Bad plan to get started?

[Hschweers]

I don’t reload, but I really want to. I keep making excuses that I don’t have $1,000+ to drop on beginner equipment and some materials.

I have about 250 once fired 308 cases, ~80 6.5 prc once fired, and 100 new 6.5 prc cases. I’m thinking if I buy one piece at a time, starting from the beginning, it won’t be as hard of a pill to swallow, and might be willing to buy better equipment first time around. Meaning: buy a hand depriming tool. Over the course of a few days/weeks (whenever I find time) I can deprime all of the once fired. Few weeks later when that’s done buy a tumbler. Get around to cleaning all of the once fired cases I have. Few weeks later buy a trimmer, then a priming tool, etc. Eventually buy it all, but spread it out so it doesn’t hurt as badly.

Is this a bad idea? I figure I can keep an eye out for components throughout the whole process since those will be the hardest to acquire. I’ve looked at the starter kits, but they don’t come with the equipment to prepare once fired (tumblers, trimmers, etc) and I feel like I’d only want to use like half of the stuff it does come with after a short period of time anyway. Whatcha think?

 

[keystone112]

Never a bad idea to reload.

When you get a scale, make sure it’s electronic. I wasted a lot of time trying to create accurate loads with a balance beam powder scale.

 

[11boo]

Check pawn shops for a press. I got a nice Lyman for 40 bucks.

don’t be tempted to cheap out on a powder scale. Good electronic ones start at 250. Yeah, there are little ones that are 30 bucks, and are crap.

 

[moxford]

You don't need thousands to get started.

Buy one of these: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1013017131 and a universl decapper die.

Then your 308 dies.

Find a used beam scale, they are cheap and accurate. Cheap electronic ones suck. Start with a beam scale, dipper, and trickler.

RCBS hand primer with tray.

Your volume will be low-ish with the hand press, but it will get you started, learning the process, does not take up space since you don't even needa a bench, and it will help keep mistakes from happening by slowing you down and making it more deliberate. That press is useful at the range even after you have a bigger press and other tools, so not bad to have long term.

Cheers,
-mox

 

[moxford]

Also, skip the tumbler. Brush necks with nylon brush, ignore insides, wipe down outside with a rag, hand clean pocket with nylon cleaner. Seriously. It does not need to be pretty to work great.

And never a bad idea to spread it out. No hurry for any of it. Worst that hapens is that you shoot more factory in the mean time. /shrug

 

[A382DWDZQ]

Go for it. Keep an eye on classifieds here and local for used gear. Use WTB as well, I have a lot of stuff that I would sell but don’t list because it’s common and doesn’t sell. I’ve got two rock chuckers for sale right now, $100ea, but they are expensive to ship. I have a box of dies from a yard sale that just sit by the bench…picked them up for like $20ea. Check on eBay also, I’ve gotten deals there.

 

[Rufus]

I started reloading over 30 years ago. Started with hand gun ammo, then added rifle and now also do some shotgun ammo. Went I first started I had zero money. I asked my family for a Lee Anniversary reloading kit for Christmas one year so I could have my own stuff. It included a cheap press, scale, powder dump, case trimmer and a few other things. I reloaded many thousands of handgun and rifle ammo on that setup. The ammo I made was always better than I could shoot, more accurate than I was. I think it was around $100 back then. I always planned on upgrading to either an RCBS rockchucker or a Lyman press. Never ended up being able to. I still use that setup and it still works great. Teaching my kids how to use it now.

Morale of the story….buy the best that you can, but keep it in perspective. Make sure you have plenty of money around for powder, primers and bullets. It’s a great hobby and will make you a better shooter.

 

[11boo]

Careful man. I started the same way.

 

[Hschweers]

You don't need thousands to get started.

Buy one of these: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1013017131 and a universl decapper die.

Then your 308 dies.

Find a used beam scale, they are cheap and accurate. Cheap electronic ones suck. Start with a beam scale, dipper, and trickler.

RCBS hand primer with tray.

Your volume will be low-ish with the hand press, but it will get you started, learning the process, does not take up space since you don't even needa a bench, and it will help keep mistakes from happening by slowing you down and making it more deliberate. That press is useful at the range even after you have a bigger press and other tools, so not bad to have long term.

Cheers,
-mox

Never even considered this, but I see how convenient it would be at the range. Also no bulk, which is nice cause my hobby room is pretty tight as is. I just watched a video on it and it looks quite simple. Thanks!

 

[Hschweers]

Thanks all! Okay, so a vote to nix the tumbler.

Is my list of what I NEED below complete?

Hand press
Decapper
Case trimmer
Hand priming unit
Scale
308 & 6.5 PRC dies (sizing die and seating/crimping die at a minimum?)
Tray

Is that it? Is that all that is absolutely required?

 

[11boo]

I would recommend a bench mounted press, on a sturdy bench. I have not tried that hand held press, but we had one sitting in the “free stuff” box at the gun club. Sat there for 18 months.

