Personally, I'd recommend not buying a kit....like 90% of what I do I've pieced together because it works for me better. Most stuff I got as a kit I wound up piecing out and selling off.
Edit: two things though. 1 --- if you can find it, then either works because availability is tough now. 2 --- if you wanted to piece it out, then Hornady might be better because they usually offer a mail in rebate of some kind, but they haven't released the 2021 promo yet.
Edit: two things though. 1 --- if you can find it, then either works because availability is tough now. 2 --- if you wanted to piece it out, then Hornady might be better because they usually offer a mail in rebate of some kind, but they haven't released the 2021 promo yet.
My brother has a LNL and he says it is finicky and needs a lot of attention/tinkering. I don’t know as I have never used one. He watched me load a bunch of 9mm on my Dillon 550 and was amazed at how much more efficient it was compared to his press. If you can save up the extra cash go with a Dillon. Each pull of the handle generates a completed round. Insert cleaned brass and add a bullet at the right stage and a finished round drops into the bucket without touching the brass.
I agree with the post about buying individual components instead of a kit. You will learn a lot more about how the press works and in the event of a problem you can solve it quickly.
I agree with the post about buying individual components instead of a kit. You will learn a lot more about how the press works and in the event of a problem you can solve it quickly.
If I were to piece together a kit, what do you suggest in terms of starting out? My extent of knowledge in regards to reloading is minimal at best.
Yeah, I would love to get the Dillon if I can find one. I'm a buy once, cry once kinda guy.
So I'll speak to what I use when I got through my process. Typically I reload single-stage because I do a bunch of big bore crap and prefer them one at a time.
1. Some kind of a press with a universal decap die. I like RCBS for this, but LEE would work as well. Just something to poke the primers out of brass from the range. I do this first, so I don't want my dies getting funky with range dirt, grit etc.
2. Tumbler/Ultrasonic. This is a preferential thing I suppose, but depending, I'll do an ultrasonic bath, which does real well (I used a Hornady 2L IIRC) but then I'll dry the cases and run them through a tumbler to get a nice second clean and polish.
3. Trays to hold cartridges when you are working. Almost any will do unless you have some big crap like Lapua or 500S&W.
4. Case prep stuff. I'll just put a list here. Some way to trim, chamfer, deburr, ream primer pockets, etc etc. I do this different than most I'm sure. I got a mini lathe and a drill chuck adapter. Then I can use the jaws to clamp onto a lee case trimmer, primer pocket cleaner, etc etc for whatever I want to do. I got it for less than the cost of a Lyman case prep center or something similar. I'm never had issues with Lee case prep products for case trimming, but I also use RCBS a lot here too.
5. Dies -- You'll need these here. I just use Hornady because they've always been fine for me (and you get a box of 100 bullets with their purchase via mail in rebate if they bring it back this year). I've also got RCBS, Pacific, etc etc. The question would be if you got carbide dies that would allow you to skip case lube if desired. I don't have fancy dancy dies except in the case of my 9mm. So long story short, I use case lube. What I do here is a mix of lanolin oil and 90% isopropyl in a spray bottle. Works great, and is much cheaper than fancy stuff.
6. Press - Lots of ways to go here. If you could get a 650 that'd be super cool. I have a couple of Lee Breech Lock Challenger presses that work well, and an antique Texan single stage as well. I am on the lookout for a turret or progressive though to do for more "common calibers" rather than these small batch fancy dancy calibers I use.
7. Good Die locks rings. To me, these are important. Once you get something dialed in you want it to stay there. Doesn't have to be a fancy brand, just has to work.
8. Powder and primers and bullets are important.
7. Calipers --- I have a few types. Gear Wrench, Mitutoyo, Amazon special. Just make sure they go to .000 inches. I have digital and analogue, but tend to use the Gear Wrench digital. You'll want good quality measurements.
9. Powder measure. Again, lots of ways you can go here. I have an old fashioned dropper, but tend to use a digital. The one I have is a Hornady Auto Charge. I wouldn't get it again. It's kind of +/- .1 (sometimes .2) grains. And I like my tolerances tighter. It's convenient to get it close but I weight/adjust each change manually on an AWS milligram scale.
10. More seating dies (optional) - If you might be doing different seating depths then it might be good to get extra seating dies so that you can lock in a measurement on one and experiment on the other.
11. A kinetic hammer, RCBS collet puller or some other method to pull bullets apart. I like my RCBS puller a lot --- much quieter and more wife-friendly than a kinetic hammer. For the base + all the collets I needed I'm in it for like $120 versus the 20 of a hammer though. But $100 is cheap for a happier wife.
12. REALLY GOOD LOAD BOOKS. They don't have to be the newest as long as they have the data for your caliber. But try to get newer if available. More books the better. I compare load data across books for reference. The Hodgdon reloading website is a gold mine of data though. I do NOT recommend getting electronic books here. If SHTF then you want paper books.
