Help with new reloading press and setup needed

[wind gypsy]

zip lock bag or box store plastic bag and spray > lube pad.

 

[Castle Rock]

Consolidated several posts to one list for my own sanity
Press
Dies (seating and sizing)
Scale and dispenser
Case trimmer
Tumbler with media separator
Priming tool
Annealer
Shell holder
Calipers
Bullet Comparator
Headspace comparator
21st Century expander mandrels
Deburring tool
Primer pocket cutting tools
Lube pad and lube
zip lock bag or box store plastic bag and spray > lube pad.

You really don’t need half that shit

 

[z987k]

You really don’t need half that shit

Agreed.

 

[HiMtnHntr]

You don’t need anything fancy. As far as the general setup make sure your bench is high enough assuming you’ll be standing. I made mine a few inches over waist height and also put a pad down to stand on that my wife used when she did hair. Much better than standing on concrete.

You’ll discover your own preferences as far as equipment once you do it a few times. Everyone has their own method.

 

[SwiftShot]

2 things I wish I had purchased earlier. 1 a rock chucker press. There are a bunch of good presses out now and the one I started with was not bad. It was the Lee starter press. The rock chucker is just nicer. I do like the newer presses with led lights on them. Make seeing so much easier. The 2nd thing is Quick Load computer program. I have tons of reloading manuals and they work but are limited in data. You can also get lots of free info from phone apps like Hornady ect. Anyway Quick Load is awesome. Especially with not your favorite powd6as availability is still an issue. It just has all the data you could want. It gave me the info I needed to make my 308 subsonic so I can really smoke hogs suppressed.

 

[peterk123]

If you are planning on rifle only, I agree with others about the rock chucker. I've been reloading for over fifteen years now but only recently purchased one. Inexpensive, reliable and consistent. Wish I got one years ago. I started off on a Lee turret press. It worked well for 9mm and other pistol rounds. I quickly moved to a progressive press, hornady lock n load. Love this thing. I can crank out rounds with it. I also used it as a single stage for rifle up until last year. I bought the rock chucker mainly for depriming but soon learned I got more consistent seating for my rifle rounds. So I've moved over all rifle dies to the rock chucker. Even 223 because I'm not mag dumping with my ar. I'm going for accuracy.

As for other components, try to keep it simple at first. I always go for the bare minimum, adding things over time as I perfect the things I'm doing and as I search for more accuracy. But I think there is a point of diminishing returns unless you are precision shooter.

 

[benconfused]

How does the Rock Chukar compare to the Mec Marksman?

 

[cmahoney]

How does the Rock Chukar compare to the Mec Marksman?

I have both, same loads have less run out with the MEC. Id say it’s a step up from the standard rock chukar. But they are both great presses.


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[benconfused]

I have both, same loads have less run out with the MEC. Id say it’s a step up from the standard rock chukar. But they are both great presses.


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I was thinking MEC for bullet loading and something like a rock chukar for necking down and primer loading. I'm trying to avoid handheld based squeezing tools for some of this stuff.

 

[cmahoney]

I was thinking MEC for bullet loading and something like a rock chukar for necking down and primer loading. I'm trying to avoid handheld based squeezing tools for some of this stuff.

I use the rcbs bench primer, I prefer using it over a hand priming tool.


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[benconfused]

I use the rcbs bench primer, I prefer using it over a hand priming tool.


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That's the one I was looking at until I saw the Derraco primer lite tool.

 

[BigGrinner]

I have in cart so far:

Press
Dies (seating and sizing)
Scale and dispenser
Case trimmer
Tumbler with media separator
Priming tool
Annealer
Shell holder

What am I missing

I'd hold off on the annealer til you get a little further down the road with reloading.
Between all the members here, post kind of what you're looking for and we might have some good used stuff that we've upgraded from to help you out for little $ compared to new. I've got a good trickler (you will need) if you want it for the cost of shipping.

 

[griff383]

What he said ^

Focus on the basics and build your skills. Besides, you can anneal for basically nothing with a torch and a deep wall socket (or a pan of water).

 

[cole96]

Agreed.

10-4. Reading makes you have a never ending list of I’ve been going through it and removing a few items already

 

[Woolley Bugger]

Consolidated several posts to one list for my own sanity
Press
Dies (seating and sizing)
Scale and dispenser
Case trimmer
Tumbler with media separator
Priming tool
Annealer
Shell holder
Calipers
Bullet Comparator
Headspace comparator
21st Century expander mandrels
Deburring tool
Primer pocket cutting tools
Lube pad and lube
zip lock bag or box store plastic bag and spray > lube pad.

