Looking to get into reloading. Going to learn from a friend that's been doing it for a long time on a ss press. Until than I was Just wondering if the ss press are really that slow ? Is the progressive worth the investment ? Don't mind spending a bit of time prepping and priming before hand. Looking to load few different pistol loads and few rifle 223 and 308 ect. Generally try to shoot once a week depending . 50-100 rounds that's with 22lr mixed in there. Looked at the rock chucker press . Just don't know if after a bit I will want the progressive or the ss will do me just fine ?
New to reloading what to get ??
- Thread starter kodiakattack
- Start date
- Location
- West Quebec
First thing I'd get are a few beginner books on reloading.. and then read some of the press evaulations here on CGN do a search back about a year should get a couple of great threads..
There is one comparing Dillon and Hornady presses.
There is one comparing Dillon and Hornady presses.
Love to do what I can to help, but there are a few questions that we need to know before we can help. You say that you are planning on loading .223 and .308 and maybe some pistol. For the rifle, will you be looking to build plinking rounds or will you be looking to reload with the best possible accuracy? (This will influence any recommendations the forum at large will make. Also. what are you looking at for a budget?
Cheers
Cheers
Right.. Ok my rifle loads 223 right now would like to make half decent for target shooting others rifle down the road for hunting so accurate for sure. Would like to keep buget on the cheaper side $500 around but if not worth it I would wait and buy the right one only once. Really I would like to make good ammo if I'm spending the time to learn and build.
Thanks !!!
Thanks !!!
rcbs rock chucker combo is nice, but if you want to buy once, cry once, I would get the forster coax press and a rcbs chargemaster combo and buy all the other stuff you need right away used. You will find you will always find something better. Single stage is a must for accuracy. If you want to load for quantity, I can't help you there, I have zero experience with that, but I hear that Dillon is the way to go.
Is $500 just for the press? I have the rock chucker and love it. I only load rifle and for precision. I am getting my restricted this year so I will add a hornady progressive for pistol rounds.
If I had to pick a press to do both and didn't shoot thousands of rounds a month, I would get a redding t7 turret press. Good for precision rifle and fast enough to pump out some pistol rounds. 7 die head means you can set up all your dies and leave them.
If I had to pick a press to do both and didn't shoot thousands of rounds a month, I would get a redding t7 turret press. Good for precision rifle and fast enough to pump out some pistol rounds. 7 die head means you can set up all your dies and leave them.
- Location
- West Quebec
I'd go slow and budget $1000 for everything at least, scales powder measures etc add up and buy the best you can afford..
This is good advice. People will tell you that it can be done cheaper but if you are going to invest the time, might as well invest in the tools to do it. I would say I am easily at the $1000 mark and add new goodies continuously.
Armored Metal
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- The People's Republik of Kébekistan
So that's 200 to 500 rounds per month?
If you have spare time, I think that you can manage with a single stage. I don't shoot a ton these days (young kids) and I do quite well with my single stage press. I do like a lot of guys do here and that's tumble one day, resize/deprime + flare/prime the next and charge/seat on the 3rd day.
Good luck and let us know what you end up getting.
If I were in your shoes, Here is what I would do:
Buy a good reloading manual (or 2) I'd recommend Lyman 49th edition and either the current Hornady or Nosler manuals (Read them especially the safety parts. It might seem like pretty dry reading, but safety is important and you need to have an idea of what awaits you before you start loading live rounds.)
A Redding T7 Turret Press. (Aprox $385 at Sporteque) Given that you might want to do pistol, that can get boring pretty fast on a single stage (SS) press and the T7 can be used as either a SS to give you precision or using it as a turret press, pistol rounds can be reloaded efficiently
A Lyman EZ Primer (I like this one, but there are others that work well too. This is something that you can get away without for a little while if your press has a priming capability.)
A powder dispenser and a good scale
Good Dies (I tend to like Redding, but I have had good luck with Lee dies for my .223)
Case lube
Chamfer / De-burring tool
Calipers
A method to clean your brass (a tumbler)
And the stuff for the ammunition itself: Cases, powder, bullets and primers.
It is unlikely that you would get the entire shopping list for $500 and there are definitely things that as you progress you will find I have not included (Case trimmer for example) because they might be things that you will not need from day one but that you will eventually want/need.
FWIW, I have a Forster Co-Ax SS press and I love it.
Buy a good reloading manual (or 2) I'd recommend Lyman 49th edition and either the current Hornady or Nosler manuals (Read them especially the safety parts. It might seem like pretty dry reading, but safety is important and you need to have an idea of what awaits you before you start loading live rounds.)
A Redding T7 Turret Press. (Aprox $385 at Sporteque) Given that you might want to do pistol, that can get boring pretty fast on a single stage (SS) press and the T7 can be used as either a SS to give you precision or using it as a turret press, pistol rounds can be reloaded efficiently
A Lyman EZ Primer (I like this one, but there are others that work well too. This is something that you can get away without for a little while if your press has a priming capability.)
