Thread: 357 magnum kit

I'm looking at getting into reloading. At this stage it will just be my .357 magnum. I have seen some cheap options but by the time you add all the additional tools it's around $500. Are there any setups around less than that? Or does anyone have an old press they want to get rid of?

How much are you looking to reload at one time ?
The old Lee Loader might be worth a look ?
You’re still going to need powder and primers and projectiles obviously

You'll get the bug,
don't make the same mistake I made when getting into reloading....
Buy good gear now, the best you can afford
Otherwise, you will find yourself upgrading everything, and it will cost more in the long run

Originally Posted by rambo-6mmrem

You'll get the bug,
don't make the same mistake I made when getting into reloading....
Buy good gear now, the best you can afford
Otherwise, you will find yourself upgrading everything, and it will cost more in the long run

Or on the flip side, if you buy good gear and decide reloadings not for you, then it's likely to sell quicker and for a decent price.

A Lee Loader is a great start for under $100 and they tend to sell pretty easily.
I started with a Lee Loader and now I'm deep down the rabbit hole

An old Lee 3 hole turret press, manual advance (throw the auto advance parts away) and a set of x3 Lee Pistol dies for 38sp/357mag will see you right. $150-200 would cover it but make sure you get the primer arm. A tad slow, but will make many hundreds of rounds easily and a lot faster then a Lee Loader/Whackamole set or a single stage press. You still need a powder dispenser and scales. A used Lee Auto Disk Powder measure in good nick is about $45-$65 or $100 new and will give you accurate repeatable press mounted powder drops. A good used balance beam scale another $50-$100. People love to hate the dinky little Lee Scale but it is very accurate and if you put some disk magnets (Mitre10 or Bunnings) on the housing opp the pointer the main criticism of slow pointer damping goes away. And anyway, once you have the disk in the measure set for the load you want you don't need to measure much at all. So a press, primer seating, powder throwing, dies, and scales for well under $400.

Great advice team. I'm definitely going to get the bug (if I havnt already) but just can't justify a big kit right now. I might give the lee turret press a go in the first instance then move up to the full blown setup in the workshop 😂. My garage "office" just might not have any screens in it

Originally Posted by Jhon

An old Lee 3 hole turret press, manual advance (throw the auto advance parts away) and a set of x3 Lee Pistol dies for 38sp/357mag will see you right. $150-200 would cover it but make sure you get the primer arm. A tad slow, but will make many hundreds of rounds easily and a lot faster then a Lee Loader/Whackamole set or a single stage press. You still need a powder dispenser and scales. A used Lee Auto Disk Powder measure in good nick is about $45-$65 or $100 new and will give you accurate repeatable press mounted powder drops. A good used balance beam scale another $50-$100. People love to hate the dinky little Lee Scale but it is very accurate and if you put some disk magnets (Mitre10 or Bunnings) on the housing opp the pointer the main criticism of slow pointer damping goes away. And anyway, once you have the disk in the measure set for the load you want you don't need to measure much at all. So a press, primer seating, powder throwing, dies, and scales for well under $400.

Yep that will work for a pistol round such as 357 mag
However 99% chance he’ll wanna load rifle stuff in the very near future
In that case all the stuff you suggested won’t be accurate enough
Cheap turret presses have alot of flex which is horrible for loading rifle

You are far better off with a cheap lee single stage press unless you can afford something really nice

You need
A press
A set of powder scales
A set of dies (nothing wrong with lee dies)

There is soo meny little bits that are ether must have like a case trimmer (cases stretch and need trimming every few fireings to insure they don’t get too long)

And things that aren’t absolutely necessary but life is way better with such as a loading block

I would suggest biting the bullet and buying something like this

Most brands offer similar kits however although they are the cheapest by alot stay away from the lee set
The press is ok but everything is is poor quality and will need replacing sooner rather than later better off to buy once cry once with this stuff as if you buy the right product it will last you a lifetime

https://reloadingdirect.co.nz/produc...nl-classic-kit

Originally Posted by rambo-6mmrem

Yep that will work for a pistol round such as 357 mag
However 99% chance he’ll wanna load rifle stuff in the very near future
In that case all the stuff you suggested won’t be accurate enough
Cheap turret presses have alot of flex which is horrible for loading rifle

You are far better off with a cheap lee single stage press unless you can afford something really nice

You need
A press
A set of powder scales
A set of dies (nothing wrong with lee dies)

There is soo meny little bits that are ether must have like a case trimmer (cases stretch and need trimming every few fireings to insure they don’t get too long)

And things that aren’t absolutely necessary but life is way better with such as a loading block

I would suggest biting the bullet and buying something like this

Most brands offer similar kits however although they are the cheapest by alot stay away from the lee set
The press is ok but everything is is poor quality and will need replacing sooner rather than later better off to buy once cry once with this stuff as if you buy the right product it will last you a lifetime

https://reloadingdirect.co.nz/produc...nl-classic-kit

I beg to differ.

