People who reloaded in the 80s and 90s; tell me your setup

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There's something about the nostalgia of the 90s gun culture that appeals to me. Those active back then, what did your reloading setup look like?
 
Prior to 86 I used a Lee Loader, the type where you used a mallet to size and crimp the ammo. In 86 I bought a Dillion 550 and I'm still using it.
 
I started reloading around 1980 with a Lee Loader. It did not take long to move to an RCBS Partner press. I still have the Partner press, it gets used these days for decapping cases when I want them decapped prior to cleaning before sizing.

i upgraded to a Redding Big Boss II press around 1995-1996. I still use it for single stage loading, case forming, and other tasks best suited for a single stage press.

I made the leap to progressive presses around 2005. Hornady L-N-L, RCBS Pro2000, three Dillon SDB's, a Dillon BL550, and a Dillon SL900 (shot shell).

I primed with a Lee Auto Prime II until Lee saw fit to "improve" the design. I always kept two on hand, one for small primers and one for large primers. I'd break or wear out a primer tool about once a year and the extra priming tool would get me through a weekend reloading session until I could order a replacement on Monday (remember Blue laws and no internet?)

My scale was an RCBS 5-0-5. I still have it and it gets used once in a while. I use mostly digital scales these days.

I used Lee dippers at first for powder charging. Then moved to an RCBS Little Dandy powder measure for handgun ammunition. I still have it and it gets used on occasions. When I got into some rifle loading around 1990, I bought an RCBS Uniflow powder measure. I tried one or two different Lee powder measures but they did not "float my boat" and were sent packing.

Dry tumbling entered the scene for me in the late 1980's.

I've cast bullets on and off from the beginning. At first using a Coleman stove and a small pot to melt the lead, then a Lee small electric pot. Lubricating and siziing done with Lee equipment. Lubing by melting lube in a shallow tray, then using a Lee "cookie cutter" to remove the bullet from the lube once it solidified. Sizing down with the Lee press mounted push through sizing dies. I now have a real Lubrisizer for when I cast these days. I started casting with Lee aluminum molds, still like them but have branched out to a few cast iron and brass molds since 2010.
 
To the O.P.: It's strange to me to hear "90s" and "nostalgia" in the same sentence, as for me, the 90s seem like just yesterday. I load on someone else's setup, that is of ca. 1970 vintage, all RCBS stuff, and all of it still works just fine.

The owner of the reloading bench is 90 years old, and I was his next-door neighbor during my teenage years. I remember watching him reload back in the 70s.
 
I can't remember the year but I started with one of the Lee Kits that had the O Press and that cheap little scale. I loaded many many rounds with that thing. A few years later I got a Rock Chucker II and a Uniflow powder dispenser and still using it. Replaced the scale with a 1010 and used it until I got a Pact digital Scale and powder dispenser. Used it until the scale went wonky and Pact no longer makes parts. Back with the 1010 and the Micrometer stems on my Uniflow powder dispenser. The only thing I don't reload is 9MM...
 
The 90s is like yesterday. :D Still using most of the same equipment today. Now Redding Bushing Dies or RCBS.

By 1979, Dillion RL-450 & RCBS Rock Chucker. Still loading with the RL-450. Original for 5.56 & M16A1.
Started with the Lee Classic (hammer) loader in 1960s. And the other Lees Target Loader. Lyman trimmer.
4 Mec 600jrs.
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I started loading in the late ‘80s on a Rockchucker and a Dillon 450. My first press of my own was a Lee Anniversary in ‘95, then in ‘98 I bought a 1050.

