question about equipment

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Ottawacats

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So I'm looking at getting into reloading. A very good friend of mine gave me a Hornady press a while back but I haven't had a chance to look into what else would be needed. So I have been doing some reading online about what is needed and now I have a lead on someone else that is selling some other pieces.

** reloading for rifle .243 - perhaps 308/223 down the road **

So I have a Hornady press from a Lock-n-load kit. My friend kept the other pieces as all they upgraded was the press

So now I have a chance to purchase a few more pieces from another friend.

RCBS chargemaster
RCBS hand primer
Hornady shell holders


So I think I still need the following to have a "set-up"

Calipers
Funnel
Die - looking at the Lee Ultimate
Lee case condition kit - inlcudes cutter and lock stud, chamfer tool and primer pocket cleaner
Manuals
Case lube
Tumbler for cleaning

Then of course power,primers and bullets. Does the list look correct, missing anything for a newbie reloader.
 
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It seems like you have most of the stuff you will need covered, a beam or digital scale, perhaps both will be required as well.
 
Attend a couple gun shows, its a great spot to find reloading equipment, just go over it carefully to make sure its in good shape.
 
go 308 first- it's a more versatile round if u intend to hunt- think of the 243 as a sub- caliber 308- you may end up talking yourself out of it- and if deer, moose, elk or bears on on your bucket list, get the 308- where i live, the only people tat use 243 are smallerish deer and speed goats- the 223 is a probib by game laws - get your calipers at Canadian tire on sale- and you really don't need them with the lee cutter and stud as the mandrill in the kit , when coupled with the shall head and plate SETS THE CASE LENGTH for you- reading a basic manual would answer all the questions you've posed here
 
Don't bother buying separate shell holders. Other than a couple of old and unique brands they are all compatible these days. And every die set comes with a shell holder

Buy a new set of dies. I've bought used rifle dies that turned out to be galled or have a piece of grit embedded in the metal. Scratches in every round. Buy new. Don't even think otherwise. It ain't worth it unless you're given the dies or they are only $10 or so.

Other than that your list seems OK. Two things I'd suggest. First is you add a "universal decapping die" so you can pop the old primers before cleaning. Second is to go with a small to medium size ultrasonic cleaner instead of the tumbler. First off it's less messy. Regardless of your attention to the tumber it's just about impossible to NOT end up with the media spread from here to Timbuktu. Second is that the tumbler doesn't do a great job of getting inside where the powder will live.

There are certainly valid points to be made in favor of going all the way to stainless pin wet tumbling but I found that just using an ultrasonic by itself on decapped rifle brass already makes it look like new. So I don't feel any big need to "upgrade". After all, how much better can it be than "perfect"? For long narrow .38Spl brass it leaves a bit of blackness inside. But that's handgun ammo and I can easily live with that. On short wide stuff like .45acp it's clean as a whistle inside and out. It MIGHT be an issue on narrow stuff like .25-06 or other stuff like that but I sort of doubt it. My .30-30 and 7mm-08 come out dandy and it's not that much tighter. But your money, your choice.
 
Ottawacats said:
So I'm looking at getting into reloading. A very good friend of mine gave me a Hornady press a while back but I haven't had a chance to look into what else would be needed. So I have been doing some reading online about what is needed and now I have a lead on someone else that is selling some other pieces.

** reloading for rifle .243 - perhaps 308/223 down the road **

So I have a Hornady press from a Lock-n-load kit. My friend kept the other pieces as all they upgraded was the press

So now I have a chance to purchase a few more pieces from another friend.

RCBS chargemaster
RCBS hand primer
Hornady shell holders


So I think I still need the following to have a "set-up"

Calipers
Funnel
Die - looking at the Lee Ultimate
Lee case condition kit - inlcudes cutter and lock stud, chamfer tool and primer pocket cleaner
Manuals
Case lube
Tumbler for cleaning

Then of course power,primers and bullets. Does the list look correct, missing anything for a newbie reloader.
Click to expand...

You got a good list there, I would add:
1. loading blocks
2. bullet puller - because everyone screws up sometime
3. balance beam scale - backup or primary. I'm still not a big fan of electrionic scales and I've owned most of them. They don't usually drift or randomly go out of calibration.

The tumbler is something you probably don't need right away unless you're using picked up range brass.
 
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