Reloading - minimalist kit

So, I've set up a reloading, uh, set up.

This is what I got as an alternative to buying a kit - I list this here as it is a list I'd like to have found when trying to figure this out.

Note, I'm a noob, not claiming any expertise, but this gets me from components to made ammo.

Press
Dies
Hornady electronic scale
Lee case conditioning kit (primer pocket cleaner, chamfer tool, case trimmer basics) plus case trimmer gauge for calibre
Funnel
Loading Tray (can diy)
Lee scoops (not completely necessary if you buy Lee dies with scoop)

Consumables:
Lube
Graphite powder plus shot for neck sizing
Chux cloths / Scotch bright for cleaning cases
Norton size 0 grit pad for finishing case mouths

Vernier caliper I had already.

My Z$0.02.

I may have forgotten something - it will get pointed out soon enough!

Plus I got a Chrono, but that's another story.


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swap electronic for balance beam and thats pretty much what Ive used for 30 years

That scale may well drive you nuts. Balance beam would probably be better.

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

swap electronic for balance beam and thats pretty much what Ive used for 30 years

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Yeah, that was a toss up. Esp. as there is a Dillon going for not much on here a week or so ago.

I would add a trickler
Priming tool.(but you can seat the primers using the press)

Just some advice: buy the press last. Buy everything else as planned and budgeted for.

To many new reloaders start by buying the press....and as soon as they've got the press they want to start reloading.

+1 for balance beam..check out Gunblue490 YouTube vids for excellent explanation of why balance beam over electronic. The biggest thing to look for on balance beams IMO is good magnetic dampening. Lee Perfect scales are cheap and accurate but take forever to settle. Dillon scales are more expensive but settle real quick.

Very good advice on the beam scales

Oh, and maybe I should mention the next thing on the list...

Bullet puller. Maybe this is the first thing you should buy.

Ive only recently got a trickler...for years Ive used the side of teaspoon held over pan and tapped thumb knuckle of holding hand with other hand..it works in similar fashion and dead easy for a half dozen rounds...trickler was indeed a eye opener...definately great for lots of loads,use LEE spoons to grn or so under and trickle up to weight.
use lee auto prime and reckon its pretty darn good bit of kit...

If you plan on doing more than a few a powder measure will soon engage your attention. The Lee powder measures would have to be both the cheapest, the Lee Perfect, and at least equal to anything else out there.

I have tried two of the legendary Lyman #55, which retail here for over $250 last time I looked, a Hornady Pacific, the Lee Press mounted disc systems, the Lee Perfect and the Lee Perfect Deluxe. Also have 3 Dillon systems on 550B presses for Pistol powders. I have not tried the RCBS which has an excellent rep or the new Hornady Lock n Load. Both are megabucks.

The little plasticky Lee Perfect on its cheap arse stand or fitted to a powder die on a press is simply amazing in its accuracy across a wide range of powders from ball, to stick to donut. I use them all. I spoiled myself and splashed out for the Lee Deluxe Perfect which is no less accurate but not more but is with its metal casting a little nicer to use. And love the heavy stand. Then, recently, I bought the equivalent latest Lee measure intended to go on a die on a press and be auto activated by shell rising into it. Just as accurate as my Dillons and 1/3rd the cost. I have old Lee disc measures adapted to my Dillon presses for dedicated loading of pet loads. Very accurate, very consistent. Around $50 a pop. Lee powder measures are one of the few exceptions to the rule " you get what you pay for"

the LEE spoon set was one of my last purchases...and wish Id done it sooner.....really AWESOME for trailboss loads,cause you loading by volume not weight to begin with.....

+1 for a beam scale. Build a little bench for it so that it is a eye level height.

Bullet puller is a very good suggestion.

Also, get some comparator inserts for the vernier caliper to measure seating depth on the ogive rather than overall length. Much better way of doing things.

The Hornady collet bullet puller is the current bees knees..the RCBS one is the old industry standard but pretty expensive other than one comes up on TM now and again. Both are Press mounted. Irrespective of having one of those you can get by just with a kinetic puller. And if you do cast, Kinetic is the only thing that will pull them.

you CAN pull projectile with pair of vice grips if YOU ARE CAREFUL you wont damage projectiles at all...put in shell holder and lift ram so projectile sticks out top of press frame,gently grip projectile with vice grips level with press/flat then lift press handle which drops case down leaving projectile held in vice grips.Ive donte this many times and damage slightly about 1 in 20...have kinetic puller now...using the lee shell holders in kenetic puller sure is faster than proper ones provided.

