New to reloading

[ScatterGun4015]

I have never reloaded before and I am planning on getting the "Lee Deluxe 4 hole press kit with auto indexing". I am wondering if this is a good press to start with. Is there any other Pieces of equipment I will need to start reloading.....Like a brass polisher???
Any type of info with be helpful.

David

[mmcnx2]

I reload pistol in 38super, 9, 40 and 45 and rifle in another 4-5 chambers. If you'd like to get togther it really is more of a coffee discussion verses a sentence or two response. About 10,000+ rounds a year.

Press choice is going to be very depandant on what and how much you want to reload. You'll also ned a number fo other items to do the job right to start.

Drop me an PM and if you want to meet for a cup and chat I'd be happy to get you setup.

[Bessy]

Hey David, I'm not sure what all comes in the kit. Before you order anything I suggest you do the following.
1. buy a reloading manual... infact buy two, read them both cover to cover. The hornady manual I have has a decent section on how to reload. I've heard some people here recommend "The abc's of reloading" As a good guide and tutorial. You should at least have two manuals to cross reference, the more the merrier. You will never regretted buying a reloading manual, even if you already have several.

2. Find someone in your area to mentor you. This will go a long ways toward helping you out, if you are in the Rochester area I would be more than happy to help you out. If you are in the cities I'm sure you will be able to find someone on the forums to get together with.

Now to address some of your questions.

I believe the turret press in the kit you are talking about is a decent press. It will allow you to take it slow starting out, but has a higher potential production rate than a single stage once you become proficient, it's a solid equipment choice. Are their any other pieces of equipment you will need... oh hell yeah, your mentor can help you out with this, but a brass tumbler is definitely one of these items, as are dies, a trimmer.. the list goes on and on...

I'm sure others will be along to expand on what I've written. Good luck sir and welcome to the addiction.

[Stradawhovious]

I will recommend starting on a single stage press. I did, and am extremely thankful for it. The only thing I regret is selling the single stage to help finance the Dillon. Starting with a single stage press will give you a better understanding of the basics, and force you to pay attention to all of the steps involved. After you are comfortable with the process, and know you are producing reliable, repeatable ammunition, move to a progressive. You will want to keep the single stage press for a myriad of reasons, and will use it frequently when you get more involved in reloading.

A few other questions you will need to answer in order to get any kind of usable response......

What caliber(s) will you be reloading for?

What is your intended application? (blasting ammo, match ammo etc)

How many rounds do you expect to produce in a year?

How much money do you have to spend?

etc. etc. etc.

Reloading is a fantastic hobby. I originally got into it to reload for .45 to save money. Sure the rounds cost a quarter what they used to, but now I'm shooting 5 times as much. I originally only expected to have a small press and load for one caliber. After a 2 years of loading, I now load for several calibers and the setup is taking over a large room in my house. Judging by the size of the setups from people here that have been loading for 30+ years, this is an exponential growth. Bessy gave some solid advice in recommending you buy a few manuals. He gave even better advice when he said read them from cover to cover before touching a grain of powder. this will do two things. 1. it will keep you from getting a 4 page lecture from Seismic Sam about how your are a worthless waste of flesh not fit to lick the soles of his shoes who should be put to death via salsa intoxication when you post a stupid question. (I should know, I have been on the receiving end of a few of them) 2. It will keep you from losing your hand and possible your life at the range. Take the time to search the archives here as there is a wealth of knowledge on the subject from some very experienced loaders. I know I've learned a lot, and I still have all my fingers. Have fun and be safe.

[Pat Cannon]

I have never reloaded before and I am planning on getting the "Lee Deluxe 4 hole press kit with auto indexing". I am wondering if this is a good press to start with. Is there any other Pieces of equipment I will need to start reloading.....Like a brass polisher???
Any type of info with be helpful.

David

Hi David,

That's what I got, and I think it's an excellent choice. I just got started reloading about 10 months ago myself. There's a thread about getting started here. This press was just the right balance for me: quicker & easier to use than a single stage, easier to master and feel confident with (and cheaper!) than a progressive.

The only other thing you'll really need is a set of dies for the caliber(s) you want, if that's not sold as part of the kit where you buy it. I bought mine from Midway; their kit did not include dies, so I bought my die set at Gunstop.

A brass tumbler is optional, at least at first. I had a friend who was kind enough to polish up a bunch of brass for my first batches, but I've since reloaded some of those cases without bothering to clean them. There are some guys who say they never clean their brass. The batch I'm working on now I cleaned in a solution of water, vinegar, salt and dish detergent -- it worked pretty well I thought. The only other equipment I've bought so far is a digital caliper for about $25 at Menards, and just a couple weeks ago, a bullet puller (just in case I make a mistake some day ) for about $20 at Frontiersman.

So I say, go for it!

[1911fan]

ON here are several people who have loaded TONS and I do mean 2000 pound increments of ammunition and who will be more than willing to mentor your through this process.

Really the best thing is the mentor student process followed by the holy pilgrimage to Gunstop to meet with the sage John Walton. Going with a mentor to meet John is really the best option as John will talk to you about what you want to do, what your expectations are and what he can find to meet your best needs.

finding someone who lives close enough to you to stop by at random times when you find yourself at that spot of " OK, I think I did what the book said, and I think I read it all and have everything set up right, but why am I thinking I missed something??" spot, well then, thats when the visit from your mentor who looks and doubles checks your steps, that takes the whole issue of stress right out of it.

