Christmas Reloading Kit

If interest draws you to cast bullets then you need to learn about Cast Boolits.com website. There FMJ is a swear word. Great group of people and many members here are also members there.

You can pick up a Lyman cast bullet manual. What cartridges are you looking to load for.

Another vote for both the Cast Boolits site (yes, that's how it is spelled) and the Lyman Cast Bullet manual. Also, do a search for 'the load' by C. E. Harris. Written several years ago, the Harris article, and related, deals with the mild cast bullet loads you mentioned.

Jeff

I've had good luck with trail boss powder. Works good for mild cast loads. Are you casting or buying bullets.

Any Lyman book should have cast loads for those cartridges, but a book specifically listing cast bullets will be a better option. I suggest buying both a regular and a cast bullet book, or if you want to do it a bit more economically you can download an app called reloading assistant that gathers up load data from a bunch of online sources (mainly the powder makers websites). Or you could go directly to the powder makers websites and get a lot of the data that you are looking for. I like Hornady presses and gear, but when it comes to dies I haven’t seen a whole lot of difference between makers as far as quality goes. Product support on the other hand is wonderful at RCBS and pretty good at Lee Precision. If you break a part RCBS will likely just mail you a replacement when you call them and explain the situation. Lee might just send you the stuff, but you also might have to pay a bit to get it. The good thing about Lee is that the dies come with appropriate shell holders in the package.

In any brand, Amazon is usually the cheapest place to buy dies. For bullets, your best bet is to look at makers like Missouri Bullet Company. Primers and powder you will want to either buy in bulk or source locally to avoid hazmat shipping fees. I like spending money locally at Academy if there is one nearby as they typically have good prices and don’t go out of their way to alienate their customers who buy gun related products.

On the 7.62x54 especially, but on the others as well, you will need to check the primers to see if the cases are reloadable. Glance down from the neck. If you find one hole in the middle of the case then you can deprime and reuse the brass. If there’s 2 holes then it’s junk, discard and move on. Military brass is often equipped with crimped primers, so if you are using milsurp brass you may need to swage or ream your primer pockets before they will accept a fresh primer.

I think you will find any including the Hornady kit will work for you just fine. All of the top end manufactures kits work great. Just learn to work with what you have. Read their manual carefully and you'll be fine. I've used many brands over the years and never had a problem. I currently use the Hornady stuff and don't have any problems. Actually I kind of like the Hornady stuff best over all. Just have to learn how to work what you have the way it is intended to be used.

Welcome to the soon to be addiction.
You should get a set of calipers as well. Harbor Freight has the digital ones on sale often in the $12 range. Then when the brass is too long you need to be able to trim it shorter. I use the Lee trimmer and assorted kit as it is the least expensive to purchase.

It sounds like you have the good foundation for reloading.
As said you need manuals.
Personally I like the Lee one. He does a great job of explaining processes and how to reload. Just take the plugs for Lee products with a grain of salt.

Do you have a set of calipers? You’ll need them. Most kits don’t have them. If you don’t go to Harbor Freight and get a set or two and use the 20% off coupon. FYI most Chinese calipers are the same so don’t pay the insane markup for the ones the reloading companies sell.

A digital scale is nice but not a must have.

I also like the Lee hand press. I use it to de-prime used brass while I’m watching TV.

I’d also suggest watching any videos you can find and looking at websites that show how to reload. Finally lots of good stuff here.

Personally, I’d suggest starting with the basics. Get in good habits and develop your way of doing things. Then figure out what things you’d like as extras.

There are a few things I tend to recommend when i talk about adding to a kit.

A good hand primer. Hate to say it, but I really like the lee. I have the hornady now because it uses my shell holders vs a proprietary set.. but the lee is a better tool honestly.
A universal decapping die. No more risk to your decapping pins in your sizing dies.. and I decap before tumbling, so I run my dirty brass through it. I think Lee makes the best one..
Calipers - whatever you get.. learn how to read them correctly.. I'm old school with a set of vernier calipers.. others have gone dial or digital. They all work.
I shoot milsurp brass.. as such, I run into crimped primers. I bought a swager to take care of that. I really like my ch4d set.. about 3 seconds a piece of brass and half the price of the dillon, especially paired with my press which allows me to have the ram most the way up and the handle in the up position (meaning I move it 2 inches to swage). The dillon is a boss piece of kit though.
Bullet pullers. I recommend both types. I have a rcbs collet pullet for my rifle loads. I have a franklin arsenal hammer puller for the pistol loads. Both work well.
I think thats the end of my tools that I just recommend in addition to any reloading kit. I have some I modifications I recommend for some kits over others.. but thats about it.

AND a good mamual. I second the Lee Modern Reloading.. and Hokie_PhD's warnings about product placement.. I also have lymans 49th I use. Remember start low and work up. Be safe man.
And learn how to check case head for eminent separation..

And if you're going cast loads.. get a powder through expander if its the progressive.. if its the LnL single stage.. make sure you get an appropriate mouth expander and a proper crimper (taper or roll, depends on the round) .. you'll need them with cast.

jobu07 said:

I wanted to get a little advice from the experts here. My wife gifted me a Hornady Lock and Load reloading kit for Christmas.

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Did you get the single stage or the progressive AP press in that kit? Either is a great gift!

jobu07 said:

It was the single stage.

I appreciate everybody's feedback and input. I did a little shopping yesterday. At this point I have everything I need to start loading except the bullets themselves, just shopping around for the best deal on them now.

I wish the Lyman Cast Bullet handbook is what came with the kit instead of the Hornady one, it's an outstanding manual.

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Did you go to the Hornady website and download their Get Loaded redemption form and get your free bullets?

https://www.hornady.com/get-loaded-2019

jobu07 said:

I did not! Let me try this goodness now!

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Good luck. Looks to me you have at least 500 free bullets that you can get.

That'll keep you busy for a little bit.
You can go to ammoseek.com and search for projectiles by price per if you want. I look there often.

When I first tried to reload I went to the 1/2 price bookstores in town and checked their reference sections for reloading manuals and got some old ones. Afterwards I also got a manual for each of the type of manufactured bullets I might have used. Such as a Hornady reloading manual for Hornady bullets, a Sierra manual for Sierra bullets and a Barnes for you get the gist. I soon found out that I was not going to save money reloading but the best thing there is, is you get to customize your loads for each of your specific firearms to maximize their accuracy. Be patient and read a lot and don't forget to ask questions. All of us were beginners at a point and still continue to learn over the decades.

Going to be addicted? Uhuh. OP is already there.

I havent seen what your loading but if given the choice its easier to start with a straight wall cartridge. Pistol is great but that 45/70 works just as well. You dont have to worry about head space and the tools to measure for it. Headspace is critical saftey item and should not be under valued.

I would stay away from range pickup reloading until your a little seasoned. Use your brass that you have fired so you know the history. When you buy rounds you may be able to avoid crimped primers and then will not have to deal with removing the crimp.
Lee sells a semi complete shell holder kit. It's a good option and if your priming tool uses a shell holder then having 2 is even better. I prime with the rcbs universal which has it's own self adjusting jaws. My favorite piece of reloading gear, after using many.