Poor noobie to reloading.

[smalls]

So I've become interested in reloading, to keep ammo costs down, shooting time up, and give me a shooting related hobby.
Even though it'll make my life easier, and save me money in the long run, I cannot afford or justify buying a whole press kit, so I was thinking of buying something like this:
http://leeprecision.com/xcart/LEE-LOADER-9MM-LUGER.html
Now, I am completely new to reloading. What else am I going to need that doesn't come with the kit? What doesn't come with the kit, but would make my reloading easier, that's inexpensive?

 

[J_McLeod]

My opinion ; don't get that it's not worth it. What you save in money you'll spend in time. Keep saving until you have enough for a Lee turret kit if you want to reload a few calibers or a pro 1000 from Lee closeouts if you're only interested in 9mm. Only buy the Lee loader if you're content with loading being very time consuming for what you get. Same goes for a single stage.

If you still want the loader, you'll need a caliper. A powder measure a reloading manual are highly recommended. I Lee perfect powder measure is inexpensive and will increase the flexibility in your loading. If you stick with the loader, your component options are limited. Look at the data lee provides before buying powder and bullets. A good scale is also highly recommended. Always verify the charges when using Lee's dippers. Sometimes the data the provide won't work. The data for dippers is often light.

 

[dmazur]

Well, you're going to need something like this -

http://www.contenti.com/products/hammers/260-241.html

I got started with Lee "Whack a Mole" kits like the one you are describing.

While the hammer-operated kits are functional, the best thing I got to make reloading easier was a press.

Also, the dipper method of weighing powder is quite limited, as the dipper isn't adjustable.

Some reloaders suggest buying a scale (like a RCBS 505) and using it to make custom dippers from cases. (Solder a handle onto the case...now it's a dipper)

A reloading manual is a must, even though the cost is roughly the same as a single Lee hammer-operated kit.

I really, really have a hard time recommending the hammer-operated kits, other than to find out the basic principles of reloading, and convince someone to buy proper tools.

Seriously, if one of your goals is to "keep shooting time up", that may be difficult to achieve with all the hours you're going to spend in your shop banging away with that hammer...

 

[35 Whelen]

If you want to save money on your purchase, buy good used equipment. Presses, scales, powder measures, etc. Brands like RCBS, Hornady, Pacific, Lyman Redding, Forster. et al will outlast you. I'm currently using an RCBS Rockchucker that my father bought in the 60's and it'll still be around after I'm gone.
Watch the classifieds here and on handloading sites and eBay. Heck a "Want to Buy" ad will probably get results.

35W

 

[10-96]

I agree with the others- keep working towards a "O" or "C" press. In fact, if a guy was of a mind to- he might make a list of needed items and check them off as he got em.

My only other suggestion might be to get a copy of the 'ABC;s of Reloading' and 2 recent reloading manuals.

 

[smalls]

Appreciate the comments, guys.
I do realize the kit is a slow way to reload, but like I said, it's pretty much my only way to get into reloading right now. Time, and effort really aren't a factor right now.

 

[Josh45]

Dont bother with that. Your just going to end up buying a press later. Nothing wrong with a single stage press. They work just fine and is great to help you get underway and understand the process.

Look around on those sites and I think there is a 'C' type from Lee with the Lee Second Edition Manual for about $30-40. You can get that seeing as it is two very important things your gonna need.

Of course, Your gonna need dies. If you get carbide type dies, You won't need to lube your cases. If you get the regular steel dies. You need to lube them. If you don't lube them, Your gonna get a stuck case and then have a heck of time taking it out or have to send it back to the company.

You need a scale. This is very important. You must check your charges before putting them into your cases.

A caliper is required. You gotta measure your rounds. Being 9mm, Its finnicky about OAL and its depth for seating does matter.

One or two more manuals. Lyman 49th and what ever else you can get. ABC of Reloading will teach you the basics and the need to know stuff. You should be able to rent this from your library.

Bullet Pullers. This tool looks like a hammer and is very very useful for when you make a mistake...

Reloading trays. Get 2 at least. This helps a lot when your reloading in batches.
Then your gonna need consumables.

Such as bullets, primers and powder. I know I missed somethings. Just wait for others to chime in and they can get you a better list.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Lee sells a very inexpensive single stage press for right around $29. Add a set of Lee Carbide 9mm dies for another $23 and you will have a much better loading setup than that Lee Loader for $36.

Add a good scale and the Lee Auto Prime XR and you're pretty much set to load some 9mm ammo.

The good part of all of this is, when you decide to load another caliber all you need is a set of dies and you're good to go... Try not to go too cheap because you will end up buying things more than once which ends up not so cheap in the end. If it were me I would buy a better press but I was trying to keep the price close to what you were looking at.

