Thread: Reloading set up

Originally Posted by Hbwanderer

When I'm hunting not many but I'm starting to get into range shooting(honing my skill)I can knock of 20/40 in a session,once a month

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Assuming an average of 30/ month, thats 360 per year approx. The reason I asked was to determine the kind of press that would likely suit you best.

This will easily be done on a single stage press, unless you're really pushed for time. Good to see the offer from @garyp.

Shooting that many rounds per month which equals into ALOT over a year... that's ALOT of money which can be saved by reloading your own!

The great thing about reloading is you get to tailor your ammo to your rifle and save money.

Downside is... reloading is addictive where you'll start experimenting with a lot more powders, projectiles.

Welcome to the Dark Side

Hey,

Ill give you my 2cents.
A mate and I were in the same boat 2 years ago and we really wanted to start reloading to save money......hahahaha yeah right.
Anyway we looked around and found that yes it seems the best way to buy the equipment you want individually. however due to basically having no idea and minimal people to turn too (i didn't ask the forum at the time) we just bought a lee challenger starter kit and standard redding dies (sizer and seater).
For us the press was fine and producing 1/2moa groups at 100m and have no probs on deer at distances the shooters were comfortable with.
What we soon discovered was not the press but we really disliked the powder thrower and scales. we also cleaned our brass with hot water and a scrubbing pad then as well.

Anyway after about 6months my mate bought a Hornady L-N-L Bench Scale and Hornady Lock-N-Load Quick Trickle. this was a vast improvement and also sped the process (we were refining) up. we also got lee universal decapping dies so we could clean then size.

in the last 3months, my reloading has increased and i have bought some more equipment being, MEC Marksman press, RCBS Chargemaster lite, Match grade dies, Hornady OAL gauge tool and bullet and shoulder comparators.
We still use the Lee press however it is only for decapping and priming. Oh and a wet tumbler.

So again my 2cents if you are going to shoot a decent amount of loads and your budget allows it i would take a look and ask what people a using and what your end objective is. The good stuff may seem expensive at first but there's a reason for that and remember the press etc will (if looked after) out last you.

No regrets doing what we did but yes we could have saved a few pennies by buying the good stuff right away, then again we had no idea what we were doing and werent sure if it was something we wanted to do.

PS I'm just in the middle of doing some load dev which atm includes 9/13 powders i want to try. and have multi projectile types i want to try as well. Why? curiosity. <== this is the black hole of reloading.

I would pretty much agree with Willus, having gone down the same route almost. But the other thing is the Lee set is only a couple of hundred bucks - not a huge amount if you try and it find it’s not for you, and reloading stuff always sells well. More likely though is you will get into it and it will cost you and arm and a leg.

I still use my original challenger press, but have a classic cast as well. The classic cast is good, but knowing what I know now almost any press will do the trick. Same with standard dies to be honest - Lee are fine, Intend to use about three different brands dies for each cartridge I load - like the seater from one, sizer from another etc.

Be warned, if you love to tinker with stuff and try and improve what's already there, reloading is a hole you'll fall into and only climb out of to eat, sleep, and occasionally visit the loo.

Haven’t read the thread but my biggest advice to anybody buying reloading gear for the 1st time
Buy once cry once
Spend a grand or so now on decent gear and save big time replacing the cheep stuff peice by peice as you ever break it
Or simply just pisses you off

Lee make some good stuff but alot of it is shit also
There everything you need starter kits are one such example of shit
I started with one and the only good bit of kit which I still use is the hand primer tool
But even that is due for replacement now

Id stick with rcbs/hornady/redding or possibly Lyman as I say quite a bit more expensive than the lee but also alot better quality
My mate brought a rcbs rockchucker kit the other day
Looks a very nice (every thing you need) kit
Obviously there are some Optional extras that make the job easier but are certainly not required to put some ammunition together
It’s amazing what you can do with basic but quality tools

Thanks guys for all your helpfull advise,At the moment im spending about $900 a year on factory ammo,,I am tossing up on two kits the lee and the hornady,I'm sure someone has used these kits and I'd really like to hear you opinion's,
But I understand a press is only half the equation, what projectiles/primers and powder to use,
I can see this reloading hobby becoming very addictive,

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hornady kit here. hornady dies too but using adi powder

I've got bits of the lee kit. I have the classic turret press which I use for loading 9mm ammo, Have the scales but never used them, started using the case trimming stuff, but have moved on to lyman gear.

