Reloading Setup at minimum cost

[donger]

Dude, he wants the Lee Loader, let's support him and be happy for him. He'll upgrade as soon as he pulls the trigger of that Howa 1500 chambered in 308 WIN with one of his handloads for the first time. First the smile, then the addiction. There will be no hope for him after that, just like you, me, and every other handloader on this forum.

Get the Lee Loader, sbjmg. You'll have fun...

LGB

You're right. Good luck with the addiction.

Why would he need to "bump the shoulder back" ? He is using it in a bolt weapon, fireforming the case each time. Even if he did need to, just drive the case a mite deeper in the lee sizer.
Lee loader is not my choice -- tong tool for me -- but it certainly will get the job done.

Bumping the shoulders back just a bit will yield more accurate loads.

[EmmaGoldman]

If you get the Lee Loader, and find that after several loadings your brass doesn't chamber, find someone to run them through a full-length size die for you.

If you like the loader and want to stick with it, an arbor press (cheap ones can be had from Harbor Freight or Enco) to replace the mallet is a great thing. If you want to get fancy, some day, you can replace your Lee with Wilson hand dies and/or a Sinclair arbor press (light and portable, designed for using dies like this).

I'd say the least satisfactory part of the Lee Loader is the primer seating arrangement. The Lee hand priming tool is less than 20 bucks.

[Hunter158]

http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/dies/lyman-310-tool.php

Another option... I've used this to do a hundred or so rounds at a time.

[Bongos]

still consider this cheap all used:
RCBS Rockchucker $60
RCBS 308 Dies/shell holder $25
Possum Hollow trimmer $25 (New, used is hard to find)
RCBS Powder Drop $40
Scale $40 (though I would opt for a digital one for $100)
Lee primer tool $12 (worth it but you can use the one that comes with the Rockchucker)

[EmmaGoldman]

http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/d...n-310-tool.php

Another option... I've used this to do a hundred or so rounds at a time.

Does anyone know if there are 310 dies available from sources other than Lyman? The OP is looking to do 308 and Lyman doesn't make those dies, but mainly I'm asking because I'd love to see better dies for this tool than the originals.

[uscbigdawg]

Even if the man in the video was using a measuring scoop, I still would have used a credit card or something flat to level out the powder charge.

Looked pretty dangerous to me.

Maybe he just did it for the video.

In Christ: Raymond

The scoops are Lee's powder measuring kit that are "calibrated" for a specific weight of powder (with small variations for powder density). Obviously, if you go this route, you should find the correlation to the powder dipper and what the weight of the powder you're using is, but there are an awful lot of bench rifle shooters that load by volume and not by weight.

If you're throwing a typical rifle charge of powder, the .2-.5 grain variation isn't going to matter for bangin' them out as demonstrated in the video. Hell...even a very well known rifle shooter has said that the small .1 grain adjustments people try to yield maximum consistency is often counterproductive (of course he does load using a Prometheus Powder Dispenser ).

Rich

[LGB Loader]

there are an awful lot of bench rifle shooters that load by volume and not by weight.

Complete agree by personally seeing this first hand. When I first got into shooting off the bags back when I was "trying to get into bench rest", I had alot of good advice thrown my way and I would say that most bench rest freaks out there load by volume.

There are some real amazing shooters out there with amazing firearms.

LGB

[uscbigdawg]

LGB - Can't say that. Don't you know it's all about weight and OAL for maximum accuracy? I'm kidding of course. Those guys taught me a lot and dispelled a lot of myths when it comes to reloading.

Load by volume, seat to the ogive, distance 'x' off the lands or soft seat and send it.

Rich

[LGB Loader]

LGB - Can't say that. Don't you know it's all about weight and OAL for maximum accuracy? I'm kidding of course. Those guys taught me a lot and dispelled a lot of myths when it comes to reloading.

Load by volume, seat to the ogive, distance 'x' off the lands or soft seat and send it.

Rich

Yup. very radical guys to hang out with. I wish I had more time for it....

I sent you a PM 'cause I didn't want to thread hi jack.

LGB