Thread: Reloading: What to buy?

morning guys,

looking to start reloading and wanted some advice on what set to buy.looking at a Hornady or a RCBS set.
Also any extras ill need to purchase besides dies, consumables etc?

Any advice at all about reloading would be appreciated.

cheers

I’d suggest first things to buy would be a couple of reloading manuals and spend some time on YT. You’ll get a good feel for what you need and what to do. Also if you can find a mate to show you his setup.

@kayneb, what cals are you reloading for and how many rounds per year do you think you'll use?

ie, 100 per year, 1000 per year etc.

If it's 100 or so, you can do it with some pretty basic lee stuff.

(Cue barrage of swearing from RCBS/ Hornady/ Redding/ Lyman owners)

Besides the press gear, I'd definitely get a case gauge for your cal /cals. This is an exact copy of the proper specs for the inside of your rifles's breech.

If you've run your brass through the sizing die and they fit into one of those sweetly, you know you've got the shape of it right.

As you fail to mention what caliber you wish to reload, specifics are difficult. Best advice I can give is (say you are reloading 223) get onto the internet and Google

RELOADING 223

then select and view the many videos. The result of this search which can be seen at this link

https://tinyurl.com/y3m3p943

should give you a good overall idea of what you are about to undertake.

Buy 2nd hand where you can. Most reloading equipment lasts for years

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

@kayneb, what cals are you reloading for and how many rounds per year do you think you'll use?

ie, 100 per year, 1000 per year etc.

If it's 100 or so, you can do it with some pretty basic lee stuff.

(Cue barrage of swearing from RCBS/ Hornady/ Redding/ Lyman owners)

Besides the press gear, I'd definitely get a case gauge for your cal /cals. This is an exact copy of the proper specs for the inside of your rifles's breech.

If you've run your brass through the sizing die and they fit into one of those sweetly, you know you've got the shape of it right.

I own the Lee kit and wouldn't reccomend it to anyone (the lee press has a lot of flex in it making it hard to get consistent results especially if your learning) either the hornandy or rcbs kit would be more than sufficient, I would look at what case prep tools the kit comes with make sure it has decent case chamfer and pocket reamer tools and if like me you prefer digital scales then get a set of them (I use the hornandy lock and load bench set and found them to be great).
Also get some imperial sizing wax, no other case lube comes close, some cotton tips and green sctotchbrite for cleaning case mouths and bases.
That being said you can get great results with the lee kit with a bit of patience, I am getting my 270wsm shooting under 1/2 MOA, you really have to learn how to get the best of the lee press and work around its short comings.

Just my 2 cents....oh and definitely get a manual and see if anyone local to you can help.

Redding and Forster are my go-to's. For the cost of decent gear vs factory ammo, it's worth it.

A Lee kit gives all you want at a competitive price. You do get what you pay for - but it gets you started - and you can load decent ammo.

I am slowly replacing the odd bit as time goes by - but to buy all top notch gear at the start would have been near $1,000 as opposed the $250.

In terms of accuracy - hell I not doing three shot ragged holes - but I shoot most stuff I shoot at - so I aint going to start blaming the gear I use.

Do not overlook second hand.

i bought the hornady "kit" pretty much everything you need apart from dies.
cost me 700, make me an offer as i no longer own what i bought it for, done less than 500 rounds.
223 and 7mmrm dies extra

Originally Posted by gonetropo

i bought the hornady "kit" pretty much everything you need apart from dies.
cost me 700, make me an offer as i no longer own what i bought it for, done less than 500 rounds.
223 and 7mmrm dies extra

Great offer there

Buy a decent cast iron press straight up. Redding, RCBS. Look for good second hand. If you decide to quit as some stage you will recover your investment.

Buy a good set of mechanical balance scales. Don't bother with the cheap digital shite. Just because scales have digital displays it doesn't necessarily make them precise and repeatable. The cheap stuff use old strain gauge technology - they are fery prone to zero drift. I still have my old Ohaus mechanical scales sitting in the back of the cupboard, despite owning a super expensive digital AnD. The Ohaus were second hand when I got them that many so moons ago that I'd rather not recollect. They came out a year ago whilst my AnD was down due to a failed power supply.

As already suggested, find a competent reloader in your district who can show you the ropes. Make your purchase decisions from there.
Oh, and a decent vernier caliper.

Thanks guys, I’ll mainly be reloading my 243 sako 85 to start as Its shooting like shit with cheaper factory so moved to Hornady super performance but I find it ain’t really economical to be bombing goats up at over 3 dollars a shot,
I’ll be moving to 22 250, 7mmRM and likely 223 in the future depending on how I go I guess.

Originally Posted by gonetropo

i bought the hornady "kit" pretty much everything you need apart from dies.
cost me 700, make me an offer as i no longer own what i bought it for, done less than 500 rounds.
223 and 7mmrm dies extra

I’m definitely keen but wouldn’t know what to offer

What sort of grouping are you getting with the factory ammo and what is it ?

Buy Forster and Redding if you got the money and want the best result. Otherwise Hornady, RCBS etc there are lots of options for you to choose from whatever budget you are on. If Reloading 223? don't bother, just buy some factory ammo and shoot. Cheap enough from Belmont Ammo.