Posted: 1/9/2010 1:25:43 PM EDT
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What is the best place to get reloading equipment and who all here reloads and what do you use? |
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Grafs and Sons is good.
Ordered some from Midway USA Check out AR15 Armory Reloading Forum |
| Read everything at the reloading forum, then ask specific questions. You will find almost everything you need in the tacked threads and FAQ's. As far as brand goes, that's entirely a personal choice. I would always recommend starting with a single stage press for a beginner. Good luck, it's very rewarding should you choose to reload. |
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See what powder and primers you can get local. Brass is easy to acquire. Buy more primers, powder, and projectiles than you want.
For example: I know in Sedalia I'll be able to pick up Unique for my 9mm and Varget for my 223. Don't go off of one source for load data. MOST major bullet manufacturers have load data online, ALL powder manufacturers have load data online, FEW reloading equipment companies have their data online. You could also pick up a book but I end up doing an average of a bunch of sources. www.handloads.com, www.alliantpowder.com (for Unique), www.hodgdon.com (for Varget), and in some cases if you use Sierra bullets you can do a search for the caliber and Sierra (example: Sierra 223 in AR-15 PDF Sierra 223 in Bolt Action PDF The max between all these sources will be different a lot of times....average 'em, take at least 10% off and you have a starting load. Be safe, take your time, and it'll be a fair amount of fun. You won't save money....but it's a good excuse. 
I only reload for 223 and 9mm now. I've reloaded for 38/357 and 308win in the past. What I use: Lee 4-hole turret press Lee 9mm carbide dies Redding 223 FL dies RCBS hand primer RCBS Range Master 750 scale RCBS Uniflow Hornady One Shot Forster Trimmer w/ equipment for 223 Frankford Arsenal tumbler/media separator Universal loading blocks Digital Calipers Assload of ziplock baggies Sharpie ~10 lbs of Varget 2 lbs of Unique couple K of projectiles for 223 (Midwayusa and Sierra outlet) a K of projectiles for 9mm Wolf primers for 223 (not available locally) Winchester small pistol primers (available locally) |
| All advice given is excellent. It is easy to overload on information when you decide to reload. Reloading forum here is full of well intended and capable individuals with a gazillion years combined experience. At times though you will need to stop and hear just one voice for reloading advice. The most underutilized resource I know of is Willy @ Graff and Sons. Phone number is 573-581-2666. |
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when I first started I bought a lee turret press at a gun show. with this press, using a lee handheld tool for primers, I loaded .45, 9mm, and .357. I then bought a Dillon progressive press when I started shooting a lot of .40, I have both presses in use, the turret press for .38 and .357 and the Dillon set up for .40 and .45.
I don't load rifle ammo. There is a ton of info from all the mfgs, powder mfgs, on the net, etc. its a lot of fun, it won't save you a lot of money short term since you have to buy the equip, but over the long term it's well worth it. The lee press and dies are very reasonable priced, Dillon is more expensive but a nice press, although the learning curve is steeper. You need to start by thinking about what caliber(s) you are going to be loading. Handgun ammo is easier to learn for beginners. good luck,it's a lot of fun when you get into it and you learn a bunch a stuff you thought you would never need to know, like how to use dial calipers, a chronograph, etc. |
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Buy Dillon and be done with it. In my (and many, many others) experience, they have fantastic customer service and their NO B.S. Warranty is exactly that.
I've tried the Lee stuff and then bit the bullet and bought Dillon, best decision I could have made. Don't buy in to the crap to start with cheaper stuff and upgrade. If you are serious about reloading buy the Dillon and be done with it. If a few months down the road you find that you're not going to pursue the reloading gig, sell your Dillon stuff for 80% of what you paid for it. Go to glockpost.com excellent reloading info there. Also try castboolits forums, lots and lots of good reloading info there. Just remember to take your time and be careful!!!! Always were safety glasses! |
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I only load for 3 calibers, 7.62x39, .308, and .223. That said, I am loading match grade ammo, and the $23 LEE press does a great job. I'm sure I might squeeze a little more accuracy out of a Forester Co Ax press, but for a hobby the LEE is enough.
I finally finished my AR-10T last night after a year of slacking off. This morning I loaded 10 generic rounds on the LEE, Win. brass, #34 primers, 45 gr. Varget, and Nosler 155 gr HPBT's at 2.797 OAL. The 7 shots after the initial sight in were .770 C-C +/- at 100 yards. Not too bad for a hand loading set up that only cost me about $100 + dies. I know I will eventually buy a Dillon, but I am still learning, and I think taking it slow with a single stage is the safe way to go. For equipment and supplies look at http://www.midwayusa.com/, http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/, and http://www.wideners.com/, http://www.grafs.com/. Once you get started you will be addicted. Being able to load a box of top notch ammo for $4 in .223 gives you a lot of satisfaction 
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If you're in the St. Louis region, you can buy components at Graf's Reloading in St. Charles on Fifth Street just North of I-70. You'll find a complete selection of stuff there.
