optional reloading stuff you wished you didn't get and stuff that made you happy

[DRAINSMITH]

I have gone red. I have two Hornady l-n-l ap ammo plants. One is set up with the rifle bullet feeder for both .22 and .30 cal., and the other is set up for pistol. Both have the deluxe control panel and set on an Inline ultra mount with a standard roller handle with the skylight. I also have a Hornady single stage press, a power prep center, a hot tub sonic cleaner, and a Honady case tumbler. But the most valuable item I have is a Frankford Arsenal vibrating primer tube filler. I hate filling primer tubes. 100 primers being picked up one at a time takes about 2 min. With the vibrating tube filler it takes 10-15 seconds.

 

[Kaldor]

Yeah, I forgot to mention my chrono. I have the Caldwell and use my iPhone with it. It is awesome. I've shot thousands of rounds over it and have not hit it yet.
.

You just jinxed yourself...

 

[spitballer]

Best purchase - the Master Chrony, no question about it. Like adding an engine analyzer to the dashboard of my truck.

Worst purchase - Lyman flash hole cleaner, looks like a screwdriver with a pin flopping around on the end of it. Presumably for clearing tumbling media from flash holes. In fairness I didn't understand what I was buying.

 

[JonB]

I load fairly small volume in batches. So I have the Lee hand press - slow but works like a champ.

Good:
- Lee hand press kit with hand prime tool.
- Lee Perfect powder measure (wish I would have gotten this a lot sooner)
- GEMPro 250 electronic scale
- Dedicated decapping die for crimped 223. broke a few pins on regular decapping/sizing die before I figured this one out. Adds a step, but well worth it.

Not needed:
- Lee ram prime (came with kit, never used it)
- RCBS Lil Dandy. Got this from my dad so no cost, but not as flexible as the PPM. Plus buying rotors gets expensive and it's no faster than the PPM.

What I want
- Progressive / Turret press.

My reloading kit fits in a small size Rubbermaid tub under my desk. I don't have a bench in the garage (too hot in FL anyway), so this works. I do like the looks of the Lee tripod looking press mount....would fit in the corner of the home office. hmmmm....

 

[Vetteran84]

I love my RCBS bench swager. And my Lyman hand tool. The charge master, is nice too.

I want a progressive press though, the Lee brechlock is nice but still kinda slow, but its OK cause I don't have any where to shoot so I have plenty of time to reload

 

[David4516]

Does the can of Arizona work for reloads when you run out of Bullseye? Whats the charge?

It doesn't meter well in my powder measure

 

[Chisos]

Disappointed in the C-H primer pocket swager. By the time I could get a primer to seat in .223, the tool was already pulling the case rims off. Did manage to get some 9mm case swaged but it was close to bending the rims on them.

Wish I had bought sooner: Dillon Primer Pocket Swage
Ponsness Warren 900

 

[lightman]

Interesting thread.

Things that did not satisfy me;
I. Bonanza Runout gauge
2. Lyman case prep tools. (did not stay sharp very long)
3. Sinclair meplat trimmer.

Things I liked;
1. RCBS Chargemaster
2. Giraud case trimmer
3, Giraud annealing machine
4. Cabine tree lead hardness tester
5. Sinclair concentricity gauge.
6. Sinclair case prep tools
7. RCBS Pro-melt

Prolly some more of each, but these came to mine as they were recent years.

 

[Toprudder]

You just jinxed yourself...

Yeah, thought about that after is hit 'send'. :banghead:

 

[rogerstg]

Things I'm glad I bought:

Check weight set. It makes verification of the electronic scale quick and simple.

Micrometer Powder Bar Kit from UniqueTek. It's not for everyone, but since I tinker with a variety of loads and calibers, it saves a lot of time adjusting the powder measure.

Things I didn't need:

Lee beam powder scale. I bought it to verify the electronic scale, but rarely used it. The check weights took it's place. Gave it to my brother.

