What reloading equipment to buy?

Tugboat

Tugboat

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Hi! guys. I'm brand new at this, and have a handgun in 9mm Luger. I want to buy my first reloading kit and am wondering where to start. I know Dillon is considered one of the best, and I can also buy the Lee 50th anniversary kit for cheap. Don't know if I want to spend the big bucks yet? Any suggestions on best bang for the buck would be helpful. Thanx.
 
my wife bought me a lee challanger breach loader kit, came with everything i needed minus dies and case length gauge, thats your best bet for a cheap start up kit. i upgraded the scale to a hornady digital unit for 40 bucks. its your best bet, and if you like it in a couple years you can upgrade and sell this one or keep it and set it up for a single purpose, de priming for example.

although to load 9mm id spend a bit more and get a lee turret press, its a multistage press and basically pumps out ammo as fast as you can pull the handle. i know when i shoot 9mm ill burn through a few hundred in a day, in that case i cant load them fast enough to keep up and 9mm isnt that expensive if you buy in bulk.
 
Tugboat said:
Hi! guys. I'm brand new at this, and have a handgun in 9mm Luger. I want to buy my first reloading kit and am wondering where to start. I know Dillon is considered one of the best, and I can also buy the Lee 50th anniversary kit for cheap. Don't know if I want to spend the big bucks yet? Any suggestions on best bang for the buck would be helpful. Thanx.
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Progressive for pistol IMHO
 
buy once, cry once! buy the best you can afford, it's cheaper in the long run. Progressive for pistols and single stage for precision work.
 
For handgun, a progressive is strongly suggested.

Are you mechanically inclined? Willing to tinker a bit? If you are, then try a Lee Loadmaster. With a bit of playing/tweaking they can be made to run quite smoothly. A newly designed primer system solves many of previous problems and complaints.
 
Low volume

-RCBS rock chucker press
-dies hornady or RCBS
-other tools, Dillon were applicable.

High volume - dillon progressive press.

Thats what i use, doesnt mean its the best, just means it works for me!

Side note, a dillon super swage is good if you plan on reloading any IVI or surplus brass.
 
f55 said:
Progressive for pistol IMHO
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This. Progressive or Turret. I chose the Lee Classic Cast 4-Hole Turret (about $130 at Epps). I pulled the auto-indexing rod, set up my .45 dies, and have since output about 500 rounds of finished 45 ammo. The only drawback is the speed with the auto-index removed. I do ammo in batches of 50, which take me about 90 minutes to complete, which works out about 35 rph. The most time is spent hand priming, and then charging the powder with a bench-mounted thrower.

When it came time to start reloading 9mm, I re-installed the auto-indexing rod. I bought a second turret ($12), on-press primer ($30), on-press powder thrower ($50) along with the 4-die set ($50). This setup is much much faster. While still pausing to QC every 10th round, I can output 150 rounds per hour. This is half the cyclic rate of a Dillon, but it's also half the price.

For a grand-total of under $300, I can now load both 45 and 9mm Luger, and it takes less than a minute to switch between calibers. I save a lot of money over shooting factory ammo, not to mention the quality of the ammo is better. My loads are tuned for the shooting I do. To compare:

Local factory 9mm runs $15 - $17 /50. My lead RN reloads run $6/50, while my jacketed run $9/50.

local factory 45's run $35 + tax /50. My Cam-Pro jacketed 230gr run me about $16/50.

If you want a good overview of the entire Lee Turret setup, check out these videos. The guy is annoying as heck, but does provide good info:

[youtube]YfjmKWFpSYo[/youtube]
 
SandRoad said:
For handgun, a progressive is strongly suggested.

Are you mechanically inclined? Willing to tinker a bit? If you are, then try a Lee Loadmaster. With a bit of playing/tweaking they can be made to run quite smoothly. A newly designed primer system solves many of previous problems and complaints.
Click to expand...

I would never recommend a progressive press as a FIRST press. Sure, once you have a clue what you're doing, they're great. If you DON'T have a clue what you're doing, IMO they're extremely frustrating. If something has gone wrong with your ammo, where do you look? A rookie isn't likely to know even where to look, much less how to fix the problem.

To the OP, depending on your budget, I'd look at the Lee Turret Press kit and add an electronic scale (me and beam scales are not friends :p ) or a Dillon 550B Press with the manual indexing. The Dillon is the higher-priced of the 2.

You will need to buy dies for the calibre you want to load, and all 7/8x14 dies will fit, no matter who makes them. It's also a good idea to buy a case gauge (I use the steel one from Lyman as it has I don't know how many case length gauges in one and I reload 4 calibres) and a case trimmer. Lee makes a good, inexpensive case trimmer that you can mount in a battery-powered drill or screwdriver and you all but can't screw up the length (as an aside, if you don't load maximum charges in your 9mm, you should almost wear out the cases before they need trimming).

For gosh sakes, before you start reloading, PLEASE read your loading manual (you did buy one, right??). If you haven't got one, a good one IMO is the Lyman Pistol and Revolver manual. It shows the beginning reloader everything you need to know. Lyman equipment is featured of course because it is a Lyman manual.

Good luck!!!
 
How many rounds a week are you going to shoot ?

I used to single stage load 2000 rounds over winters while I couldn't shot outside...now I shoot IPSC and I'm shooting a min of 100 rounds a week at practice and 200 to 300 rounds a month at matches.
 
these guys are right, im new to reloading adn the manual has been my best friend next to this forum. its on the couch beside me right now. tons of great info on everything you need to know about reloading in there
 
Buy yourself a copy of the ABC's of Reloading. And a pulling hammer. Probably the best $50 invested into reloading tools you can make.
Clint
 
shredder said:
I would never recommend a progressive press as a FIRST press. Sure, once you have a clue what you're doing, they're great. If you DON'T have a clue what you're doing, IMO they're extremely frustrating. If something has gone wrong with your ammo, where do you look? A rookie isn't likely to know even where to look, much less how to fix it.
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Oh my gosh. I was distracted. :redface: I NEVER recommend a progressive for new reloaders. Just like I always recommend a slow or bulky pistol powder for beginners (Trail Boss) . Far less chance of making an error, and errors are more easily caught.

Reload a thousand or so, over a number of loading sessions to become familiar with the process. After a thousand or so, it becomes natural, an any little deviation from a "standard" load will jump out at you as an error. When first starting out, everything is new, and errors don't jump out at you.

So, how about an inexpensive single stage, or a turret.
 
I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in.

I started reloading (9mm) on a Lee 50th Anniversary kit. I reloaded thousands of rounds (about 4000) on it before upgrading to a Lee pro 1000.

There is nothing wrong with the 50th Anniversary kit. Its a great cheap way to figure out if you like reloading. I used all the components and didn't upgrade anything. Youtube is your best friend, it will show you how to setup everything. Some people complain about the scale, but mine is super accurate. I had zero problems with any part of the kit.

Even now, I reload some rifle rounds on my 50th kit. Its tough enough to reload some fairly big stuff. I reloaded 308 NORMA Mag shells.

Personally I think its cheap enough to throw out, if you decide you don't like reloading.
 
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