Equipment advice

[Reaper277]

I'm finally looking at reloading equipment after years of thinking about it, I'm on a tight budget for now, but I want to start picking up a little at a time, I'm curious as to what would be the first item I should think about buying? I was thinking I should get a case tumbler so at least I can clean all the brass I pick up at the range and what not.

I cant afford a Dillion progressive anytime soon so when I get a press I'm prob going to be looking at a rock chucker or something along those lines.

I plan to mostly reload 300blk to start with, but will add 556 and pistol cals later down the line
thanks in advance!

 

[Dawico]

Lee makes good stuff for the price. Get one of their single stage press kits and you are half way there. Stick with the full O frame and it will last you forever.

 

[Vaquero]

Ditto

 

[rushthezeppelin]

If you don't mind doing a few tweaks here and there to get it running like a top, the Lee Pro 1000 is a great way to get some speed going on your reloads while still staying on the cheap. Mine runs like a freaking champ with only a few minor annoyances on 223, really just problems with the case feed system and the priming system but they are minor and don't really slow me down. With 9mm I have no qualms whatsoever, it blows through my W231/HP38 like nobodies business.

 

[dee]

I prefer a single stage for anything to do with rifle calibers.

 

[vmax]

If you don't mind doing a few tweaks here and there to get it running like a top, the Lee Pro 1000 is a great way to get some speed going on your reloads while still staying on the cheap. Mine runs like a freaking champ with only a few minor annoyances on 223, really just problems with the case feed system and the priming system but they are minor and don't really slow me down. With 9mm I have no qualms whatsoever, it blows through my W231/HP38 like nobodies business.

yeah, if you hand prime your cases before hand and remove the decapper from your resizer, you can run the crap out of a Pro 1000, especially straight wall pistol

 

[Reaper277]

Good to know, I was thinking of going single stage to start since I'm starting with a rifle round. I have zero equipment as of right now, if I can't buy the kit and would like to buy a part here and there what would be the best order to start picking up parts

 

[Vaquero]

Good to know, I was thinking of going single stage to start since I'm starting with a rifle round. I have zero equipment as of right now, if I can't buy the kit and would like to buy a part here and there what would be the best order to start picking up parts

Books. Reloading manuals are the best investment, imho.

 

[benenglish]

Mods ought to combine the multiple threads on this topic, edit for on-topic posts only, and make it a sticky.

 

[Dawico]

Books. Reloading manuals are the best investment, imho.

Ditto.

Buy a couple and read them cover to cover. Almost everything you need to know is in there.

 

[rushthezeppelin]

Specifically get Lymans 49th. Single best reloading manual you can get and one every reloader should own. Lee's book, while it can be very opinionated, is also very good and informative.

 

[Dawico]

Specifically get Lymans 49th. Single best reloading manual you can get and one every reloader should own. Lee's book, while it can be very opinionated, is also very good and informative.

I second the vote for the Lyman's 49th. The 48th was very good also but more calibers are covered in the newer one.

 

[T-FAST]

If I could do it over I'd start with a Dillon 550b

 

[rushthezeppelin]

If I could do it over I'd start with a Dillon 550b

Forgive my criticism but I never understood why everyone has such a hardon for a "progressive" that doesn't even have an auto-indexing shellplate. If I was going dillon I would go for the SDB or the 650 and up.

 

[scap99]

Forgive my criticism but I never understood why everyone has such a hardon for a "progressive" that doesn't even have an auto-indexing shellplate. If I was going dillon I would go for the SDB or the 650 and up.

Popped my cherry on a 650....
No way I'd load pistol on anything lesser....

 

[Reaper277]

Thanks guys, I'll pick up the 49th this week and start reading

 

[T-FAST]

I just want 1 press to do my rifle and pistol reloading, for the price, the 550b makes sense to me. The XL650 would be awesome, but I just don't know if the added cost is worth it to me

 

[Andy]

I plan to mostly reload 300blk to start with, but will add 556 and pistol cals later down the line

Start looking into case-trimming for the 300 BLK; you're going to be doing a lot of brass-prep before you can load the cases.

Generally-speaking, straight-walled cases don't need to be trimmed, but bottlenecked cases stretch slightly upon firing - so they need to be trimmed back to the correct length.

 

[T-FAST]

^ Yup, I spend hours prepping my match .308 brass, but thats for a bolt gun, so I don't go through as much ammo as a semi would. Now if I was reloading for a Semi I would get a RCBS prep center

 

[Army 1911]

Forgive my criticism but I never understood why everyone has such a hardon for a "progressive" that doesn't even have an auto-indexing shellplate. If I was going dillon I would go for the SDB or the 650 and up.

The SDB won't do rifles or bottleneck pistol. It takes a propriatery die size and is therefore limiting. The 550b takes standard dies and will do rifle and bottlenecks. While it doesn't autoindex, it has the advantage of operating like a single stage for load development which makes it better than the 650 for that purpose. The 650 is a great machine and will operate faster than the 550 but not enough faster to justify the price to me. YMMV