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Posted: 4/20/2008 1:42:10 PM EDT
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I am loking to get into reloading and am looking for advise. I would be primarly reloading pistol ammo .357, .38, 45 ACP and 9mm. My primary rifle re load would be .223 What is a good starting point on equipment. Dillion seems to be way up there in price and I am not competitve shooter, just keeping my skills up with practice. Is Lee a decent line? |
| If you are just starting, go with a single stage press and cut you teeth on that. Lee is ok stuff. I am partial to RCBS. No real reason in particular I just like the stuff. But like everyone out there, I really like the Lee Factory Crimp Die. They are cheap and work very well. Check out the reloading forum. Lots of info to be had there, and good folks to help you out. But I wouldn't spend a ton on a progressive right off the bat. Get comfortable with what you are doing on a single stage press first then move on. Besides its always good to have a single stage press laying around after you get a progressive going. |
Go with lee, primarily the lee auto index turrent press. Just a smidgen slower than the dillion that you index by hand, a fraction of the price and if you maintain it per instructions will last you a lifetime. This is a complete setup minus dies for $105. The powder measure included is very nice, accurate and slick operation. You screw it down into your expanding lee die and it charges the case with powder from a fixed cavity that you select when you flair the mouth of the case. The scale is OK and useable but I prefer the RCBS scale myself. If you go with lee dies, they include a shell holder and load data at no extra cost and the load data includes charges for the powder measure cavities with different powders. |
| I bought a Lee Pro 1000 Press kit almost 15 years ago. I have loaded thousands of rounds of handguns from 9mm to 41mag and have never had a problem. I am still using it today along with a Lee Single Press and highly recommend Lee Products. They are nicely priced and work well. |
| There's good reading on the Reloading area under the "General" category of this site. I'm a beginner just starting up too. Did lots of research and here's what I've come to believe. Most all name brand quality reloading equipment seems to be very durable devices. Each company has very loyal fans. Dillon has the most vocal support for their quality and customer service, but they're very expensive if you go whole hog with all the bells and whistles for each caliber change. I looked real hard at Dillon, RCBS, Lee, and Hornady. Ran a cost analysis on them (9MM, 40 SW, 45 ACP, .223 Rem) and decided to go Hornady. Sent my order out to MidwayUSA today. Used info from the Reloading forum here and a good friend that's a Dillon reloader to order everything needed for a complete start up. Spent right at $1300. Just need a bench and I'm in business. If you'd like a list of what I ordered for a complete start up, shoot me an IM. If you do business with Midway I have all the cataloge numbers too. |
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