If you are not bench rest shooting then a Lee Turret Press can be the bees knees for rifle. The used now obsolete Three Hole Turret Press is cheap, extra turrets are cheap and others, like me, have a turret set up for each different calibre so it's an easy and quick calibre change and dies stay set.

Also the old chestnut about flex in Lee Turret presses is at best misleading and perpetuated on-line when folk, sorry @rambo-6mmrem, really ought to know better. The Lee is NOT poor quality. It is made to a price and a design and boy do they last. Of course you can break them. Just like I had a RCBS Summit (cast iron) break its casting at 3 yrs old (and quickly fixed under warranty). Richard Lee made the case that the reason RCBS and other cast iron presses are so bloody heavy is because they had to be made in that thickness to match the strength of the aircraft-grade aluminum his presses were made out of. His son came into the business and persuaded Richard to introduce cast iron presses for MARKETING reasons - not strength or quality. Go figure. Dillon have long made their semi-progressive and progressive presses out of cast aluminum - but went the thickness route no doubt (speculating here) not just for strength but because folk associate heft with quality. But even Dillon castings will break - as per another recent thread on here.

1960s Lee Three hole turret presses are still going strong today and still last bugger all time on the yellow site. I wonder why?

Yes, there is up and down movement in a Lee turret press. BUT it is the same for each case loaded. if it changes with use over time, it is a minsicule change that very few would ever notice or have the equipment to measure. Not only that, but as per a recent thread on this forum, the world's top competition Bench Rest shooter uses a 2010 Lee 4 hole Turret press to load his competition ammo. On video he states he never saw any reason to change it.

There are not many shooters who would find any issue between one round and another loaded on a Lee Trurret Press, three or four holer, within their own or their rifle's accuracy capability, It just doesn't come into play. Yes, the linkages get sloppy, are sloppy in the three holer from factory, yes, the turret rises slightly when the ram pressure comes on. No it does not matter to anyone less than absolute top world class target shooters. Not many of those in this country.

Do I rate all Lee stuff? No. The pro1000 is a pet hate of mine because the primer feed reliably stuffed up in all three of them that I have owned, repaired, and operated. Lee in my view has never succeeded (maybe has changed with latest offerings), in doing as good on automated primer feed as say Dillon. But that is not what I'm suggesting the OP buy. Manual primer feeding or off-press priming offer very workable options. Using the manual priming arm that came with the Three holer and still with the 4 holer is often a good idea for a new reloder because it encourages them not to race and make mistakes. If you are loading in batches of 50 or less it's just not an issue. And if your fingers are clean and dry, nor is handling primers out of a tub into the primer cup and issue.

So, what it comes down to is preference for fine machinery. Lee has long made its name making affordable gear that will produce reliable, accurate ammo for the average working bloke. And has satisfied many thousands of reloaders for many years. If you want finer made machinery, go buy a cast iron press that you like the heft and feel of and be prepared to pay the price. But wait, Lee currently is seen by many to be in the top spot there also with their Classic Cast Press. An RCBS or a Lee? both cast? check the price and leave prejudice at the door. Your wallet and your rifle will appreciate you.

Originally Posted by Jhon

I beg to differ.

If you are not bench rest shooting then a Lee Turret Press can be the bees knees for rifle. The used now obsolete Three Hole Turret Press is cheap, extra turrets are cheap and others, like me, have a turret set up for each different calibre so it's an easy and quick calibre change and dies stay set.

Also the old chestnut about flex in Lee Turret presses is at best misleading and perpetuated on-line when folk, sorry @rambo-6mmrem, really ought to know better. The Lee is NOT poor quality. It is made to a price and a design and boy do they last. Of course you can break them. Just like I had a RCBS Summit (cast iron) break its casting at 3 yrs old (and quickly fixed under warranty). Richard Lee made the case that the reason RCBS and other cast iron presses are so bloody heavy is because they had to be made in that thickness to match the strength of the aircraft-grade aluminum his presses were made out of. His son came into the business and persuaded Richard to introduce cast iron presses for MARKETING reasons - not strength or quality. Go figure. Dillon have long made their semi-progressive and progressive presses out of cast aluminum - but went the thickness route no doubt (speculating here) not just for strength but because folk associate heft with quality. But even Dillon castings will break - as per another recent thread on here.

