Looking to get into reloading

[DennisCA]

[Strafer]

Fun! I have seen a couple other threads on this topic, so check around the forum. IME the CG reloading brain trust is very helpful.

I will say when I started, I was primarily loading 223 and 22-250. I bought an RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme kit, a set of Harbor Freight calipers, a Hornady bullet comparator so I could check OAL, and some RCBS dies for my calibers.

I used Natchez shooting supplies for bullets, but I now just look wherever is cheapest for the brand and weight of bullet I like to use.

Rn powder and primers may be challenging to find. That said, over time I have found much of what I use right here on CG.

Good luck!



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[xMAC1x]

You can get pretty much everything on this site in the marketplace, to get started.

[Tommy Gun]

Dennis check these sites out. I look at 16 sites when I need to purchase stuff. You can catch free shipping, hazmat and % age type discounts.

Powder Valley - best place to find powder at decent prices
Midsouth Shooter Supplies - powder and bullets
Grafs and Sons - powder and bullets
Midway and Brownells - Expensive powder and ok place to find bullets and have primers there sometimes but relegated to 1k each type (2k on brownells)
Natchezz(sp) and Arm or Ally - best place for primers as they allow up to 5k of each type to order.
Rocky Mountain Bullets - good spot to buy bullets, they also make their own as well. Good prices in bulk.
xtreme bullets - same as RMR
Diamond K Brass - good spot to get bulk brass.
Optics planet - odds and ends, does not sell powder or primers. Can find bullets there at ok prices.

Most sites above have presses, dies, etc. All the odds and ends you may need.

[Tommy Gun]

Damn on phone and can't edit....

...it will hurt the bank account but take advantage of hazmat as you can order up to 48lbs of qualifying items on one hazmat charge. I usually purchase a few 8#rs of powder and 5k primers.

[browndude]

Dennis check these sites out. I look at 16 sites when I need to purchase stuff. You can catch free shipping, hazmat and % age type discounts.

Powder Valley - best place to find powder at decent prices
Midsouth Shooter Supplies - powder and bullets
Grafs and Sons - powder and bullets
Midway and Brownells - Expensive powder and ok place to find bullets and have primers there sometimes but relegated to 1k each type (2k on brownells)
Natchezz(sp) and Arm or Ally - best place for primers as they allow up to 5k of each type to order.
Rocky Mountain Bullets - good spot to buy bullets, they also make their own as well. Good prices in bulk.
xtreme bullets - same as RMR
Diamond K Brass - good spot to get bulk brass.
Optics planet - odds and ends, does not sell powder or primers. Can find bullets there at ok prices.

Most sites above have presses, dies, etc. All the odds and ends you may need.

Not trying to hijack but how bout target sports usa .com cheshire CT ? Is it for reals?

[hambam105]

Dennis, if you're taking up the hobby to save money and you're carrying consumer debt, especially credit card, use the
time on a 2nd job instead of reloading. You will have more money to spend on actually shooting in the long run.

[Cowboy T]

Good starter kit? Here's what I used.

https://www.sanfranciscoliberalwithagun.com/ReloadingShoppingList-Beginners.html

I still use that gear today, even though the vast majority of my reloading is done progressively these days.

Here's another good one. You'll need to get a set of dies to go along with it, and a way to clean your cases (case tumbler and either walnut or corn cob cleaning medium), but that's pretty much true of all kits.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1013011111?pid=423081

If someone ever tells you that a single-stage press is a "waste of money"...slap them...hard. First, you do not need to spend a bunch of money to get started reloading. Second, learning on the single-stage will teach you what to look out for if/when you start loading progressively (not everyone does, BTW), and that knowledge can save your backside. Third, that single-stage press will continue to be useful, again, even if you do end up getting a progressive press down the road. My single-stage continues to get plenty of usage, 13 years after I bought it.

The important thing is that you actually do get started. This will help you do just that.

[Tommy Gun]

Totally agree Cowboy about learning on a single stage but I think it would be ok if he started with the 4 hole lee turret the RCBS 7 or Lyman 8 in so much that it gets annoying switching out dies for each stage. At least it could be looked at as a single stage x 4 or 8.

[RNE228]

Start by reading thru the stickies at the top of this Ammo and Reloading forum

Lot of good info there

[Divernhunter]

RCBS single stage kit. Add what else you want as you go but will need to buy Dies and shell holders for the cartridges you load.
Buy the Lyman #51 Reloading manual 1st and READ it. That will answer 90% of your questions.

