Starting up Reloading

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kolkim

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Courtenay, Vancouver Island
Is it better to buy a whole kit from say Cabelas, or everything separate for entry level reloading?
If a kit is better, which brand or even more specifically which kit would be good?
If separate is better which would be the important purchases such as presses. I could find dyes, brass, scales myself.

Looking to spend under $300 and will buy better equipment as I go on.
 
I bought a Lee Deluxe Kit all I needed on top of that were the Dies and a measuring caliper for over all length. This kit will work well for pistol ammo but the indexing has to be disabled for larger rifle ammo. For the price of this kit you can get a pretty good scale but the one included in the kit can be made to work. I have loaded maybe 1000 rounds in three different calibres and so far no problems. The powder measure is reasonably repeatable...as a guess it seems to be about +- .4 grains.
Here is a link to a site sponsor that comes highly recommended;

http://www.budgetshootersupply.ca/frame.cfm?ItemID=4&CategoryID=19
 
Buying a kit is a very good way to start. You might outgrow some of the stuff (possibly) but at least you'll be up and running.

Get a good reloading book. There are several. I started out with the Lee.

There are lots and lots of YouTube videos on the steps but you should read a good book on the process to make sure you don't miss a step.

If you start off with a single stage press, you'll find you'll never get rid of it. I use a Dillon for my .40 and 9mm pistol loading but I use a Lee Classic Cast Breech Lock press for decapping all my brass before cleaning and I also use it for all my other calibers.
 
Kits provide you with bare bones equipment but it has most of the important basics: Press, way to measure powder, and the means to prime brass. Buy an RCBS starter and don't look back. You will need dies, shell-holder(s) to fit the cartridge in your press and an accurate way to measure the length of your loaded cartridges.

Eventually you will probably want a way to clean your brass, a brass trimmer (and the case mouth tools to use afterwards) and a more efficent way to prime brass. You shlould also invest in a comparator fairly early on to PROPERLY measure over-all length off the ogive, not the bullet tip.

when you hobby gets you so badly addicted that you start forgetting anniversaries and birthdays because you think only shooting and reloading, you may want to look at high quality dies that allow you to control neck tension, powder dispenser/scale combos such as the RCBS chargemaster combo, and progressive presses and annealing equipment.

Be afraid.
 
I started with a Lee Pro 1000 for 9mm as a full kit, it came with everything to get started except for a powder scale and the collator, the collator was around $14, the entire kit was $280 taxes in from my local reloading supplier. I liked it enough that I ordered and am using a complete second Pro 1000 kit that was set up in .45acp. And with a progressive press, no need for all the trays as every pull of the handle spits out a finished round.
 
Lee Classic Turret Kit 90304, Lee RGB .30-06 dies 90880, Lee .30-06 case length gauge 90140, digital Calipres and some 1/4" bolts/nuts to hold down press can get you going for $250. The Lee 50th ann. or Breech lock single stage kits are very similar. The RCBS Supreme Rockchucker kit is nice too and I prefer the Ohaus scale and the RCBS powder measure over my Lee. The kit above has a manual but if you buy tools or a kit without one make sure to pick one or more up like Lyman 49th, Lee 2nd, Speer 14th, Hornady 8th etc. The first third of the manual is how to reload and will cover most metallic cartridge loading. The rest of the book is specs and load data for specific calibres.
 
Just upgraded from a single stage to a Lee Classic turret. It's still a fairly basic unit compared to a progressive, but to my mind it's not too busy in operation to monitor your loads. For a new reloader the single makes you aware of your every step. The turret does the same without all the die changes, still being aware of every round produced.
 
For a new reloader I'd stick with the single stage (Lee - most bang for the buck, RCBS, lotsa buck for the bang, Hornady, most buck for the bang) until you've done at least 1000 rnds. Any other style press is just too busy for a newbie. After 1000 rnds, if you want to upgrade don't worry about the old press. It'll always have a place on your bench whether it be for a dedicated depriming station, sizing cast bullets etc.
 
RCBS kit from prophet river is about the best deal I've seen yet and will get you going you may want to think about a tumbler and a case trimmer when you get going also a powder trickled helps with precision reloads good luck and I would recommend RCBS over Lee but that's just me
 
Depends how much shooting you do. Just upgraded to a Lee Classic turret from a breech lock single stage. The turret is way more efficient but still have control over every round.
 
 
Check out FSreloading and/or Titan reloading(my favorite)

Good prices and with titan the shipping seems to be reasonable.
 
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