 

[Sport45]

A couple of wasted-money purchases that come to mind:

1. Dillon primer flipper. A small cast iron saucer that may work, but can't work any better than my plastic RCBS flipper.

2. RCBS powder trickler. I find it much faster just to dip a little powder up with a Lee scoop and flick it into the scale pan.

 

[Elkins45]

Wish I hadn't bought:

Lyman lathe-type case trimmer. Bought it just for 257 Wby because Lee didn't t make a trimmer stud (they do now). When you press hard enough to make sure you've trimmed the last little bit then you've also pressed hard enough that the stop collar set screw lets it slide on the shaft. Not even remotely uniform case lengths.

PACT chronograph. What good is the lifetime warranty when they tell you they can't get replacement parts?

Lee powder scale. In fairness I got it as part of a kit and I gave it to a friend who wanted to start reloading.

Wish I had bought sooner:

RCBS APS universal hand primer and primer strip loader.

RCBS Lubeamatic 2 lubrisizer

Hollow point bullet molds from NOE

 

[baseball2013]

The following likes and dislikes are based on very limited experience.

Things I like: Lee Universal Decapping Die, Lyman Case Gauge, E-Zee Case Gauge for pistol calibers and Sonic Cleaner.

Things I dislike: Hornady Kinetic Bullet Puller. I suspect this would apply to every single one of them.

 

[tcoz]

The best:
1. Chargemaster 1500--by far
2. Frankford Arsenal Platinum Case Prep Center
3. Sheridan slotted gauges for .223 and 300 AAC BLK
4. RCBS primer pocket reamer (attached to case prep center)
5. Lee Classic turret press
6. Imperial sizing wax and dry neck lube

The worst:
1. Any primer pocket reamer other than RCBS
2. Primer pocket go/no go gauge
3. Lee adjustable charge bar

 

[ironworkerwill]

Next on my list will be dry neck lube! It looks to be much easier and less messy.

 

[tcoz]

Imperial Dry Neck lube can be bought in a pak for about $15. You get a tub of already treated dry neck lube media which is tiny ceramic balls coated with powdered graphite and a 1oz tub of dry lube for recharging the media. It'll probably last most of a lifetime. Couldn't be easier to use and not messy at all.

 

[Clint M]

For dry neck lube you can also use #7 (or close) size shot some auto part suppliers will have the graphite powder for, use a old pill bottle filled about halfway with #7 shot, add graphite powder and dip your necks in the shot...shazamm. I have also used this setup with moly, it will make a mess with moly but works. Then I broke down and spent the $10 or so on the frankford arsenal brush set mounted in a small tray screwed to the table top, well worth the few bucks. I just had to give a few other solutions LOL

 

[ironworkerwill]

Yeah, I've been lookin at the lead shot and graphite too, and will most probably be what I'll do. It's mostly just powdered graphite like lock lubricant right?

 

[Clint M]

Yes you want a powder type dry lube, I have used moly, and the white mica, and graphite that comes with the brush/small box setup. See if you like what the dry lube does, if so I would suggest investing in a manufactured dry lube neck brush set up frankford arsenal or imperial, it's well worth the few bucks.

 

[armarsh]

Good & Good Value:
Lee dies for pistol calibers
Lee auto disk powder measure
Lee auto prime
Lee hand press
Lee classic cast press
Redding bushing dies for rifle calibers
Redding small funnel
Omega trickler
Sinclair primer pocket uniformer
Hornady LNL AP press *
K&N neck turning tool
Hornady Headspace and Ogive tools
Frankford loading trays
Frankford tumbler
Berry's media separator
RCBS lock-out die


Good, but expensive (zero regrets):
Giraud trimmer
A&D FX-120i milligram scale
Whidden dies for rifle
Mitutoyo calipers and micrometers


Unsatisfied:
Hornady auto charge powder dispenser
Lyman 1200 DPS powder dispenser
Lee perfect powder measure
RCBS little dandy powder measure
Hornady LNL bushings (* I removed these from my LNL AP)
Lee O-ring lock rings (mine get drilled and tapped for set screw)