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[Mark_Mark]

I'm mulling it over. I submitted info to RCBS as they offer an LE discount as well, waiting to get approved and see if it saves me anything on a kit. If I can get their Rockchucker kit within my budget I wouldn't be opposed to it.

Here’s a serious advice, save up a few more bucks and get a Solid Kit. Also, put aside a few dollars every paycheck for things you will eventually need. Reloading is a lifestyle and not a money savings thang! Have Fun!

 

[BigBL87]

Here’s a serious advice, save up a few more bucks and get a Solid Kit. Also, put aside a few dollars every paycheck for things you will eventually need. Reloading is a lifestyle and not a money savings thang! Have Fun!

Well, got the approval and comparing prices, the Rock Chucker kit will cost me about $100 more than the Lee, which isn't bad at all really. I'll have to put off getting a bench, tumbler, or both, but with components being hard to come by I wouldn't probably be starting to load for awhile anyway.

I have yet to read anything bad about the Rock Chucker. With my probable low volume I'll be reloading I don't think I'll really miss a turret vs a single stage either.

 

[Atavar]

I love Jim Beam! Cheap and delicious

Eww, even Old Crow is better, and *way* cheaper. When I drink Beam the hangover starts during the second drink.

 

[Atavar]

Get the checker and the bench. The tumbler is nice but not indispensable. Lots of folks load without one.
I got a rock checker decades ago and never regretted it.

 

[Mark_Mark]

Well, got the approval and comparing prices, the Rock Chucker kit will cost me about $100 more than the Lee, which isn't bad at all really. I'll have to put off getting a bench, tumbler, or both, but with components being hard to come by I wouldn't probably be starting to load for awhile anyway.

I have yet to read anything bad about the Rock Chucker. With my probable low volume I'll be reloading I don't think I'll really miss a turret vs a single stage either.

alright man! When you pull that Rockchunker handle and it pure leverage power! then you will get it. Lee Is not for beginners! Lee is like the plastic 1911 of the reloading world. Cheap & effective… then their Customers Service… clear throat and start laughing. RCBS customer service is like a 5 star Hotel room with a Yes Sir, how was your Steak, do you need more sauce!!!

Bench, find a used table at goodwill. Tumbler, put your brass in a bucket, dish soap and stir with a stick. Keep rising till it clear, then put it in the oven to dry!

 

[BigBL87]

Eww, even Old Crow is better, and *way* cheaper. When I drink Beam the hangover starts during the second drink.

If we're gonna side track in whiskey, Evan Williams us better than it had any right to be for the price. I've developed an appreciation for it from drinking nicer stuff.

 

[Atavar]

If we're gonna side track in whiskey, Evan Williams us better than it had any right to be for the price. I've developed an appreciation for it from drinking nicer stuff.

First, apologies to the OP..
My go to is Woodford Reserve for basic bourbon. Old Crow for cheap, and Knob Creek for a department store purchase.

 

[BigBL87]

First, apologies to the OP..
My go to is Woodford Reserve for basic bourbon. Old Crow for cheap, and Knob Creek for a department store purchase.

Woodford Reserve is my go-to, followed by Maker's Mark (46 if possible, but the regular stuff is good too). Been to both distilleries, cool experience.

Really, getting into bourbon and getting into reloading share some similarities IMO. Kind of intimidating and expensice to REALLY get into it. And, both can be destructive if you don't do things right.

 

[Mark_Mark]

Woodford Reserve is my go-to, followed by Maker's Mark (46 if possible, but the regular stuff is good too). Been to both distilleries, cool experience.

Really, getting into bourbon and getting into reloading share some similarities IMO. Kind of intimidating and expensice to REALLY get into it. And, both can be destructive if you don't do things right.

You sound like you need a Dillion 750XL

 

[twarr1]

No, I don’t. Appreciate your inputs a lot!

I know a lot of seasoned reloaders love their library of reloading manuals. But as for me, I’m just not that worried that I cannot find the info I need pretty readily for free. And I always cross check any load I’m looking at with more than one source.

