New to Reloading, Curious about a good setup?

ATOM said:
There's a technical term for people who don't ask questions - 'ignorant'. So fire away.

As noted, The ABCs of Reloading is an excellent place to start for how-to information. Read it first and the task will become much clearer. Also as noted, it sadly is not rich in 'recipes', so reloading manuals are an additional requirement, but read ABCs first.

Manuals put out by any of the leading firms (Lyman, Speer, Sierra, etc) are reliable. (Far more so than the internet. There is much good info there, but also a lot of cowboys. I wouldn't recommend taking any reloading data off the net until you get some experience.) I personally think much of it is personal taste. I buy a new one every few years and try to buy one from a different source each time.
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I'll throw my $0.02 in here - I have never purchased a reloading manual yet, and I have been reloading for a few years now. I settled on using Hodgdon powders pretty early on, and all of their load data is freely available online in their "Data Center" site - very useful. Between that and the Barnes data (also free online) I haven't needed anything else.
 
ATOM said:
There's a technical term for people who don't ask questions - 'ignorant'. So fire away.

As noted, The ABCs of Reloading is an excellent place to start for how-to information. Read it first and the task will become much clearer. Also as noted, it sadly is not rich in 'recipes', so reloading manuals are an additional requirement, but read ABCs first.

Manuals put out by any of the leading firms (Lyman, Speer, Sierra, etc) are reliable. (Far more so than the internet. There is much good info there, but also a lot of cowboys. I wouldn't recommend taking any reloading data off the net until you get some experience.) I personally think much of it is personal taste. I buy a new one every few years and try to buy one from a different source each time.
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Barnes_270 said:
I'll throw my $0.02 in here - I have never purchased a reloading manual yet, and I have been reloading for a few years now. I settled on using Hodgdon powders pretty early on, and all of their load data is freely available online in their "Data Center" site - very useful. Between that and the Barnes data (also free online) I haven't needed anything else.
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I think what ATOM is saying was to not take other peoples recipes off the net till he get a good understanding about reloading. I agree, there is lots of site out there that are a great resource for reloading, the two you mentioned are my fav.
 
The RCBS Rockchucker Kit is a great place to start. Don't waste any money on dies and buy a set of Redding or Forster Competition dies right away. I've made that mistake and have a set of RCBS and Lee dies that I would be happy to sell.
 
My recommendataion:

Lee classic cast single stage press. $130

RCBS 10 10 scale - about $150 used on the EE.

The two above will last a lifetime. The press you can reload upto 50 caliber without the ram seeming to have masses of unnecessary stroke when reloading small calibers. The scale has plenty of capacity.

The rest are just suggestions.

A Lee on press priming system.

Canadiantire digital calipers $14.99

An MTM powder funel set (fits almost all calibers ) $10

Primer pocket cleaner and a case mouth chamfer tool.

lee lock stud and trimmers to get going.
 
ValleyGunNut said:
Well I guess the first purchase is the book lol, wanna see what Im up against and then go from there... Thanks again guys for all the great info!
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Well, probably the second time I've said this this week, but . . .

If you go to the RCBS website, there is at the top, a "guide to reloading - step by step" that will show you what you're up against.

Other then certain details, that's pretty much reloading in a nutshell.
Most other details will be in the manuals that come with your kit/dies, and listed in the load data, like the seating depth (OAL/COAL).

I too started reloading without any manuals. Just learned online, but I'm good at online resourcing. I have manuals now, downloaded off the net onto my computer, I just use them for reference and extrapolation when I'm working up a load that I don't have specific data for.
 
WidowMaker said:
what does everyone think of the lee progressive presses? Ive only really heard of one problem with the primer feed. other people with hands on?
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I had one then got smart and grabbed a dillon.Gave it away never again will I spend money on a lee product
P.S had primers explode on me while trying to seat them
 
go here http://www.rcbs.com/default.asp and check out the reloading guide section..check out the step by step instructions...
then go to the EE and buy your rcbs equipment;)
 
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