Something that has always bugged me is the idea of a turret press especially to "save time". It take 30 seconds to change dies. If you batch process your brass then changing the dies is not a big deal. The turret die will have more give to them often also. If you need speed learn on a single stage press then buy a Dillon.
Hand prime your brass. I often do mine while I watch TV.
If you have crimped primers lee has a cheap kit that you use a hammer with to remove the primers. That is only one of 2 items lee makes that I can recommend. To remove the crimp the best tool for the job is the Dillon Super Swagger if you have many or will in the future. I have use just about all the other tools and none beat it.

[edgerly779]

What calibers. I have some dies, new beam scale and clmponets. In sales reloading.

[thegiff]

You don't save money by reloading, you just spend your money and time reloading. There is tons of advice around, please avail yourself of it by studying what you want to do, then go ahead and pick your path and do it. I started off with a long reply with advice and whatnot and deleted it. It was a total waste of my time. If you are truly interested, then you will do a few hours of research.

I would suggest not buying anything until you seriously do about 20 to 40 hours of solid research (not playing around, but solid research and and studying) then build your list of what you want to do. Then buy your components. Make a pro's and cons of single-stage vs. progressive if you are considering both.

Write these out (excel or google sheets is helpful here) with costs and you will see how much it will set you back. Total will be in the multi-thousands depending on what you want to do when you get all the tools if you go for a full accuracy setup, or a grand if you want just blasting ammo and time is cheap and money is tight, and you get low-cost components and run a low-cost single-stage.

My main advice is this: Decide your use case first. Then build out your list of equipment, and purchase. Otherwise, you will go through a multiple upgrade cycle and waste a lot of money.

Also, don't be afraid of starting with a progressive press. Nothing stops you from doing single stage operations on a progressive press if needed. It is so much faster when all said and done, so if you are a shooter and not a reloader at heart, then keep that in mind.

There are so many tools you can get, but some are must-haves right away, and some you can put off, depending on your situation. For mil-surp stuff, most likely you will need a primer pocket swager. You will need a caliper. You will need a bullet puller or inertia puller. You must have dies. You may or may not need to crimp (don't know about your rounds) so your die sets may have crimp dies. If you go down the accuracy rabbit hole, well, you will get a few thousand more in tools. Don't forget storage, marking and tracking number of firings, and all the other details. Anyway, I'm responding while I'm stuck in a meeting, got to get back.

[Cowboy T]

Totally agree Cowboy about learning on a single stage but I think it would be ok if he started with the 4 hole lee turret the RCBS 7 or Lyman 8 in so much that it gets annoying switching out dies for each stage. At least it could be looked at as a single stage x 4 or 8.

In the past, I might've agreed with you about the switching dies part. However, the new Breech-Lock quick-change makes this trivially easy. Even their tiniest "Lee Reloader Press" now has the breech-lock system, and the Challenger and Classic Cast have had it for several years now. Until I used it, I was kinda skeptical, but now, I'm convinced. It really is cool.

But yes, a Classic Turret Press would be another good choice for all-around reloading. It's got most of the simplicity of a single-stage. I haven't used the RCBS 7 or Lyman 8, but they look to be pretty sturdy beasts, too.

On a more general note....

I've noticed over the years that a lot of people--especially Dillon press owners--will advise to jump right to a progressive press. This is chiefly because Dillon Precision only makes progressive presses; they don't make a single-stage, and yes, there's some "Ford/Chevy/Dodge" brand loyalty going on there. :-)

I do not recommend against progressive presses, as I have several myself, both Lee and Dillon. However, for the beginning reloader, since I don't know that person and his/her mechanical aptitude, I always recommend starting single-stage for safety reasons. Crawl before you try to run a marathon. That progressive press will be there in 6 months to a year from now. Yes, even with "Shotgun Joe" Biden in office.

[tabascoz28]

With the advice of experienced people and user adherence, sure you can save money but it's very specific. The up side to reloading is self reliance and custom bullets. The negative is you have to plan and buy in bulk and do the time consuming work. Those that planned ahead will have material for hundreds of thousands of rounds with no extra fees, trips to the store and price fluctuations. If you don't buy into the hype and not a competitor, a cheap reloading set could last a lifetime.