 

[DakotaBPNW]

Thanks all! Okay, so a vote to nix the tumbler.

Is my list of what I NEED below complete?

Hand press
Decapper
Case trimmer
Hand priming unit
Scale
308 & 6.5 PRC dies (sizing die and seating/crimping die at a minimum?)
Tray

Is that it? Is that all that is absolutely required?

Your full length sizing die will have a decapping pin in it. Get a Lee challenger single stage press over the hand press. Any single stage press will make great ammo. I’d start with a balance beam scale, a set of Lee dipper spoons and a hand trickler. It’s slow; but that’s a good thing. Your initial venture into reloading should be about learning the process and verifying each step.

 

[Erict]

A micrometer/caliper/micro measuring device will be very useful.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

You need a real press. Micrometer is a nice to have, calipers are essential.

Case trimmer may or may not be essential, the calipers will answer that question over time.

 

[JFK]

You can keep it very simple and load ammo that’s better than factory. A lot of it depends on not being lazy and having a solid process. That said, you will want the right tools for the job. Your plan of buying things slowly isn’t horrible, but I wouldn’t start doing any type of reloading work until you have all the stuff in house and have a working understanding of each tool. Spend money on a decent caliper and scale. Those are the two pieces of equipment that can lead to dangerous conditions if they aren’t reading correctly.

 

[Mikido]

I started recently, $500 in material and I’m churning 2 calibers. Deals are to be found. YouTube is your friend.

My only advice, good enough is much cheaper than good.

 

[Gila]

That’s what I did. I didn’t buy a kit, just figured out what I wanted to use. If you are doing precision rifle then it is a one at a time manual operation. Case prep is 80% of the effort. I threw money away on three mistakes: cheap calipers, cheap ball micrometer and cheap dies. For calipers I eventually ended up with some Mitutoyo stainless for about 150 bones. You will want a bullet comparator and a headspace gauge for your calipers. The RCBS ball micrometer seems to be a good buy. I went with Hornady match dies for two calibers, but wish I had went with the Redding S-type dies. The Hornady full resize bushing die is okay, but the seating die stinks.

You will come to appreciate a universal de-capping die. Once you have on press priming, you probably won’t want to fool with a hand primer. I may go with an auto powder measure some day. For now I have a cheap lee thrower that gets me in the ball park and then I just trickle in the exact amount. Time consuming but still very accurate. I bought a cheap Forster tumbler kit for about $50 with a bucket included. Just the simple dry cob or walnut shell media takes off the sizing wax and cleans the cases up in about an hour.

 

[Hschweers]

That’s what I did. I didn’t buy a kit, just figured out what I wanted to use. If you are doing precision rifle then it is a one at a time manual operation. Case prep is 80% of the effort. I threw money away on three mistakes: cheap calipers, cheap ball micrometer and cheap dies. For calipers I eventually ended up with some Mitutoyo stainless for about 150 bones. You will want a bullet comparator and a headspace gauge for your calipers. The RCBS ball micrometer seems to be a good buy. I went with Hornady match dies for two calibers, but wish I had went with the Redding S-type dies. The Hornady full resize bushing die is okay, but the seating die stinks.

You will come to appreciate a universal de-capping die. Once you have on press priming, you probably won’t want to fool with a hand primer. I may go with an auto powder measure some day. For now I have a cheap lee thrower that gets me in the ball park and then I just trickle in the exact amount. Time consuming but still very accurate. I bought a cheap Forster tumbler kit for about $50 with a bucket included. Just the simple dry cob or walnut shell media takes off the sizing wax and cleans the cases up in about an hour.

Your die comments have sent me down a die rabbit hole all day. I don’t know what I don’t know. Here I was thinking go buy the proper dies for your cartridge and get to it, but that’s a whole other world/debate.

I like the idea of the micrometer seating dies (forster, Redding, etc). That makes sense to me.

I don’t understand FL sizing, neck sizing, crimping, bushings, neck tension, etc. If I just went with a Redding premium series 2 die set (FL sizing and micrometer seating) would I leave a lot to be desired? My goals aren’t crazy, as my primary goal is to load bullets I’m not currently able to shoot from factory. I think 1/2” at 100y and consistent velocity for drop calls is all I’m chasing right now. Would FL sizing (with whatever neck tension that creates) and the micrometer seating die be able to reasonably achieve that?

 

[NRA4LIFE]

You can buy a Rock Chucker Supreme kit for less than $500, that and a couple die sets will get you rolling. Of course, then there's primers, powders and bullets.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

How many shots in that 1/2" group?

This is a 10 shot group I loaded on my lock and load ap using redding type s full length sizing die, powder charge dispensed by my chargemaster and bullet seated using a forster micrometer seating die



On that same press, I also load 223 using standard rcbs dies and throwing the ball powder from the Hornady powder measure, the picture below has 5 different powder charges at 100 yards while I was looking for pressure.

If these would work for you, i can post my full equipment list.