Newbie to loading. Help please!

[angelsfann02]

Hello to all! Hopefully if you are reading this post, you have decided to help out a fellow Calgunner & Gun enthusiast! I have decided to take the plunge and start loading my own ammo. In the last year I have fallen in love with long distance shooting. After trying out many different calibers, I settled on a 6.5 Creemoor bolt action rifle.
I work a high stress job, and as funny as it sounds reloading seems theraputic.
Anyhow this is what im looking to accomplish. I welcome and value everyones opinion.
Here is what I want to do:
Load rifle ammo and pistol ammo. Mostly gonna be focusing on 6.5CM and 9mm ammo because thats what I shoot the most. However I would like to be able to load .308 and 5.56 and other calibers as well if desired later on.

Should I purchase 1 machine that can load rifle and pistol ammo? Or should I purchase 2 separate machines, and have 1 for rifle and 1 for pistol. That way the majority of the time I can leave 1 loader set for 6.5CM and 1 loader set for 9mm
thus eliminating have to swap out dies etc.

Please give me your suggestions including brand, set up etc. All relevant data would be amazing! Thanks guys👍🏻

[Abenaki]

How much money do you have?

If you have money enough, and room enough for both....Then that's what I would do. But swapping dies is no big deal.

Take care
Abenaki

[Win231]

You could have two loaders to avoid setting up everything. Or, you can purchase a Redding Turret Press & have enough stations for both or have an extra toolhead.

http://www.redding-reloading.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49:t-7-turret-reloading-press

Or, if you want to load progressive (I don't recommend for a beginner), you can have one press with two toolheads to change calibers.

[phdo]

[jimmythebrain]

For 6.5 Creedmore get a Forster Co-Ax with high quality dies.
It can be used for match grade 308 as well.

I find progressives give a lot of variability in seating depth for a bolt action precision round.
Think of it like this- with a single stage, you have a stop point of the shell holder hitting the die or a hard stop on the press linkages, etc.
With progressive presses you are doing multiple steps at once, and variability in each piece of brass to die stack up on each other and effect seating depth.

For handgun ammo, progressives are great.

Get match grade reloading dies for the 308 and 6.5 Creedmore. Redding or Forster dies are great..

If money is not an issue, Lyman carbide dies for pistol cases have great expanding dies. Hornady expanding dies suck for their handgun/pistol sets.

[phdo]

[angelsfann02]

I have been saving up for almost a year, so my budget is decent. That being said, Im not looking to break the bank lol. Would $1500-$2000 cover a single stage loader and a progressive loader with dies?

What brands should I be looking at? Jimmythebrain recommended Forster, thanks for that btw, any others?

[Kwikvette]

I just got into reloading on impulse 3 months ago so let me give you some pointers -

After asking a ton of dumb questions, I settled with a Forster Co-Ax. It has tons of rave reviews and they're all right on point.

I love the universal shell holder, which means you don't have to buy and swap shell holders when resizing/etc. This is especially useful when I toss in my universal decapping/depriming die and I run a bunch of brass I picked up and deprime them all (various calibers).

The second thing I love about the Co-Ax is the priming system. I have a nice Sinclair hand priming tool but for my .308 match ammo, I prefer to use the Co-Ax. Something about the "feedback" you get when priming brass, and how effortless it feels too.

Last but not least, the die is 'free-floating'. Now, I've never owned or loaded ammo on any other type of press but the Co-Ax ensures projectiles are self-centered for consistent loading of ammunition. I've yet to reload for .300wm, but I do reload .308/.223 and I do so for precision. Aside from finding the right load for my rifle, I've already loaded ammo that has given me groups in the .3's

For a powder dispenser, I use an RCBS Chargemaster combo. No complaints here other than the fact that I only own one. I may buy another in the future...

If you have a question, ask and you'll get the help you seek. I've learned a lot already and I stick around to learn more.

[Kwikvette]

Oh and buy a nice set of dies!

I've got RCBS Gold Medal Match dies based on a friends recommendation and so far, ammunition loaded is stupidly consistent from the first round to the last.

[M1NM]

RCBS Rochchucker is my prefered press. I had a progressive but sold it since I don't shot as much anymore. With your budget you could buy a Dillon for the 223 and 9mm and still have enough for precision equip.

