burningsquirrels
Member
Hey guys, some people have asked me questions about reloading and I thought I'd type this up. I had a long plane flight to the other side of the world and figured this would be an excellent way to kill time! LOL! 
Please, constructive feedback only. This is intended to demonstrate one of the many ways to get into reloading and is not intended as the answer for everyone's needs. I am providing this as an account of what I have learned along the way loading up my first rounds! Enjoy!
Please, constructive feedback only. This is intended to demonstrate one of the many ways to get into reloading and is not intended as the answer for everyone's needs. I am providing this as an account of what I have learned along the way loading up my first rounds! Enjoy!
> Disclaimer.
These are my thoughts on the subject. I'm no expert, but this is from a noob's standpoint and a summary of what ended up working out really well for me. As with any information over the internet, YMMV - your mileage may vary, and reload at your own risk!
> How I got my start reloading.
I got tangled up shooting USPSA at a weekly local match, and am now dragging to the weekend matches. Add to that the weekly pin and steel shoots and well, that's a lot of ammo!
> Assessing needs.
Because of a tight schedule I needed to reload rounds quickly for two calibers. I shoot 40s&w, and my fiance shoots 9x19mm. I would like to sit down once a week and load 300-400 rounds for each caliber in 2 or 3 hours. This mandated the use of a multi-station progressive press that would allow me to do everything on the press.
> Shopping selections.
After talking with a bunch of people who already reload, it seemed like the two most popular (amongst those in my area) were the Lee Precision machines and the Dillon machines. Both camps generally agreed that the Lee machines were more like good ol' pickup trucks while the Dillons were the high end luxury like pieces.
Since I'm only starting out and price was a concern, I looked up the Lee Load-Master. It had five stations, so it could do everything on the press along with the factory crimp die. Complete with dies for one caliber, it was about $215 online brand new... The Dillon, with similar features, was about twice as much used. Someone offered me a used Dillon 650 for $750, ouch! I went with the Lee.
> Cost.
$50 Lyman pro 1200 brass tumbler
$30 RCBS enclosed media sifter
$6 bottle of nu-finish car polish
$4 big bag of corn cob litter for bird cages
$215 Load Master in 40s&w
$12 spare 5 station turret (for 9mm dies)
$25 Lee deluxe carbide set in 9mm
$20 pair (2x) of Lee adjustable charge bars
$20 lee safety powder balance beam scale
$15 dial calipers for measuring OAL
$10 40sw cartridge max gage
$10 9mm cartridge max gage
$12 Impact bullet puller
$15 Lee modern reloading book
$20 in assorted MTM plastic ammo carriers
$5 clamp set for plank
$3 plank of wood to mount the press
$3 three 1/4" by 4" bolts to mount press
TOTAL COST = approximately $475 for everything brand new; does not include bullets, powder, and primers.
No, reloading isn't cheap to start out. But then again, I bought everything new. If you can wait, look for used deals. Seriously. A month after I started, someone was selling a tumbler, dillon square deal press set up for 40sw, digital scale, and misc tools for only $350!!! dangit!
> How it worked out.
The things people told me about the Lee were pretty dead on. It took an evening to get it up and running smooth. Had to lube it here and there on pretty much anything that moved or slided around, then adjust the dies as per Lee's instructions, and now the press works like a charm. I also dragged a dryer sheet through the powder measure and the disks, that helped a lot with powder and static electricity, and with powder sticking to the walls instead of falling down. That tip wasn't in the manual. I also got one of those automotive oil squirt cans, the kind that operates like a Windex bottle but dispenses oil out a fixed metal tube. Makes lubing the machine way easier for $2 from harbor freight.
The Lyman tumbler works great. Only thing is, with the top doubling as a sieve, I place a plastic grocery bag over the unit's bowl to help keep dust inside the thing. The RCBS tumbler does a good job of removing the media from the brass without kicking dust everywhere. The four dollar, ten pound bag of corn cob media beats the 7 bucks i see for one pound of treated stuff at the shows. For four dollars, my brass gets nice and shiny. I added a couple capfuls of nu-finish car polish at the suggestion of a few people and like I already said, the brass comes out super shiny.
