Reloading for Dummies?
- Thread starter seth
- Start date
Go buy a copy of the ABC's of Reloading. Your local gun shop or Amazon. It's a basic How-to book with some load data. Then look into an RCBS Beginner's Kit. Runs around $500. Gives you everything you need less dies and shell holder. Plus RCBS' legendary customer service. Have any problems and they'll fix it with a phone call, even if you caused it or buy used kit. Used kit is ok. It takes a great deal of abuse to damage modern reloading kit. Have a look on the Exchange forum. Lots of guys sell their old equipment when they buy a progressive.
Don't even think about any 9mm (or any other handgun cartridge) die set that doesn't have a carbide sizer die. Trust me.
Reloading isn't about saving money. It's about the quality of the ammo. You're tailoring the ammo for your pistol. Cast bullets are far less expensive to shoot than any jacketed bullet though. Been using a 121 grain truncated cone cast bullet with Bullseye out of my Inglis BHP for eons. Feeds well and shoots reasonably accurately. Haven't ever bothered to work up a really good load though. Inglis sights are poor.
Don't even think about any 9mm (or any other handgun cartridge) die set that doesn't have a carbide sizer die. Trust me.
Reloading isn't about saving money. It's about the quality of the ammo. You're tailoring the ammo for your pistol. Cast bullets are far less expensive to shoot than any jacketed bullet though. Been using a 121 grain truncated cone cast bullet with Bullseye out of my Inglis BHP for eons. Feeds well and shoots reasonably accurately. Haven't ever bothered to work up a really good load though. Inglis sights are poor.
- Location
- Thunder Bay ON Canada
LEE has kits that will do you just fine, and a helluva lot cheaper. RCBS has alot of brand loyalty, like mercedes. The toyota corolla is a very reliable, affordable car, like LEE.
The brand loyalty here is ferocious though, and some people here will talk trash about LEE all day long if you give them the chance, saying it's junk, and alot of LEE users will talk trash about RCBS, saying it's overpriced, and you don't get good value.
Look for the type of press that has the features you want, not the brand though. It sounds like you wanna load a very large amount of pistol ammo fast, so you are looking for a progressive.
You can get a LEE progressive kit for about $225 that will churn out about 800-1000 rounds an hour.
P.S. Dillon is another manufacturer that has it's supporters, if you want to go there.
The brand loyalty here is ferocious though, and some people here will talk trash about LEE all day long if you give them the chance, saying it's junk, and alot of LEE users will talk trash about RCBS, saying it's overpriced, and you don't get good value.
Look for the type of press that has the features you want, not the brand though. It sounds like you wanna load a very large amount of pistol ammo fast, so you are looking for a progressive.
You can get a LEE progressive kit for about $225 that will churn out about 800-1000 rounds an hour.
P.S. Dillon is another manufacturer that has it's supporters, if you want to go there.
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+1 on the LEE products. My first reloading was done on a Lee Loader, once I had that down, my first press was an RCBS rock chucker. VERY nice but I found it to be way heavier than I needed, so I bought a second hand Lee Press, Then I liked it so much I bought the Anniversary kit, came with everything I needed to load. I have loaded thousands of rounds using Lee, Inc shotgun. I have to say that except for the powder measure, I have nothing but the utmost respect for Lee products. They do the job I want, and cost the price I can afford.
Just to make it fair, I have the following gear:
Rock Chucker (only used for pulling or high production de-capping/resizing, re-forming wildcats)
Lee Challenger (x2, these are my GO-TO presses)
Lee Turret (just got this and tried it for one run, I think I like it, don't have to change dies as often)
Lyman (at work not sure which model)
Lee Load-All (x2, one in 20ga, 1 in 12)
Mec Jr (x3, .410, 20, 12)
Lee safety powder scale, Redding swing scale (again not home for model), Lyman scale I bought but found out it was in grams, what a pain!
HOrnady case trimmer
Lee case length trimmer ( I have all my calibres and cases in this one and use it all the time)
RCBS powder measure, Redding pwder measure (the most accurate measure I have ever used, must be 100 years old)
lube stations from all manufactures, still like Lee's the best, works fastest for me.
Basically, I drive an rusty '92 golf with '85 guts that have 600+ kms on it. My wife drives a rusted '92 jetta with 400+kms on it. We could afford newer and prettier, but these get the job done for us. It's not about keeping up with the "Jones'" in anything, its about getting the job done and having enough left over to live on. I buy tools from Princess Auto and Candian Tire. I have freinds that will only buy Mac or Sanp-On and needed to buy the big flashy roller kits to let everyone know they had them. Not my style. Enjoy the Lee, they will work...hard.
Just to make it fair, I have the following gear:
Rock Chucker (only used for pulling or high production de-capping/resizing, re-forming wildcats)
Lee Challenger (x2, these are my GO-TO presses)
Lee Turret (just got this and tried it for one run, I think I like it, don't have to change dies as often)
Lyman (at work not sure which model)
Lee Load-All (x2, one in 20ga, 1 in 12)
Mec Jr (x3, .410, 20, 12)
Lee safety powder scale, Redding swing scale (again not home for model), Lyman scale I bought but found out it was in grams, what a pain!
HOrnady case trimmer
Lee case length trimmer ( I have all my calibres and cases in this one and use it all the time)
RCBS powder measure, Redding pwder measure (the most accurate measure I have ever used, must be 100 years old)
lube stations from all manufactures, still like Lee's the best, works fastest for me.
Basically, I drive an rusty '92 golf with '85 guts that have 600+ kms on it. My wife drives a rusted '92 jetta with 400+kms on it. We could afford newer and prettier, but these get the job done for us. It's not about keeping up with the "Jones'" in anything, its about getting the job done and having enough left over to live on. I buy tools from Princess Auto and Candian Tire. I have freinds that will only buy Mac or Sanp-On and needed to buy the big flashy roller kits to let everyone know they had them. Not my style. Enjoy the Lee, they will work...hard.
There's nothing wrong with Lee, RCBS or Dillon... IMO the ammo that comes off any of them is equal in quality, so choose your price range and go from there.
For a bargain basement reloading bench try and see what Canadian Tire has to offer, or if you want to go the truly economical route that I chose, check out the local thrift store or hang around when your office decides to get rid of all last year's small shelving units and use those. Works just fine for me, and it let me invest the money I would have on a bench back into rifles and ammo.
Bottom line, it doesn't have to be pretty or expensive to be useful and effective.
It doesn't matter what anyone here thinks about a brand. (I have a dillon 650) It's true brand loyalty around here is sad. Figure out what you need after you read the ABC's of reloading book and then set your budget they ALL work. don't forget it's the actual DIES that do the work. As far as getting 9mm cheaper it's true, I can get a box of 50 for about 6 bucks now. However you'll just shoot more so don't think it will save you money, it just let's you enjoy the sport more often. Reloading is also a good hobby, I enjoy the whole process.
my 2 cents
my 2 cents
#1bcshooter
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- North Of The DMZ (US border)
Since this thread is Reloading for dummy's you should collect all the pic's of blown up guns of Dummy CGN member reloaders & post them here to warn others