A powder dispenser and a good scale
Good Dies (I tend to like Redding, but I have had good luck with Lee dies for my .223)
Case lube
Chamfer / De-burring tool
Calipers
A method to clean your brass (a tumbler)
And the stuff for the ammunition itself: Cases, powder, bullets and primers.
It is unlikely that you would get the entire shopping list for $500 and there are definitely things that as you progress you will find I have not included (Case trimmer for example) because they might be things that you will not need from day one but that you will eventually want/need.
FWIW, I have a Forster Co-Ax SS press and I love it.
If you don't mind loading each week or two weeks then you can easily keep up. Back when my progressive was still packed I had to load up some ammo and the only one that was handy was a turret Lee press. Think of it as a single stage with indexing dies so you save the time of actually screwing the dies in and setting them each time.
With a loading block for batches of 50 and using a hand primer it was not too hard to run a batch of 50 off in 20 minutes. This also involved using a dipper to measure out the powder and a little charging funnel to drop the powder into the cases. So it was pretty slow. But as mentioned once the steps were set and it was just bull ahead I could do 150 per hour. A true single stage which needs to screw the dies in and out and check them would slow this down a fair bit to more like 100 or just over per hour.
The true single stage is fine for serious accuracy rifle loading. But if you'll be doing this amount of hand gun ammo I'd suggest one of the turret presses. Or go for a Lee or Hornady breechlock bushing style press. The breechlock bushings avoid the need for checking that the die nut didn't shift each time. Or buy some Hornady clamping style die nuts. Those clamp so tight that you can use the screw in dies as if they are breechlock bushing style dies.
Or just buy a turret press. I'm not a huge Lee fan for presses but their basic 4 hole turret presses are actually not too bad at all. If you can go for the Classic Iron version that uses steel parts in the arm and links. I'm sure it's not common but I had one of the alloy parts break on one that I was using.
If you get one of the Lee Classic presses I'd also suggest removing one or more parts that produces the auto indexing action. When using it as a multi position single stage the auto indexing just messes you up. It'll also sort of show you what you COULD do with a progressive but it's no where near as fast. So the auto index is simply a tease.
For most hand gun ammo loading I've fast become a huge fan of seating and crimping with separate dies. You should too. It means using factory crimp dies for jacketed and plated or a second roll crimp seating die for cast lead bullets. But using separate dies really does simplify things and avoid problems of mis matching the seating and crimp amounts in one die doing the two jobs at once. And for hand gun ammo this means you need a turret plate with four positions.
With a loading block for batches of 50 and using a hand primer it was not too hard to run a batch of 50 off in 20 minutes. This also involved using a dipper to measure out the powder and a little charging funnel to drop the powder into the cases. So it was pretty slow. But as mentioned once the steps were set and it was just bull ahead I could do 150 per hour. A true single stage which needs to screw the dies in and out and check them would slow this down a fair bit to more like 100 or just over per hour.
The true single stage is fine for serious accuracy rifle loading. But if you'll be doing this amount of hand gun ammo I'd suggest one of the turret presses. Or go for a Lee or Hornady breechlock bushing style press. The breechlock bushings avoid the need for checking that the die nut didn't shift each time. Or buy some Hornady clamping style die nuts. Those clamp so tight that you can use the screw in dies as if they are breechlock bushing style dies.
Or just buy a turret press. I'm not a huge Lee fan for presses but their basic 4 hole turret presses are actually not too bad at all. If you can go for the Classic Iron version that uses steel parts in the arm and links. I'm sure it's not common but I had one of the alloy parts break on one that I was using.
If you get one of the Lee Classic presses I'd also suggest removing one or more parts that produces the auto indexing action. When using it as a multi position single stage the auto indexing just messes you up. It'll also sort of show you what you COULD do with a progressive but it's no where near as fast. So the auto index is simply a tease.
For most hand gun ammo loading I've fast become a huge fan of seating and crimping with separate dies. You should too. It means using factory crimp dies for jacketed and plated or a second roll crimp seating die for cast lead bullets. But using separate dies really does simplify things and avoid problems of mis matching the seating and crimp amounts in one die doing the two jobs at once. And for hand gun ammo this means you need a turret plate with four positions.
A good solid platform to mount your stuff on is often overlooked. After that, you can select and buy whatever you decide and can afford.
In my case, I'm retired and don't need to rush my reloading and can take my time.
When I returned to reloading, I bought a Lee Challenger, an RCBS 5-0-5 scale, trickle charger, Hand Priming Tool, Bullet Puller, Lube Kit and RCBS dies.
I use a Lyman #55 Powder measure, Tumbler and Case Length Trimmer along with de-burring tools, case trays, primer pocket cleaners etc.
