BYRD250

I want to give reloading a shot....but i have no clue what i need to do to get started...can i buy a press that can be used for rifles, shotguns and handguns? I guess my question is what do i need to buy in order to start reloading?

bigcountry

First off, know some of the big names like RCBS, Dillion, and even Lee. RCBS has some details on reloading on thier webpage. A single stage press can be used for all cartridges. Stay awy from progressives for a while until you get single stage down.

I suggest a good kit like the Rockchucker kit. It will have mostly what you need in it besides dies for particular cartridges. Even has a manual. I learned strickly by myself from a manual so anyone can do it. I suggest doing some reading and then come back on here or feel free to email with aditional questions.

A rockchucker kit should have the following
Press

You can primer on the press starting out and get a separate primer later or now. I have a RCBS primer, but many like lee

Balance beam, all you will ever need, some like digital but I suggest against it. I have had a few and went back to the beam.

lube pad with lube. Messy at first but I have done thousands of rounds lubing on a pad. I now use One shot mostly. Its a spray lube

Trimmer. The RCBS one is ok, I still use it, but there's not much to choose from on this one.

Deburrer. The wilson one that comes with the RCBS kit works well.

Powder thrower. The RCBS is ok and I still use it.

Your going to have to buy set of calibers. I have a cheap set from cabelas that works great and a very expensive set. But I have cal'd the one from cabelas with a cal spacer kit from my companies machine shop and its right on. All you have to worry about is "are they accurate from the start", after that you good as buying high dollar starretts.

Your going to have buy a set of dies. I prefer Full length RCBS starting out. I have bought the best but still came back to the RCBS.

I suggest buying a trickler and kenetic hammer, and maybe a good set of safety glass's that fit comfortable. Take it from me when starting out, you are going to spend hours on this. Where do you live? It so much easier to have someone who is experienced get you started out. I have been to several peoples houses to get them going cause I know how confused I was when I started out with no internet and just a handbook.

Vapodog

Before you buy a single toy go to the store that sells powder, bullets etc and ask if someone can show you how it's done......it's the best advise I can offer. It can be quite complex for something so simple!!!

BC did alright in his description but his vision is so poor that he now needs hi dollar optics to see.

bigcountry

You know vapor thats the reason I wanted the digital scales to work for me. So I could see the stupid things. They said they sped up the update times on the new one so you can trickle in real time. I might take a look at some again. Stay away from that cheap cabelas digitial. I was trying to trickle a load, and it jumped up 5 gr and then back down 2gr. Horrible.

Yea, I guess my specs are high dollar. Had to pay 200 dollars the other day for a set of lenses. But you know how I roll, I had to get the transition lens with scratch guard, and the super dupy anti glare. Only the best for my eyes. If the scientist wouldn't mind resetting up the machine in my lab for glasses, I would put the best index matching coat on them you could find but playing around with a 5 million dollar machine for my glasses, they don't like much..

Solitary Man

You mentioned loading shotshells in addition to rifle and handgun cartridges. I've never loaded shotshells, but as far as I know, you'll have to have a seperate press for that. You can't load shotshells on a Rockchucker or Forster Co-Ax. I believe Dillon, MEC and maybe Lee make shotshell reloaders and there are probably some others as well.

I suggest you buy a reloading manual or two and read up on this before you ever considerbuying anyequipment. You'll get a good idea of what methods and equipmentare involved. Nosler, Speer, Sierra, Lyman, Hornady and Barnes are just some of the companiesthat put outgood reloading manuals.I believe RCBS has a guide that you can access online.

BYRD250

Looks like Ive got to get alot of stuff. What would be the easiest to learn on....as far as rifle or shotgun or whatever. Also how much do yall think it is going to cost to get everything that i need. looks like im going to have to just get a few things at a time until i have everything i need.

bigcountry

BYRD, I don't suggest buying things piece by piece. Buy a kit. Much more cheaper than separate. Also, only manual I would buy would probalby be lymans as the rockchuckers come with speer. I have the barnes, nosler, and sierra manual but for beginners trying to learn, the speer or lymans is better, the others are really just loading data.

Hey, RCBS has out videos too now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Two-RCBS-Rockchucker-II-presses-and-misc-accessories_W0QQitemZ7182826175QQcategoryZ71120QQs sPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Here's a good kit, all you need is dies, trimmer, and calibers. This way you could get top of the line wilson trimmer.
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-RCBS-ROCK-CHUCKER-SUPREME-MASTER-RELOADING-KIT-NIB_W0QQitemZ7144046581QQcategoryZ71120QQssPageNam eZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Vapodog

The easiest to learn is shotshell loading.....the tool is MEC 600 and costs about $100 and is a very good loader and easy to learn. It's a great way to get started.

eldeguello

BYRD, I hope you haven't bought anything yet, because the first thing you need to get is a good reloading manual or two. I recommend that your first such items include the Lyman manual, because the Lyman bookincludes a detailed step-by-step description of the reloading process anda lot of loading data for old/obsolete calibers as well as the new ones. And, since Lyman does not sell powder, primers or bullets, they include information for a lot of different brands of loading components.

In addition, after you have decided what equipment you need, instead of buying one of those kits, I suggest you try to obtain some of it off of E-Bay, where it is often possible to get some very high quality tools for about half of retail cost. For example, last fallI bought a nearly-new RCBS Rockchucker press off E-Bay for $50.00. In addition,one can also often findneeded dies and powder scales, etc., for nearly nothing.

Hornet Man

BYRD250
I would suggest getting the LeeAnniversary kit from F&M Reloading.

http://www.fmreloading.com/cgi-bin/m...age+Press+Kitshttp://www.fmreloading.com/

This kit has everything you need to get started including the loading manual. Just buy a set of Dies and you can start. You won’t be putting out a lot of money and you will be making quility ammo in no time at all.The only thing I would recomed other then this is to get a better powder scale. The RCBS 502 or 505 scale are the ones I recommend.

Hornet Man