The biggest difference for me for reloading then vs. now is really in the process optimization and automation - I used to do a ton of case prep, MANUAL case prep, using multiple steps and hand cranked lathes and screwdriver shaped tools for neck turning, trimming, deburring, chamfering, flash hole uniforming and bevel-deburring, pocket uniforming, and now, I use automated case feeders and electric motor driven tools for most of what I do, and I DON’T do a lot of that wasted energy work any more. Powder handling then was either drop through dies or dropping onto a pan and weighing on a beam - I didn’t get my first electronic scale until ~2003 or 2004, and didn’t get my first electronic dispenser, a used Pact, around 2007, and a Chargemaster shortly thereafter. I built my first annealing machine, turntable style, after reading an article about annealing and chatting with one of my Service Rifle mentors, in the winter of 1998/99. I bought and sold a TON of reloading gear over the years, and I suppose, continue to do so. I’m still kicking around the idea of another 1050/1100 sooner than later, maybe depending upon how successful I find sizing and expanding on a Lee APP to be.

I suppose I have never been a reloader who wants to reload for the sake of it - I’m objective oriented; I’m a shooter who handloads as a means of shooting more effectively, both in ammo performance and cost-efficiency. So I have scrapped a lot of stuff which works, but works slowly.
 
My brother got an RCBS Reloader Special Kit for his birthday in 1986, which included an RS3 press... so that's what I started to load on. Some years later, my brother quit handloading, so I inherited all of his stuff... and continued to use the RS3 quite a bit, up until last year. My brother, now retired, says he wants to get back to handloading... so I rounded up most of his stuff, plus some extra stuff, and took it back to him. I know, however, the chances of him actually setting it up and crunching bullets, again, is quite low... he owns a boat. ;) THAT is the mistress that demands all his time...

In 1992, back when I was single and had money... I bought a Hornady ProJector. I picked the ProJector over the Lee 1000 (I think it was) because the Hornady had 5 stations, and over the Dillon Square Deal, for the same reason, and because the Dillon was proprietary. I'm still using that press today.

Back then, I didn't believe in automation... back then most automation, what there was of it, was expensive. Hand tools were the method of the day... including a Hornady (Pacific) manual trimmer, and a manually actuated powder drop.
 
I upgraded from Herter's equipment to RCBS sometime in the 70's. RockChucker press, Uniflo powder measure and RCBS dies. I kept the original Herter's beam scale and still have it today. Sometime in the 80's I bought a Dillon 550. Sometime around 2008 I bought a RCBS ChargeMaster. About that same time I started competing in long range and bought my first neck turning tools and bushing dies along with an arbor press. Oh yeah, I started casting sometime in the late 60's.
 
I started using my grandfathers spar-t turret press and an Ideal 55 measure. An old lyman beam scale that was oil dampened and some Herters dies in 30-30 and 38 SPL rounded out the setup. That was around 1968-9. Used his setup until I was in high school and was gifted used stuff, purchased my own. Graduated in 1976 and at that point I had a Rockchucker press, a Pacific measure, and a Ohaus 1010 scale. By then I could reload for about 8 cartriges but did not load much due to lack of money and only needed for hunting ammo. Never bothered to do more than wipe the brass off and chamfer the primer pockets on my brass for a long time. By the 80's I had a good job, bunches of guns, many more reloading tools, and played with others at competitions. Somewhere along this time I found a used Texan 12 GA press and a MEC 20 GA press to add to the pile. I still have those reloading tools along with the setup I inherited from my grandfather. His press was traded in for a RCBS turret sometime in the 80's and I still like the Ideal (Lyman) 55 measure the best. Now I reload for north of 35 cartriges, have Lee Loaders for many of them as well and more "stuff" than I really need. What I miss most are $10 bricks of primers and $6 a pound powder scooped from a 30 LB keg available from the local hardware store. Back then there were always wheel weights at every gas station for free and molds were not too expensive.
Now ya got me wishing for the good ole days again!!!
 
