What would it take?

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RugerSooner

Speedy Gonzalez
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So for a while now I've been interested in reloading. I wont be doing tons and tons of it, its just something that will in the long run save me money. I dont know much about it at all. What will I need to start reloading and while I don't want to compromise quality tools, what are some brands that are good for every now and then use? I'm looking for affordability.
 

Oklahomabassin

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RCBS Rockchucker is an excellent single stage press to leearn on. On a single stage press, you perform each step on all the brass, switch die and perform that step on all the brass. On a progressive press, it has all the dies and the brass rotates through the steps each time you pull the handle. A single stage is easy to set up and load different calibers, a progressive takes a little to set up for different calibers and recipes.

If you have several different calibers you will be loading for and less than 200 at a time, I think the RCBS Rockchucker (others make single stage presses as well, I am not familiar with them) will suit you great.

The progressives presses really excell if you have a certain load you shoot a bunch of, or a few loads you shoot a bunch of. Guys who shoot competitively with a handgun, and a rifle, can run a few hundred rounds of each through each month.
 

Calamity Jake

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As Oklahomabassin says the Rockchucker can't be beat for a single stage press, it can be bought in a reloading kit that
comes with everything you need to get started except the loading dies. Read the load manual before you ever load a single round.
 

Oklahomabassin

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RCBS makes a reloading starter set that has the Rockchucker press, a triple beam scale (great manual scale) a powder thrower, lube pad, (I prefer to use tray and spray lube) tray for brass, small tools for working brass, and a brass trimmer. IIRC it comes with a reloading manual.

Some upgrades to that.
RCBS Handheld primer tool. Allows good "feel" when seating primers.
Electric powder thrower/scale. Set a powder charge and it will dump powder in pan and stop when hits the weight entered.
Tumbler to help clean and polish brass.
RCBS Universal Deprimer. Allows you to deprime brass without sizing and working brass, then brass can be tumbled to clean. This will help keep the sizing dies clean and keep from scratching brass.
 

swampratt

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All my dies and presses that I use are Lee.
I have no complaints..And they are cheap enough I don't mind modifying the dies for a specific purpose.

I say get a single stage and start there..But you will not save any money reloading.
You can shoot more for less though.


That is correct.. you will get addicted to the quality and tighter groups..then spend all your money on upgrades and other gadgets to try and shrink those groups even more.
Next thing you know you have about $3K in powder,primers and bullets laying around.
It is an addiction..You have been warned.
 

pen25

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lee makes great presses. and dont shy away from a turret press. all presses can be ran single stage as well. you just only put 1 shell in at a time and instead of running a batch of shells for each stage you do all stages with 1 shell. the price difference between a single stage and a turret is not that much and you save from having to buy 2 presses when you can buy the one first. I learned on a dillon 550. just make sure you read the reloading manuals first and id suggest also reading abc's of reloading
 

Larry Morgan

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Lee's case trimmer is a great deal. If I had to do it again, I'd probably use slightly nicer dies than Lee. Their sizers are fine, but I consider their seaters to be pretty bad. All the ones I have seen just have this floating stem in them that could potentially push the bullet any which way. I honestly never seated a single round with a standard lee seater. I took mine to work and machined a custom top that holds the seater stem perfectly aligned. Even after that it's still inferior to a seater die that guides the casing as it begins to seat. In truth it's probably fine for the majority of shooting, but I thought the design was bad enough that I never even attempted to use it..

Mechanical scales are good, but I'd spend money to get a nice one. Same for digital scales, honestly. I've loaded plenty of plinking handgun ammo with one of the cheapy scales, but I wouldn't load serious ammo with one.

I always advocate using a case gauge if you are reloading brass that head-spaces on the shoulder, at the very least until you get a good understanding of everything...

I got into reloading under the pretense of it being cheaper. However the addiction of playing around and chasing groups has not really made that a reality, but it sure is fun!
 

swampratt

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I use the lee seater die.. I did modify it and the FLS die.
I polished the inside of the FLS die and polished the expander.
The seater I drilled deeper and applied a larger smoother taper cone to the seater stem to allow it to touch the bullets farther down the ogive.

None of that made any difference that i can measure in group size ,, just makes me feel better and cases size easier.

Here are 2 pictures of groups from my savage .308 that i cut the barrel shorter with a hacksaw.
This was shot at 200 yards..just as quick as i could load another round and get on target and pull the trigger..so no rest between shots.
4 shot group measures .919" center to center. and the 3 shot is .550" 2 different days.
I did not sort or weigh bullets or brass..The brass is Lapua shot and hand cleaned who knows how many times as i just toss it all together.
My gun does not shoot good enough to make much difference.
Lee FLS and Lee seater die and Lee single stage classic cast press. 200 yards

155gr 8280 .308 002.JPG155gr 8280 .308 003.JPG
 

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