[TexasJackKin]

If I were you, I'd get a good single stage to start. I've had a Rock Chucker since sometime in the '70s, and it still serves me well. 4 or 5 years ago I added a Hornady LnL progressive when my wife got interested in pistol shooting.

When it was just me shooting I could keep up, when she started shooting as well, it provided me with a good excuse to buy a progressive. I still load my precision rifle stuff on the single stage Rock Chucker.

I always recommend new reloaders start off with a single stage press (others will disagree, and that's fine) to learn the craft one operation at a time. Knowledge gained can then be applied to progressive reloading. You will always have use for a good single stage press.

Don't spend your whole budget at once, start out with a minimal set up, see where to bottle necks are, and upgrade from there. Read several reloading manuals, the "how to parts" then the recipes.

[BigBronco]

I have used most every press made from Hollywoods to Dillons. If you are intending to load for accuracy I strongly suggest two separate presses.. Get yourself a Forster Coax and don't look back for Pistol a progressive is great is you shoot lots of rounds. If you shoot 100 or so a month then the one press is just fine.

If you want to load thousands of rounds per month a progressive is the way to go. The three main choices are the Hornady Lock N Load and the Dillon's (3) to choose from. I prefer one with at least 5 die stations and auto index. This allows for a powder check station. A great safety feature.

Keep in mind Turret presses are nice however the still require one pull of the handle per step of the process. While a true progressive will give you one finished cartridge per pull of the handle once set up and in the groove.

[NorCalFocus]

I have been saving up for almost a year, so my budget is decent. That being said, Im not looking to break the bank lol. Would $1500-$2000 cover a single stage loader and a progressive loader with dies?

What brands should I be looking at? Jimmythebrain recommended Forster, thanks for that btw, any others?

Yes you can get both presses with that budget. Which tow presses is the question.

Here's my thoughts (I know with the ammo laws in CA it changes a little) but have you looked into what reloading 9mm is going to cost you vs buying loaded? I don't shoot much 9mm and even if I did, I find buying it in bulk is still about the same price as reloading it. I won't trade my time for dollars.

6.5CM, .308 and .223 match quality ammo can be loaded at home for a much better price per round than what you can buy in the store. All 3 of those are easy to load on a single stage.

In your case I'd buy a single stage first, learn to load up rifle on it, then after a few months of doing that, buy the progressive and get into pistol. Why jump into two presses and learn two process at the same time?

Forster makes the best single stage press for match quality ammo. (Your shooting precision long range you want match quality) That would be my first choice. Second would be either the Hornady LNL Classic or RCBS Rockchucker. I'm using the original version (a Pacific) of the Hornady LNL Classic and its great. I'd still rather own a Forster though.

Then for a progressive, I'd go with a Dillon 650 and be done with it.

[NorCalFocus]

Just to throw you out some ideas of prices and items you'll need...you can shop and buy from where ever you want.I just use midway links here becasue its easy.

-Forster Co-Ax $350 https://www.midwayusa.com/product/26...le-stage-press
-Chargemaster Lite $250 https://www.midwayusa.com/product/64...enser-110-volt
-Powder Funnel $5 https://www.midwayusa.com/product/97...-to-45-caliber
-Case Trimmer and prep Center $180 https://www.midwayusa.com/product/62...nd-trim-center
-Tumbler Kit $85 https://www.midwayusa.com/product/41...rator-110-volt
-Calipers $15 https://www.midwayusa.com/product/29...tainless-steel
-Dies $75 ish per set
-Loading Trays $5 each https://www.midwayusa.com/product/21...reloading-tray

Thats just under $1000. Again you can shop around and find better deals. But this stuff would be great things to start with that won't need replacing or upgrading in a few months. Yeah you can start a lot cheaper, but I will put money on the line that you'll be wanting to upgrade stuff if you go cheaper.

[angelsfann02]

Bravo guys! What an amazing amount of useful knowledge. ����
I will admit that the new ammo laws made me look at loading sooner rather than later. Like I also mentioned before, loading look theraputic to me! Is that weird?

I spent a good number of hours watching Youtube videos of the Forster co-ax and the floating die design is pretty sweet. The time it takes to swap out dies is amazing. Everything about tha loader seems to be what Im looking for. Match grade dies seems to be whats recommended-is this accurate?