Is there a starter kit for reloading?

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Since I am typing this on my phone you will have to excuse my spelling and lack of quoting posts. So here e go.

In setting my dies, I followed the instructions and then made adjustments for OAL and the amount of flare. Since I lpad the same bullet from the same company I don't have to change it. I keep it that way because the bullet I use performs very well in ask the guns I own. Setting the dies this way does not prevent me from experimenting with the powder load our to some extent the bullet weight.

I started out loading just for my range shooting but then I started to shoot IDPA. This led to my son wanting to join in. We now shoot a match every weekend, combined with a range trip every week for practice we go through close to four hundred rounds a week. Sticking with one known combination is what works for us, but that could change at some time.

Without reloading we could not really justify this level of shouting and I am very happy we got into it. I agree that a progressive is not for every one but I think all to often it is not talked about for new people and I feel that is somewhat old fashioned thinking. Call me a progressive thinker but I probably would not have stuck with reloading if I had started on a single stage press.

Now, don't take this the wrong way but I think that standing in a lane next to a guy who is trying to impress his girl by taking her to a range is far more dangerous than loading bullets :p
 
Reloading does not wave money, you shoot up all your savings. Once you get the bug you will know. Trying to load any quantity of pistol ammo on a SS is extremely slow. I started out on a SS over 35yrs ago and moved to a progressive 4 + years ago. After getting the Hornady LNL-AP I discovered it's actually easier since you run one all the way through without handling it. Die setup is the same, so you can use a progressive as a SS press, just run one at a time. Then once you get comfortable you can start into the progressive with all stations full.

I use a brass catcher that I made that is pretty efficient when it comes to catching brass. You will need to come up with some way of recovering your brass. It's the most expensive part of the round next to the bullet. Being a straight wall they can average well over 10 reloads.

Another thing is how much time do you have to learn and reload. If short on time a AP is more efficient. You must buy supplies in bulk too, so that's another upfront expense. But it may only be a once a year thing if you buy enough. Your shooting will increase once you start reloading, it always does. But you shoot about the same amount you would have paid for ammo if you bought it. Which means you will be shooting an average of 50% more. And you will not have to worry about shortages if you stock up properly.

Lee's progressive is not the best one in the world by any means. The ones I know that have it work on it more than actually reloading. Some get them to work, most give up on parts of it. Either go the Hornady or Dillon if want a machine that's reliable. More money but with the expense.

Be safe.
 
Also they're semi-autos and I can't capture my brass. The range have grates for a floor and they fall through.
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You're in Texas, surely that's not the only place around to shoot. Having to buy brass each time kind of offsets the monetary benefits of handloading IMO. The brass is the most expensive part. I'd be looking for somewhere else to go if at all possible.
 
When I started reloading as a HS senior in 1981 I had an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the state of the art in reloading at the time. That's not boasting --- just the result of being a poor kid who had time on his hands and access to a decent library. I knownI must have read Dean Grinnell's "ABC's of Reloading" from cover to cover a dozen times before the librarian wouldn't let me check it out anymore. Being poor, I started with a humble Lee Loader, but I knew about all the other options I hoped to add once I had a real income.

So my point is that If you really understand the process you can make your own strategic decisions about what equipment you want to start with relative to the amount you want to spend. At the barest minimum you just need the cheapest Lee press, a set of Lee dies and a Lee Ram Priming unit. That's all. Your choice of bullet and powder combinations would be severely limited because you could only use the ones Lee lists using the powder scoop from the die set...but I have little doubt it will make functional ammo. Buying from Midway or Midsouth you could probably get all that for around $80 including shipping.

But before I bought anything I would buy a good book on reloading and read it from cover to cover. Then you will have a filter to process our advice through.
 
Thanks again guys, y'all really helped here. I'm sure the range will let me keep my own brass. All I have to do is capture 'em, maybe devise a box for the table to catch 'em.
 
I started off with this 18 months ago:

http://www.cabelas.com/presses-dies-lee-anniversary-reloading-kit.shtml

Mine came with a balance scale, a powder thrower, a chamfer tool, a primer pocket cleaner, a Lee Auto Prime, a powder funnel, a tube of lube, and the press with 3 quick change bushings (you only really need 1, if you don't mind screwing dies in/out like on a normal press). All you need to add is a pair of calipers, 3 bolts and 3 nuts to mount the press, and your dies.

I still use everything out of that kit, except for the Auto Prime and the primer pocket tool. I think it's a pretty good deal.

If I spent half the time reloading as I do on this forum, I'd have more ammo than I'd know what to do with. :)
 
About 5 yrs ago I Bought this little brass catcher that goes on your hand from Midway and I rarely loose any brass. It has a plastic frame and a mesh net of some sorts. Works very good.

One other thing about reloading is the relaxation it can give. To me, it's almost therapuedic.
 
Sig Bill said:
Well I'll be. I never thought something like that exists.
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Oh, yeah. Brass catchers exist, both commercially made and home-made. Ranging in size from hand-mounted ones to butterfly nets on a tripod to ones the size of a tent.

