Newbie alert reloads

[bhodge]

What area of the country are you in?
Its possible that a mentor might be just around the corner...
In the meantime, check out YouTube, there's load's of reloading videos to keep you entertained for an hour or two.

[dromia]

Buy the kit if you want but you will end up with things that you wish you hadn't so you will need to buy again to get decent replacements so the perceived "value" in kit soon disappears.

Also you don't need to get everything at once, get some new boxer primed ammunition shoot it off to get a bench mark for how your gun performs so that you know what your handloads have to beat. Also you will have cases fire formed to your gun to start the reloading journey. They won't need trimming for a few more firings so you can wait to decide on how you are going to trim and get that stuff later, same with cleaning just wipe the cases off the first few times, the only reason for cleaning is so you can spot any defects and stop getting dirt into your dies, they don't need to be sparkling clean, personally I like mine to be dull but clean. Dry walnut media in a reasonably priced tumbler will be more than adequate once you get into it. Wet tumbling is a complete faff on, it certainly gives blingy cases for those that feel this is important but it doesn't make better ammunition wet cleaning the cases, black powder cases are different though. Powder dispensing with a teaspoon or home made dipper is fine for dribbling loads into the scale pan to start with no need to rush out and buy a powder dispenser.

This low tech approach will slow you down and simplify the process which is just what you need to get you going, consistent safe hand loads is your first aim, once you have got s few hundred of them under your belt then it will time enough to start enlarging your kit collection.

As has been mentioned get a good handloading manual, it will familiarise your self with the steps and give you pertinent questions to ask here and/or your mentor. These books will have handloading data as well giving you maximum and minimum load, combine this with the powder manufacturers data and you will have a good starting point for working up your loads, never use anyone else's load data as it might not be applicable to your gun, read the stickies here.

Do not get the Lee reloading books, as well as having some whacky theories and systems their load data is just mined from other sources including the mistakes and then adding a few of their own, also because they have a volume loading "process" all their load data is very conservative. His take on cast bullets is also "special"!

I would recommend the Lyman 50th Edition Reloading Handbook.

[ukrifleman]

I would strongly recommend that you make a good reloading manual such as the Lyman 50th edition your first purchase and read the tutorial pages.

You will be able to answer many of the questions you are bound to have, for yourself.

Avoid the purchase of a progressive press in the first instance as its multi function operation in the hands of a novice reloader can lead to potentially dangerous mistakes.

A good mid-way press is a Lee Classic turret, as it can be used as a single stage press or a semi-auto.
The interchangeable turrets enable you to switch dies between calibres in seconds.

It allows you to monitor every stage of the reloading procedure, unlike a progressive press that performs several functions at once every time you pull the handle.

I load 17 calibres with a Lee Classic turret and have no issues with build quality or performance. I use it as a single stage to load rifle cartridges and with the indexing rod installed, I can crank out up to 200 rounds of pistol calibre ammunition per hour.

Purchase a good quality beam scale such as Redding RCBS etc and avoid budget digital scales, as many suffer from 'wandering zero' .

If you can find a second hand scale, I recommend that you find a fellow reloader and compare a weighed charge from your scale in theirs, to ensure that the scale is not damaged and therefore out of zero.

Going back to my first comment, buy a good reloading manual and read it.

Good luck with your new hobby!

ukrifleman

[stottycake]

Buy the kit if you want but you will end up with things that you wish you hadn't so you will need to buy again to get decent replacements so the perceived "value" in kit soon disappears.