The Lee safety powder scale... I used a friend's Dillon digital scale for the first few days and I would verify it against the Lee's balance beam mechanism. That works dead on too. I have to give the digital scale back, I'll get my own later. You can't beat the convenience of it... But the balance beam works just fine, since you're really only needing it to find your load, and what disk measure or charge bar position to use.
Mounting the press, I took an inch thick piece of hardwood, and clamped it to the desk. The overhang is here I mounted the press, and I just use a pair of cheap clamps to hold it to the desk. Works great, and I didn't have to tear up my desk to mount the press. Another good thing about doing it this way is you can move the press around to suit your needs. I've changed its position a couple times already as I began learning my preferences while loading.
Harbor freight has this little plastic bin kit for like $15 which is totally worth it. It comes with about 25 of those little plastic bins that's great for holding bullets to be used, or 'oops' cartridges to be disassembled, and sorting the loaded bullets.
> Lessons learned for the second time around...
1. Talk to everyone you know about reloading, you'll get a lot of tips and tricks. Plus, you may get information relative to the way you shoot. The IPSC guys usually go Dillon with their high volume of reloading... The pins and steel folks use Lees because of lower cost and they don't reload as much as the IPSC guys do. Some even use just the basic turret style press, which is fine if you just want to load a hundred or so rounds a week. Rifle guys, hell they use a plain ol' single stage like the Lee breech lock challenger or RCBS rock chucker press and buy lots of different rifle case prep tools to get the best accuracy they can. Depending on what you do, the group of guys you shoot with may be able to give you the best advice for what you may need to continue shooting and reloading with them.
2. Buy a digital scale with a balance beam, and check the two against each other. Usually I'll take the average of ten drops, three times to verify that the powder measure is dropping consistently. When using a progressive press, make sure you LOOK down into the case to make sure the powder is visually where it should be. Once in a while I'll get one that looks a little low, and I would remove it, dump the powder in the hopper, and set it aside for the end. Don't deprime a live primered round, it could go off.
3. Get a tumbler with a closed top. the dust isn't bad, but I bet it's sure as hell toxic. Do that crap in the garage, not your loading room. Getting small, 2 gallon sized sterilite containers works good for sorting brass. A bin for dirty, and a bin for cleaned for each caliber. I also bring gallon freezer bags to the range to collect our spent brass.
4. You don't really need three or four reloading manuals, just get one in case the internet is broke and immediate bench reference, and use google for the rest. The powder manufacturers, and many reloaders themselves post their load data. Of course, always use your head when picking what data to use.
5. If you shoot in volume, you probably want to stick to whatever load works for everyone else. Then if truly necessary, adjust to your needs. Don't get fancy. People have been reloading for decades and chances are, you're not going to find anything new. I bought a bunch of different bullet weights and styles for the 40s&w, and I ended up shooting what most other major power factor IPSC guys use: plain 180 grain flat points on top of 5.2 grains of titegroup with a CCI small pistol primer. If I just did that from the beginning, I coulda saved some money and time from looking at other fancy loads lol.
6. Don't set up your bench on carpet, you'll work powder into it and primers can get lost. Don't bother vacuuming. If you suck up a dropped primer, the vacuum will ignite it and all that powder dust will follow suit. If you only have carpet and are feeling lucky, then use a huge plastic office chair mat. But don't say the internet didn't warn you lol.
7. Get an assorted color pack of sharpies. You'll want to mark your brass NOW before you even buy a press. Many people do single red, black, or blue stripe across the back of their brass. I do a two-color "plus" sign on the back. I use purple and pink on mine, and double pink on my fiance's. I use pink because I don't think I'll ever come across anyone marking their brass with pink, lol. Yeah, I get jabbed for it, but at least I know it's my brass - and nobody else seems to want to be seen with pink brass either lol.
Good luck!