 

[J_McLeod]

If money is really short you can use the trays factor ammunition comes in. You might not care about the time now until you shoot an hours worth of work down range in Ren minutes or less. You don't save enough on 9mm to make it worthwhile except in high volume.

 

[Lost Sheep]

To answer your question directly - and then to advise more

Good eye protection EVERY TIME YOU USE THAT GEAR, especially when seating primers. Good ear protection, too. If a primer should go off (it happens, I am told on occasion, though I have never had one pop with my load-all kits) it is loud. Even if no primer ever goes off, all that whacking will take a toll on your ears (and everyone else near you will get some amount of irritation, though not probably any hearing damage from all the banging).

A piece of wood (8" long chunk of 2"x6" is enough) to use as a work surface. You don't want to ding up your good workbench.

An old bedsheet as a dropcloth to catch primer debris and/or spilled powder or dropped live primers.

I use a wooden mallet rather than rubber, but rubber, plastic, rawhide or even the brass will do. Steel will peen your loading tool and eventually that will make it less than optimally usable. Brass will take longer to ruin it. Rubber bounces too much for me, as does plastic (but less so). Rawhide or wood is most to my liking.

A scale is a good addition to any loading setup, and a good couple of loading manuals. If not a scale, then the $15 set of Lee Dippers. The single dipper included with the kit limits your options.

For $250 or so you can get a truly first-class minimal setup. Press, Dies, scale, manual, etc with which you can produce the same amount of ammunition as you can with the Lee Load-All, but in one-tenth the time and without the aggravation of all that banging. Mount it on a board and wedge it into the drawer of an end table (or mount on a folding workbench). It will all fit (except for the workbench) in a medium size toolbox.

For $125, a single stage press with all the accessories can be had, too.

The minimalist Lee Load-All will fit in a jacket pocket, sure, and can turn out fine ammunition, but if you are like most 9mm shooters (if you intend to practice very much at all) you will not be satisfied with the quantity you can load with it.

Check out the Lee Classic Turret Kit offered by Kempf's Gun Shop (on line). Add a scale and a manual and you are set in fine style for up to 200 - 400 rounds a week. (My opinion, my estimate.)

Good luck. Be safe, always, all ways.

Lost Sheep

 

[smalls]

I apparently did not do all my homework. Ib was completely unaware that I could get a single stage press that cheap.
SO! New question :
Along with this :
http://leeprecision.com/xcart/Reloader-Press.html
I need a caliper, die, a scale, powder dipper, and a reloading manual. Anything else?

 

[smalls]

And I really appreciate the help. This is completely new territory for me.

 

[Lost Sheep]

Only Three things you need. Only $10 more cost.

Aside from eye protection and manuals, you only need three things (physically) to load good ammo.

Press because fingers are not strong enough to form metal
Dies because fingers are not accurate enough to form metal to SAAMI specs
Scale (or calibrated dippers) because eyeballs are not accurate enough to measure out gunpowder

Everything else can be done without, substituted for or improvised until you can afford to buy good quality gear.

Even the cheapest press will be multiple times faster, quieter and more convenient than the Lee mallet-powered kit (as good as it is, it compromises your ability to produce large quantities).

The little Lee Loader is good, but we all seem to be predicting that you will be unsatisfied with it.

$35 for the Lee loader or $75 for the essential three things (the cheapest Lee Press -which includes a $30 manual not included with the Lee Loader- dies and a primer seating tool -usually included with most presses, but not the cheapest Lee, so you have to add it in).

Essentially, you pay $10 more for a much better setup.

Lost Sheep

 

[Lost Sheep]

Since it is new to you, get a cup of whatever and read here:

And I really appreciate the help. This is completely new territory for me.

Let me share with you some posts and threads I think you will enjoy. So get a large mug of coffee, tea, hot chocolate, whatever you keep on hand when you read and think and read through these.

The "sticky" thread at the top of TheHighRoad.com's reloading forum is good, entitled, "For the New Reloader: Thinking about Reloading; Equipment Basics -- READ THIS FIRST"
thehighroad.org//showthread.php?t=238214

The "sticky" thread at the top of TheFiringLine's reloading forum is good, entitled, "For the New Reloader: Equipment Basics -- READ THIS FIRST "
thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230171

The first draft of my "10 Advices..." is on page 2 of this thread, about halfway down.
rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=13543

rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=22344

"Budget Beginning bench you will never outgrow for the novice handloader" was informed by my recent (July 2010) repopulation of my loading bench. It is what I would have done 35 years ago if I had known then what I know now.
rugerforum.net/reloading/29385-budget-beginning-bench-you-will-never-outgrow-novice-handloader.html

I have a thread "To Kit or Not to Kit?" that describes different philosophies of buying or assembling a kit one piece at a time.
rugerforum.net/reloading/33660-kit-not-kit.html

rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=13543

Minimalist minimal (the seventh post down)
rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=107332

Thread entitled "Newby needs help."
thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=430391
My post 11 is entitled "Here's my reloading setup, which I think you might want to model" November 21, 2010)
My post 13 is "10 Advices for the novice handloader" November 21, 2010)

Thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=439810

thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=448410

Good luck.

