I have never reloaded but I’ve talked about it for the last few years. If I was to skip the “buy the cheap stuff and upgrade later" step, what would yall recommend to just buy once cry once to get in to reloading? Shotgun reloads would be a plus too. No pun intended but got a little shell shocked this year for dove season after exhausting my 12 gauge target load supply.
This is the link to a table that Jim made up with 3 different categories price wise for reloading kits, might be a good place to start
Thank you.
I wish I could remember which one it was but he talked about this on a recent Man cast. Specifically, where one should spend the money and where one should not spend the money. Specifically I do remember he said don’t go crazy with spending a lot of money on a press. An expensive press does not really give you any better results. On the other hand spending good money on the powder thrower/scale can make a big difference.
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I saw that too, he had that in his reloading course. He said that money was best spent on the powder dispenser. Had the Hornady Auto Charge Pro as the best bang for the buck.
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There’s one place where spending money on a press does make sense - progressive presses to save time. Do get a single stage press anyway to learn on. I regret getting a fancy single stage press, but I absolutely don’t regret getting better tools for case trimming, powder throwing, and annealing.
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I followed Jim’s guide for the most part as I got into reloading this year and found it really helpful. One area I would advise caution is the Forster Co-ax press. If you end up using Short Action Custom dies, you will be restricted to smaller cartridges because of their overall height.
Interesting
I was not aware of that limitation but I’ve never used sac dies before
Thanks
One thing that probably should be in the reloading guide kit that isn’t is a Redding competition shell holder set, they save so much time and effort for adjusting sizing and are relatively inexpensive.
Solid advice from my experience. I’m only a couple of years in on reloading. I got a decent, but basic single stage press. No regrets. My next upgrade will be to a Hornady Auto Charge Pro for dispensing powder.
If you go the expander mandrel route and bushing die route it can be a bit confusing at first. Redding and whidden and others make bushing dies. Then you also get the bushing and the expander mandrel and the expander die body. The trick is you have to choose the “correct” bushing size. You could figure it out on your own or you can plug your information in to AI and it will give you the answer. For example…
Amen, brother. I couldn’t agree more.
Jim’s reloading article is excellent, not much to add, other than a few old fart thoughts. I really like his column 1 - you don’t need fancy equipment to turn out high quality ammunition. Some things (like the electronic powder scale) don’t make better ammunition, just easier and faster, absolutely not necessary to load high quality ammo and save a few bucks - but it’s nice if you have a couple of hundred varmint loads to put together.
I am 72 and have been loading regularly with an RCBS RockChucker press I bought used when I was in University, over 50 years ago. Many, many thousands of loads over that time. That’s not to say I don’t have newer presses but I can still load very accurate ammunition with it.
I really like Redding dies, particularly with the micrometer seating stems, but my 220 Swift shoots sub .5 moa a with ammo loaded using 40 year old RCBS dies, on my 50 year old press. Nuff said.
I have a vibratory tumbler but almost never use it. Just give your case necks a quick wipe after you resize them using Imperial sizing die wax. I find I get the brass a little cleaner, a little faster, if I put a bit of rubbing alcohol on the rag.
The Frankford Arsenal case prep center works great and is fairly priced, You can do without it but as you upgrade it’s right up there after the electronic powder measure.
I have a couple of funnels for loading 17 and 204 but use an RCBS combo powder funnel/scale pan for everything else that doesn’t need a long drop tube. Fast, and cheap too.
I like everything on Jim’s “other stuff” list. The Hornady case gauge stuff isn’t necessary but will help you build accurate loads better and faster. On the other hand an impact bullet puller isn’t an option unless you’re anxious to scrap some expensive components.
Chronographs are a necessity; you simply can’t determine your load’s performance without one. I love my new Garmin but you don’t need one to get good data. For years I got velocities from a Shooting Chrony. There’s a handful of used ones on EBay right now (sold by new Garmin owners no doubt) for around $50, other brands too.
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I’d stay away from the Frankford Arsenal M Press. They have replaced mine twice. I’ve had nothing but problems with it (3 units) and I’m about to go a different direction.
I will throw in my recent 4 year venture into reloading. I initially bought the Hornaday Iron Press reloading kit. You really need to have a sturdy base to mount it or any press. I bought a second hand wood table and directly mounted the press to it. I quickly found it was not sufficient and ended up buying inline-fabrication mounting system which is awesome with the quick change plate system. Over the course of years, I have purchased 2 other press units with my favorite being Forster’s. No need for shell holders or constantly screwing/unscrewing dies. Overtime, I purchased 2 different brass prep units and wish I had just bought the Henderson unit that does trim/chamfer/deburr consistently and fast/easy. Priming brass was initially done on the Iron Press and by hand then I found the Forster bench priming unit, its gold. Again no shell holders needed. I now own one setup for small rifle primers and another for large. Its not a big deal to switch out the pieces for large and small but I like the efficiency of just grabbing the correct one and off I go.
I agree the most important unit is the one that weighs out your powder charges and after 3 years of using Hornady and/or RCBS units which still run btw, I obtained the AND scale and V4 trickler. This is the cats meow of powder dispenser measuring system in my opinion. It is costly but I felt it worthwhile and have not regretted the decision to buy it.
As far as dies, Lee dies work just as well as Redding or others and are cheaper. I do like the seating dies with micrometer dials. I also upgraded to Redding die comparators for measuring shoulder bump for better repeatability when measuring for certain guns but still using Hornady bushing comparators for others. Hornady modified cases for measuring bullet jam length is vital for creating your custom loads vs using only SAMMI lengths.
I went with the steel pin/wet cleaning brass system because I do my reloading in the house and did not want the mess with corn cob dust etc. If you want clean shiny brass it works great.
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