Made The Plunge Into Reloading

It's good a thing to see the fruits of your labor.

Looks to be a sturdy press.

Welcome to the journey!

Good deal on a great press! Beam scale and a good manual, some powder handling stuff and some components, you'll be off and running. Read the instructional stuff in whatever manual you pick up ( I recommend the Lyman 50th) it is invaluable info. Welcome to the addiction!

A book, scale, powder dippers, caliper and some loading blocks and you should be able to at least get a start. Then add on as you go.

I would look for a good digital scale instead of a beam scale. Digital is so much faster and less hassle.

Lyman's check weights are good to have. A good assurance of reliability. Works with low and high tech scales.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012877380/

Now looking for a beam scale

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Agree with Muddydogs....forget the beam scale. Took me about 2 days of reloading to set mine aside "for emergencies" and order a digital scale. Well worth the cost of whichever one you pick.

WheelGunMan said:

Took the opportunity of Black Friday promotions to advance into the world of reloading. Picked THIS up from Midway USA and a Lee Die Set. Now looking for a beam scale and a few other accessories. I'll play with it some and will probably be back with many questions.

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What caliber and why?

I have to admit this Walmart ammo fiasco has got me thinking reloading, if I do it’ll be .40S&W

huntsman said:

What caliber and why?

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Yes! Inquiring minds would like to know!

And, Welcome to the Wonderful World of Hand Loaded Ammunition!

WheelGunMan said:

.38 Special/.357 primarily. I've been kicking it around for years. I buy 90% of ammo from Walmart. Their latest decision has accelerated my decision. I don't expect to save any money and have a couple thousand casings to reload.

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If you are thinking of going between cast and jacketed bullets. May I suggest Lyman's 50th edition, or Lyman's Pistol & Revolver, 3rd edition as a good starting point of getting to know the ins and outs of reloading.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1064661989/ Hard cover or soft are available.
If you plan on getting into rifle cartridges, this may be more to your liking.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012869149/ This only comes in paperback as far as I know.
It also delves into a bit of casting your own bullets, if that may interest you at some point.

Welcome Aboard !

WheelGunMan said:

Now looking for a beam scale...

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You DO want a nice beam scale. Digital scales are nice, but they are easily upset and mislead by everything you can't see (magnetic fields, drafts, low power, friction, etc). And as far as speed, yes you'll save 45 seconds in every 2 hour reloading session. Percentage-wise, that's in the noise.

I like your press. I have an older version with only 6 stations. I wasn’t comfortable with a progressive but wanted to be able to set up and leave my dies in place. Like you I talked about it for years, was really close once when some guy at a gun shop told my wife how dangerous it can be and I put it on hold for a while. Before I bought my press I spent a couple evenings with a coworker who was a veteran hand loader. It really was an eye opener and some time well spent. If you have someone you can work with I’d suggest it. If not go slow, read a lot and ask questions here. There’s a wealth of knowledge on this forum.

I personally like a beam scale but most of my reloading is for volume so I’m not weighing every case. Even when I am, say when working up a load, I set my dispenser just under the weight I want then trickle power into the pan. It’s pretty quick.

Have fun. It’s an addictive hobby all to itself.

Welcome to the club. It's a great hobby; you'll be proud sending lead you've loaded up yourself downrange. +1 on the beam scale; any 5-0-5 style is great, but even the Lee works well.

Great folks hang out here. Welcome!

WheelGunMan said:

.38 Special/.357 primarily. I've been kicking it around for years. I buy 90% of ammo from Walmart. Their latest decision has accelerated my decision. I don't expect to save any money and have a couple thousand casings to reload.

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Makes a lot of sense then. 38/357 is very easy to work with and it is what I started on long ago.
I am a balance beam scale supporter. They may be a little slower but they don't drift. I have a Lyman D5 scale which is an Ohaus 505 scale and very reliable. They can be found used on ebay for a reasonable price.
Agreed that the Lyman Pistol and Revolver Handbook is great to have if you are reloading a lot of these types. I have one and use it all the time, still.

I would suggest looking into cast lead or jacketed bullets that have a crimp groove as most plated bullets I have seen do not have a groove. It will make getting started much easier also. When I started back in 1980 I was using Speer and Hornady lead bullets. Both WC and SWC and had great fun. Today the cast bullet market is wide open.

I bought a reloading press at an auction once… Studied manuals and drove a number of posters here to distraction. A month later, my husband took over and I haven't been able to get into the room since. Every so often I'm tempted to take it back as there is a certain satisfaction to making your own ammunition. Still… Sometimes you just have to choose which hill you want to fight for. I keep hoping someday he will learn to share.

Get the Lyman 50th Edition Reloading Handbook and read it. Before you do anything else.

On the beam balance scale, I always use both, one to check the other. My only tips for reloading is never get distracted and don't do any step until your sure what your doing is right. You'll be making a lot of reloads and each cartridge has to be right.

Welcome to the hobby of reloading.

In addition to the above suggestions I'll offer a few more. Develop good habits early on. Decide on a record keeping system and use it. If you find that "magic" load you'll want to be able to return to it. You will also want to remember any loads that don't work well. One can of powder on the table at a time. Check and verify the powder and charge weight before loading anything. Check and verify the bullet weight too. Don't load when under pressure of when you are distracted. Reloading is a fairly safe hobby but deserves respect.

Welcome to the wonderful, oft confusing and frustrating world of reloading!

If I didn't already have an excellent Forster Co-Ax, I would prolly pick up one of the Lyman turret presses. If it hasn't been mentioned yet, get a copy of The ABCs of Reloading. Excellent and very popular text for new reloaders. It covers all the how to plus equipment and component explanations.

I like to share my Rule #1 with new reloaders; I pay no attention to any load data I see or hear from any forum expert, range rat, good intended friend, gun counter clerk, pet loads website, or gun shop guru. I get my load data from published manuals (with a very few from powder distributor's websites). I record every load I assemble on my computer and print them out for my 3 ring binder (computer in office, binder in shop). I refer back to the loads kn the binder for future reference.

FWIW I started reloading in '69 (38 Special) and have had one squib, and no Kabooms...

Go slow. Double check everything. Most important, have fun...

Welcome to a great hobby. Reloading equpt. today is top notch. I have a variety of different brands and their all good. Best advice I can give you after 4 + decades of reloading is KEEP DETAILED RECORDS, I wish I had . hdbiker

Welcome to the hobby. I'm fairly new to this myself (about 4 years in). I've read a lot, both the Hornady book on reloading that came with my kit, and the Lyman book, and others as well as information on this forum. I've also sought out advice from a trusted co-worker who reloads for his competition shooting. I have a composition book that I write down every batch of loads I make, along with saving the targets from a particularly good outcome. I generally use a digital scale, but have balance beam scales to back it up/use as a check. Like most have said, it is a fun and rewarding hobby, go slow and have fun!

The advice to log with date each batch exactly, all the data, bullet weight, type, make, powder and amount, primer, everything so you can reproduce the same cartridge years, decades later. How I wish I had done that before I went on a long hiatus then today, I wouldn't have a few boxes of "unknowns" which I won't shoot without knowing exactly what it is.