Reloading kit vs. ala cart

[Katitmail]

Currently RCBS is running a promotion where if you spend $300 on RCBS products, you get 500 Speer Gold Dot HP pistol or Grand Slam SP rifle bullets (Or you can also get $50 rebate).

Depending on which bullets you choose (say 500 45 cal 185 gr Gold Dot HP), you could save a few hundred dollars off the kit. You could either sell the bulllets or reload them for yourself.

MidwayUSA has the Rock Chucker Supreme Master Kit for $320 so if you appled the "value" of 500 Speer Gold Dot bullets, it would be like getting the press kit for less than half price.

I almost jumped on this one because I still need scales and my press (Dillon) is on B/O. I have some dies so with this kit I can start playing. Rebate wording stopped me.. They say that demand is high and they may do $50 instead of bullets which is killing a deal for me.

 

[918v]

In most of my other hobbies I would never buy a kit, I would assemble the best components I could afford and go from there.

It should be no different with this hobby.

RCBS makes some good tools, the operative word is some. Lee makes some good tools as well. Redding tools are generally superior. Then you have the high end tools like Sinclair, K&M, Neil Jones, etc. Go with your gut. Your gut is right.

 

[clutch]

That looks like a decent kit to start with. I'm still running a old Lyman turret kit I bought 30 years ago. I've added stuff, I still want a Rock Chucker press for case forming.

Go for it. It will be fine.

 

[westy16925]

My wife got me a Lee Breech-lock Challenger kit when I was starting out. Now, the only thing I use out of it is the primer pocket cleaner,the funnel, the hand primer, and the shell holders for the primer. The press was replaced with a Redding Big Boss II. The scales were replaced with an older Lyman D7. The lube was replaced with Hornady Unique case sizing wax. The powder measure has been replaced by a Redding and a Hornady Auto-charge. The trimmer has been replaced with a Wilson/Sinclair micrometer trimmer. The case deburring tool has been replaced by a Forster. If I had it to do over, I would buy each piece individually. But my wife was more interested in the initial start-up cost.

 

[Lost Sheep]

Been looking at a Rockchucker reloading kit since before panic. About ready to pull the trigger, and then started thinking.....uhoh.

In most of my other hobbies I would never buy a kit, I would assemble the best components I could afford and go from there.

That tells me a lot about you. I agree completely with your approach.

Remember, though, that the "best components" varies. What is best for you is not the best for someone else. Best fit for your needs.

What do you guys think about getting a kit, or shopping for each component?

The Rockchucker kit looks good, and I have no reason to think it is not the way to go, but as I have learned over the years....You don't know, what you don't know!

There's the rub. How do you learn what you need to know to find the "best components" or a loading setup? And how do you figure that out without buying a few mistakes in the beginning. Might as well get a kit?

Thanks in advance.

jcinnb

A kit will get you started with ALMOST everything you need. They always lack something. They also have things you use, but will be unsatisfied with and trade in (at a loss, it goes without saying). So the savings in getting a kit is largely illusion. But it probably will get you started a little quicker.

A Kit will also have things you don't need, which is a waste of money But does provide some trade goods.

Building your own kit MAY be a little more expensive, but carries with it the research (and knowledge gained therefrom) you do in selecting the equipment best for you.

How long is your foresight?

Let's start out by looking at the bare essentials.

These two, you cannot load without, physically. Press and dies.

Powder can be measured out by scoops, by scale or by a powder measure or a combination of those and it would be exceedingly foolish (or suicidal) to load without measuring your powder accurately and reliably.

So, count three items as absolutely essential. (press, dies, scale) Everything else adds safety, effectiveness/accuracy and speed. (e.g. safety - eye protection while loading; effectiveness/accuracy - calipers; Speed - powder measure). Most additional tools can be done without, improvised or substituted for (e.g. a lube pad: fingers, paper towel, or sponge can do, or spray lube can be used).


The "more than are essential" items, though, are necessary for reasonable safety. A loading manual with load recipes and instructions of how to go about the process. A pair of safety glasses (just in case a primer goes off, which is rare, but can happen).

So, five things HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended, plus one extra.

A way to place primers in the priming cup on the press is a great help (rather than using your fingers) and will speed things up as well as reducing the chance that skin oils will contaminate the primers.

Six things and your are reasonably set up for everything you can expect.

Press
Dies
Scale
Primer handler of some kind
safety glasses
manual(s)

But there are always things you don't need to start with but will need or want later.

