Best Caliber to Start Reloading?

[farmerj]

I'd echo the mentor recommendation long before you buy a manual or a press.

Watch them, ask question, see what they have and what they read. Ask to borrow.

It's a going to be a substantial investment even for a single stage. The press is just a minor part of the investment.

[meddin]

Thanks for the info guys!

Hmmm. I may be looking for a mentor here soon.

[Seismic Sam]

Contrary to what some seem to imply, reloading is not rocket science or require a university degree to do safely and well. Also, I usually recommend that new reloaders work with a mentor for a while. Sometimes, despite what Sam says, reading a manual does not make clear what a simple hands on description will do for you.

I have never implied that reloading is rocket science or needs a college degree. But it IS a hobby that is horribly intolerant, and perhaps lethally so, of any lack of attention to detail or due diligence in learning and practicing 100.0000% correct operating procedures, and thinking 99.9% is okay will gauarantee you something bad will happen once in the first thousand rounds. Having a mentor is a very good (if not the best) option to get into handloading, but if you can't find somebody to nursemaid you through all the gotchas and possible pitfalls and mistakes, then it boils down to two choices: RTFM, and then RAFM, and study like hell, because you're making stuff that goes BOOM! at 20,00 PSI to 65,000 PSI, or just skim the data page for that caliber you want, and roll the dice when you pull the trigger. When I got into reloading in early 1972, there were no mentors, and no personal computers much less an internet, and no John-Boys. The guys at Tecto sporting goods were nice enough, but they didn't reload themselves, so you were completely on your own, as was everybody else at the time. There were NO illusions that anbody but YOURSELF was responsible for doing it right. And I would maintain that allowing for the possibility that somebody else will teach you everything and every pitfall you may encounter so you don't have to pay attention quite so much is not necessarily a good thing. It may be a VERY good thing if you find a John-Boy, who knows all the horror stories and will make sure you stay scared enough to pay attention, but I don't see a lot of difference between relinquishing part of your responsibility for learning as much as you can on your own and relinquishing part of your responsibility for protecting yourself and/or your family, and hoping there's a non-busy cop nearby. 100% personal responsibility is 100% personal responsibility.

[meddin]

Well, I bought the Hornady manual yesterday, and have begun my studies .

After I have finished reading the instruction portion a couple of times, I will look toward equipment. Would the RCBS Rock Chucker Mater Kit be a good start? Single stage, and comes with the Speer manual to boot. Or is that overkill to begin with?

[Seismic Sam]

The Speer manual would NOT be overkill in any shape or way, but you should also compare the price of the single stage kit to a kit with a turret press... What's the price differential, assuming all the other goodies are the same, more or less..

[Shipyard]

Well, I bought the Hornady manual yesterday, and have begun my studies .

After I have finished reading the instruction portion a couple of times, I will look toward equipment. Would the RCBS Rock Chucker Mater Kit be a good start? Single stage, and comes with the Speer manual to boot. Or is that overkill to begin with?

in all seriousness, get the $40 bundle from lee that has a manual and the cheapest single stage press on earth. this is what i started with and i STILL use that little cheapie press as a dedicated FCD press when i'm loading up my 44 magnums.

plus, if you get bored with it or don't like it, i'll take it for $20 can't go wrong.

if i could get into the midway site at work i'd shoot you the link. also, i feel i'm getting banned soon....

[stoneboat]

Of the cartridges listed I'd say go with the 357 magnum. Use magnum powders like H110, 296 or Accurate #9. You can't double charge the case with these powders because it would overfill the case. I think it's better to start with rimmed cartridges and crimping the bullet in its crimp grove. (compared to getting the correct amount crimp on rimless pistol cases).

Get the Hornaday 38/357 New Demension dies and you can use this set two cartridges.

[OldmanFCSA]

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[xd9]

I have never implied that reloading is rocket science or needs a college degree. But it IS a hobby ..........

Me thinks Sam has this response in his quick recall file JUST for these threads...

[yuppiejr]

I started reloading .45 Auto earlier this year and ventured into .380.... I think the .45 is a better option starting out, not a whole lot of difference between min-max powder loadings in the .380 and I found the smaller components slightly more futzy to deal with. Go slow, follow the recipes to the letter (I copied the "recipe" for the powder/bullet combo I was using onto a post-it note and stuck it in about 3 places on my bench) and check your powder weight, OAL and primer seating depth for each cartridge you build and there is no reason you should not produce perfect and consistent ammunition right out of the gate.

One thing I haven't heard anyone mention before is to consider calibrating/testing your scale and calipers with items of known dimension and weight before you use the equipment to load anything. Following the published recipes are not going to do any good if you "won" the statistics lottery and got some bad/out of spec equipment and don't discover it until you pull the trigger the first time on a reloaded cartridge that's been over-charged because of a bum scale, etc..

[farmerj]

One thing I haven't heard anyone mention before is to consider calibrating/testing your scale and calipers with items of known dimension and weight before you use the equipment to load anything. Following the published recipes are not going to do any good if you "won" the statistics lottery and got some bad/out of spec equipment and don't discover it until you pull the trigger the first time on a reloaded cartridge that's been over-charged because of a bum scale, etc..

Good point. Having a set of standards should be on everyones list of "must have's" for the bench. I tend to use a 178 gr .30 cal bullet. I look more to see that it is 178 gr and consistent more than anything. I don't have the one I started with anymore, but it was always on.