DK Firearms

New to reloading

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  • rotor

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    Everyone has given you great info except for one item, a mounting surface for your press. You need a sturdy table. Something that won't flex. I personally use the Harbor Freight $129 on sale table and don't care how much I drill it. Also consider adapters to mount the press to so that you can switch out presses as need be. When I started I bought the Lee single stage kit and you get a scale, etc. I then bought an electronic scale and calibrated it and it is just as accurate as the balance beam scale. I don't think that a progressive is going to give you the accuracy that a single stage will give you as you are out for accuracy. Individual weighing of each powder, not doing 4-5 things at once. I also recommend a case gauge for each caliber you are shooting. These really help set your dies. For pistol I use a Lee Turret. I don't reload the volume that I need a progressive. If you go progressive stay away from Lee as I don't hear anything good about their progressive presses. Dillon of course is the big name here. Finally, safety- wear safety glasses. I don't wear hearing protection- maybe I should but I don't. When buying primers you should try a few brands. CCI and Winchester tend to be harder than Federal and Remington (and harder to seat too). Find what your rifle likes and stick with those. I pretty much substitute one brand for another but never do that if you do shotshells. Everything the exact in shotshells with no substitution. Record everything to a notebook as it doesn't take long before you forget what each load was. You will also need a chrono. Finally, sales tax on the internet from all of the big chains is now the norm. We just can't keep the tax man out of our pockets. Youtube has some great reloading help too so even though they are anti 2A there is some great material out there. Best of luck. One final thought, don't work in the garage. You need a normalized temp to do this stuff and make sure that nobody bothers you when you are reloading. A double charge will kill you and a squibb can do the same.
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    Charlie

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    My reloading bench is a "second hand" solid core door covered with 1/4" masonite. It's extremely heavy and is attached to a wall in the Man Cave with triangular shaped braces that run from under the front edge down to the wall baseboard. It makes it extremely sturdy and allows one to use a chair with rollers that can easily move side to side. I bought a used door at a Habitat store here very, very cheap (if my memory is correct, the door was less than $10).
     

    rotor

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    I do. Even in the middle of the summer.

    Good advice on a solid mounting surface. I built a torsion beam bench lagged to my garage wall. It doesn't move.
    When I first started I tried to work in the garage, my wife felt so sorry that she made a place indoors. I don't think I would be reloading if I was still in the unheated/cooled garage. I think the components last longer at a constant reasonable temperature.
     

    Whistler

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    Not chasing you to disagee rotor, I do have some slightly different experience. Lee progressives are not in the same class as Dillons however they can work very well if you're willing to spend the time to "fiddle" with them, some people find that very aggravating and I get that spending an hour or two to get it to run smoothly on a given caliber could be viewed that way. I have other presses just saying they can be okay if you have the patience.

    My experience with digital scales is not as positive. I am extremely particular in measuring and have found them to be inconsistent depending on bench motion (a running a/c inducing vibration for example), humidity, battery level, hell the phase of the moon. I dont know why just my observation and I've tried a few. The RCBS beam scale is the gold standard in my book, never deviates.

    Built my bench but buy or build be sure its stable and strong. Agree wear eye protection, its never a problem until its a problem. If you've seen what a pan of primers looks like in a ceiling... 'nuff said.

    Write down load data and I like to mark what powder is in the throw if I don't empty it, not something you want to guess about.

    I've only seen two squibbs and both times the shooter had presence of mind not to pull the trigger again. Don't load distracted and position your stool and press to easily verify the powder drop visually. I like to stop and weigh random rounds to be sure nothing got bumped but YMMV.
     

    MTA

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    Good info and I will take that into consideration. I actually got in all my gear and was setting it up but I had to head out to the tree stand (where I am writing this). I attached my press to my table that I built. Its built like a brick shithouse. Pretty sure it will be the last thing standing if a tornado ever hits my house.

    I plan on loading a few rounds tomorrow and seeing how it goes. Test rifle should be here on tuesday
     

    rotor

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    Not chasing you to disagee rotor, I do have some slightly different experience. Lee progressives are not in the same class as Dillons however they can work very well if you're willing to spend the time to "fiddle" with them, some people find that very aggravating and I get that spending an hour or two to get it to run smoothly on a given caliber could be viewed that way. I have other presses just saying they can be okay if you have the patience.

