To buy or not to buy

[Old Fart]

Hey Cznik, I live in your neck of the woods and have a single stage and a Dillon setup. If it would help you with your decision you are welcome to come get a look. You can see how they work and figure out what would server your needs. shoot me a PM if I can help...

I was going to suggest sitting in with someone who reloads and take advantages of thier experience.

Rusty is the man for offering.
He's a good guy, you should take him up on the offer.

 

[DRSNINER]

I have been reloading just a short time,3 months or so,and I use a Lee single stage,the anniversary kit. So far the results have been both theraputic and it has saved me a bunch of cash,with which I bought more components to reload more ammo and the cycle continues. Bottom line is to enjoy it. I would surely take up the offer of a little tutoring.

 

[criticalbass]

For working up new loads nothing matches a turret loader. You can easily load a few rounds for test purposes with no changing of dies or readjustments. Hand presses work okay for this, but are really designed to be used when you are remote from your bench and need more ammo. They are really slow and hard on the hands.

I have a couple of Lyman T-Mag turret loaders, and a dozen or so turrets with one or two sets of dies in each. Batch loading using a powder measure is pretty fast. If I weigh each charge, it slows down a bit. CB

 

[cjjtulsa]

Reloaded for .44 and .357 back in the late 80s and early 90s using an RCBS Rock Chucker and really enjoyed it. I still have all of my equipment and intend to set it all back up, but want to add to the experience, and a turret sounds like it's just what I want - the ability to speed it up while still being able to monitor closely what's going on. My question: can the Lee turret load rifle, or is it pretty much pistol only? I'd like to get started doing some .308 as well as the pistol calibers, and would like to be able to do it on the turret too. I really like the look of the RCBS and Lyman turret presses, but the spare turrets are excessively expensive. Worst case I could always do the rifle on the slower Rock Chucker, I guess.

 

[RickN]

I have both a Lee single stage and turret press and like both. I have not done that much reloading (maybe 1000 rds) so I am still very careful and hope I stay that way.

My whole setup came in bits and pieces from garage sells etc, so I have an interesting mix of equipment that would probably have some of the folks here rolling on the floor, but it works for me and as I get more into it I will upgrade some items.

The main point is I enjoy my reloading and think you will too.

 

[Bierhunter]

There's already a ton of good advice in this thread, so I won't duplicate it. I just want to quote this again for emphasis.

Reloading is an simple process full of opportunities to make dangerous mistakes!

For someone starting out (actually for everyone new and experienced), get books, research online, take notes during your reloading.

Information is important. Pay attention to detail.

Not to discourage anyone at all. In fact, I encourage reloading. Reloading is fun and simple. It's just very important to pay attention to detail.

I remember the very first cartridge I ever loaded (about 25yrs ago with a single stage RCBS). It was a .357 hollow point. I held it up and said. "Damn! I did that!" It's a great feeling.

 

[BKtul]

I'd recommend the Lee Turrett. I've loaded about 2/3K on mine and it suits me fine. I got impatient with the auto primer feed and load them in the primer arm by hand. It's no problem because my left hand is just loafing at that time anyhow. I have 4 turret setups. I haven't used the .45 yet. Gotta get the sizer die. (Cast boolits) I also have the single stage for my Lee hardness tester and am ordering a hand press for the berm.

 

[1mathom1]

What he said, and especially this:

+1 This is why my son and I are breaking down the couple dozen rounds we loaded last night as we were setting up our new progressive.....too easy to drop a double charge when messing around and getting the steps out of sequence while setting up. We will pull the bullets and weigh the charges we threw just to make sure the Auto Disc is throwing what it says it should and simply call the little bit of powder and the few primers we toss the cost of setting it up.

One other note: The possibility of double charging is one reason to look for loads that if double charged.....the powder spills out of the case. Can't always be done but if it can...simple check. Tiny loads of fast burning powder double charged can really ruin your day/life.