Cheapest reloading setup

[newbie1234]

Compare the Red Lee press to the Blue and Green press liked compare the $2.2K Les Baer to $3.5K WC/EB/NH. You pay %80 more for %10 improvement. But some people still want Best of the Best , money is no object.
(I am cheap and on the fix incomes so Red Lee Products made me very happy ).

[Cowboy T]

Lee works very well. I know; I have plenty of that company's gear. This includes reloading presses, dies, and bullet-casting moulds.

On this forum, it seems that even mentioning Lee brings out the "D1LL0n 1z teh 0nlee g00d br@nd t0 g3tz" posts. I used to see this all the time, and I still see it occasionally, and it's nonsense. All the major reloading companies make good stuff, be it Lee, Hornady, RCBS, Dillon, or Lyman.

Seriously, Ford/Chevy/Dodge, folks. Again, what matters is that people *start reloading*, and if we can accomplish that, regardless of the gear's brand, then that's a win for all of us.

Here's a shopping list to get you started with reloading. The motivation was a friend who wanted to get started with reloading. The prices may vary a little based on who you buy your stuff from, but it should still be right around $300.

1.) Single-stage "Lee Reloader Breech-Lock Press", $50
2.) Set of three dies (Lee Precision) for your cartridge, $40 (standard shell holder is already included)
3.) Lee Auto-Prime XR, $18
4.) The special shell holder for Lee Auto-Primes for your cartridge, $2.00 or so
5.) Beam scale, either RCBS 500 or Dillon Eliminator ($90) (Note: I do *NOT* like or recommend the inexpensive digital jobs--too unreliable)
6.) Set of analog dial calipers, $25 (the digital jobs go through batteries WAAAY too fast--I've already been there)
7.) Kinetic bullet puller, $15
8.) Vibratory tumbler, $35
9.) Brass cleaning medium, fine crushed walnut or corn cob, $11 at PetSmart or PetCo ("Lizard Litter")
10.) Good car polish, e. g. NuFinish, for helping the crushed walnut--DO NOT USE BRASSO or anything else with ammonia in it, though!
11.) Colander-type sifter to separate the brass from the cleaning medium once the brass is clean (mine was $7.00)

Total: $293. This is a complete, functional setup, and the same thing I used to make my first 1,000 rounds.

[SanDiego619]

Lee works very well. I know; I have plenty of that company's gear. This includes reloading presses, dies, and bullet-casting moulds.

On this forum, it seems that even mentioning Lee brings out the "D1LL0n 1z teh 0nlee g00d br@nd t0 g3tz" posts. I used to see this all the time, and I still see it occasionally, and it's nonsense. All the major reloading companies make good stuff, be it Lee, Hornady, RCBS, Dillon, or Lyman.

Seriously, Ford/Chevy/Dodge, folks. Again, what matters is that people *start reloading*, and if we can accomplish that, regardless of the gear's brand, then that's a win for all of us.

Here's a shopping list to get you started with reloading. The motivation was a friend who wanted to get started with reloading. The prices may vary a little based on who you buy your stuff from, but it should still be right around $300.

1.) Single-stage "Lee Reloader Breech-Lock Press", $50
2.) Set of three dies (Lee Precision) for your cartridge, $40 (standard shell holder is already included)
3.) Lee Auto-Prime XR, $18
4.) The special shell holder for Lee Auto-Primes for your cartridge, $2.00 or so
5.) Beam scale, either RCBS 500 or Dillon Eliminator ($90) (Note: I do *NOT* like or recommend the inexpensive digital jobs--too unreliable)
6.) Set of analog dial calipers, $25 (the digital jobs go through batteries WAAAY too fast--I've already been there)
7.) Kinetic bullet puller, $15
8.) Vibratory tumbler, $35
9.) Brass cleaning medium, fine crushed walnut or corn cob, $11 at PetSmart or PetCo ("Lizard Litter")
10.) Good car polish, e. g. NuFinish, for helping the crushed walnut--DO NOT USE BRASSO or anything else with ammonia in it, though!
11.) Colander-type sifter to separate the brass from the cleaning medium once the brass is clean (mine was $7.00)

Total: $293. This is a complete, functional setup, and the same thing I used to make my first 1,000 rounds.