    My experience with digital scales is not as positive. I am extremely particular in measuring and have found them to be inconsistent depending on bench motion (a running a/c inducing vibration for example), humidity, battery level, hell the phase of the moon. I dont know why just my observation and I've tried a few. The RCBS beam scale is the gold standard in my book, never deviates.

    Built my bench but buy or build be sure its stable and strong. Agree wear eye protection, its never a problem until its a problem. If you've seen what a pan of primers looks like in a ceiling... 'nuff said.

    Write down load data and I like to mark what powder is in the throw if I don't empty it, not something you want to guess about.

    I've only seen two squibbs and both times the shooter had presence of mind not to pull the trigger again. Don't load distracted and position your stool and press to easily verify the powder drop visually. I like to stop and weigh random rounds to be sure nothing got bumped but YMMV.
    I can only speak from my own experience with digital scales and I have a Frankford Arsenal DS-750 that I believe was less than $20 and a RCBS Charge Master 1500. I reload in the same area, pretty much constant temperature. I have compared my electronic scales with my Lee balance scale and they are consistently close. The Lee scale is a real pain to use but as it is a balance scale I am sure it is accurate. After I convinced myself that my electronic scales were accurate I do calibrate before use and that is what I use. My experience with Lee progressives was not so good but I bought the new Autobreech pro with the casefeeder and bullet feeder. It was machined very poorly and Lee replaced parts for it at no charge. I went cheap and got cheap. I gave the press away as a piece of junk. The case feeder worked sometime and the bullet feeder never worked. It was all a Mickey Mouse type of operation. I have the Lee mounting plates on my bench but the Autobreech pro won't mount without cutting a big v into the bench for the primer catcher tube. I guess Lee never actually mounted one on a table. I don't reload enough to need a real progressive so a turret is enough for me. All of this is just my experience, yours may be different.
     

    Whistler

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    Yeah I don't like the Lee scale, I think I have a couple of those around here also. I tried a Hornady, a Frankford, a Lyman and one other but just never had any luck with them. I'm picky and thier inconsistencies aggravated me.

    Agree mounting the Lee did require some cutting and compared to the Dillon it is cheap but when I first started it was what I could afford and I learned to make it work. It was tedious but once it was finally adjusted it ran as good as the presses I have acquired since. Made many thousands of rounds of .40, 9mm, .357/.38 and.45 I still use the single stage for depriming and such. The progressive ended up with my brother who I think tossed it, he didn't have the patience and gave up on reloading eventually.

    My point is the Lee will work if you have the patience, the will and a bit of mechanical aptitude. You probably shouldn't have to but it can be done.

    I should also say I learned an awful lot about how presses work and a lot about reloading I probably wouldn't have with a more plug and go setup. The good and the bad.
     

    texasjohnboy

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    I agree with Whistler - I just got a Lee LoadMaster and after some fiddling, sanding, and changing things out I like it. Granted, its my first progressive, so I think that a Dillon or Hornady progressive would probably be better but it's what I could afford at the time. I load mainly 9mm for action pistol matches, so quantity is important.

    Oh, and if anyone reading this ever does get a Lee setup - TRASH THE AUTODISK. It's absolute junk. I put my Hornady powder drop on from my first single stage kit, and its leaps and bounds better. Not only did that thing leak like a sieve, but since I load with Titegroup, the disks were way too inflexible. And the microjust thing did not help at all.
     

    rotor

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    I do like the Lee Autodrum. Works pretty good for my applications. Autodisk too variable.
     
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    MTA

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    MTA wait until you order some powder or primers online and you find out that on top of the shipping is a $20 Hazmat fee.
    Yep I saw that. Guess I gotta stop being such a cheap bastard :laughing:


    Loaded my first couple of rounds today. Hornady hand primer was a giant POS but its going alright so far.
     

    MTA

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    Test rifle finally showed up today. Ruger American in .308 and I slapped a Nikon Prostaff 4-12x on top
    IMG_6592.jpg
     

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    Deavis

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    The Lee hand primer is okay. It rarely jams up and is easy to clear but I swear it is made for people with tiny hands.
     
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