What reloading kit should i buy?

pklassen

pklassen

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So im going to get into reloading and i thought id get some advice from you guys. Ill probably only be loading a couple hundred rounds a month so i dont think i need anything really fancy. What im after is a simple single stage press kit but im not sure which kit would be best to start off with. Any recommendations or thoughts on which kit would be good to start with? I seen that lee has a 50th anniversary kit for relatively cheap but it doesnt come with as much stuff as the hornady classic kit does but is less then half the price. Also RCBS has a few kits but im not sure which one i should go for.
 
I bought the Lee Kit ( Challenger) recently and I regret it. the only piece of equipment that works well is the powder measure..the scale is slow and not very accurate ( so I bought a digital) the breech lock press is not very convenient since the bushings are very fussy.turn them too far or not enough and they lift on the press stroke...the safety primer would do justice to Rube Goldberg..I've purchased a RCBS hand primer...maybe all equipment is this much of a pain but in retrospect I wish I 'd gone with Lyman or RCBS.
 
sdlonyer said:
I bought the Lee Kit ( Challenger) recently and I regret it. the only piece of equipment that works well is the powder measure..the scale is slow and not very accurate ( so I bought a digital) the breech lock press is not very convenient since the bushings are very fussy.turn them too far or not enough and they lift on the press stroke...the safety primer would do justice to Rube Goldberg..I've purchased a RCBS hand primer...maybe all equipment is this much of a pain but in retrospect I wish I 'd gone with Lyman or RCBS.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. That rules out that kits for me. anyone care to chime in on the quality of other kits?
 
I bought the Lee Breach kit from Msg.Drew. I am very happy with the press, but the scale sucks. I have also had very little success getting the powder measure to be accurate. I have heard people are very happy with it so I assume it is the powder I am using (trail boss). I have it set for ~4.0 grains and I get between 3.8 - 4.2 grains. I plan to buy another powder measure soon. The Lee press is great and the kit comes with mostly everything you will need. The hand prime works very well.

I would buy the Lee kit again, it is a good value. I bought a RCBS digital scale and I still saved off just buying a RCBS press.

http://reloaders.ca/oscommerce/prod...d=105&osCsid=17fb8862375f27dfa1d690f09691d90a
 
I own the Lee Breech Lock Challenger Kit and the RCBS Supreme Master Reloading kit (Rockchucker) and am very pleased with both. I have been using the Lee Auto (hand) priming tool a lot lately. The RCBS 505 scale wins hands down over the Lee Safety Scale. The Breech Lock press has been making very reliable and accurate ammo for me, just like the Rockchucker does.

I think the Lee kit, a set of dies, Lee case length gauge, manual and calipre to measure shell length is a good starting package for the new single stage loader.
 
This was my first kit with the ABC of relaoding "Bible"
Got over 1000 rounds into it. No problem
I updrade with a RCBS Scale after about 300 rounds only cause i got a good deal on a used one. I would not go back to lee scale,but it does the job
I also used a cheap ($9.99) eaby digital scale for comparaison when loading Hot loads
IMG_2372.jpg
 
After carefull research and following experienced reloaders advice I recently bought the Redding Big Boss Pro Pak.
The press is top notch as is the scale, powder tricker and case preparation kit I also have the Redding Deluxe die set in 308 Win another excellent offering from Redding.
I highly recommend Redding equipment.

Good luck with your choice!
 
I bought a lee kit - and found that the bushings introduced a few inconsistencies... perhaps its a defective user as Id not heard this complaint before... either way I found a great deal on the RCBS starter kit

the kit included the single stage press, a funnel, a loading block, scale, case lube and pad, primer tray - I think that was the entire kit...

to that I have added,

dies
a lyman case trimmer
primer pocket cleaner and uniformer
and flash hole cleaner and uniformer
RCBS powder trickler
spare loading blocks
those clear plastic boxes used to place your loaded rounds into
a few hand tools for the loading bench
dial type vernier
shell holder
lee hand primer tool and shell holders
cabellas case tumbler kit

I have not yet bought a powder measure or bullet puller. I have been happy to weigh each load and havent had reason to pull a bullet yet... I will likely buy both of these items as soon as i find a good deal.

I load about 100 rounds a week in 2 50 round groups and I spread the process out over the week of evenings...here are the steps...

return home from the range, dump brass into tumbler and leave it over night, in the morning I remove the brass from the media and place it in a storage item such that the fired brass are kept in groups.

the next step I lube, deprime and resize - I place all brass in the tumbler again for 20 minutes to clean off any lube...

the next phase I visually inspect the brass, and cut all back to length, debur etc

the next phase i will prime all the brass and begin weighing out powder charges and inserting projectiles.. if I dont finish the job this evening I will the following evening...

I get out to the range about 2 times a week so Im always at some stage with 2 sets of brass - so Im usually doing 1 step of the above to 2 groups of brass.
 
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Brocky said:
After carefull research and following experienced reloaders advice I recently bought the Redding Big Boss Pro Pak.
The press is top notch as is the scale, powder tricker and case preparation kit I also have the Redding Deluxe die set in 308 Win another excellent offering from Redding.
I highly recommend Redding equipment.

Good luck with your choice!
Click to expand...

Bingo! This is the kit you want. Redding stuff is all quality, no "value added" throw away trinkets whatsoever. Everything you get you'll keep. P&D sells Redding, I'd give em a call.
 
Thanks for all the responses and good info. I think i will be going with a Redding kit after the good reviews ive seen here as well as other sites.
 
I have a dillon 550 and a lee turret press. for the ammount of ammo you intend to make I would recommend the lee anniversary kit. with one caveat. You need to purchase one with steel linkage not the aluminum, that will break every few thousand rounds or so.
 
Check out the RCBS Rockchucker Kit too. RCBS's customer service, in the rare event that you should ever need it, is top notch. I lost a few parts to my powder thrower during a move, called RCBS to purchase replacements, and the parts were sent for free.
 
If ya want a one-time-investment = lifetime-lasting kit, that'd do it all, try Hornady L-N-L AP - it will last ya, and comes with lifetime warranty, and you can load pistol or rifle on cheap ;) ... did I mention - for the rest of your life?...
 
I really like my Lee presses, for a beginer, get the Turret press, it can load 150rd of pistol or about 40 rifle in an hour. It's easy to swap calibres and you can use it for many tasks. I use mine for .45acp,.455, 357sig, 308, 303 and also for crimping .223 and full sizing brass when I have neck dies in my other turrets. for a beginer, don't get the pro1000, to finicky to learn on. The loadmaster is great for 9mm and .40 as it uses the same shell plate and primer system.
 
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