Naturally, I think you should check the Reloading forum. Its shortcomings are far outweighed by its benefits, particularly to people just starting. |
| I used to reload a bunch but mostly just reload 30-06 just on an as needed basis for hunting. I've been recently acquiring components for 223 but already have a fair supply of cheap factory stuff that shoots good in my ar's. I've loaded 44 spec and mag, 308, 22-250, 25-06, 41 mag, and 30-30 all on my 4-hole Lyman turret press using an assortment of several brands of dies. An excellent place to start is with a reloading manual or 2. I normally compare at least 2-3 different manuals any time I start a new load to get a good starting point. I usually just buy primers and powder locally but almost all of my other components and supplies come from Midway Arms. I would recommend a new guy start with one of the full kits from about any of the well-known companies depending on what color paint you like. and for reloading, although some of my stuff appears "cheap", I have never had any piece fail me and some of the cheapest brands are my favorites. (there won't be much difference in your final product no matter what color equipment you like). |
| I have used a Lee Loadmaster for the past couple of years. In that time I have loaded around 10K rounds. I load 45acp, 9mm, 38/357, 44mag, 223. I have had to stop using the primer attachment on the press as it became trouble than it was worth. Other than that it has worked pretty well. I have multiple books to research new loads. You really need a few basic tools, a must is a powder scale. If you can find someone local who reloads and see if you can spend some time with them as they reload. There are alot of good systems out there for sale. How much you want to spend is big factor in deciding which to go with. If your around Columbia sent me a email and you can come over and look at what I have and how I do reloading. |
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Quoted:
Buy Dillon and be done with it. In my (and many, many others) experience, they have fantastic customer service and their NO B.S. Warranty is exactly that. I've tried the Lee stuff and then bit the bullet and bought Dillon, best decision I could have made. Don't buy in to the crap to start with cheaper stuff and upgrade. If you are serious about reloading buy the Dillon and be done with it. If a few months down the road you find that you're not going to pursue the reloading gig, sell your Dillon stuff for 80% of what you paid for it. . . . I question this advice. I think it makes sense to start slow. There's a lot to learn. Seems like a single stage press allows you to think about what you're doing and double check everything along the way. At least that's where I am in the process. I bought a Rock Chucker kit a bit over a year ago and have loaded probably about 1,000 rounds so far. A lot of that has been rifle rounds –– 6.5 Swede, .303 British, .30-06 –– with some .38 special. I still weigh every charge for the rifle rounds. Loading a bunch of .38 special on a single stage press is pretty tedious and makes wish I had a Dillon for that. But for the rifle rounds, I'm still more comfortable doing them one at a time. Frankly, I'm not ready for a progressive yet. I can't imagine starting off with one and trying to learn everything all at once. |
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Quoted:
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Buy Dillon and be done with it. In my (and many, many others) experience, they have fantastic customer service and their NO B.S. Warranty is exactly that. I've tried the Lee stuff and then bit the bullet and bought Dillon, best decision I could have made. Don't buy in to the crap to start with cheaper stuff and upgrade. If you are serious about reloading buy the Dillon and be done with it. If a few months down the road you find that you're not going to pursue the reloading gig, sell your Dillon stuff for 80% of what you paid for it. . . . I question this advice. I think it makes sense to start slow. There's a lot to learn. Seems like a single stage press allows you to think about what you're doing and double check everything along the way. At least that's where I am in the process. I bought a Rock Chucker kit a bit over a year ago and have loaded probably about 1,000 rounds so far. A lot of that has been rifle rounds –– 6.5 Swede, .303 British, .30-06 –– with some .38 special. I still weigh every charge for the rifle rounds. Loading a bunch of .38 special on a single stage press is pretty tedious and makes wish I had a Dillon for that. But for the rifle rounds, I'm still more comfortable doing them one at a time. Frankly, I'm not ready for a progressive yet. I can't imagine starting off with one and trying to learn everything all at once. What's there to question? You can be just as careful/slow on a progressive as you can on a single stage. I would suggest you stay away from an auto indexing press until you gain more knowledge/experience. |
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Buy Dillon and be done with it. In my (and many, many others) experience, they have fantastic customer service and their NO B.S. Warranty is exactly that. I've tried the Lee stuff and then bit the bullet and bought Dillon, best decision I could have made. Don't buy in to the crap to start with cheaper stuff and upgrade. If you are serious about reloading buy the Dillon and be done with it. If a few months down the road you find that you're not going to pursue the reloading gig, sell your Dillon stuff for 80% of what you paid for it. . . . I question this advice. I think it makes sense to start slow. There's a lot to learn. Seems like a single stage press allows you to think about what you're doing and double check everything along the way. At least that's where I am in the process. I bought a Rock Chucker kit a bit over a year ago and have loaded probably about 1,000 rounds so far. A lot of that has been rifle rounds –– 6.5 Swede, .303 British, .30-06 –– with some .38 special. I still weigh every charge for the rifle rounds. Loading a bunch of .38 special on a single stage press is pretty tedious and makes wish I had a Dillon for that. But for the rifle rounds, I'm still more comfortable doing them one at a time. Frankly, I'm not ready for a progressive yet. I can't imagine starting off with one and trying to learn everything all at once. What's there to question? You can be just as careful/slow on a progressive as you can on a single stage. I would suggest you stay away from an auto indexing press until you gain more knowledge/experience. Yeah, that was my suggestion, too . . . 