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

using the lee shell holders in kenetic puller sure is faster than proper ones provided.

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Now that's something I'm gonna try, thks!

++ for the balance beam scales. No batteries to leak or go flat. Very accurate....So sensitive that a breezy room will effect their accuracy... Some electronic Verniers and scales can play up around some old style fluorescent lights.....

I’ve been running the RCBS charge master lite scales ever since I got setup. Great piece of kit.

Greetings All,
Lots of good stuff in this thread. A minimum kit for someone loading a few rounds per year, for one calibre, mostly bush hunting and willing to accept a little less velocity could be pared down considerably. A Lee loader kit and a few other tools can give excellent results this is what you need.

Lee loader.
Lee case trimming kit (two parts).
A chamfer tool.

This pretty much how I load my .303 ammunition. Steps as follows.

1. Drive out the old primer with the punch and base in the kit.
2. Clean the primer pocket with a small screw driver and clean the outside of the case with a Scotch Brite and polish with a Chux.
3. Size the neck. I use a little lubricant for this and also run the neck over the expanding button in my .303 die but this is optional.
4. Trim the case with the hand tool and chamfer inside and out. You should not need to do this again with light loads.
5. Seat the new primer. I use a hand tool for this but the Lee Kit will do it if care is taken.
6. Measure the powder with the scoop and charge the case in the Lee tool. You will need someone to help with this first time to make sure you have the right powder for the scoop you are using.
7. Seat the projectile using the Lee tool.

That is all there is to it. And yes I have tried seating the primer with the hand tool and a full face mask just in case. No problems. I tried a Lee Loader years ago in my first .303 and things did not go well. I think that the chamber was out of round, reasonably common in the older rifles. I gave my Lee loader to a young chap who had a P14 .303 and he used it for years.
Regards Grandpamac.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings All,
Lots of good stuff in this thread. A minimum kit for someone loading a few rounds per year, for one calibre, mostly bush hunting and willing to accept a little less velocity could be pared down considerably. A Lee loader kit and a few other tools can give excellent results this is what you need.

Lee loader.
Lee case trimming kit (two parts).
A chamfer tool.

This pretty much how I load my .303 ammunition. Steps as follows.

1. Drive out the old primer with the punch and base in the kit.
2. Clean the primer pocket with a small screw driver and clean the outside of the case with a Scotch Brite and polish with a Chux.
3. Size the neck. I use a little lubricant for this and also run the neck over the expanding button in my .303 die but this is optional.
4. Trim the case with the hand tool and chamfer inside and out. You should not need to do this again with light loads.
5. Seat the new primer. I use a hand tool for this but the Lee Kit will do it if care is taken.
6. Measure the powder with the scoop and charge the case in the Lee tool. You will need someone to help with this first time to make sure you have the right powder for the scoop you are using.
7. Seat the projectile using the Lee tool.

That is all there is to it. And yes I have tried seating the primer with the hand tool and a full face mask just in case. No problems. I tried a Lee Loader years ago in my first .303 and things did not go well. I think that the chamber was out of round, reasonably common in the older rifles. I gave my Lee loader to a young chap who had a P14 .303 and he used it for years.
Regards Grandpamac.

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with the set of LEE spoons it has a chart with a whole raft of powder types and what weight each volume of spoon SHOULD throw.....so far its been pretty darn close.

Greetings All,
Additional to What Micky Duck has said above I think that the scoop that comes with the Lee Loader is 2.8cc. My older set has one in cubic inches that translates to 2.74 cc. Based on the chart on the website this would throw 38.3 grains of AR2208/ Varget and 38.4 grains of AR2206H/ H4895. The AR2208 load is a start load with the 174 grain Hornady round nose and the AR2206H load a mid load with the 150 grain projectile. Anyone who thinks that a 174 grain round nose projectile at around 2,300 fps would bounce of a deer should remember that Bell shot very roughly 200 elephants before WW1 using a .303 with a 215 grain solid that was a lot slower than that.
Regards Grandpamac.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings All,
Additional to What Micky Duck has said above I think that the scoop that comes with the Lee Loader is 2.8cc. My older set has one in cubic inches that translates to 2.74 cc. Based on the chart on the website this would throw 38.3 grains of AR2208/ Varget and 38.4 grains of AR2206H/ H4895. The AR2208 load is a start load with the 174 grain Hornady round nose and the AR2206H load a mid load with the 150 grain projectile. Anyone who thinks that a 174 grain round nose projectile at around 2,300 fps would bounce of a deer should remember that Bell shot very roughly 200 elephants before WW1 using a .303 with a 215 grain solid that was a lot slower than that.
Regards Grandpamac.