Cowboy, that is an excellent post. I am not looking to pump out thousands of rounds a month, I'd be perfectly fine doing 100 rounds in a month at my leisure, so I don't care if it is not very efficient with the equipment I have. First I want to learn, and then if I get serious, I'll buy one of them fancy machines people have. But for now I just want to experiment with reloading and have some fun with it.

[SanDiego619]

Is the Lyman reloading handbook a comprehensive guide on reloading or is it just reference data?

Can someone please recommend a book, or if you believe it is sufficient, a video, on the entire reloading process? I gather that I need to remove the primer, clean the cases, resize and trim the cases, insert a new primer, charge, and bullet, but I would like a book on each step so I know what I am doing, problems to look for, etc.

Thank you

[Donny1]

Is the Lyman reloading handbook a comprehensive guide on reloading or is it just reference data?

Can someone please recommend a book, or if you believe it is sufficient, a video, on the entire reloading process? I gather that I need to remove the primer, clean the cases, resize and trim the cases, insert a new primer, charge, and bullet, but I would like a book on each step so I know what I am doing, problems to look for, etc.

Thank you

Youtube is your friend on this, but take nothing you see as set in stone. Reading about something is one thing but there is no substitute for watching it being done.

A simple search for "reloading" in the Youtube search bar will result in more info than you can watch in a day, week, etc.

[SanDiego619]

Youtube is your friend on this, but take nothing you see as set in stone. Reading about something is one thing but there is no substitute for watching it being done.

A simple search for "reloading" in the Youtube search bar will result in more info than you can watch in a day, week, etc.

Thank you, I found a really good video that went through the whole process from finding brass in the desert to a finished round, it's about 90 minutes long but explains each step and shows all the tools and how to use them, a very good video all around in my opinion. He used a Lee press too, which is what I think I'd start with.

Here is the video if anyone is interested

Reloading .223 Remington - 50 rounds on a single stage press from start to finish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXYCHd75a6I

[Cowboy T]

Is the Lyman reloading handbook a comprehensive guide on reloading or is it just reference data?

Can someone please recommend a book, or if you believe it is sufficient, a video, on the entire reloading process? I gather that I need to remove the primer, clean the cases, resize and trim the cases, insert a new primer, charge, and bullet, but I would like a book on each step so I know what I am doing, problems to look for, etc.

Thank you

The Lyman book is a comprehensive guide on reloading. Same goes for Lee's book, Hornady's book, and Speer's book (those are the ones I've read, so far). All of them have good explanations and are well written.

I would recommend reading at least two of these reference books. This way you get somewhat different perspectives on the same information, and that can only help you.

My first book was the Lee book, "Modern Reloading". Next was Lyman's 49th Edition. After that was Hornady's 8th Edition, and my buddy let me borrow his Speer book for a couple of weeks. I find Hornady's explanations of reloading effects on longer-range rifle ballistics more complete than, say, Lee's or Lyman's. On the other hand, Lyman's goes, I believe, a bit more into the importance of bullet type, across multiple vendors, since Lyman doesn't make bullets and are thus free to do that. Their powder-type discussions are also very good. The Lee book, also (like Lyman) independent of bullet vendors, tends to go further into reduced loads, especially with cast bullets, but the information applies just as well to jacketed bullets. They also delve into some very interesting discussions about the hardness or softness of lead and why this matters a lot if you're shooting cast bullets (I do, almost exclusively in handgun). Speer's book makes some interesting and pragmatic points about practicality of bullet weight choice when hunting game. One that sticks in my mind is this: "a whitetail will be killed just as dead with a 150gr bullet as with a 180gr bullet."

[SanDiego619]

The Lyman book is a comprehensive guide on reloading. Same goes for Lee's book, Hornady's book, and Speer's book (those are the ones I've read, so far). All of them have good explanations and are well written.

I would recommend reading at least two of these reference books. This way you get somewhat different perspectives on the same information, and that can only help you.

