Starting Reloading

[arcasey]

Starting out with a kit that has everything you need is the easiest way to start but I assure you that if you go that route you will be picking up other odds and ends as you go. I started with an RCBS kit but I now use a whole assortment of brands to accomplish my tasks.

[AZone]

I am hooked on my Dillon 650 and dont think I would ever use anything else. You can use the 650 as a single stage if one wanted too, just one case at a time.

[rangerhgm]

I went from a Lee LCT to a Dillon 650 and wouldn't go back....I can crank out as little or as much as I want in a short period of time.

[Fenix Mike]

I have a 550 and a 650 and honestly find it best to have both. I don't like the auto indexing of the 650 when doing precision stuff, and I hate how slow the 550 is when im just doing handgun stuff. As far as precision goes, that's how my 550 is setup. You can buy quality redding micrometer dies and hand measure each powder load instead of using the Dillon powder drop, and I have a RCBS Chargemaster measuring the loads for me. My SD is usually under 10 and keeps velocity very tight. The only real difference between the 550 and a single stage is youre doing up to 5 steps at once instead of having to deprime and resize 50 rounds, then hand prime 50 rounds, then change your die setup and load powder into 50 rounds, then change again and seat the bullet into 50 rounds, and if needed as a last step, crimp them (usually not a step for precision ammo). I take my time on all my hand loads on the 550 and end up with about 150 rounds per hour as I also check each round in a case gauge after completion. When it gets to the 650, I jam through as fast as I can with handgun ammo and 223 as I just plink with those. I can still make a single ragged hole at 21 feet with any of my handguns, so its far from "inaccurate", and the 223 stuff averages 1-2 MOA with 55 gr Hornady FMJ bullets, but the difference is I can get through 400-500 rounds an hour with the slowest part being refilling the primer tube since I have a case feeder.

 

Theres nothing wrong with a single stage, you just don't hear anyone unsatisfied with a Dillon 550, unless of course they wanted the speed of a 650 or 1050. The other nice thing about Dillon is the resale value, you generally wont see used stuff anything less than 10% below retail, even at 10+ years old, so its more of an investment (IF you can find it used). Don't let people scare you into thinking a single stage is required for precision, but also really figure out the costs of reloading before jumping into it. Its EXPENSIVE and rarely saves you money unless youre going to do thousands of rounds, or work on very odd ball calibers. Ive got 25K+ rounds through my machines, so they have paid themselves off, but doing the math on common calibers, the 15-20K mark is where you start saving if you add up your total investment of brass prep, components, machines, tools and extras, then the actual cost of powder, bullets, brass, primers etc. Once the investment was paid off, 6.8 SPC I saved a ton of money, 308 I save about .30 cents a round, handgun its a couple cents a round, 223 is a few cents a round, and while the accuracy was better with my match ammo, keep in mind you aren't just going to hand load some rounds and crank out 1/2 MOA groups! It took about 4-5 weeks of shooting twice a week with different loads, OALs, bullets, powders, primers etc to get the load that worked best in my gun, and of the 50+ loads I tried, only 3-4 were better than off the shelf Federal Gold Medal Match ammo, with many being equal or slightly worse. I found the challenge of working up a load for each gun to be fun, but at the same time tedious knowing each time I wanted to try a different bullet, or had to switch brass because I ran out of one brand, or couldn't find my powder/primer, I had to start from scratch to work another load up.

[truckofwinandawesome]

 

This is the rather elaborate reloading setup my dad has created for himself (since he is medically retired, he has nothing but time on his hands) in the Garage/Mancave that I have been showing the build on in the Garage/Home forum.

 

 

This is the bench where he does all of his metallic reloading; he has dies from 9MM all the way up to .308 caliber.

 

 

And this is his shotgun bench; he loads all three types of shotgun ammunition, in fact the middle press (all three presses are MEC JR Mk Vs) JUST arrived at the house this morning so he can reload .410 shells!

 

 

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[JDerstine]

I've been reloading for close to 25 years and have been using my RCBS Rock Chucker single stage and am quite happy with the results. I shoot mostly rifle and some handgun.

 

I wrote up two threads on reloading on The Vette Barn forum, ( my content, my pictures and yes, you can share it )

 

one for handgun

 

https://www.thevettebarn.com/forums/off-topic/10149-how-reloading-center-fire-pistol-ammo.html

 

and one for rifle

 

https://www.thevettebarn.com/forums/off-topic/10147-how-reloading-center-fire-rifle-ammo.html

 

The only thing that has changed is I've upgraded from the Lee hand primer tool to the the RCBS Universal Hand Priming Tool. The RCBS doesn't require shell holders.

 

Jeff

[kstruckcountry]

Thanks Jeff!

 

It looks like the time is near for buying a press, I was just gifted a ton of cleaned, primed brass and some dies. I know it's going to be a hard choice on which press to buy, but I'll get there.

 

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