New to the board, new to reloading...

[Nightfall MVII]

Just joined up today. I am looking to get into reloading and am looking for sugestions on equipment. A buddy of mine pointed me towards this.....

http://www.midwayusa.com/rewriteaproduct/646599

I only have $300 to by equipment with right now, would this be a good starter kit? What other items should I get? Will this press be good for rifle and pistol? Anything out there that may be better for a newbie to start with?

TIA!

 

[mack69]

Re:

Nightfall, welcome to the forum....

I am fairly new to this forum and to reloading as I just started rolling my own a few months ago. I was in the same position as you are now.

I read alot and wandered all the forums gathering info. I too was limited in $$$$ But $300 can go along way. Check out some of the links below:

www.bosesguns.com
www.factorysales.com
www.midsouthshooterssupply.com

The link below is a thread on this forum that has a whole lot of places to go to for info, sales, etc.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?threadid=18835


I went with the Lee 4 hole turret Deluxe pistol kit. Carbide dies for 357. Check it out, or find someone who you may know who reloads and check out their equipment. Good luck, be safe, wear safety glasses and take it slow. mack

 

[Dave R]

That RCBS kit is a great one. I recommend it. I would buy one more thing that I did not see listed in the kit: a caliper so you can measure cartridge lenght, bullet seating depth, etc. accurately.

You can squeak by without one for a short time just by comparing lengths with factory ammo, but that is definintely a short-term solution.

The Lee Anniversary kit is a less expensive but perfectly satisfactory kit, too. Probably available at Midway, too.

I actually got into reloading for under $100 by buying everything used and scrounging components from buddies, etc. But I don't recommend that method.

 

[SASS#23149]

That press is about as big and strong as there is.It will do the job forever too.
do you have a lot of spare time.? Loading on a 'single-stage' type press is a long process....for two hundred rounds you are doing about 800 operations.Each case is sized,then primed,then flared,then powder add,then bullet seated and crimped.Crimping and seating are best done seperatley IMHO,but can be done with one die on most calibers.
How many rounds per month do ya shoot?
for another 150.00 and IF you just wanted to do pistol,you could go the Dillon Square Deal B and do a couple hundred rounds per hour easy.It won't do rifle though,and the special dies are kinda spendy.You'd have money for a caliper too.They are handy but not absolutely necessarry.So are case tumblers for cleaning and polishing the brass.
http://dillonprecision.com/template/p.cfm?maj=46&dyn=1&cookieClean=1
Some will say you "must" start with a single-stage,but I and others disagree.
Hope I've helped and not added to the confusion.

 

[larryw]

Welcome aboard!

What rifle and pistol cartridges will you be reloading and what volume of each?

I agree with SASS#23149 regarding progressive vs. single stage. However, because of its requirement for proprietary dies, I don't think the Dillon Square Deal is the way to go when loading more than one cartridge. I prefer the Dillon 550B, but that's a bunch more money than you have budgeted. That said, and provided you're not shooting a ton, I consider the RockChucker top of the heap in single stages

Also, in my opinion, a caliper is required equipment, especially with rifle cartridges.

 

[Waitone]

Don't forget safety items.

Safety glass // shields

Scales

 

[kernal_panic]

its viable if you buy one for $106 like i did!


SHOP AROUND DON'T PAY RETAIL FOR $%^*!

 

[Sunray]

Yep. You don't need the Rockchucker for basic loading though. It's great for forming cases and it's very strong, but you can get by with a regular 'C' press. Check out Midway's shipping costs before you buy. You should be able to get exactly the same kit from your local dealer for about the same money. And you'll need a set of dies, shell holder, powder, primers and bullets for each cartridge. Some cartridges use the same shell holder though.

 

[Nightfall MVII]

Thanks for the replies. I am not buying from Midway, too expensive. There are a couple of shops around here that sell reloading equipment, but most of the people that work there don't know a lot about the stuff, just sell it.

As far as calibers I want to reload: .45 colt, .44 mag, .45 acp, .30-30, .30-06, and .30 carbine

How much do I shoot? Not as much as I would like!! I probably only shoot 150-200 rounds each trip to the range. The problem is getting to the range!

 

[stans]

I sure hope you are not planning on saving money by reloading. I have been reloading for a number of years and I have not saved a dime! I just get to shoot two or three times as much ammo! Reloading can be a hobby in itself. I hope you enjoy it and please reload safely.

 

[Ben Shepherd]

One bit of advice:

If you don't have a mentor to show you the ropes, go get at least 3 loading manuals(hornady, speer, lyman, etc). Read the front sections on the basics/principles of them all before you touch the press. You'll want at least this many anyway for cross-referencing load data(typos do happen so a couple other data sources are a very good idea).

Reloading is a joy, but if done wrong, it's very dangerous.

Most importantly: If you have any questions at all, stop and ask.

 

[sumpnz]

As Ben said, reloading can be dangerous. See here for an example of what can happen if you're not VERY VERY careful.