Also you don't need to get everything at once, get some new boxer primed ammunition shoot it off to get a bench mark for how your gun performs so that you know what your handloads have to beat. Also you will have cases fire formed to your gun to start the reloading journey. They won't need trimming for a few more firings so you can wait to decide on how you are going to trim and get that stuff later, same with cleaning just wipe the cases off the first few times, the only reason for cleaning is so you can spot any defects and spot getting dirt into your dies, they don't need to be sparkling clean, personally I like mine to be dull but clean. Dry walnut media in a reasonably priced tumbler will be more than adequate once you get into it. Wet tumbling is a complete faff on, it certainly gives blingy cases for those that feel this is important but it doesn't make better ammunition wet cleaning the cases, black powder cases are different though. Powder dispensing with a teaspoon or home made dipper is fine for dribbling loads into the scale pan to start with no need to rush out and buy a powder dispenser.



This low tech approach will slow you down and simplify the process which is just what you need to get you going, consistent safe hand loads is your first aim, once you have got s few hundred of them under your belt then it will time enough to start enlarging your kit collection.

As has been mentioned get a good handloading manual, it will familiarise your self with the steps and give you pertinent questions to ask here and/or your mentor. These books will have handloading data as well giving you maximum and minimum load, combine this with the powder manufacturers data and you will have a good starting point for working up your loads, never use anyone else's load data as it might not be applicable to your gun, read the stickies here.

Do not get the Lee reloading books, as well as having some whacky theories and systems their load data is just mined from other sources including the mistakes and then adding a few of their own, also because they have a volume loading "process" all their load data is very conservative. His take on cast bullets is also "special"!

I would recommend the Lyman 50th Edition Reloading Handbook.

Excellent advice here. :flag5:

[Gazza]

A slight veer off here but...............

I don't get the term " you wont save money but will shoot more"

Shooting a factory 223 round is approx 50-55p but shooting a reload is around 30p so you do save money and as a result shoot more too. :)
Am I missing something obvious?

[Hrun]

I use a lee press for .38 and .308.. working well so far.

My suggestion would be to take your time, once you get your FAC and some firearms shoot them for 6 months with factory ammo. If you decide then to reload, you have a load of brass to reload. Win,win..

[Alpha1]

The first thing you should buy is a decent press I would recomend the RCBS rockchucker the Lyman crusher or the lee cast press any one of these will last you a lifetime. A decent beam scale is a must. The rest of the stuff you can add later.

[flamoudi]

Thats some good advice on the equipment.

The other big learn is suitable powder, primers and bullet heads. Avoid getting any of that wrong as thats the stuff that goes bang. It's getting very pricey now and can be hard to get hold of what you want. Get whats right for you firearms too not just whats available.

[dromia]

When buying a press make sure it has the priming system that comes with them, that way you can prime on the press and there is no need to rush out for a separate hand or bench priming system.

The Lee Classic Turret has been recommended, it is indeed a fine press but its on press priming system is a disaster, fiddly to work, set up and in some cases it just can't be got to work. When you are starting out you don't need the added grief of fiddly to set up and keep working kit, you need to be concentrating on the reloading process not struggling to get your tools to work. Just look on the internet for videos and articles on how to get equipment to work, the more fixes there are out there the more problematic that piece of kit is, the Lee Classic Turret priming system is nearly top of this, needing fixes, category. There are people that have been lucky and got examples that work but this is a gamble you shouldn't have to take.

Lee have some innovative designs and some very good products but their quality control is non existent, combine that with poor finish, materials and a lot their kit should be considered unfinished, a lot of their stuff needs fettling first to get it to work as advertised, once fettled and brought up to standard then they can work as they should have when it left the factory.

For example the Lee die sets are a good bargain and usually make fine ammunition out of the box only needing a good clean and the expander ball replaced with a universal de-capping die, all die sets need this doing not just Lee. However beware their collet dies, great idea and I use them a lot but they will need fettling and finishing before use or you will soon be destroying cases.

If things are cheap there is usually a reason.

[dromia]

Also avoid the irresponsible habit of calling bullets, heads or bullet heads, this is confusing and potentially dangerous terminology, The head is the bottom part of the cartridge case not the bullet, I have no idea what a bullet head is. When reloading and shooting you use bullets regardless of people, including RFDs and gun shops, who should know better perpetrating this confusion.