Lost Sheep

 

[Josh45]

This can also be a good kit but still would require a few things such as the manual, a scale and a caliper and a few more things.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/121744/lee-challenger-breech-lock-single-stage-press-kit

Press
Dies
Scale
Powder Measure / Trickler
Caliper
Manual (s)
Bullet Puller

I believe these are the main things other than consumables such as powder, primers and bullets. If you can, Get powder and primers local and save yourself the $25 Haz Mat Fee.

 

[smalls]

Thanks guys. I was looking at presses, and overlooked these less expensive ones, figuring I'd have to buy tons of stuff to get started. I saw a video of the hand tool one being used, and figured it'd be a good idea.

Thanks for showing me the light!

 

[Blue68f100]

You can pick up a cheap set of Digital Calipers (by Pittsburg) from Harbor Freight for $10 on sale this weekend.

Buy quality equipment and you will only have to buy it once.

I hope you were saving some of your brass to reload.

To help you save money just shoot 1/2 as much and put your other 1/2 toward equipment and supplies. Remember to save on reloading you need to buy in bulk, normally over the internet and not local. Gun shows is where I have started getting my primers and powder from to stay away form the HAZMAT $25 fee added to the order. But if your ordering a very large amount the internet can be cheaper. Now if you buy all of your supplies from your LGS you will not save any money in most cases.

 

[jcwit]

You can pick up a cheap set of Digital Calipers (by Pittsburg) from Harbor Freight for $10 on sale this weekend.

Buy quality equipment and you will only have to buy it once.

Do I detect a contradiction here?

With that said the H/F calibers are plenty good enough.

 

[jcwit]

Thanks guys. I was looking at presses, and overlooked these less expensive ones, figuring I'd have to buy tons of stuff to get started. I saw a video of the hand tool one being used, and figured it'd be a good idea.

Thanks for showing me the light!

The Lee Loaders still aren't a bad deal. I still use mine on occasion, just the nuts for working up loads at the range. I have a Lee Loader in .223 and use it with a Sinclair Arbor Press much the same as reloaders use the L.E. Wilson dies.

Wish I could find Lee Loaders in all 38 calibers I reload.

Frankly I would start with a Lee Turrent press and use it as a single stage for a couple of weeks till you got all the procedures down pat.

 

[Ultravox]

I managed to buy most of my equipment by scanning Craigslist. There are people selling reloading gear there all the time.

Good luck!

 

[BullfrogKen]

Take advantage of the stickies at the top of the page. They are there for a reason.

 

[smalls]

Thanks for the heads up on the caliper! Will definitely head over there today.

 

[dbarnhart]

The Lee Loader was my introduction to reloading way back a long time ago. It, a plastic mallet, a bag of bullets, pound of powder and some primers and I was in business.

While is certainly was the least expensive way to reload, it was also slow. Reloading a hundred rounds a week was pushing it, time-wise.

If you are just looking to reload fifty rounds every couple of weeks and money is really tight then the Lee Loader can't be beat.

 

[56hawk]

For a cheep reloading setup this would be hard to beat:

Lee Breech Lock Hand Press: $25.99
Lee Carbide 3-Die Set 9mm Luger: $23.39
Lee Ram Prime Priming Unit for Single Stage Press: $10.79

This would be the bare minimum complete setup for only $60.

The Lee dies are nice in that they come with a powder dipper and a loading manual. Of course it's very limited so you would have to pick the bullets and powder to match the one included dipper, but it's hard to beat that price.

 

[T Bran]

For a press get the Lee c type press that comes with a manual for 30 or so dollars. I still use mine for all sorts of things including full legnth sizing rifle brass up to 308 Win. While not the ultimate press it has surprised me since it just doesnt look as durable as it is. You must have a manual anyway and Lee's does have a lot of good info as well as loads by volume. The Lee dies come with a dipper and load chart but a set of their balance scales is not expensive and will be a huge help to you. As for a hammer puller dont bother till you really need one just toss your rejects in a bin for future disassembly.
Hope this helps
T