What would you do? Reloading equipment dilema..

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Listen to the financial and relational advice first. Once that's settled, think about an inexpensive way to get into reloading. There is excellent second hand stuff available, and you can do well especially if you buy what you actually need. Your relationship with your wife should be first priority; you don't want to feel guilty every time you sit down to your press.
 
jmorris said:
I am with the no debt, don’t hide things from the wife crowd.
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Same here. That said, since you already went overboard, I would keep one Rock-Chucker and sell the other presses. Iffin' money is that tight, odds are you won't be buying a ton of components and shooting hundreds of rounds every weekend. A good quality SS press like the Rock-Chucker will do everything you need now, and will continue to be an invaluable asset later on down the road.
 
I would keep just one rockchucker and start slow. Keep watching for reloading lots on Armslist, Craigslist, Estate sales and Auctions. Like dh1633pm said, sometimes you can get a large amount of items, keep what you can use and sell the rest to get all or most of your money back. I have done this over the last few years with great success. For example I bought a lot that included a Dillon 550 and over 3000 bullets that I didn't need . Sold the bullets and made my money back plus a little extra. Kept the 550. Another time i bought 6 die sets and 22,000 assorted primers from a yard sale. As I was loading them in my truck the guy said he had some brass too. I said I'm interested and he gave me a 5 gallon bucket of assorted brass for free.
Again I made my money back selling what I couldn't use. I could go on but you get the idea.
 
I am too confused to reply. To many chucks can a chuck chuck??

You only NEED one press whatever that may be. any RCBS is good for ever.

Don't forget that you NEED to BUY those pesky things like Bullets, Brass (maybe) primers and powder.
 
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As others have said, progressives really are only necessary for high-volume stuff. As in, "I need to fill this ammo can over the next couple of evenings for a weekend class." Or "hmm, I only have 1k rounds loaded, and the match tomorrow will burn through 300 of them... I guess I'll just knock out those 300 now and not dwindle the inventory of stuff on-hand." When you're working on that scale, the cost of the progressive (and the gun you're feeding) ends up smaller than the cost of bullets and other components.

If you're trying to fill a 20 round box or two with cartridges for your bolt action, it wouldn't even be worth switching calibers on a progressive. By the time you were ready to start pulling the handle, you'd be just about done with a single stage or turret loading process for that many.
 
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d31tc said:
Long time reader, first time poster...so where to begin. I'm getting into reloading but currently am poor by choice (wife in school so 1 income family and 2 daughters enrolled in everything that costs moneyo_O) so I am trying to be frugal. I started off by buying a used rock chucker supreme off craigslist for a good price relative to new but quickly realized that all the other items buying used would pretty much be the price of a RCBS Supreme Kit. So the wife agreed to let me buy the kit. So now I was looking for the other items I think I need - case trimmer, micrometer, caliper. A deal on Craigslist had those items (case trimmer, micrometer, caliper) a bunch of nice items I'll use at some point (.45 carbide dies, .308 dies, 9mm carbide dies, check weights), some misc. duplicate items that I already have (M500 scale, powder trickler, deburring tool, loading blocks) and a big ticket item I might like to keep but probably should sell (RCBS Pro Chucker 5). The lot, all unused, LNIB, was/is temporarily financed through a benefactor. The wife does not know - yet. The big question is do I keep the Pro Chucker because it's a really good deal (maybe it isn't in your opinion), or sell it to pay off my benefactor sooner and buy bullets, brass and powder if I have left over proceeds? If I keep the Pro Chucker, I'll sell one Rock Chucker. If I sell the Pro Chucker, I'll keep both Rock Chuckers. :thumbdown: What would you have done or what would you do?
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Don't hide things from your wife. It leads do bad things.
You really only need a Lee trimmer. They're cheap. Like others said, harbor freight had cheap calipers. A decent scale is a necessary item. Pick through what you need and sell the rest to help pay for it. We have a for sale subforum for that;)
 
Rule3 - That was funny!

Bandit67 - Buying more than I need with the original intent to sell what I don’t need led to the dilemma. Really no longer a dilemma now as I will be selling the items I didn’t plan on originally keeping. Next time I will just tell the wife my plan so she can say “I can’t say no fast enough!” It will keep me out of trouble.
 
When I buy stuff it's hard for me to let it go.
I reload and she gambles. I have a butt load of guns and reloading equipment, she has nothing.

I look for good buys and stock up on stuff when ever I can. I get a lot of stuff on ebay. Some stuff from these gun forums and sometimes from the gun shows.


If you can swing it keep one of the rock chucker presses and that other RCBS press for future use. You will thank yourself at a later time.


Let me tell you something,. RCBS has the very best customer service in the reloading world.

I contacted lee one time and wasn't impressed at all.
I sold a bunch of lee dies I had and replaced them with used RCBS dies which are still covered 100%.
There isn't much in the lee line I use. Just a personal.thing.
 
I feel pretty strongly against going into debt to purchase "gun stuff", including reloading gear and supplies. This would be particularly true if ones spouse wasn't aware of the debt incurred.

On the other hand, one of my biggest fears is that when I die, my wife will sell my guns, ammo and gear for what she thinks I paid for them.
:evil:
 
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