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Posted: 3/16/2015 6:07:37 PM EDT
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Hi first post. I saw the ammunition section but it was for commercially available ammo so.. wasn't sure where to put this.
I would like to buy a reloading set up but from what I've been reading and watching on youtube I'm not able to understand WHAT MACHINE I need to buy in order to reload the way that I want to reload. 1. I need a brass cleaning, washing system. ok I can figure that out. 2. All I want to do is fill the progressive press up with clean brass, fill it up with powder and fill it up with primers and bullets. basically all I want to do is pull the handle and have finished rounds start farting out. I do not want to do anything by hand. I want to fill up the machine and go. What should I buy ? Ill be using the machine for .223/556 and 45ACP Thanks in advance for you input. |
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There are others out there beside Dillion.
But at Dillon they have got the progressive reloader thing down and have had in correct for the last couple of decades. You could also look at the Hornaday Ammo Plant. I have been loading on a Dillion 450 since 1984. I can still get customer service and parts. Not many other places can do that. |
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Quoted:
Hi first post. I saw the ammunition section but it was for commercially available ammo so.. wasn't sure where to put this. I would like to buy a reloading set up but from what I've been reading and watching on youtube I'm not able to understand WHAT MACHINE I need to buy in order to reload the way that I want to reload. 1. I need a brass cleaning, washing system. ok I can figure that out. 2. All I want to do is fill the progressive press up with clean brass, fill it up with powder and fill it up with primers and bullets. basically all I want to do is pull the handle and have finished rounds start farting out. I do not want to do anything by hand. I want to fill up the machine and go.NO, doesn't work that way. What should I buy ? Ill be using the machine for .223/556 and 45ACP Thanks in advance for you input. For pistol ammo, sure, you can just dial it in and start pulling the handle after load work up has been achieved. Reloading is inherently dangerous and not for the "lazy"(no offense intended), there's a difference in lazy and efficient. Loading rifle requires prep work and vigilant checks. Too little powder will blow a gun up just as quick as too much. The Dillon 550 is a manual progressive. The 650 can use the case feeder. So can the Hornady LNL AP. |
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Quoted:
Hi first post. I saw the ammunition section but it was for commercially available ammo so.. wasn't sure where to put this. I would like to buy a reloading set up but from what I've been reading and watching on youtube I'm not able to understand WHAT MACHINE I need to buy in order to reload the way that I want to reload. 1. I need a brass cleaning, washing system. ok I can figure that out. 2. All I want to do is fill the progressive press up with clean brass, fill it up with powder and fill it up with primers and bullets. basically all I want to do is pull the handle and have finished rounds start farting out. I do not want to do anything by hand. I want to fill up the machine and go. What should I buy ? Ill be using the machine for .223/556 and 45ACP Thanks in advance for you input. Quite honestly? Based on 38 + years of building and reloading my own metallic cartridges and shot shells, I'd say, 'NOTHING' - Absolutely nothing! You are, by no means, ready to reload anything. Your expectations are unrealistic; and your intentions ill-considered. Get a couple of books; books like, 'The A B C's of Reloading'. Call the NRA Training Division and ask them for the names of Reloading Instructors in your area. Read the books, take the course, and then decide whether or not you like reloading well enough to become further involved. When done improperly, reloading metallic cartridges can be very dangerous. In almost 40 years of reloading all different sorts of cartridges and shells, I've never had a single overcharge. Yes, I have had 3 or 4 squibs, but no overcharges. (Some of my acquaintances can't say the same!) Would you like to know, 'Why'? BECAUSE MY VERY WELL DEVELOPED RELOADING HABITS HAVE ALWAYS KEPT ME SAFE. I check and double-check everything. I'm a, 'hands-on' kind of reloader who always examines his work - WHILE IT'S IN PROGRESS - and I know better than to