In my case, I'm retired and don't need to rush my reloading and can take my time.
When I returned to reloading, I bought a Lee Challenger, an RCBS 5-0-5 scale, trickle charger, Hand Priming Tool, Bullet Puller, Lube Kit and RCBS dies.
I use a Lyman #55 Powder measure, Tumbler and Case Length Trimmer along with de-burring tools, case trays, primer pocket cleaners etc.
I started out three years ago with a government surplus desk, the Lee Anniversary Kit and some dies.
I almost immediately added a hand priming tool, lube pad for bottleneck rifle, and some second hand reloading manuals from gun shows. Probably under $500 at the time. Haven't looked back, put thousands of rounds through. Don't go 'all in' right away, unless you are real sure it's going to be your thing. I was shooting a lot of target pistol, so the savings added up fast and tinkering the loads to my preference and sights was well worth it.
I almost immediately added a hand priming tool, lube pad for bottleneck rifle, and some second hand reloading manuals from gun shows. Probably under $500 at the time. Haven't looked back, put thousands of rounds through. Don't go 'all in' right away, unless you are real sure it's going to be your thing. I was shooting a lot of target pistol, so the savings added up fast and tinkering the loads to my preference and sights was well worth it.
Maybe a list of things not to waste your money on would help. First thing that pops into my mind is brass cleaning solutions. Stainless steel tumbling is the way to go. I had a crushed media tumbler and a sonic cleaner, both were wastes of money. There's absolutely nothing wrong with Lee dies, and they include dippers which can be very helpful as well as shellholders. Unless you're shooting competitively, in which case a single die set for that caliber from Redding or another highend maker. All my "new" dies are Lee now. So don't waste money on high end dies, is what I'm saying.
A lot of bullet pullers seem to be a waste of money. Cheap and don't last many uses. Expensive ones need collets which cost extra.
A Lee decapping die is a good investment, buy a spare decapping pin at the same time. It's a waste of money to NOT buy this.
By the way, you can order reloading tools (not components) from the USA directly. This is helpful if you can't find a local dealer with something in stock that you need.
A manual scale gets stale pretty quick, invest in an automatic dispenser (and a trickler and Gem pro expensive scale if reloading for competition). I don't shoot competitively, and my RCSB Chargemaster was a great investment, and ordered directly from the USA for less than it would have cost here. The exchange rate was better at the time though.
Finally, I bought some of the reloading stuff before I started reloading and it took several months to get everything I needed. Feel free to buy some components now if you find them in your local shop. Powder and primers will store for decades in a dry cool spot. Bullets and brass will last forever (until you shoot them heh).
A lot of bullet pullers seem to be a waste of money. Cheap and don't last many uses. Expensive ones need collets which cost extra.
A Lee decapping die is a good investment, buy a spare decapping pin at the same time. It's a waste of money to NOT buy this.
By the way, you can order reloading tools (not components) from the USA directly. This is helpful if you can't find a local dealer with something in stock that you need.
A manual scale gets stale pretty quick, invest in an automatic dispenser (and a trickler and Gem pro expensive scale if reloading for competition). I don't shoot competitively, and my RCSB Chargemaster was a great investment, and ordered directly from the USA for less than it would have cost here. The exchange rate was better at the time though.
Finally, I bought some of the reloading stuff before I started reloading and it took several months to get everything I needed. Feel free to buy some components now if you find them in your local shop. Powder and primers will store for decades in a dry cool spot. Bullets and brass will last forever (until you shoot them heh).
OP , I started reloading 2 months ago , so far I've made about 2000 .223 and 200 .45 LC. I got the RCBS supreme master reloading kit, that got a manual and everything you'll need exept .a RCBS media tumbler( still using the same media). Trimmer, dies ,shell holders. Also a good idea to build a bench. Mine is 60 inches long and 32 inches wide. Plenty of room. You'll then need bullets primers , powder, and cases. I'm soon going to get a RCBS power case center, cause the hand debur/chamfer tool that comes with the kit is a PITA. I've started using the homemade lube mixture ( lanolin and isoprohal alcohol). I find it much better for rifle cases. Carbide dies are the way to go for handgun cases.
Wow great info guys !! Lots to learn I know but I am reading and taking my time. Ya $500 just for the press give or take. I am slowly picking up supplies. Have a rcbs 10-10 scale and some 700x powder for pistol loads and primers. I am not rushing into it once I get a few days with my friend I will get a better picture on how things go..
Thanks again and keep the advice coming if you have more !!!
Thanks again and keep the advice coming if you have more !!!
- Location
- Western Manitoba
Google up Dan Newberry, the guy that came up with the OCW method of establishing an accurate load. He has three pages of discussion about what to buy and what not to bother with regarding loading tools. Keep in mind - he is about 1/2 to one MOA loads in hunting rifles - he keeps it pretty simple and seems to be way ahead of most everybody.