1960s Lee Three hole turret presses are still going strong today and still last bugger all time on the yellow site. I wonder why?

Yes, there is up and down movement in a Lee turret press. BUT it is the same for each case loaded. if it changes with use over time, it is a minsicule change that very few would ever notice or have the equipment to measure. Not only that, but as per a recent thread on this forum, the world's top competition Bench Rest shooter uses a 2010 Lee 4 hole Turret press to load his competition ammo. On video he states he never saw any reason to change it.

There are not many shooters who would find any issue between one round and another loaded on a Lee Trurret Press, three or four holer, within their own or their rifle's accuracy capability, It just doesn't come into play. Yes, the linkages get sloppy, are sloppy in the three holer from factory, yes, the turret rises slightly when the ram pressure comes on. No it does not matter to anyone less than absolute top world class target shooters. Not many of those in this country.

Do I rate all Lee stuff? No. The pro1000 is a pet hate of mine because the primer feed reliably stuffed up in all three of them that I have owned, repaired, and operated. Lee in my view has never succeeded (maybe has changed with latest offerings), in doing as good on automated primer feed as say Dillon. But that is not what I'm suggesting the OP buy. Manual primer feeding or off-press priming offer very workable options. Using the manual priming arm that came with the Three holer and still with the 4 holer is often a good idea for a new reloder because it encourages them not to race and make mistakes. If you are loading in batches of 50 or less it's just not an issue. And if your fingers are clean and dry, nor is handling primers out of a tub into the primer cup and issue.

So, what it comes down to is preference for fine machinery. Lee has long made its name making affordable gear that will produce reliable, accurate ammo for the average working bloke. And has satisfied many thousands of reloaders for many years. If you want finer made machinery, go buy a cast iron press that you like the heft and feel of and be prepared to pay the price. But wait, Lee currently is seen by many to be in the top spot there also with their Classic Cast Press. An RCBS or a Lee? both cast? check the price and leave prejudice at the door. Your wallet and your rifle will appreciate you.

"thats nice"
My 1st press was a Lee turret, so I'm not speaking through a hole in my head
But anyway, the above is my advice based on my experience do with it what you wish

Without weighing in on any of the previous content, one thing I can objectively state, is that for pistol cases, carbide dies are worth the extra cost.

Originally Posted by rambo-6mmrem

"thats nice"
My 1st press was a Lee turret, so I'm not speaking through a hole in my head
But anyway, the above is my advice based on my experience do with it what you wish

My simple explanation of the slop/play suggestion is, there is no play at the end of the ram stroke.
I have Lee single stage, three hole turret, Hornady single and Hornady Progressive.
Ammo doesn't come out better or worse from any of them.
I do like that the dies are all together with the Lee turret one.

Best choice of press and scales and primer seating set up etc is actually quite a person specific thing. There are several different priorities at play in a reloading set up. And different configurations will cater to different options. The following list isn’t exhaustive but hopefully it is indicative;

Cost
Space
Speed
Accuracy
Durability

The order of importance in the above list will depend on who you are, regardless of that, it can be hard to know ahead of doing any reloading what your personal order actually is, some people are happy with a whackamole set, some people have multiple presses on their bench. Regardless of what road you go down (whackamole excluded) you will need dies and components. If you get those first, you will be able to test drive any set up that anyone wants to let you on.

The other thing to consider is that even if you do start with the most basic single stage press, it will still be useful if you become someone who has a bench with three or four different presses.

Also there are plenty of people with more money than time, they have the gear but due to the usual reasons, not the time. Sometimes oftentimes the best cheap reloading setup is a second hand one that has had very low mileage and is for sale for that reason.

I've got a 3 die RCBS set here in very good condition if anyone's interested... I never used it in the end.
PM me for more info.
Phil.

Just spotted this. Older gear but cheap enough?
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketpl...ing/5386195799

Originally Posted by Hutch

Just spotted this. Older gear but cheap enough?
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketpl...ing/5386195799

buy it x price they work good with large primers but take your time with small primers and its got the 38 /357 shell plate and thrower etc