bullseye308
Member
For those wanting to reload and don’t have much of a budget, fear not, it can be done. This is not the best time to start, but it can still be done it will just take some effort to locate what you need. Primers are the hardest to get, followed by powder, but it is out there. First off you will need at a minimum a press, caliber specific dies and shell holder, powder dispenser, powder scale, a manual, calipers(digital or dial), case trimmer and chamfer tool if loading rifle, good lighting, safety glasses and somewhere to mount the press. Most can be gotten cheaper used, and most tools don’t wear out often if at all.
The minimalist approach is a Lee single stage bolted to a 2x6 c-clamped to a table or mounted to a sturdy bench if you have one. I started with one bolted to a 2x6 clamped to a coffee table. Dies are caliber specific with a few exceptions like 38/357, and 44spl/44mag. Lee dies come with a shell holder to hold the brass in your press. If you can get a Lee kit you will have most of what you will need to get started for one caliber. Some of the items you will not need, or replace at some point, but you will be ready to start. Read the beginning of the manual a couple times and any parts you don’t understand please ask here for clarification. Once you are familiar with the process you can start. If you can find a local mentor, you are truly blessed. Find other local reloaders and maybe you will have someone to trade with, or split bulk orders with.
Calipers you can get at harbor freight and are necessary to measure the length of the finished rounds and other measurements. Check weights are great to verify your scale is set correctly as you are dealing with tiny amounts of powder and precision is very important here. When just starting out I was on a limited budget. All I had was a Lee safety scale and couldn’t afford check weights, so I took some small items to a jewler and told him I wanted to have something of known weight to verify my scale. I gave him a weight range I was loading and I had a couple pieces of bird shot, broken pieces of a silver necklace, a tiny split shot sinker, and a few other things. He cleaned them, weighed them, filed them, and when he got an even weight he put them in tiny ziplock baggies with tweezers and wrote the weight on each bag. He said not to touch them except with tweezers and always keep them in the baggie when not in use as oil from my hands or dust would throw off the weight. That worked just fine for years till I passed them on to someone starting out and I bought a proper set. There are ways to get what you need at little to no cost if you are creative.
Getting things free or cheap? Absolutely doable and here are some ways to do it. Always pick up brass at the range, what you don’t use you can trade for what you need or sadly scrap it and use that money to buy components. Look at yard sales for reloading supplies and components, ask around if anyone is getting out of reloading, or sadly if any Reloader’s have passed and left supplies behind. Put ads on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace for stuff you need or stuff you have to trade. I got almost 1200 pounds of lead for free from a guy on Craigslist. If you can find a source of lead, look into casting your own bullets. Mining the berm is one way to get quality lead for free. Again Lee has cheap melting pots, molds, and sizers to get you going. If you are handy some things you need can be made like a bench, cabinets for supplies, risers for your scale to see it better, and loading blocks to name a few. Don’t overlook dollar stores for storage containers, labels, anything else you may need.
Starting with a single stage is a great way to get into reloading, but it is also the slowest. It has many benefits such as learning proper die setup and in the event you make a mistake you probably won’t be having a large pile of rounds to break down like you easily could on a turret or progressive. As you advance and decide you need more production, you can step up to a press that will put out quite a bit more rounds per hour, but the single stage may still have many uses and earn its place on your bench. Many here use a single stage and are happy with it, I do myself and have loaded thousands of rounds on them, some years up to 16k a year. I enjoy it and don’t need faster production.
I have used Lee products for 30+ years and have been happy with all my purchases and also with their customer service. Lee equipment works, and they innovated many new products that help get folks into reloading at the lowest cost. There are other brands that offer better construction, higher quality tolerances, more options, but they come at a higher price point. If you have the money pick whatever brand you want, they all work or they wouldn’t be on the market. Lee is the cheapest way to get started, not necessarily the best way. Some folks hate on Lee for lower quality products, but I’d bet Lee has got more folks in the game than every other brand together. I do not work for Lee, am not endorsed by them, and am not affiliated with them in any way except as a satisfied customer.
The minimalist approach is a Lee single stage bolted to a 2x6 c-clamped to a table or mounted to a sturdy bench if you have one. I started with one bolted to a 2x6 clamped to a coffee table. Dies are caliber specific with a few exceptions like 38/357, and 44spl/44mag. Lee dies come with a shell holder to hold the brass in your press. If you can get a Lee kit you will have most of what you will need to get started for one caliber. Some of the items you will not need, or replace at some point, but you will be ready to start. Read the beginning of the manual a couple times and any parts you don’t understand please ask here for clarification. Once you are familiar with the process you can start. If you can find a local mentor, you are truly blessed. Find other local reloaders and maybe you will have someone to trade with, or split bulk orders with.
Calipers you can get at harbor freight and are necessary to measure the length of the finished rounds and other measurements. Check weights are great to verify your scale is set correctly as you are dealing with tiny amounts of powder and precision is very important here. When just starting out I was on a limited budget. All I had was a Lee safety scale and couldn’t afford check weights, so I took some small items to a jewler and told him I wanted to have something of known weight to verify my scale. I gave him a weight range I was loading and I had a couple pieces of bird shot, broken pieces of a silver necklace, a tiny split shot sinker, and a few other things. He cleaned them, weighed them, filed them, and when he got an even weight he put them in tiny ziplock baggies with tweezers and wrote the weight on each bag. He said not to touch them except with tweezers and always keep them in the baggie when not in use as oil from my hands or dust would throw off the weight. That worked just fine for years till I passed them on to someone starting out and I bought a proper set. There are ways to get what you need at little to no cost if you are creative.
Getting things free or cheap? Absolutely doable and here are some ways to do it. Always pick up brass at the range, what you don’t use you can trade for what you need or sadly scrap it and use that money to buy components. Look at yard sales for reloading supplies and components, ask around if anyone is getting out of reloading, or sadly if any Reloader’s have passed and left supplies behind. Put ads on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace for stuff you need or stuff you have to trade. I got almost 1200 pounds of lead for free from a guy on Craigslist. If you can find a source of lead, look into casting your own bullets. Mining the berm is one way to get quality lead for free. Again Lee has cheap melting pots, molds, and sizers to get you going. If you are handy some things you need can be made like a bench, cabinets for supplies, risers for your scale to see it better, and loading blocks to name a few. Don’t overlook dollar stores for storage containers, labels, anything else you may need.
Starting with a single stage is a great way to get into reloading, but it is also the slowest. It has many benefits such as learning proper die setup and in the event you make a mistake you probably won’t be having a large pile of rounds to break down like you easily could on a turret or progressive. As you advance and decide you need more production, you can step up to a press that will put out quite a bit more rounds per hour, but the single stage may still have many uses and earn its place on your bench. Many here use a single stage and are happy with it, I do myself and have loaded thousands of rounds on them, some years up to 16k a year. I enjoy it and don’t need faster production.
I have used Lee products for 30+ years and have been happy with all my purchases and also with their customer service. Lee equipment works, and they innovated many new products that help get folks into reloading at the lowest cost. There are other brands that offer better construction, higher quality tolerances, more options, but they come at a higher price point. If you have the money pick whatever brand you want, they all work or they wouldn’t be on the market. Lee is the cheapest way to get started, not necessarily the best way. Some folks hate on Lee for lower quality products, but I’d bet Lee has got more folks in the game than every other brand together. I do not work for Lee, am not endorsed by them, and am not affiliated with them in any way except as a satisfied customer.