rivraton

A lot of good advice here.
I started by emptying a lot of brass at the range...

stargeezer

Its not rocket science, but the learning curve is rather steep. Finding a local reloader who is inclined to teach instead of preach is the best advice I could give.

Everything else I'll add is my opinion and while some may argue the points, none will say that they are not valid from my point of view.

1. I feel that starting with a manual press is important in becoming a reloader who is not just a "handle puller". Going slow, one step at a time will give you time to see mistakes before they in up in your ammo box, then in your mag, then in your gun, then stuck in your barrel. I know from experience.

2. Having a manual press around will be a benefit for the day when you shoot more than one or four calibers. There are those calibers that load better on a manual press than a progressive. There are calibers that having two or three loads worked up for is good. A progressive press will only be an advantage when you are not changing things - just pulling the handle on round after another.

3. Don't go cheap. There is equipment out there that is marketed as inexpensive - it is sold that way for a reason. Equipment that will last for decades is not sold as CHEAP. Equipment designed to be passed down to your children will not be cheap. Equipment that carries a lifetime warranty will not be cheap, and best of all equipment that carries a lifetime warranty and that never needs the warranty to be used is not cheap.

4. There will come a day when a progressive press makes sense. YOU will know when that day comes and why. Just because a buddy has one is the least important idea. I waited 30 years and should have bought it sooner, but it's now a prized possession, used for four calibers. The other 6 calibers I load for are done on a turret press.

5. Consider if you shoot enough ammo of a particular caliber to make loading that caliber worth while. I load a bunch of 45acp, 9mm, 223 and 308, but I don't shoot enough 380 to ever make it worth while. I also reserve the manual press for 308 (hunting loads w/bolt gun), 223 (varmint loads), 22-250, 45-70, 45-120, 338,& 30-06.

6. Equipment and supply costs will be around $500 to $750. Jumping up to a progressive setup for three calibers and you will spent about $1500 on good equipment. Low ball that for about half price, but plan to replace it in a couple years.

Caliber change over sets for a good progressive will cost you around $150 (dies, tool head, change over sets, dedicated powder measure) contrasted with the cost of just a set of dies for a manual press.

7. I like Dillon, RCBS and Lyman. I'm not saying that these are best, but they have worked for me for almost 40 years of reloading. If you are concerned about cost savings as a reason for reloading, know that the longer you reload, the more you save. If you just shoot a couple hundred rounds a month, I wouldn't bother.

These are opinions. Mine. Others will be different.

Lost Sheep

Stargazer's words are wise, heed them.

What he calls a "Manual" press is what most other people call a "Single Stage".

He did leave out Lee in his list of equipment makers. Lee Precision has probably introduced more people into loading than any other single manufacturer through the low prices of their equipment. Inexpensive does not necessarily mean cheap. Their Classic Turret is the best auto-indexing turret in the world. Of course there are only two currently in production. Their "Reloader" press is extremely inexpensive, thus bordering on "cheap" in the pejorative sense (in my opinion). But it does work. My friend and I each got one in a special offer. It came with a manual for less than either listed for alone. He loaded for 45ACP and 500 S&W until his Lyman press arrived. Later, he used it for a powder measure mount until he snapped the thing off at the base (fell against it).

Lee offered to replace it for free, even though we explained how it broke. All they wanted was the broken pieces. Unfortunately, he had already recycled the aluminum.

I gave mine away for his birthday to a friend who had no press at all. For his 475 Linebaugh.

In one of my posts on the other threads for which I posted links, I mention prices. But I will give you a notion now, in case you didn't read them yet.

You can build the foundation for a first-class setup for $204 plus shipping. You will be limited in speed, but not in function. You will not have to trade off anything for future expansion. A better scale than Lee's will make that $240 or so. Adding an extra caliber will set you back $40 to $50, including a spare turret to make swapping calibers a ten-second affair.

My setup, for one caliber set me back $500, including shipping, numerous small tools, a really good scale and a brass tumbler. I lack nothing.

Most of the stuff is made by Lee Precision. The Scale is RCBS (made by Ohaus, their 10-10 model). Loading bench is Black & Decker folding. Not counted is my beloved RCBS RockChucker (semi-retired since I got the Turret). Everything fits in three toolboxes (largest of which is 23" x 10" x 10") and sets up in minutes.

It isn't rocket science, but it does involve flame and things that go very fast. If you can follow a cake recipe and change a tire without losing your lug nuts you can reload ammunition safely.

Lost Sheep

429421Cowboy

The last two posts here are very well thought out and should tell you all you need to know.
I might also ad that while the equipment may seem expensive at first, it will ALWAYS be worth something, and will hold it's value well in the long run, allowing you to recoup part of your investment if you choose to not continue with it!

stargeezer

Lost Sheep - thanks for the Single Stage phrase correction, old age creeping in I guess All I could think of was manual.

The traditional single stage press (Known in RCBS circles as a Rock Chucker Press) is a great place to start. My personal preference is the RCBS turret press, it's just a little faster and it gives the operator a couple different methods of working.