I'm probably missing a lot of stuff here, but that's hopefully some basics to get going. Note that I'm not an uber precision guy. My stuff turns out how I want it and I make improvements here and there where and when I can. Out of the whole list, where I'd spend most is the best press you can get and the best powder measure you can get. If I had to spend money on a powder measure right now I'd likely go with the RCBS Chargemaster (and still have the AWS scale secondary). Remember, it doesn't matter how good your prep is, you'll blow your toys up with too much powder, and can screw things up just as bad if there's too little.
1. Some kind of a press with a universal decap die. I like RCBS for this, but LEE would work as well. Just something to poke the primers out of brass from the range. I do this first, so I don't want my dies getting funky with range dirt, grit etc.
2. Tumbler/Ultrasonic. This is a preferential thing I suppose, but depending, I'll do an ultrasonic bath, which does real well (I used a Hornady 2L IIRC) but then I'll dry the cases and run them through a tumbler to get a nice second clean and polish.
3. Trays to hold cartridges when you are working. Almost any will do unless you have some big crap like Lapua or 500S&W.
4. Case prep stuff. I'll just put a list here. Some way to trim, chamfer, deburr, ream primer pockets, etc etc. I do this different than most I'm sure. I got a mini lathe and a drill chuck adapter. Then I can use the jaws to clamp onto a lee case trimmer, primer pocket cleaner, etc etc for whatever I want to do. I got it for less than the cost of a Lyman case prep center or something similar. I'm never had issues with Lee case prep products for case trimming, but I also use RCBS a lot here too.
5. Dies -- You'll need these here. I just use Hornady because they've always been fine for me (and you get a box of 100 bullets with their purchase via mail in rebate if they bring it back this year). I've also got RCBS, Pacific, etc etc. The question would be if you got carbide dies that would allow you to skip case lube if desired. I don't have fancy dancy dies except in the case of my 9mm. So long story short, I use case lube. What I do here is a mix of lanolin oil and 90% isopropyl in a spray bottle. Works great, and is much cheaper than fancy stuff.
6. Press - Lots of ways to go here. If you could get a 650 that'd be super cool. I have a couple of Lee Breech Lock Challenger presses that work well, and an antique Texan single stage as well. I am on the lookout for a turret or progressive though to do for more "common calibers" rather than these small batch fancy dancy calibers I use.
7. Good Die locks rings. To me, these are important. Once you get something dialed in you want it to stay there. Doesn't have to be a fancy brand, just has to work.
8. Powder and primers and bullets are important.
7. Calipers --- I have a few types. Gear Wrench, Mitutoyo, Amazon special. Just make sure they go to .000 inches. I have digital and analogue, but tend to use the Gear Wrench digital. You'll want good quality measurements.
9. Powder measure. Again, lots of ways you can go here. I have an old fashioned dropper, but tend to use a digital. The one I have is a Hornady Auto Charge. I wouldn't get it again. It's kind of +/- .1 (sometimes .2) grains. And I like my tolerances tighter. It's convenient to get it close but I weight/adjust each change manually on an AWS milligram scale.
10. More seating dies (optional) - If you might be doing different seating depths then it might be good to get extra seating dies so that you can lock in a measurement on one and experiment on the other.
11. A kinetic hammer, RCBS collet puller or some other method to pull bullets apart. I like my RCBS puller a lot --- much quieter and more wife-friendly than a kinetic hammer. For the base + all the collets I needed I'm in it for like $120 versus the 20 of a hammer though. But $100 is cheap for a happier wife.
12. REALLY GOOD LOAD BOOKS. They don't have to be the newest as long as they have the data for your caliber. But try to get newer if available. More books the better. I compare load data across books for reference. The Hodgdon reloading website is a gold mine of data though. I do NOT recommend getting electronic books here. If SHTF then you want paper books.
I'm probably missing a lot of stuff here, but that's hopefully some basics to get going. Note that I'm not an uber precision guy. My stuff turns out how I want it and I make improvements here and there where and when I can. Out of the whole list, where I'd spend most is the best press you can get and the best powder measure you can get. If I had to spend money on a powder measure right now I'd likely go with the RCBS Chargemaster (and still have the AWS scale secondary). Remember, it doesn't matter how good your prep is, you'll blow your toys up with too much powder, and can screw things up just as bad if there's too little.
Buying it all a piece at a time is good in the same sense as building your own AR-15, you don't end up buying things that you end up not using because it came in the kit but you wanted something else specific. But it will cost you more money, there is some discount built into the kit. Not sure how much, just as a guess I'm going to throw out maybe $100 to $150.
No kit will have everything Rez mentions above, and it's all stuff you'll want eventually. Some you can't do without and some you can live without for a little while, but you'll eventually see a need for all of it.
