Newbie reloader questions about hornady LnL

[dychen]

Hey guys. I've been searching around all over the internet, and read alot of stuff about the progressive reloaders. I've read about the Dillons, and they sound like great reloaders, just a bit rich for my blood. My wifes new found interest in shooting is quickly depleting my stockpile and my wallet.

Anyhow, my question is, what do I need to start reloading with a Hornady LnL progressive? I have nothing in the regards to reloading minus a couple buckets of brass. I want to be able to load 9mm and 10mm. In the future I want to reload 45acp, 223, and 308, but for now I want to start with those two, mainly the 9mm. I'm not looking for match grade quality ammo, I just want something to punch holes in paper with and hopefully shoot some steel plate with (that just sounds like a lot of fun).

Is the casefeeder worth the extra money? I have a kitty litter bucket full of brass I want to load up.

Any pointers would be great. Thanks for your assistance

[ar15barrels]

Hey guys. I've been searching around all over the internet, and read alot of stuff about the progressive reloaders. I've read about the Dillons, and they sound like great reloaders, just a bit rich for my blood. My wifes new found interest in shooting is quickly depleting my stockpile and my wallet.

Anyhow, my question is, what do I need to start reloading with a Hornady LnL progressive? I have nothing in the regards to reloading minus a couple buckets of brass. I want to be able to load 9mm and 10mm. In the future I want to reload 45acp, 223, and 308, but for now I want to start with those two, mainly the 9mm. I'm not looking for match grade quality ammo, I just want something to punch holes in paper with and hopefully shoot some steel plate with (that just sounds like a lot of fun).

Is the casefeeder worth the extra money? I have a kitty litter bucket full of brass I want to load up.

Any pointers would be great. Thanks for your assistance

My only advice is to get a Dillon.
They are MUCH more popular than the Hornady and lee progressives.
Even though they cost more, more people buy them.
There's a reason for that, but you don't understand as you don't have the experience using them yet...

When it comes to tools, don't cheap out.
Buy the best tools once and enjoy them for life.
Buy cheap tools first and you will eventually break them or get frustrated enough to buy better ones later.
In either case, you waste the price of the cheap tool.

[Mike 56]

I think you should start out with single stage press. Start loading in small lots so you don't end up with large lot of bad ammo. Loading for bolt rifles and wheel guns is a good place to start they are a lot more forgiving. My two cents.

Mike

[Matt-man]

The LnL AP includes the press itself, a powder measure, and 3 Lock-n-Load bushings. You'll need the appropriate shell plates for the calibers you will be loading, and more Lock-n-Load bushings as you buy more dies.

You will also need a bunch of gear that's not press-specific. I think this list in the reloading forum at THR is a good one to get started, though you generally won't need a case trimmer or case lube if you are loading pistol rounds with carbide dies.

A case feeder is abso-friggin-lutely worth it on an auto-indexing progressive like the Hornady.

[awheelman357]

i would recomend getting a dillion i started off with a single stage press took almost 5 days to load 400-500 rounds one step at a time basicly 1 step each night. now i do 400-500 rounds an hour. the dillion i feel is worth the extra little bit of money with their warranty. dont forget the price you see for a dillion is set up for 1 caliber of your choice that includes the dies and shell plate for that caliber so make sure you include in your figures on price comparison

[psriley]

+1 Dillon. Thing works so well, it's positively addictive.

I may be in the minority on this, but my opinion is that a progressive press is actually better for new reloaders than a single stage, provided it's an auto-indexing press like the Dillon 650. If you're monitoring closely, as you should be, it's virtually impossible to double-charge a case. Also, once you have your dies set, you don't need to screw around with changing them out between steps. Less chance for error.

And, of course, there's the high production rate. If you shoot a lot, you'll want to go progressive eventually.

YMMV.