BigtimerNC

Good morning, I have decided that I would like to get started into reloading. To start with, I want to use RCBS products for most of my equipment (rcbs rockchucker) but if there is a particular item that is made by someone else my ears are open. I have a bench set up in a spare bedroom in the house.

I guess that my next step is to go shopping. My first decision in do I want to buy a press and then start adding equipment from there or do I want to buy a kit. I want to start loading 9mm bullets to start with.

PLEASE, let's go shopping. If you would, please take some time and come up with a list of items that I will need to get started. I will need items from the press to brass and HP bullets. Thanks in advance for the help. My budget right now is around $600.00!

RaySendero

1) If you don't have a real good place to shoot and test reloads, Spend some of that budget on a shooting range membership.

BigtimerNC

That's no problem, we are members of a Range that is only 3 miles from our house.

muzzlestuffer

how many calibers do you plan on reloading for ? rifle and pistol ? target shooting and or hunting loads ? these answers will help us with your list !

BigtimerNC

I shoot quite a bit of 9mm as does my wife. I have a .270 and a .308 that I deer hunt with. Also, my daughter shoots a .243 for hunting.

d80hunter

You can get away with a single stage or turrent press for .243, 270, and .308. I assume you want quality over quantity with these cartridges. I can load 50 rounds an hour with a single stage and they get good quality control.

Not sure how many 9mm rounds you shoot that will make a difference in the press you need. Spending 4 hours at the press to get 200 rounds of 9mm that gets shot up in 5-15 minutes would be frustrating.

I am to the point where I use balance beam scales plus digital scales and dial calipers plus digital calipers to make sure my measuring devices are accurate. This is mostly for hunting rounds that get loaded hot and precise.

Make sure your family or anyone else makes an honest attempt to return brass from the reloads you make them. It is going to get costly if you are replacing stockpiles of brass that got lost after the first loading.

muzzlestuffer

any thoughts on progressive,single stage or turret ? even though i have used rcbs for over thirty years or so i might be inclined to recommend a redding t-7 turret press they are the better turret press "stronger" in my opinion the nice thing is you can set up your turret heads with your different dies and just change out the turrets for different calibers. that's one thought which by the way i have a rcbs 4x4 progressive and a rcbs rock chucker supreme and since i got the redding turret i haven't touched the other presses. the one thing is rcbs has made some new progressive presses since i bought mine and i think they are much easier to set up and use also they have the interchangeable die heads which no matter what press you decide on is the way to go in my opinion you just don't have to spend all that time setting up your dies with the exception of the seating die which will be different for your different bullet weights and so on. what do you think ?

BigtimerNC

Look, I'm medically retired do I have plenty of time. I think that I'll start off with a single stage press. If you disagree please tell me why so that I can make an informed decision. Again, I have never reloaded a single bullet and respect everyone's opinion.

muzzlestuffer

i personally would go with the redding t-7 turret press it is basicly a single stage press with a rotating head on top very easy to set up and use. also made in the usa !

BigtimerNC

Muzzlestuffer, I'll check it out.