I'm relatively new to this, so I'll welcome any corrections, but 3 inexpensive things I consider necessities that might be missing are:
Decapping die
Neck brush to lube the inside of the necks
Bullet puller. I have both the inertial hammer type, which is great for disassembling pistol rounds. I also have the collet die system. I can't for the life of me figure out how to use it without marring pistol bullets, but it works well on rifle bullets

A couple of nice to haves
I have the Frankford case prep station, which might consolidate a few of the items above. It's more expensive but nice to have a 1 stop shop
I've been playing around with the Hornady length gauge (you also need to buy modified casings for each caliber). I got it relatively recently, so can't say yet if knowing the exact jump to rifling will practically improve the accuracy of my loads.

I have the RCBS Rock Chucker, which is great. In retrospect, I might have gotten a turret press, because I'm a little OCD about adjusting the die each time I screw it in. I guess I could lock the rings on and trust the repeatability.

RCBS has a great instructional video series. It's well worth watching and just buying the stuff they use in the basic process.

 

[nm.otter]

Thread 'Painless load development (mine)'

Oct 25, 2021

I have had multiple people ask me to lay out how I do load development being that what I do is different. Since Shaen @Shooter71 just rebarreled a Tikka 595 in 6XC I thought it would be easy to show how I do it. It’s a Master Sporter with a T3 lite profiled 20” barrel- keep in mind it is a T3 LITE barrel. So by conventional “wisdom” it should be more picky and less accurate than a heavy barrel. His work is shoddy (), but I bet I can overcome it.

The rifle-


First was @Unknown Munitions factory load with 105gr Berger Hybrids. 5 rounds to zero, 5 for a...

• Formidilosus
• Replies: 1,155
• Forum: Reloading

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[Torque]

I've had several different presses. The MEC, Co-Ax, and Nexus are all superior presses to the Chucker and have, for me, given better results. The Chucker is a good press, but after using them, the others are better.

I do not prime on the press. It is incredibly annoying to me.

The mechanical advantage of the Co-Ax and Nexus compared to the Chucker is significant. The MEC has the smoothest and most balanced stroke I have used on a press.

 

[Flack]

I’d just check Facebook marketplace and see what’s available and start making offers on whatever looks like it’s in good shape. I got a Lee Classic 4 hole turret press with a lot of extras to get me up and running for like $80 off of Craigslist like 15 years ago. Still use it to build sub .5 moa ammo for my rifles. I see decent deals in my area on fb marketplace on Lee presses, rock checkers, hornady lol, etc regularly. A reloading press isn’t something that suffers from being used properly. Just make sure it’s it’s not rusted out and comes with all the parts (or get a smoking deal and buy the parts it needs)

 

[Banded Dux]

I'm relatively new to this, so I'll welcome any corrections, but 3 inexpensive things I consider necessities that might be missing are:
Decapping die
Neck brush to lube the inside of the necks
Bullet puller. I have both the inertial hammer type, which is great for disassembling pistol rounds. I also have the collet die system. I can't for the life of me figure out how to use it without marring pistol bullets, but it works well on rifle bullets

A couple of nice to haves
I have the Frankford case prep station, which might consolidate a few of the items above. It's more expensive but nice to have a 1 stop shop
I've been playing around with the Hornady length gauge (you also need to buy modified casings for each caliber). I got it relatively recently, so can't say yet if knowing the exact jump to rifling will practically improve the accuracy of my loads.

I have the RCBS Rock Chucker, which is great. In retrospect, I might have gotten a turret press, because I'm a little OCD about adjusting the die each time I screw it in. I guess I could lock the rings on and trust the repeatability.

RCBS has a great instructional video series. It's well worth watching and just buying the stuff they use in the basic process.

Good advice here... Go with a power case trimmer to start. I made that mistake and trimmed 150 cases on an LE Wilson trimmer and immediately replaced with a FA case prep center. Also consolidated chamfer/deburring tools that ended up scattered across my bench top

 

[6.5notcreedmore]

I literally started with a rock chucker kit. It absolutely comes with everything that you have to have to get started. That being said I would get as nice of a powder dispenser as you can afford, being able to get consistent powder charges will yield the best results. After that the next upgrade would probably need to be a good set of calipers and bullet comparator, you are going to want to get a consistent shoulder bump and bullet seating depth. And on a final note I disagree with everyone that says to wait on getting an annealer. Brass is the most expensive part in the recipe and you absolutely will get extra shots on each casing when properly annealed especially on the 28 nosler.


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