The cheapest things you can buy are manuals from the various powder, bullet and other component manufacturers. I have a shelf full of manuals, some from the early seventies to now, all listing all sorts of various tidbits that all the others seem to miss or not describe in the best manner. If you can not buy them, borrow them one at a time from friends and copy out the pages you need now, but commit to buying a new manual with major purchase you make in the reloading process. There are also lots of free information on the net, and here, ONLY TRUST load data from real sites, like Hornady, Hodgdon, Speer, Sierra, ATK, etc, If someone says or writes this is a load I use, thats fine, but NEVER use it until you compare it against real data from manufacturers. If someone were to post that for a .270 win, 58 grains of H4831 powder was a great load under 130 grain hornady interlocks, and you say, Hmmm I shoot a .270, I wanna try this, fine, BUT FIRST!!!!!! get a manual, look it up, and find that its near max in the book and then start the procedure for working up, and that is in the manual.


Remember that you are working with very powerful things that have the potential to maim, as well as kill, blind etc, and take the safety precautions not as a hassle, but as standard practice, never work without eye protection. never work when your tired, busy, distracted, arguing with the wife, worried about where your kids are, or after having a few cocktails. Do it only when you can apply yourself.

Ask questions, their good, if you ask good questions most here will be willing to try to find you the answer. If you start asking stupid things, things clearly NOT in the manual, or start trying to work around the manual, Seismic Sam with verbally tear you a new one, but really, he's trying to do it for your own and our own good, who knows, when you decide to shoot that experimental, 5 full grains over max instead of .5 over max round, you just might be next to us at the shooting range. z

if you read the manual, follow directions, and do it right, it can be a safe, addicting, and cost effective way to shoot a lot more.

[MaddMedic]

Have to pay more attention to this thread as I am slowly getting into reloading and purchased this kit from Cabela's. http://leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/bro ... ivers.html
Now am in the process of finding a location other then the "garage" where my darlink wife feels it should be! To set it all up!!

Starting with .38 SPecial and then .32 Winchester Special for which I have 20 years of saved brass!!

[JoeH]

Youtube has some excellent videos on reloading. The ones that I found were basic in nature and covered press setup and basic pistol caliber ammo loading.

Take your time, do your research, read the data, and ask questions. Most of all, don't be in a hurry to crank up the press and get rounds down range. Be methodical.

[EJSG19]

I don't have much to add, since everyone has told you what you need to know, or at least the mindset to have with reloading.

Biggest thing that helped me get started was to actually see my caliber being reloaded. Having the whole process demonstrated in front of me cleared up a ton of questions.

Having the press itself demonstrated, or having help setting it up would have made it go MUCH faster too. I was stubborn and figured it out myself (progressive press). Which turned out fine. Only it took me a couple more phone calls to John at the Gunstop, and in the long run took much more time than if I would have asked for help.

Most importantly ask for help. You will always get good answers from the old faithful reloaders here. If they tell you that you are doing something stupid. You and all of us are doing well if we listen.

[Seismic Sam]

The Lee 4 station press can be upgraded to a progressive reloader, BUT if you go that route the Dillon is far superior to a Lee progressive. I would NEVER advocate that a complete newbie start off with a progressive press. Too many moving parts, and you can't keep track of all 4 stations at once. If you want a real buy, you can get the Lee reloading handbook for $25, and you get a single station press for free! It's perfectly servicibale and strong, and you can resize 500 Smith brass with it if you want to. Then you need a set of dies, and you should get the carbide sizing die, and Lee's prices are generally the best. You should also get the Lee Autoprimer, and the Lee powder measure, and a good beam type scale that can measure to 1/10th grain. Avoid electronic scales like the plague. You will also need a digital vernier caliper, and a kinetic bullet puller. As far as supplies, you need brass, primers, powder, and bullets. DO NOT buy any supplies until you have read ALL of the Lee manual and at least one other among: Speer #14, Hornady #7, and Nosler #6. And I mean Read the whole effen manual - every page. Do NOT turn to the caliber you want to reload and start tinkering. That is the best way to blow your ass off that there is, plus I will bite your head off on this forum, and beleive me, it hurts to be the roob of the month!!

As far as picking a caliber to begin with, 9mm or 45 ACP are good choices, as are 38, 357, or 45 Long Colt. 40 S&W is NOT a good starting choice, due to the fact that some firearms do not fully support the case, and if you screw up your crimp and make it too light, the bullet can get pushed back in the case, and then you can have a kaboom. this means the gun winds up in pieces, with the smaller ones being embedded in your hands or face.

I believe it has now been 38 years since I started reloading, and I have never used anything but a Lyman 6 station turret press. I can afford a Dillon, but I load a lot of exotic stuff, and there's really no point to being able to load 1,000 rounds of 500 S&W or 50 Action Express quickly. You're not going to go through ammo like that quickly. If you are an IDPA or IPSC shooter, you need a Dillon, period, but unless you shoot a lot, you may never need a progressive.

[Bessy]

avoid electronic scales like the plague.

Not trying to drift the thread but I have to ask why? I have an rcbs charge master... it's never given me a false reading on the scale (had it for two years). I've heard of some guys getting false readings.. but that's generally attributed to dirty power... which is why have a heavy duty voltage regulator between mine and the wall. I have an rcbs gravity scale I use to spot check the digital of course, but the digital scale has been a real time saver especially for trickling.

You sure you aren't just old and scared of the electronics?

[EJSG19]

Fire in the hole!

[Bessy]

Fire in the hole!

I'm just asking a question, I realize Sam has been around for a while, he probably has good reason for thinking the way he does, I'm curious to what that is. The poke at his age is to aggravate him enough to actually answer the question rather than going to back to watching matlock... and falling asleep in the recliner.

[Stradawhovious]

If you want a real buy, you can get the Lee reloading handbook for $25, and you get a single station press for free!

Is this still available? If so, where?

[DeanC]

It used to be $25, but since that long-legged, purple-lipped devil from Chicago got into office, inflation has hit: http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?p ... ber=480380

(I have one and yes, it actually works.)