A bullet puller will enable you to disassemble any rounds you put together that are out of spec (or that you suspect might be). Loading blocks let you keep a batch of cartridges together conveniently. Micrometer will help measure things when you find that you want to measure something. Most store-bought bullets are the right size, so yo might not need the micrometer for a while.

As you load and develop your personal style, you will find things you would like to have. Pick them up as you go.

How you populate your loading bench, and with what pieces of gear is largely, then, a matter of personal style. There are several different ways to approach your question.

1) Buy a ready-made kit.

2) Assemble a kit of your own, choosing as complete a kit as you can get, of premium gear you will never outgrow.

3) Assemble a "bare essential" minimal kit piece-by-piece with the components you expect you will never outgrow and expanding as you

find need for each additional piece, slowly, and as money and knowledge allows.

4) Assemble a complete kit (of economy equipment) of your own choosing you know you will outgrow, by which time you will have figured

out what you will never outgrow, then trade up to those pieces.

5) Assemble a minimal kit of your own choosing with the least expensive components and upgrade as your tastes reveal themselves and as

money allows. Spend money for upgrades as your taste spurs you.


Each approach has its proponents. Each approach has its virtues and its drawbacks.


1 Store-bought "complete" kit. Swap out components as needed:
virtue: easy and requires little thought; gets you into production very quickly
drawback: can be wasteful, and requires little thought
(This is tantamount to the approach westy16925 took when his wife bought a kit for him, though his experience was extreme.)

2 Self-Assemble complete Kit:
virtue: requires you think about and learn loading BEFORE you commit money and body parts
drawback: requires a lot of study, and even so you may make less-than-optimal purchases

3 Slowly self-assemble premium components kit & add-on as you go
virtue: you learn about loading and your equipment thoroughly and only spend money as you are sure of what you are buying
drawback: takes more time (weeks, maybe before you are completely set up, though you can be loading the first weekend)

4 and 5 are variations on 2 and 3 and have much the same virtues and drawbacks.

The approaches I outlined should provide you some food for thought. What type of hobbyist are you? Are you analytical and thoughtful or do you jump right in and improvise as you go? Got more time than money, or more money than time?

My first advice: Read "The ABC's of Reloading", an excellent tome on the general processes of reloading.

Having said that, 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"
http://www.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 "
http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230171

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

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

Thread entitled "Newby needs help."
http://www.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)

http://www.Thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=439810

"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.
http://www.rugerforum.net/reloading...you-will-never-outgrow-novice-handloader.html

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

It seems to me that with your attitude (I commented on at the beginning of this post), you will study up, select carefully and build an ideal kit of your own pretty quickly. But check out Kempf's gun shop for their kit, built around the Lee Classic Turret. It is unlike any other kit in that it 1) includes one set of dies and 2) (The biggest difference) does not attempt to be complete, but only gives you a core of tools to which you add manual, scale calipers and whatever other add-ons you wish.

Good luck,

Lost Sheep

 

[Lost Sheep]

Tell us about yourself

Welcome to reloading. Thanks for asking our advice.

We could target our advice better if you shared some information about yourself: (What I use has no relevance to you if our needs are not similar.)

What calibers will you be reloading?

What quantities will you be reloading for those calibers?

How much time will you be willing to devote to those quantities

What is your budget?

Will you be putting your gear away after each session or leave it set up permanently?

How much space will you devote permanently to a loading area, if any?

Do you want it to be portable?

What are your shooting goals? Cheap ammo? Ultimate long-range accuracy? Casual plinking, Serious competition - what kind? Cowboy Action Shooting? Strictly hunting?

Lost Sheep

 

[buck460XVR]

The RCBS kit is one of the better ones. The average reloader will never want for a better SS press, scale or powder measure as with many of the other entry level kits out there. RCBS's warranty and CS means one will never have to pay for another scale/press /powder measure unless they want to. Other than the dies, calipers, some form of check weights and the components themselves, it has everything you need to make quality ammo at a cost less than buying them separately. If you want to move on to something different, the quality and the desirability of the equipment in the kit itself means it always will have good trade/resale value.

 

[hang fire]

Been looking at a Rockchucker reloading kit since before panic. About ready to pull the trigger, and then started thinking.....uhoh.

In most of my other hobbies I would never buy a kit, I would assemble the best components I could afford and go from there.

What do you guys think about getting a kit, or shopping for each component?

The Rockchucker kit looks good, and I have no reason to think it is not the way to go, but as I have learned over the years....You don't know, what you don't know!

Thanks in advance.

jcinnb

If a SS press is what you want, do not over look the Lee Classic Cast Iron.

I had a Lyman Orange Crusher, bought the Lee and the LOC now resides in the corner.