My first book was the Lee book, "Modern Reloading". Next was Lyman's 49th Edition. After that was Hornady's 8th Edition, and my buddy let me borrow his Speer book for a couple of weeks. I find Hornady's explanations of reloading effects on longer-range rifle ballistics more complete than, say, Lee's or Lyman's. On the other hand, Lyman's goes, I believe, a bit more into the importance of bullet type, across multiple vendors, since Lyman doesn't make bullets and are thus free to do that. Their powder-type discussions are also very good. The Lee book, also (like Lyman) independent of bullet vendors, tends to go further into reduced loads, especially with cast bullets, but the information applies just as well to jacketed bullets. They also delve into some very interesting discussions about the hardness or softness of lead and why this matters a lot if you're shooting cast bullets (I do, almost exclusively in handgun). Speer's book makes some interesting and pragmatic points about practicality of bullet weight choice when hunting game. One that sticks in my mind is this: "a whitetail will be killed just as dead with a 150gr bullet as with a 180gr bullet."

Thanks buddy, I will order Lyman's now. Looks like the 50th edition is available. I'll start there. I have a good idea of what I am going to buy already. Lee single stage, a case trimmer, primer pocket swager (unless there is a fitting for the Lee press to do that), a tumbler, scale, micrometer, some other stuff too.

[drkphibr]

My .02 on books is that Modern Reloading 2nd Edition (2019 version) by Lee Precision is the most comprehensive (by far) in terms of load data for the largest variety of bullets (types and weights) and powders. I can say that definitively (but I'm sure others have their favorites and may disagree) because I have multiple versions of each vendor's offerings.

Others have said to pick up a couple of different books. I couldn't agree more. They are ALL quick "reads" as most contain a brief company history (they are all written to highlight their own companies), comprehensive reloading "how to" information (again, highlighting company products of course) and the remaining 80% of the manual is the caliber load data.

Regardless of which manual(s) you buy/read, you can't really go wrong, as they are all good, some just provide more information than others. No such thing as too much knowledge when it comes to reloading. I'm in constant learn mode.

[five.five-six]

My .02 on books is that Modern Reloading 2nd Edition (2019 version) by Lee Precision is the most comprehensive (by far) in terms of load data for the largest variety of bullets (types and weights) and powders. I can say that definitively (but I'm sure others have their favorites and may disagree) because I have multiple versions of each vendor's offerings.

Others have said to pick up a couple of different books. I couldn't agree more. They are ALL quick "reads" as most contain a brief company history (they are all written to highlight their own companies), comprehensive reloading "how to" information (again, highlighting company products of course) and the remaining 80% of the manual is the caliber load data.

Regardless of which manual(s) you buy/read, you can't really go wrong, as they are all good, some just provide more information than others. No such thing as too much knowledge when it comes to reloading. I'm in constant learn mode.

[SanDiego619]

I have 2nd edition and the Lyman’s 47’s (I might update that) but those 2 manuals really seem to complement each other quite well. Anything I’m looking for in one and can’t find, it will be in the other. They both have somewhat diverse approaches though. I’ve found almost contributory load data in them. For instance:

I look up H355 in Lymans 47 and modern reloading 2nd, respectively for H355 55 FMJ's:

Start 23.0gn 2,617 FPS Max 26.5gn 2,967 FPS no pressure given
Start 23.0gn 2,940 FPS Max 25.3gn 3,203 FPS 52144 PSI

That's weird... shouldn't they be the same? How do you know which one is right?

[bigbossman]

OP, check this link out. All the reloading manuals mentioned, in PDF format, available to download for free.

http://marvinstuart.com/firearm/Manuals/Reloading/Reloading%20Manuals/

And here are a few more:

https://archive.org/details/ABCsOfReloadingLeePrecision2004/page/n7/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/HornadyHandbookOfCartridgeReloading3rdEdition1980/page/n11/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/LymanReloadingHandbook48thEdition2002Ocr/page/n2/mode/2up

[SanDiego619]

OP, check this link out. All the reloading manuals mentioned, in PDF format, available to download for free.

http://marvinstuart.com/firearm/Manu...ing%20Manuals/

What a jackpot!! Thanks very much! I ordered lyman's 50th last night, now I can start reading it early. And I'll read the others too, so I can get a better overview of equipment.

[bigbossman]

What a jackpot!! Thanks very much! I ordered lyman's 50th last night, now I can start reading it early. And I'll read the others too, so I can get a better overview of equipment.

Just be sure you're wearing a mask before you click on the link.........

[SanDiego619]

Just be sure you're wearing a mask before you click on the link.........

I am wearing it now, I always do before opening calguns.net

Can't be too careful!