I don't use the lube, found a mix of RCBS Case Lube 2 and 99% isopropyl alcohol works well out of a WD 40 type spray bottle.

The book looks like it would be handy to have, but I wonder whether it has ADI powder data. If not, that's a lot of info missing for NZ reloading conditions. That said, it's best to have more than one book.

I prefer having something that throws powder charges quickly, accurately and easily, so went to a Lyman gen6 powder dispenser.

I'd also advise getting at least a couple of bullet manufactures modern reloading manuals, ensure they cover the powder brands you are going to use before purchase and ..
Read them... the internet is all well and good when looking for loads but.
1-Often, unless it is a manufactures site the loads are worked out for the posters rifle only and We've all seen some dodgy loads posted on various sites
2- Never, until/ unless you are very experienced never exceed the top load in a modern manual

One more thing that may help
NZ Guns and Hunting started a series of Articles called Metallic reloading 101 . It was for memory a series designed for a new comer to reloading to read and gain some understanding of the process for scratch, these may well be worth looking up, started Nov/Dec 2017 issue I believe.
Good luck and don't forget heaps of folk here willing to help when you get stuck so ask questions as you go along.

Lastly talking about that, two reasonably priced but almost essential pieces of equipment I needed early on and [Ahem, sometimes still do] was a Stuck Case remover and a Bullet Puller of some sort, I will almost guarantee that at some stage you will need one or the other, and probably both.

I like Hornady gear, but a kit without a beam scale doesn't sit right with me.
I bought the Hornady electronic scales recently, you need to really keep an eye on them to make sure they stay zeroed, I has one instance where the powder charge overflowed the case, turned out it was 4 grains out.
I have also had a powder measure for over 20 years but don't use it much. It seems fairly accurate with a consistent technique, but generally I'm only loading 3-20 rounds at a time with the same powder charge so I find it easier/quicker to do them on the beam scales.
I've loaded 384 rounds in the last 11 months, so about $1000 worth at factory prices, but I wouldn't use anywhere near that amount if I wasn't reloading (most rounds have been for load development).

Originally Posted by jakewire

I'd also advise getting at least a couple of bullet manufactures modern reloading manuals, ensure they cover the powder brands you are going to use before purchase and ..
Read them... the internet is all well and good when looking for loads but.
1-Often, unless it is a manufactures site the loads are worked out for the posters rifle only and We've all seen some dodgy loads posted on various sites
2- Never, until/ unless you are very experienced never exceed the top load in a modern manual

One more thing that may help
NZ Guns and Hunting started a series of Articles called Metallic reloading 101 . It was for memory a series designed for a new comer to reloading to read and gain some understanding of the process for scratch, these may well be worth looking up, started Nov/Dec 2017 issue I believe.
Good luck and don't forget heaps of folk here willing to help when you get stuck so ask questions as you go along.

Lastly talking about that, two reasonably priced but almost essential pieces of equipment I needed early on and [Ahem, sometimes still do] was a Stuck Case remover and a Bullet Puller of some sort, I will almost guarantee that at some stage you will need one or the other, and probably both.

+1 on the bullet puller and case remover.

Neither of those kits have decent scales - prob the most important thing you need after a press. If not the cheap lee kit, then just buy scales / press separately. Workshop innovation have a good range of beam scales. I don’t like the hornady ones compared to the others, the pivot point seems rough by comparison. Redding or RCBS are probably good choices, or look for some old Lyman ohaus ones second hand - they pop up on Tm occasionally.

Get the lee kit. The turreted press is faster than a single stage. I manually index (rotate the turret head) and its still faster. Bin the scales and get something better.get appropriate dies for your calibre, again lee is fine and a bench mounted powder measure if you are reloading rifle (lee delux is meant to be a bit better than the normal perfect powder measure, but I haven't used it). You're now reloading.

Definitely the hornady kit the lee Especially the turret press is the Dictionary meaning of shit