ever think that my Dillon XL650 - WHICH I DO NOT RECOMMEND FOR YOUR USE - is capable of actually running itself. Believe me, IT'S NOT! I will tell you this, though: If you develop the same kind of safety habits that you use around guns, and never deviate from them, then you'll be ready to start moving faster while you're reloading. If I were to start reloading all over again, today, my personal choice of reloading machine would be a Dillon 550-B along with certain closely associated Dillion-manufactured, 'extra equipment'. The Dillon 550-B is the best of both worlds: single-stage precision, and manual progressive reloading. (You'll be able to advance as your experience and familiarity with various reloading processes increase.) In addition to the tumbler (You don't need to wash your brass unless you really want to. I used to; but I had a reputation at my several gun clubs for making: highly precise, really beautiful, jewelry-like ammunition; so, yes, I would make the extra effort in order to, 'keep up with myself'.) you're going to need certain other things like a: well-designed reloading bench, precision powder measure, quality (electronic?) scale, case trimmer with associated shell holders and collets, steel (electronic?) dial caliper, primer pocket swagger, an assortment of different hand tools, and (at least) two or three different reloading manuals. Under the category of, 'nice to have' are additional items like a: hand-held priming tool; (because there are times when you'll prefer to use one!) an assortment of different case gauges; hand-held, case mouth chamfer/reamer; plastic, 100 count, ammo boxes; flashlight; couple of reloading blocks, precision powder-thrower, and one or two powder funnels; and a notebook - Yes, a notebook along with index cards for each box so that you'll be able to identify the parameters of your various loads as they come off the shelf. Why did I reload for almost 40 years? Well, quite honestly, I'm sure it wasn't for money. I spent lots and lots of money on my, 'reloading room'. I did it because I found reloading to be the most relaxing hobby in the world! When you reload you've got to pay careful attention to what you're doing; even the press you're using becomes, something of, a non-sequitur. It was, instead, the safety and quality of the finished product - each finished product - that really mattered! I never found it possible to worry about work, or what the evil politicians and their billionaire masters were planning, or how my sick aunt in Roxbury was doing. It all came down to me, the equipment, and working my way through the various stages of the plan I was following in order to produce another batch of, 'perfect' ammunition! Truth be told, I think I might have stopped shooting decades ago if it weren't for my greater love of reloading! I know I've gone to the range many times for no other reason than to generate more empty brass for me to recommence reloading. I'm an old man, now; and, one of these days, my wife is going to have box after box of assorted ammunition to either sell, or give away. I find it darkly humorous that somebody, somewhere, is going to look at one of my plastic, 100 count boxes of meticulously finished ammo; and comment either out loud, or to himself, 'Humph, it's shiny enough; but, I wonder if this crap is any good?' The sad part is that I won't be there to answer something like, 'Winchester never made better!' 
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Hi first post. I saw the ammunition section but it was for commercially available ammo so.. wasn't sure where to put this. I would like to buy a reloading set up but from what I've been reading and watching on youtube I'm not able to understand WHAT MACHINE I need to buy in order to reload the way that I want to reload. 1. I need a brass cleaning, washing system. ok I can figure that out. 2. All I want to do is fill the progressive press up with clean brass, fill it up with powder and fill it up with primers and bullets. basically all I want to do is pull the handle and have finished rounds start farting out. I do not want to do anything by hand. I want to fill up the machine and go. What should I buy ? Ill be using the machine for .223/556 and 45ACP Thanks in advance for you input. Quite honestly? Based on 38 + years of building and reloading my own metallic cartridges and shot shells, I'd say, 'NOTHING' - Absolutely nothing! You are, by no means, ready to reload anything. Your expectations are unrealistic; and your intentions ill-considered. Get a couple of books; books like, 'The A B C's of Reloading'. Call