No kit will have everything Rez mentions above, and it's all stuff you'll want eventually. Some you can't do without and some you can live without for a little while, but you'll eventually see a need for all of it.
Another thing to keep in mind, is that this is a realllllllly bad time to start fresh into reloading. Not that it can't be done, but everyone is trying to do it and scooping all the deals and cheap stuff. I'd wager from past experience that as soon as factory ammo starts coming out, people will look at crap they just bought, realize they don't want to spend the time with it, starting getting factory again, and then dump equipment cheap. Literally happens everytime there's a scare. So if you wanted to wait for deals, the question is how long would you be willing to wait on that bet. Because I'm guessing there's 6-9 months of this left at minimum.
Either way, that's one super big thing to talk about I left off the list above:
TIME
You absolutely must realize that reloading is a time intensive thing. Buying the equipment is easy (albeit costly) but reloading is like a pet. You've gotta dedicate time to feeding, walking, playing. You do NOT want to rush, especially at the start. There needs to be time for watching youtube of experienced reloaders (I really recommend panhandleprecision and Eric Cortina's channels). Time for setting up the work space, time for reading the manuals. Time for quality checks. When reloading, you are the production line, the QC and the person that'll blow their gun up and hand off if you do it wrong.
Now, why do I do it? For example, I shoot .375 H&H mag. Factory rounds are maybe 3-4 bucks all the way up to 10+. Each. Now, if I can develop a load my rifle(s) like, I can make that round for about 1-1.25. So lets keep the math easy and say that's a 3 dollar savings. On my single stage setup with the tools above, on average I can do 40 rounds in about 2 (active) hours. Put another way, that's 160 bucks minus the 40 of materials = $120 for two hours, or an hourly rate of $60. So that's worth my time sure. AND it's tuned to my rifle(s).
Common caliber stuff on a single stage press is much less rewarding. The time factor doesn't decrease at all like the savings does. Let's say for .223. I've already got brass, so let's assume primer (.05 right now), bullet (.10 right now) and powder (.05??) are in play. That's .20cpr. compared to .50cpr at Academy when it's there. Let's assume a slightly more generous single stage reload rate of 100 in two hours. Now I'm starting at $60 worth of ammo, minus $20 for materials, that gives me $40 for two hours, or $20/per. Not horrible but definitely not the same ballpark. A progressive and quality equipment would speed production rate up substantially to making it a better return value on time. If I was cranking out 300 rounds per hour I'd be back at that $60/hour return rate.
Either way, reloading might not be "cheaper" per say --- you'll want to shoot more. And shoot the bigger stuff more since you can reload it
So, just some extra thoughts for consideration.
Either way, that's one super big thing to talk about I left off the list above:
TIME
You absolutely must realize that reloading is a time intensive thing. Buying the equipment is easy (albeit costly) but reloading is like a pet. You've gotta dedicate time to feeding, walking, playing. You do NOT want to rush, especially at the start. There needs to be time for watching youtube of experienced reloaders (I really recommend panhandleprecision and Eric Cortina's channels). Time for setting up the work space, time for reading the manuals. Time for quality checks. When reloading, you are the production line, the QC and the person that'll blow their gun up and hand off if you do it wrong.
Now, why do I do it? For example, I shoot .375 H&H mag. Factory rounds are maybe 3-4 bucks all the way up to 10+. Each. Now, if I can develop a load my rifle(s) like, I can make that round for about 1-1.25. So lets keep the math easy and say that's a 3 dollar savings. On my single stage setup with the tools above, on average I can do 40 rounds in about 2 (active) hours. Put another way, that's 160 bucks minus the 40 of materials = $120 for two hours, or an hourly rate of $60. So that's worth my time sure. AND it's tuned to my rifle(s).
Common caliber stuff on a single stage press is much less rewarding. The time factor doesn't decrease at all like the savings does. Let's say for .223. I've already got brass, so let's assume primer (.05 right now), bullet (.10 right now) and powder (.05??) are in play. That's .20cpr. compared to .50cpr at Academy when it's there. Let's assume a slightly more generous single stage reload rate of 100 in two hours. Now I'm starting at $60 worth of ammo, minus $20 for materials, that gives me $40 for two hours, or $20/per. Not horrible but definitely not the same ballpark. A progressive and quality equipment would speed production rate up substantially to making it a better return value on time. If I was cranking out 300 rounds per hour I'd be back at that $60/hour return rate.
Either way, reloading might not be "cheaper" per say --- you'll want to shoot more. And shoot the bigger stuff more since you can reload it
So, just some extra thoughts for consideration.
I have a Hdy LnL. I only load 9mm on it at this time and it can be very finicky and the timing is very critical
To smooth operation. Setting up/adjusting the timing can be frustrating.
I have no experience with other progressive presses.
To smooth operation. Setting up/adjusting the timing can be frustrating.
I have no experience with other progressive presses.
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