~Ultimate Reloading Setup~

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Any of the equipment you buy will last dang near forever. Some is prettier than others. ALL of the brands of dies will load good ammo. All of the presses will do the same.

Don't get caught up in spending a fortune to start. It is unnecessary. Get a Lee classic turret press kit. It will do you right and you won't have to spend a ton.

Now, later down the road when you want all the extra little doo dads and gadgets and can't live without the shiniest, fanciest load machine, then you can hock everything you have to get it. ;)


Your 15, you need a VW bug, not a Ferrari.
 
Going off topic here...
Hey 308sc, did your daddy buy you that AR-15 yet?
 
308 is only 15?? I all of a sudden feel very uncomfortable about this. I feel about the same as if we were on a Beer/alcohol forum right now and we are teaching a 15 year old how to make the ultimate margarita. No offense, to anyone including 308sc. I think I'll just excuse myself from this thread. Again, no disrespect.

PS: this is my fault, I missed the post where OP said he is only 15.
 
As long as there is parental supervision, I don't see a problem with a minor reloading ammo...but I understand your concern.
 
Besides...I know some 15 year olds that are smarter them a bunch of 40 year olds. As long as he reads and heeds what he reads and listens to his experienced elders (and not necessarily us) he'll have little problem learning this habi...Aah...hobby...
 
I reload just about everything you can think of. Besides the basic, here's what I'd recommend.

Giraud case trimmer: hands down the best out there. Makes reloading shouldered rounds a pleasure.

Redding T-7 Turret Press: Even if your not into match prep, load commonly used dies or anything else into it. Built like a tank and best IMO.

Rock Tumbler: Much quieter than a vib type.

Electronic scale-dispensor: rcbs or lyman

Dillon 550b: blue is the way to go for progressives. For high volume loads, pistol or rifle. 650 will do auto-indexing.

RCBS Ammomaster: best single stage press around, easily does BMG. If not BMG, do the rock cruncher. Honorable mention is Lee Classic '0' type press.

MEC Sizemaster for development, RCBS 2000 for production of shotshells.

Amost anything Sinclair makes: from primer pocket reamers to headspace length guages to neck micrometers.

Cordless Drill.

Lee handheald primer.

Redding competion shellholders: expensive but definatly worth getting for headspace hassles.

It really depends on what you want to do. But the Giraud is listed first for a reason. Hands down, it was the best investment I've ever made. If you don't care about match prep, a good progressive will serve you well. If you do care, then a series of single stage presses are in order.

IMO, any handloading is better than factory loads. You can't lose.

Almost forgot... Get a s-load of those Horanday lock rings and put them on your dies. I hate tap screws that mess up the threads or rubber-o-rings that aren't consistent. They're cheap and worth it.
 
Its ok I have reloaded over 300 rifle rounds without a problem, I learned from the best...he uses a Dillon :).....I have read alot of manuals...the sad thing is I have kinda had to figure it out myself how to reload...(I taught my dad) so for awhile I was on my own with reloading. My only two sources of helpful information where

1. Interenet

2. A friend in Virginia

I am very responsible with guns...and have taught myself alot about each one that I own. So just because im 15 does not mean I'm not capable of reloading, or anything else...but I do understand your concern.

also while we are on the subject of my age...all the guns you see listed below or mine or my dads...I bought the savage, 10/22 and Mosin, and when you see me ask for suggestions on guns...it is so I can research what me or my dad will acquire next.

Thanks,

308sc
 
RE: the age of the OP ...

I started reloading when I was 13 or 14, and I was pretty much self taught as well, my Stepdad did check out what I was doing though... I started with the most basic tool out there, the Lee Loader.. the old hammer the round together one. Graduated to a Lee Challenger press from there. One of my "jobs" during the summers before I was old enough to get a "real job" was to work up handloads for his / our rifles and pistols. I'd work up a load for a particular gun, testing it out back (we lived on 30 acres in the country), and when he got home I'd have a mag full for him to test. I'd show him what I did, what the load was, and he'd go out back and try it out. Granted, I was very meticulous (yeah, a bit nerdy), and was very careful. I see nothing wrong with a teenager learning this skill, sounds like he has supervision. I really did most of the reloading for the household when I was there... I was more careful than my Stepfather was when reloading (he likes to push the envelope a bit further than I do) ... he kept those experimental items separate from the stuff I loaded.

Regarding the original question ... I've got what I consider the ultimate for my needs... well, almost. I quit reloading when I moved out of the house and went to college, but got back into it about 3 months ago... have a shooting buddy that I've known since I was a teenager, and we've been doing bulk ammo buys... and after the last one, I looked at the math and it just didn't add up. Then he pipes up and says he's finally started setting up his Dad's old reloading equipment in the little shed behind his house (his Dad passed away a few years ago)... anyhow, I decided to get onboard (at the age of 32, it's been a while since I pulled a press handle).

