Getting into reloading need help

[Bill Steele]

I agree on the observations above about the color of your brass.

A less expensive alternative to buying ammo and shooting to get spent brass is to buy once fired brass. A search on gunbroker dot com will usually reveal a number of auctions for .45 ACP brass. My average price for .45ACP once fired from GB is $.06/case, that is shipped to my door. If you are in a hurry, there is no end to the number of 1000-2000 case lots that can be bought in the $.07-.08 range. Another option for this kind of brass is our very own Calguns reloading-ammo for sale section. Be mindful when buying once fired .45 ACP of the primer size. Many do not tell you it is mixed small and large primer, you will have to sort this brass. Some will tell you ahead of time it is small or large, small usually goes for a cent or two less per case. They both work fine to reload.

Finally, the least expensive is picking up the brass around you at the range. You will likely become very sharp eyed in being able to detect a .45ACP case among all the .40's.

Have fun, good luck

[lpspinner]

+1 on Brian Enos's site. I started out with Lee equipment, but now have 4 550's.

If you happen to have a C&R or any FFL, then you can get Dealer pricing from Graf & Sons. No matter where you buy it from, you still receives Dillon's No BS support and warranty. The guys that answer the phone are helpful and will usually provide you parts for free under their warranty.

In fact, one of my 550's was a 450. I had a lot of odd 550 parts lying around, but not enough to convert it fully to a working 550, I was told they would charge me a $25 refurbishing fee. They ended up sending me back my 450 fully converted to the latest 550 and didn't even charge me the $25 fee or for the NEW parts they used.

[Cowboy T]

If you've never reloaded before, personally I'd wait on the Dillons or any other progressive presses at first, and start on a single-stage press (brand doesn't matter, there are several good models) and a hand primer. Really learn what you're doing and what each step in the reloading process is about. If and when you do end up going with a progressive press, this experience could save your backside. Even though I use two progressives the vast majority of the time nowadays, I still use my single-stage press for a variety of tasks, so it definitely hasn't gone to waste.

You've got plenty of time to go progressive down the road once you really learn what you're doing and have a better idea of what your reloading needs are going to be.

For dies, whichever ones you get, the threading is standardized, so you can mix 'n' match if you want. Jeff Quinn over at GunBlast.com, as one example, uses Lee dies and an Auto-Disk Powder Measure on his Dillon RL550B progressive press. That's what works best for him.

You have picked up a couple of reloading manuals and read 'em or are currently reading 'em, right?

[Lu(ky]

Yeah all that makes really good sense. Regarding the Dillon 550B my buddy has one so I plan on reading 49th edtion book soon, and plan on taking the 550B to his house to set up and match his setup, but also going by the Dillon DVD, instructions, your help.. I plan on starting out with just a .45 for now. In my area I can get a box of 50 Federal or PMC 9mm for $10.99 which is pretty cheap I been collecting my brass from that along with my 45 brass. Going to pull the trigger this week on everything..
Again thanks for your help and support everyone. I will post pictures of finished setup.

[Lead Waster]

Yeah, the reason the BE site is confusing is because when you change calibers, you don't just swap dies (for a single press, you just need a set of dies and a shell holder for each caliber). With a 550b, you need to buy a conversion kit, which will contain a Dillon shellplate for that specific caliber, an expander that works with the Dillon powder through die (the thing the powder measure attaches to) and 3 pins that will hold the case in against the shellplate. Then you probably would want a toolhead and a dedicated powder through die for that new caliber, so you can keep your dies attached to the tool head.

For .45 ACP (very wise, that's a huge savings right there!) you can call up Brian Enos (or use the website) and just get a 550b with the .45acp stuff. I use Lee dies, except for .45 which I just happened to have Hornady dies for.