Perform one operation to all your brass, index the die, perform the next operation on all the brass, etc., or to insert a brass, size it, index head and dump powder, index head and set bullet, pull the handle to seat the bullet, remove the finished round. Your choice.

One gizmo that I forgot to mention was a priming tool. For 30+ years I used a Lee Hand Primer tool, but due to a accident in my reloading room, my long lived priming tool was destroyed by a fall to a concrete floor. I immediately went out a bought a replacement, but when I got home I discovered that the new tool is not nearly the machine the old tool was. It lays in my toolbox unused today, and as a replacement I purchased the RCBS Hand priming tool.

There are a couple point that have made it ideal for me.

First, it uses the same shell holders that my RCBS press uses. Shell holders from Lyman, Lee and some unknown source I had in my box will not work due to a certain inside taper being required to fit the primer tool. Since about all my holders were RCBS, this was no heart burn for me, but potential buyers should be aware of it. Their priming tool also comes in two price points - off hand I do not recall the exact reason that I purchased the less expensive model, but you should look for whatever this difference was.

Second, unlike the new Lee primer, I find loading primers MUCH easier with the RCBS unit. It will also feed primers without a hitch, whereas the Lee caused all kinds of grief.

There are other Lee products that I own such as bullet molds for black powder mini balls, two Lee Lead furnaces and a handful of usefully small tools that are just great.

I do use RCBS, Dillon and Lyman Powder dumps. I have been around Lee dumps and while people I respect tout the Lee tool, I have only been around a lesser quality dump that was very inconsistent, poorly made, junk that was impossible to use accurately. This was undoubtedly the least expensive model they make, but I'd still advise caution.

I used RCBS dumps for 40 years of accurate reloading with no problems. The most recent addition to my bench was a Lyman powder dump that I'm VERY happy with. It is a great piece of equipment. Model is a B5, I think.

If you choose to look at the Lee line of equipment (and you should look at all of them) do try to stay away from the lower end of their product line. It's not that the lowest level stuff will not work - it will. The question is for how long will it give you consistent loads. The key to satisfying reloading is consistency.

Hopefully I filled in a few more gaps here. Feel free to jump in with any questions.

krwada

This one is easy. This is what I did:

I went and ordered the RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme reloading kit from MidwayUSA. I then opened up the box and pulled out the Speer reloading manual and started from there.

I figured out very quickly that I needed to build me a bench. So, I went and purchased a bunch of lumber and other stuff and built a bench.

Purchasing the kit was one of the best things I did. Just seeing all the stuff sitting there gave me great motivation to keep going on the project until I got my first reloads out to the range about a couple of month later.

Lost Sheep

Purchasing a kit gets you loading quicker and cheaper than buying the gear "a la carte", but there are some caveats.

First: Almost every kit lacks something you will want to add and almost every kit has stuff in it that you don't want or need. Also, there are almost inevitably some stuff that you will find unsatisfactory and wind up replacing. This negates most of the money savings of a kit.

I assume most kits were assembled by someone in marketing, and even if assembled by someone who is expert at loading, those selections may not match up perfectly with your needs. It's like a custom made suit vs an off-the-rack suit. Unless you are just plain lucky, it will fit OK, but not perfectly.

Second: The time you spend researching a kit you assemble yourself gives you a knowledge base that will serve you well when you start loading.

Those are the reasons I eschew kits in general.

On the other hand, if you shop the kits carefully, you may well find a kit as good as you can build yourself.

Largely a matter of personal preference. I chose to build my own kit. Like in the Johnny Cash song, "One Piece at a Time".

If you determine that a kit is what you want, you will get no grief from me. Good plan.

Lost Sheep.

stargeezer

That was the about the same kit I bought my son when he expressed a desire to start reloading. He got the Master Reloaders Kit. Very little difference.

It's a good place to start. There will be a bunch of little things that you'll want as time goes on, but pretty much everything you need except brass, powder, primers and your chosen dies are in the box.

All you need to add is time. Have fun.

YARDDOG(1)

"[The main problems with 9mm is that factory ammo is fairly cheap. You can save money by reloading, but you can also save money by shopping around carefully. "[Many times you might find ammo cheaper than you can reload for.]"
Not even close to a casters reloads @ 3.6 cent a round.
$3.66-100rnds
36.00-1000rnds

Thats no cost for Boolits or Brass ; ) PS NO leading in any of the 9s I got
Y/D

Lost Sheep

True, I was doing my comparison based on buying retail components and already cast bullets, lead, plated or jacketed. If you cast your own, shooting is practically free.

Now, if you want to include the monetary value of the time involved, there can be some calculating, starting with, Should you count the time or is that just ridiculous? But if you have to hire someone to mow your lawn or change your oil so you have time to cast and to load, there might be some justification.

But that is beyond the scope of the original post.

But, yes, definitely. If you cast your own bullets (boolits) it can be VERY economical, and doubly satisfying, too.

Lost Sheep