the NRA Training Division and ask them for the names of Reloading Instructors in your area. Read the books, take the course, and then decide whether or not you like reloading well enough to become further involved. Improperly done reloading metallic cartridges can be very dangerous. In almost 40 years of reloading all different sorts of cartridges and shells, I've never had a single overcharge. Yes, I have had 3 or 4 squibs, but no overcharges. (Some of my acquaintances can't say the same!) Would you like to know, 'Why'? BECAUSE MY VERY WELL DEVELOPED RELOADING HABITS HAVE ALWAYS KEPT ME SAFE. I check and double-check everything. I'm a, 'hands-on' kind of reloader who always examines his work - WHILE IT'S IN PROGRESS - and I know better than to ever think that my Dillon XL650 - WHICH I DO NOT RECOMMEND FOR YOUR USE - is capable of actually running itself. Believe me, IT'S NOT! I will tell you this, though: If you develop the same kind of safety habits that you use around guns, and never deviate from them, then you'll be ready to start moving faster while you're reloading. If I were to start reloading all over again, today, my personal choice of reloading machine would be a Dillon 550-B along with certain closely associated Dillion-manufactured, 'extra equipment'. The Dillon 550-B is the best of both worlds: single-stage precision, and manual progressive reloading. (You'll be able to advance as your experience and familiarity with various reloading processes increase.) In addition to the tumbler (You don't need to wash your brass unless you really want to. I used to; but I had a reputation at my several gun clubs for making: highly precise, really beautiful, jewelry-like ammunition; so, yes, I would make the extra effort in order to, 'keep up with myself'.) you're going to need certain other things like a: well-designed reloading bench, precision powder measure, quality (electronic?) scale, case trimmer with associated shell holders and collets, steel (electronic?) dial caliper, primer pocket swagger, an assortment of different hand tools, and (at least) two or three different reloading manuals. Under the category of, 'nice to have' are additional items like a: hand-held priming tool; (because there are times when you'll prefer to use one!) an assortment of different case gauges; hand-held, case mouth chamfer/reamer; plastic, 100 count, ammo boxes; flashlight; couple of reloading blocks, precision powder-thrower, and one or two powder funnels; and a notebook - Yes, a notebook along with index cards for each box so that you'll be able to identify the parameters of your various loads as they come off the shelf. Why did I reload for almost 40 years? Well, quite honestly, I'm sure it wasn't for money. I spent lots and lots of money on my, 'reloading room'. I did it because I found reloading to be the most relaxing hobby in the world! When you reload you've got to pay careful attention to what your doing; even the press you're using becomes, something of, a non-sequitur. It was, instead, the safety and quality of the finished product - each finished product - that really mattered! I never found it possible to worry about work, or what the evil politicians and their billionaire masters were planning, or how my sick aunt in Roxbury was doing. It all came down to me, the equipment, and working my way through the various stages of the plan I was following in order to produce another batch of, 'perfect' ammunition! Truth be told, I think I might have stopped shooting decades ago if it weren't for my greater love of reloading! I know I've gone to the range many times for no other reason than to generate more empty brass for me to recommence reloading. I'm an old man, now; and, one of these days, my wife is going to have box after box of assorted ammunition to either sell, or give away. I find it darkly humorous that somebody, somewhere, is going to look at one of my plastic, 100 count boxes of meticulously finished ammo; and comment either out loud, or to himself, 'Humph, it's shiny enough; but, I wonder if this crap is any good?' The sad part is that I won't be there to answer something like, 'Winchester never made better!' Raven you summed it all up. Excellent post. 
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Quoted: Raven you summed it all up. Excellent post. the process is totally safe and that quality product is being produced. |
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Raven nails it. I'm 62 and was going to get back into reloading this year. I am not going to spend the $1500 or so to buy the right equipment.