When I go looking for a load, I start in my manual or the Hornady website or whichever powder makers site I’m using.

https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/

https://www.vihtavuori.com/reloading-data/

https://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/index.aspx

These sites have 95% of the info I need.

Some bullet makers have a lot of info too:

https://www.speer.com/reloading/rifle-data.html

https://www.nosler.com/load-data/caliber-and-cartridge-data.html

This article has quite a few free sites…

https://www.pewpewtactical.com/best-reloading-data/

And a search on THR will usually confirm most data that’s out there.

I’m not against paying for info, but I am really trying to get rid of a lot of big heavy books. I mean, who still buys hard copy encyclopedias any more?

YMMV

Yes, you can get load information from a lot of free sources. A lot of the value in a large library is the information in the front section. It’s one of those matters of “you don’t know what you don’t know” No single source, printed or electronic, is the definitive source for everything that will be useful in reloading.

 

[BigBL87]

You sound like you need a Dillion 750XL

Were I to get a significant financial windfall, I wouldn't mind that, haha.

 

[Buzznrose]

I was looking at the Rock Chucker before I went with Dillon. I had a RC in 1987-1989 and it never let me down.

 

[Buzznrose]

Well, got the approval and comparing prices, the Rock Chucker kit will cost me about $100 more than the Lee, which isn't bad at all really. I'll have to put off getting a bench, tumbler, or both, but with components being hard to come by I wouldn't probably be starting to load for awhile anyway.

I have yet to read anything bad about the Rock Chucker. With my probable low volume I'll be reloading I don't think I'll really miss a turret vs a single stage either.

Some components are free…namely brass…so start scooping them up now if you haven’t already started!

So ask all your shooting acquaintances to please save their brass. I gave mine gallon ziplock bags to throw in their range bags to collect brass. I told them all to just save any and all cases and I’d sort it out. I still get bags of brass periodically…sometimes mixed with steel and aluminum cases but I sort it all out and pitch what is waste.

If it’s reusable brass, I keep it, regardless of caliber. I sort everything and I wash, deprime, and do a final clean in a wet tumbler for bright, shiny brass. I save every piece of good brass in marked ziplock bags with desiccant packs. If it’s a caliber I don’t shoot and never will, I use it for trading material or to pay forward. You can deprime most brass with the Frankford depriming tool.

I’ve got almost a 5 gallon bucket of 9MM cleaned and ready to go. I’m guessing somewhere north of 7,500 shells.

i also have several thousand each of .45, .38, .357, .223 just from the last couple years from saving my brass and getting bags of range brass from friends. I also have a friend who is a member of a range that allows members to shag brass…he goes out early on a Monday morning and can almost fill a 5 gallon bucket in a couple hours with mostly 9MM and .223 and a mix of other stuff.

And let all your friends know you are open to any/all reloading component and equipment donations and estate sale deals…you will be surprised what may come your way

 

[BigBL87]

So, for RCBS, I'm kind of torn between a Rock Chucker and Rebel. It seems like the Rebel is basically an updated Rock Chucker. It's a bit heavier and discharges spent primers through the ram as the main differences it seems. Doesn't have on-press priming, but the kit comes with a hand primer that seems to be pretty good. Any opinions? Price difference would be negligible.

https://www.rcbs.com/rcbs-kits/rebel-master-reloading-kit/16-9251.html

https://www.rcbs.com/rcbs-kits/rock-chucker-supreme-master-reloading-kit/16-9366.html

 

[Mark_Mark]

So, for RCBS, I'm kind of torn between a Rock Chucker and Rebel. It seems like the Rebel is basically an updated Rock Chucker. It's a bit heavier and discharges spent primers through the ram as the main differences it seems. Doesn't have on-press priming, but the kit comes with a hand primer that seems to be pretty good. Any opinions? Price difference would be negligible.

https://www.rcbs.com/rcbs-kits/rebel-master-reloading-kit/16-9251.html

https://www.rcbs.com/rcbs-kits/rock-chucker-supreme-master-reloading-kit/16-9366.html

Most people Hand prime on single stage. Lets you feel the baby primers seat

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Most people Hand prime on single stage. Lets you feel the baby primers seat