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| Some guys start with progressives and now are fine... now. They don't talk much about the beginning. I started with a LoadMaster and it was not a good experience. Too much going on. You need to understand the basics of making match grade ammunition before moving up to progressive. I see new reloaders at the range with all kinds of quality issues from reloading progressive. Buckled cases, primers seated too shallow, bullet set backs. They're not having a good experience when shooting their junk ammo. Start single stage with a turret press. There's my .11 cents worth. |
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Start single stage with a turret press. There's my .11 cents worth. I didn't start with a turret, but I use the Hornady Lock-n-load adapters on my Rockchucker. Accomplishes about the same thing. I really see no downside to starting with a single stage. Most guys will always have a use for it, even if they do buy a progressive later. I mean why would you bother changing the setup on your progressive just because you need to load 40 rounds of hunting ammo for a rifle? It would be just as easy to knock them out on the single stage press. |
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I suggest that you get a book called the ABC's of reloading. This book is full of good information and loaded with pictures to show you the good, the bad and the ugly. Something that all newbies to reloading show know. Straight walled cartridges are fairly trouble free other than the fact that you can double charge a pistol round without having the powder over flow the brass. Something that is near impossible to do with a rifle cartridge. But now with a bottle case rifle round there are several things that you need to do, and do it right. Like make sure that you are not about to have a head case separation. Or a cracked neck, and the proper amount of set back on the shoulder so that you can close the bolt. Trimming the case to the proper length so that you do not crimp the mouth into the bullet so that you have excess pressures.
Now that I have scared you some, let me back up and say that this is a rewarding hobby. And once you learn more than the basics you can get into the more detailed parts of reloading that can increase the accuracy of your rounds. Where abouts in Mo are you? Max in Warrenton |
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Buy Dillon and be done with it. In my (and many, many others) experience, they have fantastic customer service and their NO B.S. Warranty is exactly that. I've tried the Lee stuff and then bit the bullet and bought Dillon, best decision I could have made. Don't buy in to the crap to start with cheaper stuff and upgrade. If you are serious about reloading buy the Dillon and be done with it. If a few months down the road you find that you're not going to pursue the reloading gig, sell your Dillon stuff for 80% of what you paid for it. . . . I question this advice. I think it makes sense to start slow. There's a lot to learn. Seems like a single stage press allows you to think about what you're doing and double check everything along the way. At least that's where I am in the process. I bought a Rock Chucker kit a bit over a year ago and have loaded probably about 1,000 rounds so far. A lot of that has been rifle rounds –– 6.5 Swede, .303 British, .30-06 –– with some .38 special. I still weigh every charge for the rifle rounds. Loading a bunch of .38 special on a single stage press is pretty tedious and makes wish I had a Dillon for that. But for the rifle rounds, I'm still more comfortable doing them one at a time. Frankly, I'm not ready for a progressive yet. I can't imagine starting off with one and trying to learn everything all at once. I was doing this with the RCBS powder drop I was using. I bought the cheap LEE powder measure (not the autodisk) and that thing is insane. It drops a perfect charge 99% of the time with stick powders. Wow is all I can say for $18.... |
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Aren't the Load Masters an auto-indexing press? Like I said, there's a HUGE difference between a progressive and an auto-indexing progressive. My reloading has been a backwards progression. Started out with the Lee LoadMaster. It's a full auto progressive. Didn't have a clue, the difference between junk ammo and match grade. As a result my pistol outings were jammo-mattic sessions and my passion for the sport didn't last long. 10 years pass by and life's different and I still have my pistols that never get shot and the equipment has been given away. I bought a Lee Auto Index 4 hole Turret. The first thing I did was set it up minus the auto stuff and used it for years as a single stage and manually indexed the turret. Lately I run it in auto index mode for working .223/556 brass and to load some too. This last Christmas I bought my son a new LoadMaster and we spent hours going over the design. They run alright but I still don't like to use a progressive for primer seating. I think it's a job best left for the hand primer. For me reloading is getting ammunition better than factory. Cheaper too. The blue kool-aid boys tell me the Dillon doesn't have primer depth issues like Lee does. I dunno. The die heads are shaped differently but the principle is still the same. If they are getting consistent primer depth seating it would seem to me they are working the hell out of the brass and keeping their headstamps sorted. Brass work (I'm talking pistol case height) isn't so important when loading single stage. |
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My advice for a beginning loader is:
1. Get lots of factory load manuals and DO NOT deviate from them. No extrapolating, no guessing, no making stuff up. Follow their recipes to the letter. There are enough free ones available on the web that there should be no excuse for not having the info. 2. Buy an electronic scale (~$30-40) to accurately measure your loads. 3. Beg, borrow or steal a chronograph. Do not guess how fast your loads are moving, it doesn't work. |