I sold all my reloading equipment 5 years ago. Shoot just commercial ammo now and supply brass to some friends. I miss it but I can buy a fair amount of M193 or 230 ball for 1500 bucks. |
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Hi first post. I saw the ammunition section but it was for commercially available ammo so.. wasn't sure where to put this. I would like to buy a reloading set up but from what I've been reading and watching on youtube I'm not able to understand WHAT MACHINE I need to buy in order to reload the way that I want to reload. 1. I need a brass cleaning, washing system. ok I can figure that out. 2. All I want to do is fill the progressive press up with clean brass, fill it up with powder and fill it up with primers and bullets. basically all I want to do is pull the handle and have finished rounds start farting out. I do not want to do anything by hand. I want to fill up the machine and go. What should I buy ? Ill be using the machine for .223/556 and 45ACP Thanks in advance for you input. To get the machine to the point where you are only pulling the handle, you are going to need the press, case feeder, and bullet feeder. for the press, Dillon is by far the most dominant press...at least around where i live. I don't know anyone who owns or uses a hornady or RCBS. Dillon offers several flavors of progressive presses. 550, 650, 1050, etc...The 550 does not index automatically (you advance it by hand) so that would knock that press out of the running. The 650 is very popular (and what i use) and would work for what you want it to do. The 1050 is the high end of the Dillon line, and the main difference is that it will swage primer pockets as part of the progressive process. This should be of interest to you because you want to load 556, and 556 brass with crimped primer pockets (like LC brass) will need to be swaged before it will accept a new primer. I have to use a super swage to process all my 556 brass before loading it...in large batches this takes a while. The big downside of the 1050 is the price, both up front, and caliber conversions are a bit more costly than on the 650. You will need a case feeder. I believe it's part of the cost of the 1050. It's an add on on the 650/550. You will also need the small rifle and large pistol case feed plate for those cartridges. The bullet feeder will be needed to feed bullets automatically but i'd caution against this out of the gate. Learn the process first before you complicate it with another part that will require your attention...there's a lot going on in a progressive process and i'd recommend keeping you attention on it more than a bullet feeder. Besides, you (should) have two hands...use you left hand to feed bullets, and the right to pull the handle. A dillon strong mount and bullet tray mounted to it makes this a little quicker. For your two calibers, i'd highly recommend a separate toolhead for each caliber. It costs a bit more money but will save you loads of time in setup swapping back and forth, and keep your loads more consistent from batch to batch. You simply slide out the toolhead, change the caliber specific items, and you're off to the races. Get extra primer pickup tubes...enough to cover 50-100% of the batches you run. If you run batches of 100, 1 tube will be fine. If you're like me and do batches of 1K or more, 5-10 is better. Just fill em all up and you don't need to take as much time off the handle to refill pickup tubes. The roller handle is by far the best upgrade to the dillon machines aside from the case feeder. |
| If you are seriously looking at getting started reloading you should look into a NRA Metallic Cartridge reloading course. It will show you how to use all the equipment and get you started reloading safely. Like all the other posters said you can do it either fast or safe but usually not both. |
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Didn't we just have one of these 'I don't want to learn or do anything, just get magic ammo coming out of it' threads?
What you want is a Camdex for $30K+. Short of that, a Dillon 1050, but you'll still need to trim your .223 brass occasionally, and understand to what length, and how to do it. Too much? Next up is a Dillon 650 or Hornady LnL AP with case feeder and bullet feeder - but you'll still need to trim and prep rifle brass. You'll still need a scale, calipers, reloading manuals, and a handful of other things. You can read the tacked threads in this forum to start. Still interested? |
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Ditto on your post, Raven.
OP, frankly, reloading is not for you. Reloading is a manufacturing process where quality control and product safety are ABSOLUTE requirements and the consequences for not having them can be dire! If you are not interested in being intimately involved in quality control, reloading is not for you. There is no machine, not even a CAMDEX, that relieves you of the need for quality assurance. You should buy commercial ammo. It's as simple as that. |
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Boy a lot of assuming going on. Me I'd assume since he is doing reasearch into it that he is trying to understand whats up.
