If you were to start reloading today?

[Steve300xcw]

Thanks for the heads up on this, Ill probably skip the 9mm for now and just focus on the rifle cartridges. I sometimes forget how cheap a box of 9mm is compared to any of my rifle ammo.

Handgun..I load for 45,44 an 357. 9mm gets bought by the case from whoever has the best deal

 

[Dirty-D]

I started with a second hand Dillon 550 about 20 years ago for low pressure 40 and 45 rounds for IPSC/USPSA. It was nice because it had lots of upgrades someone else who was willing to teach me the ropes so I got a set-up and a process to match. I was shooting 100k+ a year back then, before life, wife, children took over…

I’m now doing hunting ammo with a Forster co-ax, am learning a lot of what I need, what works for me, and how to balance cost vs. utility.

My biggest issue now is getting powder from the 8# tub into the redding 50PR thrower, and back into the bottle without little grains all over my space!!!

Currently working on loads for 300WSM with H4350. The big 36 hour Texas freeze/Ice storm of 2026 allowed me to build up ladders with 3 different bullets. Time to shoot!

 

[streamerfish]

You mentioned the starline brass and that got me thinking. How many reloads do people get out of higher end brass vs the cheaper hornady brass? Is it 4-5 on higher end stuff and more like 2-3 out of the hornady brass usually?

Depends on what your shooting, how your sizing etc...

Creedmoors I've been seeing as many as 7 without trimming. I usually get 5/6. Considering starline is around 60 cents each, when im down around 10-12 cents per brass after 5-6 loads im good. Your gonna need 12 loads out of lapua to get the same roi.

Something that is notorious for growing like a 300 win mag maybe just a couple.

Reloading becomes pretty fast when you have no brass prep, and your powder throws take a few seconds.

 

[Gila]

You do not absolutely need a headspace gauge if you use a full length resizing die. But it is a good idea to bump the shoulder back .002” to avoid over working the brass. Annealing every firing would offset the stretching some, but only to a certain degree.

If you are constrained by action/chamber or magazine length then COAL is the only parameter that matters and you wouldn’t use a bullet comparator. However if shooting a heavy for caliber bullet with a high BC, then the CBTO or just CBO parameter becomes important to measure seating depth. That’s where the bullet comparator comes into play. Depends on the cartridge and the rifle.

 

[Luked]

I have been down this rabbit hole also.
I started reloading years ago for mainly handguns. Then got more into the rifles. The first round for me reloading I just bought a RCBS Rock Chucker kit. And it worked fine for what I was doing.
Then life changed and I sold it all off.

Then life changed again and I got back into it. This was about 3 years ago. Then I got where I was shooting a lot and this time I pretty much pieced all my stuff together instead of buying a kit.
Bought a single Stage press. Elect Powder Throw, Better priming tool. Nice case trimmer. Alum funnel to pour powder etc.
At this point I also now have 2 presses set up that are ready to go.
I load for about 8 different rifles as well as about 5 Handguns. I have more stuff now than I did back then, but I knew enough about it to be able to be more selective on what I bought.

The Kits are great to get you started. But you will end up upgrading some of the stuff that is in the kit. And there are a lot of things in the kits that you dont use. I have 2-3 of the case lube trays that have never been used. I use Hornaday One shot spray case lube.
Just small stuff like that. But the Press, powder Measure, and powder throw will be used from the kit.

And honestly that is part of the fun of it, at least for me. Always chasing the next fun shiny thing

 

[Gila]

Lee has some good dies and presses. I bought a Lee Classic 4-hole turret press, no kit. It’s really a progressive press, only the turret moves as there is no base plate with multiple shell holders. A pull of the handle advances the turret to the next station. I have case activation dies for the powder measure. Priming is on press also. To change calibers, just snap in another turret. Turrets go for about $10-12 each. I do not have case or bullet feeders.

If I am doing precision rifle, I just pull the indexing arm and turn the turret by hand to the next station. I also mounted a manual powder measure to the stand. I use two digital scales, thumb trickler on the primary scale. If both scales are within .1 gr of each other, the powder charge gets funneled into the case. When both scales don’t jive, I calibrate and zero both scales. Beam scales are not susceptible to EMI like the digital scales are. For my process, I have found it to be more efficient to dump the powder into all of the cases I want to load in that session. Then move to the press and seat bullets.

One thing I didn’t consider when I started was a bullet puller. You will need one from the start, guaranteed. The hammer type works but if you need to pull a dozen or so, you will probably want to go to a collet die. I have a Hornady which works ok but I have to change the collet for most calibers. If I could find a better one, I would spent the money. I am the odd man out for one shot…I use Redding sizing die wax. One tin lasts forever. I wear gloves when reloading anyway. Some make their own with a lanolin mix.

 

[Cap'n Bruce]

I've recently geared up myself and lots of good advice here. I was patient and bought most of what I have on the second hand market. I think the Frankford Arsenal case prep station in invaluable. If it goes down, I'll likely replace it immediately with the same or similar. I don't have an electronic trickler/scale setup but I would like one.