Thanks for all the replies so far!
What about the powder, which is best/cleanest for 9mm? How about 7.62x39 if I choose to make some loads for that?
Thanks again for helping a newby out on this
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Don't worry about clean-burning powder. Develop the habit of always cleaning your gun(s) after every shooting session and soot is a non-issue.
More important than clean-burning is pressure. Pic the bullet you want to shoot. Pick the velocity you want for that bullet. (You could reverse the order of those steps, no matter.)
Loading manuals or web sites from the various bullet makers, powder makers, etc. suggest the lowest safe and highest safe powder charge weights for various bullets. They also give the velocities to expect from those powder charges.
Pick a powder that brackets your desired velocity (that is, puts your desired velocity in the middle of the high-low range). Better yet, pick several and make a list. Then go down to your local retailer and buy a pound of whatever powder they have available that is on the list. (Or you could go to your retailer first and make a list of all the powders they have and consult the loading recipes later, but I think that's more work.)
However, before you do all the foregoing, take this advice.
DON'T RUSH!!
Reloading isn't rocket science, but it does involve smoke and flame and things that go very fast, so caution is warranted.
Load for mid-range velocities. Carefully weigh each charge in every cartridge you make (at least for the first hundred), double check every step and practice until you understand all the mechanical processes you are doing. Seating primers is an art. Feel the seating and observe that the primer is slightly below flush. Crimping 9mm bullets is easy to do too strongly. 9mm cartridges headspace on the case mouth and if you taper crimp too strongly, you may get misfires. If you don't taper crimp strongly enough, you could get bullet setback (which can give dangerously high pressures).
Once you have your press, read your manuals (plural is intentional) and study up.
Christmas is just around the corner.
On second thought, get "The ABC's of Reloading", Lyman's manual and "Modern Reloading by Richard Lee" right now (or borrow from the local Library) and study up. That way you will be ready when your tools arrive. The early chapters of most all loading manuals contain the "how-to" and "whys" of loading.
I don't want to discourage you from asking questions here (and the powder one is a good one), but I think, a little bit ahead of yourself. Mechanical processes first.
Lost Sheep