2. All I want to do is fill the progressive press up with clean brass, fill it up with powder and fill it up with primers and bullets. basically all I want to do is pull the handle and have finished rounds start farting out. I do not want to do anything by hand. I want to fill up the machine and go.NO, doesn't work that way. Really I'm not understanding the part in red as other then not having my bullet feeder hooked up that's exactly what happens , I fill everything up and crank the handle for 100 rounds , fill back up crank the handle some more, componets go in and cartridges come out. |
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You got some good advice in this thread. You need to learn the process and why you pick certain bullets, primers, powder for a load. This is a good overview, |
| Thanks for all of your excellent advice, suggestions, recommendations and discouragements . For what its worth, I don't expect myself to ever be obsessed with reloading as a hobby; I just want to shoot more. The main factors that are driving me to reload are 1 that I love to shoot my rifle and 2 I've always picked up my brass thinking "one day I can reload this stuff and shoot it again". |
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Just getting started in reloading here. I have a lee pro 1000. I take each cartridge off the press and check each stage. I like the progressive press set up because I don't have a bunch of primed brass then a bunch of charged brass sitting waiting for me to change dies for the next step. I can do one at a time and be confident that I'm not going to kill my self when I shoot it.
Nothing automatic about it. It takes a lot of reading. Checking rechecking adjusting re checking then checking it all again before you can feel confident in making complete cartridges. |
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Thanks for all of your excellent advice, suggestions, recommendations and discouragements . For what its worth, I don't expect myself to ever be obsessed with reloading as a hobby; I just want to shoot more. The main factors that are driving me to reload are 1 that I love to shoot my rifle and 2 I've always picked up my brass thinking "one day I can reload this stuff and shoot it again". If you don't view it as a hobby, then you will either make very bad, read unsafe, ammo or you will stop shortly after starting and have wasted hundreds of dollars. Will it let you shoot more, sure, but are you going to do something for hours on end several days a week that you do not enjoy? For what its worth, I hope you do enjoy it because there is nothing quite like loading match rounds for half if not less than the cost of factory ammo. YOU WILL NOT SAVE ANY MONEY. You will only shoot better ammo, more often. |
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Boy a lot of assuming going on. Me I'd assume since he is doing reasearch into it that he is trying to understand whats up. Really I'm not understanding the part in red as other then not having my bullet feeder hooked up that's exactly what happens , I fill everything up and crank the handle for 100 rounds , fill back up crank the handle some more, componets go in and cartridges come out. Quoted:
Boy a lot of assuming going on. Me I'd assume since he is doing reasearch into it that he is trying to understand whats up. 2. All I want to do is fill the progressive press up with clean brass, fill it up with powder and fill it up with primers and bullets. basically all I want to do is pull the handle and have finished rounds start farting out. I do not want to do anything by hand. I want to fill up the machine and go.NO, doesn't work that way. Really I'm not understanding the part in red as other then not having my bullet feeder hooked up that's exactly what happens , I fill everything up and crank the handle for 100 rounds , fill back up crank the handle some more, componets go in and cartridges come out. I don't get it either. A Dillon 1050 with bullet feeder and case feeder will allow him to dump in prepped brass and bullets and just pull the handle to make a round given that he keeps the priming system full of primers or primes beforehand. He can even get away from pulling the handle if he wants to spend some money on a Ponsness Warren Auto Drive. As long as he sets things up correctly and monitors the component levels (powder, bullets, primers, and cases) I don't see a problem. |
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If you don't view it as a hobby, then you will either make very bad, read unsafe, ammo or you will stop shortly after starting and have wasted hundreds of dollars. Will it let you shoot more, sure, but are you going to do something for hours on end several days a week that you do not enjoy? For what its worth, I hope you do enjoy it because there is nothing quite like loading match rounds for half if not less than the cost of factory ammo. YOU WILL NOT SAVE ANY MONEY. You will only shoot better ammo, more often. Quoted:
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Thanks for all of your excellent advice, suggestions, recommendations and discouragements . For what its worth, I don't expect myself to ever be obsessed with reloading as a hobby; I just want to shoot more. The main factors that are driving me to reload are 1 that I love to shoot my rifle and 2 I've always picked up my brass thinking "one day I can reload this stuff and shoot it again". If you don't view it as a hobby, then you will either make very bad, read unsafe, ammo or you will stop shortly after starting and have wasted hundreds of dollars. Will it let you shoot more, sure, but are you going to do something for hours on end several days a week that you do not enjoy? For what its worth, I hope you do enjoy it because there is nothing quite like loading match rounds for half if not less than the cost of factory ammo. YOU WILL NOT SAVE ANY MONEY. You will only shoot better ammo, more often. I call shenanigans as I absolutely do not like reloading (bordering on hate), however, I like to shoot so I take the time to load my ammo and save money. My loads are just as safe as anyone's loads out there as I pay attention. Your comments is the equivalent of saying that someone that works in a machine shop during the the day making precision parts sucks at their job if they don't enjoy it like a hobby. You can be very good at doing something that you don't enjoy. Not everything in life is going to be fun but it may be a necessary evil. |
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I call shenanigans as I absolutely do not like reloading (bordering on hate), however, I like to shoot so I take the time to load my ammo and save money. My loads are just as safe as anyone's loads out there as I pay attention. Your comments is the equivalent of saying that someone that works in a machine shop during the the day making precision parts sucks at their job if they don't enjoy it like a hobby. You can be very good at doing something that you don't enjoy. Not everything in life is going to be fun but it may be a necessary evil. Quoted:
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Thanks for all of your excellent advice, suggestions, recommendations and discouragements . For what its worth, I don't expect myself to ever be obsessed with reloading as a hobby; I just want to shoot more. The main factors that are driving me to reload are 1 that I love to shoot my rifle and 2 I've always picked up my brass thinking "one day I can reload this stuff and shoot it again". If you don't view it as a hobby, then you will either make very bad, read unsafe, ammo or you will stop shortly after starting and have wasted hundreds of dollars. Will it let you shoot more, sure, but are you going to do something for hours on end several days a week that you do not enjoy? For what its worth, I hope you do enjoy it because there is nothing quite like loading match rounds for half if not less than the cost of factory ammo. YOU WILL NOT SAVE ANY MONEY. You will only shoot better ammo, more often. I call shenanigans as I absolutely do not like reloading (bordering on hate), however, I like to shoot so I take the time to load my ammo and save money. My loads are just as safe as anyone's loads out there as I pay attention. Your comments is the equivalent of saying that someone that works in a machine shop during the the day making precision parts sucks at their job if they don't enjoy it like a hobby. You can be very good at doing something that you don't enjoy. Not everything in life is going to be fun but it may be a necessary evil. Bingo , I wonder how many folks would be reloading if they didn't use all the nice things that we like to buy. thinking if I had to load everything on a SS, hand trim everything and hand dip everything I wouldn't be shooting much |
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Thanks for all of your excellent advice, suggestions, recommendations and discouragements . For what its worth, I don't expect myself to ever be obsessed with reloading as a hobby; I just want to shoot more. The main factors that are driving me to reload are 1 that I love to shoot my rifle and 2 I've always picked up my brass thinking "one day I can reload this stuff and shoot it again". Start by reading the tacked threads in this forum, and form there, make an inexpensive investment of ~$20 for 'The ABCs of reloading.' If you're still interested, you'll be able to come back with much more specific questions that we can help with, and also understand why 'just pull the handle' isn't quite realistic. You might also consider looking for an NRA Metallic Cartridge Reloading class in your area - search for NRA training, then you can select the class and plug in your zip code... For me, I probably wouldn't reload 9mm at all unless I had a progressive press (I do). I also have a case feeder. A couple of people have a bullet feeder and no case feeder, and some run both. Loading straight-walled or tapered wall pistol is less time consuming than rifle, as it's more or less 'one cycle' of clean -> recap, resize, prime, expand/bell mouth, charge w/powder, seat bullet, de-bell/crimp, sometimes with some of the preceding operations combined in one step. Rifle: clean -> lube -> decap/re-size, de-lube/clean, trim if needed, remove primer crimp if any exists(only need to ever do once for mil. brass), then prime, charge, seat bullet, optionally crimp. I run between 400-600 pistol rounds an hour, not in a particular rush, maybe slightly slower for .223, assuming it's already been decapped/re-sized, and brass prep done. |
