First timer

[Jjwisled]

[VegasND]

It sounds trivial, but read the manual.

Do you have a scale? If not, don't buy a cheap one; whether you choose a beam scale or electronic, spend the extra for a good one.

[Jjwisled]

I plan on reading the manual and starting with some published loads. The scale I got is a Franklin armory scale I got from ctd. Not expensive but had good reviews. I'm starting small and will add on to it as I do more. I think my dad has more plans for my press than I do ha-ha

[pacrat]

You will also need a means of trimming your 7x57 cases after a few firings. And a decent set of calipers, for measuring various dimensions of your loads. I prefer dial calipers, but the cheapy digitals from Horror Freight work well until the battery dies from other's reports.

7x57 is a great all around cartridge. And BTW the most popular sporting cartridge in the world.

There are shortcuts when reloading. But no perfectly safe shortcuts. Always work loads from the bottom up incrementally.

JM2c

[JMP]

I haven't used a hand press, but you may just want to go ahead and pick up an inexpensive basic single stage press off of the classifieds as you can get a basic Rockchucker for very little and it's a good press. I don't know if a hand press will give you enough leverage for sizing rifle cases, but this comes from no experience with them. As for calipers, you can start cheap with basic hardware store calipers as a very precise and accurate caliper isn't as important as other tools.

[J-cat]

They have plenty of leverage if you use the right lube. But they spring too much which makes bumping the shoulder hard. So you have to set the die to bottom out on the shell holder early. So then you are oversizing the brass. So that kinda forces you to use Redding competition shell holders.

[Jjwisled]

[stilly]

Hand presses are great for pistol rounds (at the range and if you must) and for decapping.

I would not use one when doing anything bottlenecked when there are some very nice single stages out there and some $75 single stages on Fleabay.

[CSACANNONEER]

I have to disagree with Stilly. Hand presses are nice for portability and will do bottle necked cases just fine. I do recall seeing a very well made hand press a while back but, I forget who made it.

[Divernhunter]

If you are going to use Barnes bullets:
Use their data. It is different than data for lead core bullets.
If you want them to open(hunting) well push them fast.
Drop down in bullet weight(I use 110TTSX in my 7-08) because a barnes bullets acts like a lead core bullet 30% heavier. Dropping down also allows for more speed safely.
Seat them deep, unlike lead core bullets they usually group better with more jump to the rifling.
If you need reloading data or help PM me and I can send you the data and my phone # if you have questions and there is no charge

[Jjwisled]

The one I have coming is a Lee and comes with a recapping/priming tool and accepts standard dies. Saw a few videos of people reloading rifle rounds with it if and it seemed like a good place for me to start. If it doesn't work well I guess I'm getting a bench press but space is an issue.

[Jjwisled]

Divernhunter thank if I hit any snags I'll take you up on that. It sounds like the 08 and the Mauser are very similar.

[savagemann]

Hand press is a decent way to get started.
Keep that scale away from florescent lights and other potential sources of unwanted radio frequency. They can really throw off the readings.
Also, keep the batteries fresh.
You should be able to find a super basic lee bench mounted press on amazon for under $30.
Search this : Lee Reloading Press Md: 90045

[stilly]

I have to disagree with Stilly. Hand presses are nice for portability and will do bottle necked cases just fine. I do recall seeing a very well made hand press a while back but, I forget who made it.

They are nice for portability. I was thinking of my Lee hand press. I do not know of anyone else that makes one. It seems that once Lee makes something sometimes nobody else wants to make anything like it. I do not know why.

I would consider taking my hand press to the range to see how many times I can load a .45 or a 9mm case before I lost it or cracked it, but I would certainly not want to use it for making ammo with when there are so many better options out there. Even that sinclair intl. portable wooden single stage stand with a jrc would be a better choice in my opinion.

I think we had this discussion before in a thread and I THINK it might have only been a general consensus of a forum somewhere that I had read that they were not very good to do bottle necked full length sizing on. IIRC, .45 was about all you would want as it gets a lot harder to operate properly.
But even though I swore that I had read that in the documentation somewhere I do not think I ever found it. It must have been that forum.

[Jjwisled]

Ha-ha