I have a progressive setup .. Hornady LnL (Blue is Great... but the Hornady Red is pretty darn good too), scale (beam scale), Hornady / RCBS dies, heavy Craftsman bench with overhead light, digital calipers, Lyman tumbler, a few reloading manuals. I do have one more thing coming to complete the setup, a Lyman case trimmer (for when I get into reloading my .300 Wby). Since I'm mostly reloading pistol, haven't needed the trimmer yet, and all my .30-30 brass is in spec. I can afford whatever I want (not bragging, just don't have a wife or kids to deal with / plan for, and probably won't ever), but I like getting value for my money. The only thing I will probably end up adding is a decent single stage or turret press, probably a Lyman Turret, a Hornady Classic LnL, or an RCBS rockchucker... haven't decided on that yet.

Anyway, to the OP, good to have you here and in the hobby. Always good to have "new blood" in the sport / hobby.
 
Me and you are very much alike. I just don't have 80 acres..I wish I did though....I live on a 3/4 acre lot in a neighborhood. I develop loads for all of the guns we have....I am just better with mechanical stuff than my dad and he admits it. There are quite a few things he is better than me at though...but when It comes to guns its pretty much just me.

well no that we have the pretty much cleared up about age..

I gather that Hornady or RCBS is the way to go...How much harder is a progressive/turret press to operate than a single stage? What are the main differences?
 
308, you're about 20 years away from wearing out your present press.

Any iron press is as good as any other iron press, be it Redding, RCBS, Lyman, Hornady or Lee. The only "superior" press is the Forster Co-Ax and that is not by much.

If you really want more volume get a progressive, a simple turret offers little or nothing over a single stage but no turret is as precise as a single stage.
 
I gather that Hornady or RCBS is the way to go...How much harder is a progressive/turret press to operate than a single stage? What are the main differences?

Good question. I'll assume you're reloading 308 win.

A single stage press is just that, you do one stage at a time. You'd change dies for each process: decapping, sizing, seating. This is no big deal if your doing mach prep brass since you want to size and do other things to the brass between stages. Most doing competitive shooting use single stage.

A turret is a step up. Arguably, single stages are more accurate. With a turret you load your dies and and there is one press that does one round and one process at a time. You can do all processes at once, or do one process at a time. For instance, say you only want to decap, size, then trim and do other brass processes, then continue with bullet seating.

All your dies are set up with a turret. Some turrets are auto indexing meaning you don't have to manually rotate the head, and some are not.

Advantages of turrets are you can use the shellholders from single stages. I use a turret for 'non critical' steps in match reloading.

Progressives will do multiple processes with each pull. They come with a 'gang' shellholder and with each pull will size, prime, charge and seat. Progressives come with a number of 'stations'. The Dillon has five. Progressives can be auto indexing or manual. It is possible to remove a round in the middle of the process to do something else to the brass.

You can crank out lots of rounds with a progressive, but, IMO you should get the basics down with a single stage first.
 
Which is better auto indexing or manual
Which is better, an automatic transmission or a stick-shift? (sorry, maybe you are too young to understand this analogy, no offense)

Did you look at the press in that ebay auction I linked to in your other thread? IMHO, those old 'H' style presses have all the advantages of a single-stage press, and most of the advantages of a turret press. The only down-side is you need multiple shellholders (but shellholders are cheap, and you *can* get by with just one.)
 
IMHO, if you're comfortable and competent with a single stage, and are looking for more volume, a progressive is probably the next step. there's nothing wrong with a turret press, but I don't feel that it really increases the volume of production much... the turret is more convenient to use than a single stage, though.

I went from using a single stage 15 years ago, with no reloading in between then and now, and straight to a Hornady LnL AP a few months ago. So long as you take your time working out the quirks (the folks on this forum and others were very helpful), I don't see any need for the intermediate step. As far as asking what would I buy if I were able to do it again, I wouldn't change a thing, except I would've started back a year ago. For progressives, I'd only look at Hornady, Dillon, or RCBS. No offense to the Lee folks, a lot have them and like them, but they sure seem to need more tinkering to keep going.
 
It really boils down to what you want to do.

If your the average hunter and only use ten rounds a year for deer hunting, then a single stage is more than enough. There's no need to spend big bucks on something that will only collect dust.

If your shooting competition, the same applies. Your shooting more, but you want to match prepare everything. Progressives don't lend themselves to that, although some very good shooters use progressives.

If you shooting 200 rounds a week plinking and want to speed thing along, a turret, autoindexing turret or progressive is in the cards.

Now if your have an M-16 with full auto, you'll definatly want a progressive with auto indexing.

Here's what I do. I shoot a lot of competition that uses 223, 308, 45 colt and 12 guage. 223 and 308 are match prep so I use a turret for non-critical steps and a single stage for the critical steps. 45 colt isn't match preped so a manual progressive is used, same for the 12 guage. At one time I was shooting 1000 rounds a week in 45 acp so for that I used an auto-indexing progressive (dillon square deal).

For my match prep rounds, each batch is processed one step at a time. All decapped, all sized, all neck sized, all trimmed, primer pockets cleaned, all primed (by hand) then finally, all charged and seated.

You're not going to lose a lot of time using auto vs manual indexing, especially with a blue machine.

I'd recommend getting a 'kit' of sorts that includes a good single stage like the rockcruncher or lee '0' type press (with the good hand primer). Then start loading be it pistol or rifle rounds. Then do some match prep brass and then decide if you need anything else. When you decide, you're not out much since you can always find a use for that single stage or use it for backup.
 
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