Still using the same used 2nd ( or 7th or
however many) hand tools I bought in
the 80's for $200.00 except for the steel
handgun dies. All that I regularly use are
the carbide. Same green bicycle handle
grip, same Uniflow, same bench primer,
same Forster case trimmer, same scale,
etc. etc.
I've added a few different tools and
die sets, and eliminated a few as I
no longer try to load for anything and
everything.
My biggest disappointment is the same
as everyone else- scarcity and price
of components. Used to could actually
see some savings loading your own,
but no longer.
I can't honestly say that I'd start from
scratch again if I had to
 
I started in the early 60’s. My brother in law introduced my father, brother and myself to loading using either a Herters, Pacific, or C&H “C” style press. 30-06 was my cartridge.
My next press was a RCBS Rockchucker.
In the 90’s I bought a LEE 4 hole Classic Turret press.
Retired the Rockchucker and use the LEE turret and 2 Redding Big Boss II presses.
Started casting in the mid 70’s.
Was thinking about getting into progressive presses but, no thanks. A four hole turret is plenty fast. I load for 23 cartridges and change over to the next cartridge takes about a minute.

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It looked the same as it did when I bought my pre-RockChucker press in the '70's and still looks that way today. The only thing that has changed is that old press is mounted on a much nicer table now. I have never had a need to be a high volumn loader and that old press is still in just as good of shape as it was when new. I do clean and lubricate it now and then and have always kept it covered when not in use. My oldest grandson will become the owner when I no longer need it because he is the only one that has ever shown an interest in reloading.
 
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Actually I do have quite a bit of stuff older than the 90s in my setup as well. I bought several used die sets, some of which date to the 60s-70s, most likely some old guy was retiring them or recently passed. I have a old Herters/Forester case trimmer that I posted that is probably early 70s.
The oldest reloading tool I have is one of those Ideal 45 LC mold/loader press. Over 100 years old and still casts bullets. Also casted bullets from various ball molds, of which I have no idea the date; could be original 19th century or more modern production.
I started when I was 16 and in my lifetime i've seen Lee update their dies, update their priming piston (I don't like the new design) and primers to reach 10 dollars per box.
My late uncle left behind a old shotgun press, I derusted it a little and is now on my bench. But I haven't used it as I need to find a bushing set for it as well as new powder funnel/shot funnel. Interesting how relevant the 70s still is in many peoples reloading setups
 
When I was little, I helped my grandfather load on his Rock Chucker ... early 70's. My father never got into reloading but would happily shoot his dad's reloads. In the early 90's, they gave me an RCBS AmmoMaster single-stage for Christmas that I reloaded on. Several years after that, I bought the progressive upgrade to it and installed it. I still load on that one and have another setup for large primers that I can swap in when loading a cartridge using LRP or LPP. I have too many shell plates (24) and die plates (7) to switch over to something else. I kept the single-stage head in case I need to perform an operation requiring maximum leverage. I recently bought some of the Inline Fab Quick Change plates and am getting setup to more easily swap between them using that system.
 
Back in the early 90's I realized I was never going to be able to shoot as much as I wanted if I had to buy new ammo everytime. Some fellow club members turned me onto reloading.

I started with a Lyman single stage press, a Lyman powder scale that a club member gave me, photocopies of the relevant pages from a Lyman manual (46th edition, I think), and two sets of Lee dies in 45acp and 38/357. Just as soon as I could I added a vibratory tumbler and a Lee powder measure.

Got a promotion at work which brought a small raise and another roommate which altered my income vs expense ratio so I splurged on a Lee turret press. A little bit at a time scrounging lgs and gun show used bins gradually filled out my kit.

I am still using nearly all of the original gear. The hopper on the powder measure was crushed while moving house so I had to buy another and I went to a four hole turret press. And now have a pretty good collection of reloading manuals bought out of the used bins over the years. Had to replace the brass tumbler when the motor finally wore out.

It doesn't have to be all new stuff to get started.
 
I'm another who still does things like I did in the 80s and 90s, and in many cases with the exact same equipment. In fact, I tried and discarded a fair bit of "modern" technology - I'm looking at you, electronic powder tricklers - as unnecessary complications.

Off the top of my head, the one modern thing that I'd really hate to give up is my electronic scale. I vastly prefer it over my balance beam, and especially now that you can pick up a useable electronic scale for twenty bucks on Amazon, I don't plan on ever using a balance beam again.
 
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