward to use.

Also the powder measure never gives me the same consistent volume, am I naive to have thunk that it would be dead-on everytime with a budget kit like this? Should I upgrade to an automatic powder measure?
 
plong87 said:
I just bought the LEE 50th anniv. kit recently and am new to reloading. It seems to serve the purpose just fine, but as stated before the scale is awkward to use. Also the powder measure never gives me the same consistent volume, am I naive to have thunk that it would be dead-on everytime with a budget kit like this? Should I upgrade to an automatic powder measure?
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Yes, if you want to have the accuracy of weighing every load plus the convenience of an automatic powder dispenser, then you should spend the $457 for a RCBS ChargeMaster.
 
1TOPGUN said:
Many may not agree ...but having reloaded 1000's of pistol round with a progressive I was very satified switching to a very simple LEE handheld press when I started reloading for .280 . When you are reloading rifle I find you like to take your time ,usually loading 20 rounds to maybe 50 rounds a session , measuring, checking each round more than you would with pistol rounds. You can choose to load anywhere in the house you want as well...and its very economical. Good luck,good shooting
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I too have a lee progressive (Load Master) and am very pleased with it. I've loaded 9mm, 40S&W, 10mm, .233, .308 and 300 Win Mag and is a great first press. It was a bit fussy at first but once I got the feel for things, this thing cranks out hundreds of rounds an hour. This press has done everything I've asked out of it so I can recommend Lee. So much that I bought a 50th anniversary kit to do the .308 and 300 WM. There's lots of na say'ers about Lee and they do make some cheesy stuff but the presses are the best value in presses IMHO.
 
Ron AKA said:
Yes, if you want to have the accuracy of weighing every load plus the convenience of an automatic powder dispenser, then you should spend the $457 for a RCBS ChargeMaster.
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:eek: What a waste of money. For that price, I'll pour every load manually like I already do. Just buy yourself a decent scale for about $150-200 as that's the important part. $465 is a lot or bullets and powder
 
The scale I use is a cheaper one (can't remember the name I got for $70) and find that it somewhat accurate for the most part. It's good enough for my hunting rig as I'm not at max loads but if I were loading for a precision rifle my opinion would differ. I don't own one but I have worked with a RCBS and found there scales to be very accurate.

Also, for sh!ts and giggles I just checked Midway.com and the have the same RCBS combo for $310
 
RCBS 5-0-5 Beam scales go for around $50 used quite often. Digital scales, even the best, can still be finicky. Read up on it a bit before making your $400 purchase.
 
As others have said, forget the kits. First get a manual. Read it twice. Then find a reloader with experience. They can show you what you need to buy. And how to use it.

Welcome to the club. It is a great way to waste an afternoon.
 
plong87 said:
Oh so its the scale that needs investment, what would be the best one in that price range you figure?
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I think there is nothing wrong with the Lee scale. A balance beam is a balance beam as long as it is accurate and is free from stiction. However, the Lee scale looks cheap. If you want a better looking scale then I would suggest a Redding Model 2 or if you can find it, an older Model 1. The RCBS 5-0-5 Beam is also a good choice as suggested by another poster. These scales have been around for 50 years or so and are well proven. Their advice about avoiding a digital scale is also good. Unless you plan to spend $300+ on a digital, I would not bother.

For weighing powder digital scales offer no advantage. You set the balance beam at the desired weight and trickle until you get it. It is not easier or more accurate on a digital.

Where the digital has an advantage is in weighing objects that you don't know the weight of. For that application they are going to be much faster. Unless you are into weighing bullets or cases, there is no real need for that in reloading.
 
tbrwlf said:
As others have said, forget the kits. First get a manual. Read it twice. Then find a reloader with experience. They can show you what you need to buy. And how to use it.

Welcome to the club. It is a great way to waste an afternoon.
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Well said ! READ,READ,READ> Then spend an afternoon with an experienced person and take notes. I'm a fan of RCBS stuff,although the most useful gadget I own is a Lyman cordless power driver with various bits for cleaning primer pockets and de-burring case mouths! :D
 
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