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My limited experience of spoons is that you need to get a consistent action to get a consistent measure - I'm leaning towards scoop, no tap, pour. My taps lead to inconsistent amounts of powder jumping out of the scoop.

The electronic scale seems pretty consistent - I check the zero each time I put the pan on, and it always returns to 0g.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by davetapson

My limited experience of spoons is that you need to get a consistent action to get a consistent measure - I'm leaning towards scoop, no tap, pour. My taps lead to inconsistent amounts of powder jumping out of the scoop.

The electronic scale seems pretty consistent - I check the zero each time I put the pan on, and it always returns to 0g.

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Greetings,
The way I have always used the scoops is to part fill a cup or similar with powder and press the back of the scoop down into the powder until the powder flows into it to just overflow. lift the scoop out and a slight sideways shake to level it. This achieves a consistent fill. A scooping motion with the open side of the scoop toward the powder will give inconsistent results. I read this somewhere but can't remember where.
Regards GPM.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings,
The way I have always used the scoops is to part fill a cup or similar with powder and press the back of the scoop down into the powder until the powder flows into it to just overflow. lift the scoop out and a slight sideways shake to level it. This achieves a consistent fill. A scooping motion with the open side of the scoop toward the powder will give inconsistent results. I read this somewhere but can't remember where.
Regards GPM.

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Read that too. My variation on it is to fill the scoop by pouring the powder into it and then doing a light, sideways shake.

Reading this, and GPM's comment re Bell makes me think of Selous who shot a bunch of elephant with a 4 bore (just over 1" calibre), charged with 'a handful' of powder. 'Handful' depending on who's hand it was, and if that hand was currently being charged by an elephant. And on one occasion two handfuls of powder and two shot after a gun got loaded twice in some melee. If I remember right, the gun held, his shoulder did not, and took some time to recover. As did his nerve.

My grandfather supplemented his income shooting elephant - I'm old, he was old, this is a long, long time ago - and legend has it that whatever he used to hunt with recoiled so fearfully that he had to shoot it once a week to maintain his nerve. I think it was one of these 4 bores (although my brain tells me they called them quarter pounders, but my brain has been wrong before) which he replaced with a .450 Nitro Express double, I imagine as soon as he could afford it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by davetapson

Reading this, and GPM's comment re Bell makes me think of Selous who shot a bunch of elephant with a 4 bore (just over 1" calibre), charged with 'a handful' of powder. 'Handful' depending on who's hand it was, and if that hand was currently being charged by an elephant. And on one occasion two handfuls of powder and two shot after a gun got loaded twice in some melee. If I remember right, the gun held, his shoulder did not, and took some time to recover. As did his nerve.

My grandfather supplemented his income shooting elephant - I'm old, he was old, this is a long, long time ago - and legend has it that whatever he used to hunt with recoiled so fearfully that he had to shoot it once a week to maintain his nerve. I think it was one of these 4 bores (although my brain tells me they called them quarter pounders, but my brain has been wrong before) which he replaced with a .450 Nitro Express double, I imagine as soon as he could afford it.

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Greetings Again,
I believe that Bell tried the heavy hitters but found it almost impossible to shoot accurately with them. Bell used several calibres including the 7x57 (.276 Rigby), 6.5x54 (.256 Mannlicher) and last the .318 Westly Richards. One of the later Ivory hunters toward the end of his life was asked what he would use now. His answer .308 Winchester with a 200 grain solid. We really have not come that far from the .303.
Regards GPM.

4 bore IS quater pounder..... 8 bore will be 8th pounder and a 12ga is a 12th of a pounder.........4 bore = 4 pure lead balls of BORE diameter =1 LB
WHEN MEN WERE MEN.....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by grandpamac

We really have not come that far from the .303.

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I suspect there is not one species that has not been thoroughly shot with .303's given the ubiquity.
Would be interesting to know what the common calibres for the Portuguese/French/German colonies.

Unfortunately the common calibre is now probably 7.62 x 39 and the hunting skills not what they once were.