Maybe starting reloading from scratch

[dirtbag]

Hi lads, with my new house imminent and with a nice big loft area. I will now have the space to start reloading.

This is a completely new area for me, so I would like some advice on what I need and how much etc please.



DB

[ovenpaa]

About time as well!

What are you going to start with or will it be 54R, 7.92 and .303 all in one big rush?

[dirtbag]

About time as well!

What are you going to start with or will it be 54R, 7.92 and .303 all in one big rush?

Hi mate, I have 100's of 7.92 & 54R PPU bras, so they will be 1st. Then 30.06, 308,223.
577/450 I would like to get up and running too

[Alpha1]

Do not rush into it. Do not rush out and buy lots of stuff that you will never use.
Take advice before you buy any thing.
Ask on the forum members may have kit they will sell you to save you money.
The first thing you need is a good re loading press. A digital or beam scale to weigh your powder I have both but I prefer to use the beam scale.
A powder measure and a powder trickler.
You must have a method of measuring your COL So you need a dial caliper thingy.
For starters I would recomend
A Lee cast single station press.
A RCBS powder measure.
Any brand of trickler oh and a lee powder funnel.
A honady powder scale.
A lube pad and some bullet lube or a tin of wax.

LATER ON YOU WILL NEED A METHOD OF TRIMMING YOUR CASES ETC
I am sure other people will have other ideas.

[idge]

i think if i were gonna start from scratch i would just buy one of the RCBS rock chucker kits that are on the market , although you would have to pay about £350 ish you would be getting everything you need for reloading (apart from the dies) and the quality of RCBS is very good , i have seen the rock chucker press and is a nice bit of kit .

i dont think it is worth buying the cheaper stuff if there is good quality out there at a reasonable price , thats my theory anyway .

good luck :geek: :)

[Alpha1]

The rock chucker is a good press.
The hornady scale is a better piece of kit than the rcbs one.
I dont like the rcbs priming tool and there are better re loading manuals to be had than the rcbs one.
But if you have £350 to spare its worth a look. But I personally would not buy the kit.

[ovenpaa]

I use both Lee and RCBS and prefer the RCBS. I use a lee classic cast iron press which works very well for me. Dies - for normal stuff Lee are good and for precision stuff Forster is excellent.

Powders - well you are spoilt for choice, personally I like Vectan in the .303 and it is a sensible price but you will never go far wrong with Viht, choose something that is readily available in your area, I use FRS on occasion and they have a good stock of Viht and Lapua.

[Dangermouse]

As you are potentially going to be moving a lot of dies around of different calibres make some enquiries into the benefits of a turret press. With a turret press you can lock all your dies of the same calibre into the same top plate, which will help prevent losing your settings and help keep all your dies together in the correct sets.
I am not familiar with all your calibres but I suggest that you think about how you are going to keep all your brass separate from each other, the last thing you want to do is break a bit of equipment trying to force something somewhere it should not be going - and of course the worst case example is it getting in your chamber.

DM

[Dougan]

I'm relativly new to reloading myself, so can't offer detailed advice (have got some excellent advice on this forum though :) )

Other than all the things already listed, I found a kinetic hammer (bullet puller) very useful at the start

[dirtbag]

I'm relativly new to reloading myself, so can't offer detailed advice (have got some excellent advice on this forum though :) )

Other than all the things already listed, I found a kinetic hammer (bullet puller) very useful at the start

Thanks all for your support, all been taken in !

Gonna go check out some of this stuff now