Reloading noob looking for direction

[dirty_530]

Hey guys I am completely new to the whole reloading process and I would like to start pressing my own ammo for my 30-06, 12 ga, and my Ar. I am hoping to get some direction, and a list of all the necessary equipment, as well as do's and don'ts. Thank you in advance!

[rsrocket1]

The stickies are your friend
If you have more specific questions, c'mon back!

[bruceflinch]

Shotgun shell presses are different than the presses used for rifle/pistol.
Additional directions...Sun rises in the East, Sets in the West

[robert101]

Welcome to the forum. I'm not trying to side-step your question, but you are really asking for a lot of information. My advice is to purchase a reloading manual like Richard Lee's 7th Addition and read a little. Many pages of good information. When you get more informed your questions and answers will be more defined. Reloading is not only economical but the way to shoot more. Let us know how things progress.

BTW, I started with a single stage press, scale, powder measurer, and dies. Manuals too.

[dirty_530]

Thanks Robert! I'm heading out the door right now to buy Richard Lee's book

[dirty_530]

Shotgun shell presses are different than the presses used for rifle/pistol.
Additional directions...Sun rises in the East, Sets in the West

Whatta douche

[rsrocket1]

+1 with Robert101
Lee's book is decidedly in favor of his own products, but if you are able to avoid getting jaded by what seems to be a shameless promotion of his stuff, he does impart a lot of knowledge. He covers metallic loading of rifle, pistol, lead casting and shotshell reloading in great detail. Much more than the front section of most reloading manuals which are mostly dedicated to load data.

In terms of what to get, what to consider (single stage/progressive, what brand), you have a vast knowledge base in these and other forums as well as the internet.

[bruceflinch]

Whatta douche

Sorry, Didn't know you had your Funny Bone removed. You should get a little thicker skin, if you want to come to a Public Forum & ask for help.

Since you didn't to bother to read the the Sticky at the top of this Forum before asking your simple question with the complex answer, you probably also skipped reading the Forum Rules about name calling.

Please read your Reloading Manuals so you don't have an accident at home.
& read this thread for your own protection.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=495909

[Fyathyrio]

Another good book that describes reloading very well is ABC's of Reloading. Should be available at big box book stores or Amazon for roughly $15. I believe the most current edition is now the 9th, it covers everything in a clear manner split up nicely by topic such as casting your own bullets, rifle brass prep, powders, primers, ect.

[theduece]

Great advice bieng given get a few books. Watch a few videos on the differnt presses, single stage, progressive, shotshell.

Establish your budget and what it is you would like to start with. That way when you ask people will more than likely help. Though there seems to be a plethora of metalic loaders here there are not many shotshell loaders.

[grant22]

When I wanted to get into reloading I had a similar perception: "tell me what to buy, and I'll buy it."

Like the above guys are saying, there's more to it than that. Ask yourself these questions (some you've already answered) then go from there.

-What formats and calibers do you want to reload (Metal 30-06, .223 & shotgun) Yes, rifle reloading and shotgun reloading are 2 different species and two different presses. Do you want to reload any pistol? If so, that would encourage you to get a metallic reloader that does rifle and pistol. The shotgun reloader will be seperate.

-What are you looking for out of your rounds? Plinkers, accurate plinkers, precision, or maybe bench rest accurate? This will determine what you need to buy. The more accurate you want them to be, the more stuff you'd wanna buy.

-What kind of qty do you want to turn out TOTAL? Do you want to just make enough at a time for the weeekend? Or do you want to stockpile? This helps determine what route to go......single stage, pogressive, etc.

-What kind of qty do you want to turn out PER SITTING? Do you want to make 20 really accurate rounds per sitting or 300 per sitting? This will determine whether you get a single stage or a really efficient progressive.

First and foremost, though, like others have said: Go buy a manual and read the tutorial section (not so much read the recipes). Then you need to know if you want to do pistol or not, cuz if you do, START WITH PISTOL.....it'll give you a good foundation to start with.

[Dark Mod]

Heres my advice: start off with .223 and .30-06, save the shotgun press until you know what your doing.

Buy a lee anniversary kit for $80, then buy components, dies, a digital scale, and maybe a tumbler and media. Also some calipers.

Read a reloading book or lurk on the forums until you know how to do it, then start loading your rifle rounds.

If it makes sense to you and you dont blow yourself up, invest $100 in a USED shotgun press and then buy all the other stuff you need.

Buy more equipment when the need arises, and upgrade to more expensive equipment as the need arises

For a starting point though i highly recommend the lee kit, its cheap enough that its no big loss if you decide reloading isnt for you, and its quality is high enough that it will still be usefull when your grandchildren inherit it. Except for the scale that is, toss the scale and buy a cheap digital one

[Fyathyrio]

Pretty much everything I've read about shotgun reloading told me that there's not much savings unless you're loading a ton. When I did the time/cost analysis I decided against it. With pistol/rifle there really is savings, you can recover your press/tools/components costs within a few thousand rounds give or take. Using new brass and high end jacketed rounds is still cheaper than a box from the store. Buying in bulk really helps, like thousands of primers at a time.

[h0use]

for shot shells, i would recomened mec reloader. as for the others i have been using LEE reloading press for years. they are inexpensive and work very well. both companys have verry good customer service as well.

[theduece]

Pretty much everything I've read about shotgun reloading told me that there's not much savings unless you're loading a ton. When I did the time/cost analysis I decided against it. With pistol/rifle there really is savings, you can recover your press/tools/components costs within a few thousand rounds give or take. Using new brass and high end jacketed rounds is still cheaper than a box from the store. Buying in bulk really helps, like thousands of primers at a time.

I haven't gotten a whole lot of savings with pistol and rifle loading..... I do however get 2-3x's more ammo for my money.

lol and yes buying in 8lb kegs and 5k primers at a time reduces the per round cost. ALOT, however now when I go out rather than a few boxes of a certain caliber I take ammo boxes stuffed with rounds. Meaning rather than spend say $.30 per round buying factory. I can get that down to $.12 I just shoot 4x's more now, so whereas before I spent say $100 on ammo for a trip I now spend $150 on components for the trip.

O and reloading is like an entirely different hobby in itself. Be careful once you start before you know it you will have invested as much time and money into setups as in guns(ok that is a bit of a stretch but not by much).