First Reloading Kit

[Loui3]

Well thank you everyone for all the good feedback. I'm should be ready by the end of the week. Just need to pay a couple things this week. I guess moving forward now I will be picking up all my brass when I go out to the range. Hopefully people don't think i'm weird by doing that.

[Mot Mi]

Honestly, I would piece my kit together as all kits aren't what they made out to be. I would also recommend the Lee turret press just for ease and more production.

[Ishooter]

Lee kit is good, but it's better if you buy only the specific components that you'll use. Save money and time that way. Some of the parts in the kit are either too slow to do, or aren't that perfect. I have the Lee Anniversary kit, but after going into precision reloading, I found several of its components aren't used. The only things that I use is the press and priming features. Since the Lee powder scale is too slow and the powder dispense isn't so great, I ended up buying Frankfort Arsenal electronic scale and Hornady LNL powder dispenser.

[Loui3]

I did try to buy things one at a time but it would cost more in the long run. Right now budget is tight some what.. I thought this would be a good kit to buy for now until i could get other good parts. I think by Aug i could get some good parts in case i need them. like I said i'm a newbie trying to learn on my own since most of my shooting buddies don't have reload machines. They buy all there ammo.

[Dave626]

just keep looking at the Reloading for Sales section. There always something good come up.

[Divernhunter]

Loui3--Well then you have a good source of brass from your friends.
OR you could have friends like I did and once you get all the equipment(& supplies) they will show up and want to use your stuff for themselves. If so you will get to a point that you tell them no, especially since they may expect you to do this at a time of their choosing and for you to supply refreshments and snacks

[Lead Waster]

In terms of "kit" versus "bit by bit", there is advantage to "bit by bit" except ... you don't know what bits you need or like!

Get the kit and then determine for yourself what better tools you might like. The kits will get you up and reloading. YOu may determine you want a better or faster scale, or now you need calipers, etc. You don't know if you are just reading forum posts what works for you or not. You CAN duplicate the kit by simply looking at what comes in the kit and buying those seperately, but you really don't know what makes one thing better than the kit part until you try it.

Even if you upgrade your hand-primer (for instance) it's not wasted money as now you have a backup tool in case something breaks on one.


Just my 2 cents...

[chevy95]

+1

I agree. Get the kit. I first bought a kit to learn on. Comes with a lot of good stuff. No matter where you from here - turret, or progressive - its REAL nice and real practical to have a single stage.

[davek8s]

I bought a Lee anniversary kit then upgraded to a digital scale.

When I bought my kit I figured by now that I would've upgraded to something fancier, but I'm happy with my Lee single stage press.

[417atty]

The Lee single stage kit is great for learning the basics of reloading. You'll find that if/when you eventually upgrade, there's always a use for a single stage press.

I started out with the breech lock Challenger and a few months later, I upgraded to a Lee turret press. And now, I'm running two Dillon SDB presses - one is set up for .45 ACP (large primers) and the other is for 9 mm (small primers).

I still use the Lee single stage as a de-capper and also have a collet bullet puller for it. I still use the turret for .223 and small batches of 9mm, .38 and .45 cal.

Just be sure to be extra diligent in your reloading process and get some good manuals. Also be wary of using any load data you find on the Internet unless you have cross-checked it in a manual.

[boomer135]

How much ammo do you want to produce?

Once you figure these questions out, you can then decide on a press. Also I suggest if the reloading shop you visited sells the product you want buy it from that shop.

Support a local business, and they will help you out down the road. That alone is worth more than their markup to make a profit than buying online only.

Good Morning All,
Well I been looking around for the last 2 weeks about reloading. I have seen videos, reading and more videos. I even went to a reloading shot out in OC. Talked to owner for about 1 hr about reloading. He explain to me the ins and out of reloading. The different stuff I would need.

Now my question is I found 2 kits i wanted to get some feedback on. Since I'm a new reload user i was thinking of starting out with a single stage. I heard it's much better if you plan on doing rifle rounds.

My goal for reloading is to learn, and enjoy the hobby but the cost of ammo is getting expensive now that I have my daughters shooting with me.

I found these 2 kits let me know what you guys think for a first timer.


Lee Precision 50th Anniversary Reloading Kit

Lee Precision Breech Lock Challenger Kit (Red)


Let me know your thoughts and concern about these two. If i should be worried about something or not.

Thank you,

[stand125]

I have had many kits and honestly I always go back to the LEE CLASSIC TURRET press kit. It use it as a auto index turret for pistol and then as a single stage for rifle. It is so simple to switch calibers and I find it to be the best of both ( Single and turret )

[Ishooter]

I did try to buy things one at a time but it would cost more in the long run. Right now budget is tight some what.. I thought this would be a good kit to buy for now until i could get other good parts. I think by Aug i could get some good parts in case i need them. like I said i'm a newbie trying to learn on my own since most of my shooting buddies don't have reload machines. They buy all there ammo.

If you'll stay with the Lee powder dispenser, stay away from small/fine ball powder because it'll get stuck in it. Flake powder works ok and is acceptable with it. Large grain powder is best.

[PTLaro]

I am new to reloading and received my Lee Load Master last week. I loaded 200 rounds over the weekend. I shot 100 rounds Tuesday with one squib and two primers that failed to fire. Other than that, they all shot great. I did rapid fire as well as one at a time.

I would not blame the press for any of the problems. Probably me since I just started reloading.

I went with progressive for versatility. I can load one round at time (which I did on many of them to get a feel for the press) or any number I choose to load for volume loading. You can also remove the index pin and run it as a single stage.

I plan to buy another turret and have only a universal decapping die to deprime a bunch of cases at a time before cleaning. They will feed automatically and empty into a container automatically.

With that said, I think a single stage will be fine if that is what you prefer.

[Lead Waster]

PTLaro, if you had one squib, I'd highly recommend not rapid firing!!