| Dillon is the way to go but no progressive press just lets you load it up and start cranking. You have to make adjustments along the way, check your loads etc. to make sure they are being made correctly. If you don't want to do this then buy ammo by the case and let the manufacturer do it for you. |
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I call shenanigans as I absolutely do not like reloading (bordering on hate), however, I like to shoot so I take the time to load my ammo and save money. My loads are just as safe as anyone's loads out there as I pay attention. Your comments is the equivalent of saying that someone that works in a machine shop during the the day making precision parts sucks at their job if they don't enjoy it like a hobby. You can be very good at doing something that you don't enjoy. Not everything in life is going to be fun but it may be a necessary evil. Quoted:
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Thanks for all of your excellent advice, suggestions, recommendations and discouragements . For what its worth, I don't expect myself to ever be obsessed with reloading as a hobby; I just want to shoot more. The main factors that are driving me to reload are 1 that I love to shoot my rifle and 2 I've always picked up my brass thinking "one day I can reload this stuff and shoot it again". If you don't view it as a hobby, then you will either make very bad, read unsafe, ammo or you will stop shortly after starting and have wasted hundreds of dollars. Will it let you shoot more, sure, but are you going to do something for hours on end several days a week that you do not enjoy? For what its worth, I hope you do enjoy it because there is nothing quite like loading match rounds for half if not less than the cost of factory ammo. YOU WILL NOT SAVE ANY MONEY. You will only shoot better ammo, more often. I call shenanigans as I absolutely do not like reloading (bordering on hate), however, I like to shoot so I take the time to load my ammo and save money. My loads are just as safe as anyone's loads out there as I pay attention. Your comments is the equivalent of saying that someone that works in a machine shop during the the day making precision parts sucks at their job if they don't enjoy it like a hobby. You can be very good at doing something that you don't enjoy. Not everything in life is going to be fun but it may be a necessary evil. True, but based on his initial post plus this one, it doesn't sound like he would take the time. Sure, a lot of things suck about the process but are you saying you enjoy nothing about it as a hobby? |
Welcome to the forum! You're swinging for the fences with your first post.  I'd skip the ABC's of Reloading. I bought it after it was recommended here and it looks 20 years out of date. Buy a Lee reloading manual because you're going to need a manual anyway, and read the first chapters. It explains the reloading process in detail. YouTube also has a wealth of information. What you're looking for IS possible, but won't be cheap or easy to setup. You're probably looking at $4,000 in hardware before you even start. And no way, no how should you start reloading like this until you are much more experienced. That being said, to reach a level where you don't do anything to the ammo other that clean, lube, and drop in a hopper I'd use a Dillon 1050 with a trimmer, then either another tool head set up for loading, or another progressive reloader with a case feeder and bullet feeder. If it were my choice and I could afford it I'd use another Dillon 1050 or Dillon 650. The 1050 would be necessary for the first operation because if you're going to reload .223, you're eventually going to run across a staked primer pocket and that will ruin your day when you try to push a fresh primer in. The 1050 has a built in swager. So in summary don't give up hope and let the crusty old guys scare you away. There's an incredible amount of knowledge on this forum and if you have a specific question, chances are it's been asked before or one of the reloading gurus will help you out with an answer. Start with the tacked threads on the top, use the search function, check out YouTube, and if you decide you want to get into reloading GO FOR IT. Even if you start with a single stage, which is what I'd recommend, I think you'll enjoy it. |
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