My home-made hand-mounted ones get in the way of my sight picture and none of them work on all my guns. I keep having to re-shape the wire to get the capture rate up. I have a couple of 45s that actually throw the brass straight up and forward. If I had only one auto I guess it would be easier. Or one catcher for each gun.

If the pop-up tent thing I have now doesn't work, the next thing may be something like this:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/44361010/

Duckdog, can you post a link to the brass catcher you found?

Lost Sheep
 
Sig Bill said:
I'll have to research this some more. I shoot 50-150 a month on one caliber, more if I shoot both 9mm and 40sw. Also they're semi-autos and I can't capture my brass. The range have grates for a floor and they fall through.
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Actually, if you shoot that little reloading might not be for you right now, especially if you have to keep buying fresh brass. At less than one box of ammo per week, especially 9mm ammo, you might be better off buying Blaser Aluminum case ammo and calling it good... It will be very hard for you to justify the price of buying the hardware. Sure reloading is a hobby in itself and you can load more accurate ammo than you can buy but LESS than 50 rounds a week? Not cost effective if price is a consideration. I was able to recoup my investment within months because I shoot at least 300 round each range trip and shoot 2X or more a week. There's no way I could afford to shoot as much as I want to shoot without reloading.
 
I was able to recoup my investment within months because I shoot at least 300 round each range trip
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You're looking at it all wrong.

Buy some decent reloading gear.
Buy 2-3 thousand rounds worth of components and 500-1000 pieces of range pickup brass.

Shoot however much you want, at w/e pace you want. And you still saved money from day one, compared to the cost of buying the same number of factory rounds. :)

Even if it takes you a year or two to shoot it, it'll still be good. And the price of ammo isn't going to drop, by anyone's estimation. The sooner you start, the more you'll save. (Or the more you'll shoot. So it's win-win.)
 
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I'm with GLOOB. No better time to start than now. Even if you don't shoot more than 150 rounds a month right now, think about the future. It's never a bad thing to have the means to load your own ammo.
 
It's what I had in mind fellas, as a hedge in the future. I may have to buy piece by piece but in the end it'll be complete. I'll have the capability to load my own loads when SHTF.

I probably concentrate on 40sw as I might sell my Sigma 9mm to finance this venture but only if I get a good price for it. Right now it's in pawn cause I'm broke, duh.
 
Quit spending money you don't have. Why would you sell your gun to a pawn shop knowing your going to be buying it back for more. If your broke instead of reloading go pick up pop cans or clean someones yard for the scrap.
 
You buy it back. You know your going to pay more for it to buy it back then what your selling it for.
 
That's depends on how much I hocked it for and it's not much. Plus, it's storage for $8 a month and it's safe there.
 
How ever you need to look at it. I wish I lived closer. I would love to rent you space.
 
If you want my honest opinion, I suggest buying a Dillon Square Deal "B" press. They can be had on EBAY for about $300 new with the caliber setup of your choice. Each additional caliber conversion will cost about $90 new, or $65 used (fluctuates). With that press, you have the progressive feature, auto priming, auto indexing, very reputable powder measure, and the ability to sell it for $200 plus the sameday on backpage/craigslist/ebay if you want to. It is the best investment you could make.

If you google E.A. Brown, that company sells Berry's tumbler with media and separater for the best price going.

One of those inexpensive Frankford Arsenal electronic scales will get you going for about $30 retail, but watch for sales at MidwayUSA and other places.

A good mechanical vernier caliper ($25) and some Hornady One-Shot spray lube will get things going.

I would pick a load manual based first upon which line of bullets you will be using. I like the Hornady manual, and the Hodgdon manual is about $8 or less from most places.

If I was going to only load pistol, which is the limit of the Dillon Square Deal press, it is for pistol only, I would absolutely 100% buy the Dillon. You really can't lose money on it. If you do sell it and take a $100 loss, it is cheaper than the investment into LEE that won't get much of your money back. It is a solid press and I love Dillon's warranty. If a part wears out or breaks, just email them and they send you everything you need free of charge for the life of the press, not just the original owner. Good Stuff.

It is really great to go the reloading room with a press that is already set up, double check everything, and make 100 rounds to go shooting in about 30 minutes. Once you get set up, 300 rounds an hour is very easily accomplished.

I'm not advocating going too fast, however, pistol ammo tends to be tedious in that you shoot more of it in a short time. One can load 500 rounds of .45 acp over the course of a couple weeks, doing it in stages of 2-3 hours a few times, only to shoot them in a couple of range trips, OR you can take a couple hours and load up 400-500 rounds and spend that valuable time doing the honey-do's.

I really enjoy handloading but with the cost of gasoline, the 20 mile trip to the range, and the $11 range fee, I try to shoot my money's worth. I can't justify going there to shoot 50 rounds of .38 special ($4.00 a box) when it costs me $20 just to get there.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Dillon-...705?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ebd6571c9
 
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