I do both. Depends on the brass and the load. For some of my PCC loads in .357Max and .44Mag I use the Lee Ram Prime. I want to make sure they seat correctly and the RP let's me feel when it hits bottom. It's not that slow once you get a rhythm going. For most everything else I use the Frankford Arsenal "Perfect Seat Hand Primer" and adjust the seating depth for max. Have to be careful not to crush primers like that, BTW. When I had my Lyman C-Press I used the priming arm - and hated it. I still have my first ever Lee hand prime and ALL of the round primer feeders to go with. I'll break it out once in a while to marvel at how such a cheap, simple device can make life so much easier. Then I put it away before I break it and get out the F/A which is built much more sturdily.

 

[twarr1]

Most people Hand prime on single stage. Lets you feel the baby primers seat

I don’t know about most people, but I often use a Lee Ram Prime. So I can handle every single primer.

 

[barnfrog]

I don’t know about most people, but I often use a Lee Ram Prime. So I can handle every single primer.

It's how I do all my priming.

 

[twarr1]

There’s the safety benefit too. You can remove 5-10 at a time and not have 50-100 primers in a tube or tray subject to sympathetic detonation.

 

[ParallelCode]

I don’t know about most people, but I often use a Lee Ram Prime. So I can handle every single primer.

I also prime on press with my T7 (without a feed mechanism). I dump a max of 10 primers into an aluminum pan/tray and manual load each one into the priming arm as I go.

 

[Archie]

I suggest a good loading manual first. Ignore the loading data and read the boring preliminary stuff at the front FIRST. That will give you a better idea of what is coming. I like the Lyman manual as basic, but most others are useful. As time passes, more loading manuals will suggest themselves.

Do not buy a bunch of small accessory items except as needed. I have lots of stuff I've bought over the years I do not use.

Most all press makers make useful presses. Progressive presses are useful for turning out lots of a pre-determined loading. To me they stink for working up a load. Single stage presses are more convenient for experimentation and precision ammunition.

I currently have examples of each. Of course, I've been doing this for over fifty years. (And as I said, I have quite a bit of nifty sounding but useless doo-dads.) But get the press first and then add the items needed as needed.

 

[redcon1]

I'll have to put off getting a bench, tumbler, or both,

The rock chucker will serve you well for many years. Mine was made in 1971-the same year I was made and it works fine though I replaced it with a Forster CoAx which is another fine press that has several advantages over the Rockchucker. I got mine on gun broker for like $500. Kinda pricey but pretty nice all in all.
As far as the bench goes, I don't know if you have a chop saw and a drill driver but if you do, a reloading bench is easily made. Use 4x4 posts or even landscaping timbers as the legs. make sure you cut them to the exact same length. Brace them at the rear and the sides with 2x4s on the top and maybe slightly above the level of your nearby electrical outlets. Then use 2x12s for the top screwed into the 2x4s you used to brace the 4x4 posts with deck screws. You're done. too easy. and it's sturdy enough to make babies on it.

 

[sts3]

Lots of great advice here. The only thing I didn't see, is go and read my Scam Website post pinned at the top of this forum. Being new to reloading, it's easy to get taken by these fraudster jackholes online. I add to it periodically and no legitimate company has everything in stock at rock bottom prices. Never send money via Zelle, PayPal friends and family, CashApp or any other digital currency.

 

[Mark_Mark]

I don’t know about most people, but I often use a Lee Ram Prime. So I can handle every single primer.

I prime with my RCBS primer that came with my kit. I’m looking that Frankford one, looks cool

 

[BigBL87]

Lots of great advice here. The only thing I didn't see, is go and read my Scam Website post pinned at the top of this forum. Being new to reloading, it's easy to get taken by these fraudster jackholes online. I add to it periodically and no legitimate company has everything in stock at rock bottom prices. Never send money via Zelle, PayPal friends and family, CashApp or any other digital currency.

Thanks, I'm pretty experienced with online commerce (bought and sold on eBay, forums, etc) so I'm usually pretty thorough and vet sites pretty well.