 

[BullfrogKen]

Lost Sheep's post #30 is about the best commentary on the matter as I've ever seen.


In the mid 90's I bought Lee's Anniversary Kit and learned on it. I used the press for well over a decade. I upgraded other tools as I got a feeling for where I was going with the hobby and by then, had enough experience to know what tools made most sense for me and my handloading needs.

 

[mdi]

Low budget, basic tool assortment; http://www.beartoothbullets.com/tech_notes/archive_tech_notes.htm/51 Actually I started this way in '69...

 

[Sniper66]

I learned to reload from my brother who has mostly RCBS equipment. After some experience and researching, I decided to buy the individual pieces instead of the kit. Most importantly because I wanted the Chargemaster Powder Dispenser. After I got mine and loaded with my brother some more, he bought a Chargemaster. The other reason I would buy the individual components is because of the new single stage press. I would love to try the new press because the whole thing sits atop the bench where the RockChucker hangs below and I bang my knees into it, which is a bit of a nuisance. All that said though, the kit is very good and not a bad way to start. If you really get into it, you'll buy lots of additional equipment so have fun.

 

[Jcinnb]

Thanks for the wonderful advice. Lost sheep, your post is so awesome it needs to be captured somewhere. Thnk you for your intellect and time.

I read the ABSs back in January, and reviewed in depth in early April. I now have five reloading books on the kindle, and the newest Lyman guide on the bedside table.

Initially I will be reloading 25-06. I hope to eventually reload 7.62x54 and for my snake gun, long colt.

I hit the range twice a month, probably 150 - 200 rounds a day. Thanks again for all the replies.

 

[justice06rr]

As a potential reloader, I've also looked at that reloading kit and considering buying it. It seems to have most of the things one would need to start reloading other than components and other parts (dies, etc). For the price point its a good buy IMO. I'm sure there are better ones out there and I've seen more expensive kits by Lyman and other manufacturers.

 

[grubbylabs]

I think that if you bought either the Hornady kit of the RCBS kit you would be just fine and have most of what you needed. Not sure why someone is knocking the Speer book, I really like the two I have.

The problem with this kind of questioning on a forum is that you will get a lot of opinion and you know what they say about opinions and back sides, every one has one and not to many of them don't stink to some degree or another. Including my own.

I have not found any thing in either the RCBS or Hornady kit I think is absolutely trash, it all has a life time warranty except for the book and quite possibly the digital scale in the Hornady kit. Which means if you have a problem with it, they will take care of it quickly. Often times just sending you what you need, no matter who's fault it is.

I have bought some Lee stuff, but I have given most of it away or traded it away. Their stuff is economical and does work, but I just don't think it feels as well built or performs as well as some of the other brands. For example their Perfect powder measure, it works, but it leaks powder, really bad. It also has a lot of flex in it making it feel cheap and flimsy. But it did work. I don't think to many people will disagree with my assessment of this as it is a common view of this particular piece of equipment.

I also agree that all of them make some stuff better than the others depending on what you have and what your needs are. I have a Uniflow measure on my Hornady Pro-Jector progressive and a Hornady measure in my RCBS stand on the bench for using with my Rock Chuker. I have Hornady dies and RCBS dies, for the most part I like the Hornady dies a little better because of the over all package, but I think the RCBS dies I have are just as well made.

I think the best thing you can do for yourself is to go to a shop or box store that has some presses set up and look them over and and see how they feel. Pull a few things out of the box and see how they rate compared to each other.

Over all I like the idea of the kit from RCBS or Hornady. The stuff is more than adequate and capable of lasting several life times. While the Lee press will likely last just as long any any other press, I don't feel the same about much of their other equipment I have bought.

 

[Lost Sheep]

Thanks for the wonderful advice. Lost sheep, your post is so awesome it needs to be captured somewhere. Thnk you for your intellect and time.

I read the ABSs back in January, and reviewed in depth in early April. I now have five reloading books on the kindle, and the newest Lyman guide on the bedside table.

Initially I will be reloading 25-06. I hope to eventually reload 7.62x54 and for my snake gun, long colt.

I hit the range twice a month, probably 150 - 200 rounds a day. Thanks again for all the replies.

Bolt action for the 25-06 I presume. For that, I would get a single-stage press. Almost every loading I know has a single stage, no matter what else they have. You can't really go wrong learning on a single stage.

Personally, for the quantities you quote, an auto-advancing turret would not be a bad way to go, either. Use as a single stage for batch processing and with the auto-advancing turned on for continuous/sequential processing.

Again, good luck.

Lost Sheep

 

[Potatohead]

good info here folks. thx