Head first into precision reloading: spend my money

[DangerRanger]

My advice to you is to start out with quality essentials only. That is to say buy good stuff but don't buy everything in sight. Get a press, scale, dies, primer seater and start slowly adding to what you have on an as needed basis. A single stage press is the only way to go for precision reloading. If you want, you can get a turret press. Saves you from constantly changing dies but still works like a single stage. An arbor press is great for seating bullets. Never use a powder dropper for accurate reloads. They are OK for repetitious loading such as AR type rifles and casual target shooting. Like you when I decided to start reloading I had an excess of money to spend and bought a lot of things that are now collecting dust. If you find that you need something that is not at hand, shipping today is fast and right to your door. No hassles and no pain. Take your time and get very good at what you are doing.

thanks, I think I’ll likely be doing a lot like what you say. I just wanted to know the great but attainable equipment up front so I can do it right the first time but also scour for deals to accumulate what I need. I’ve done a lot of trading and upgrading in other hobby’s that cost me more money than buying the upper end but not insane stuff to begin with.

i don’t want to buy stuff I don’t need, but I also don’t want to skimp on something to end up wasting time and end up just buying the better item in the end.

at this point looking like I should start with, older USA rock chucker with a good sizer, a&d, arbor and seater die

 

[Iowa Fox]

My advice to you is to start out with quality essentials only. That is to say buy good stuff but don't buy everything in sight. Get a press, scale, dies, primer seater and start slowly adding to what you have on an as needed basis. A single stage press is the only way to go for precision reloading. If you want, you can get a turret press. Saves you from constantly changing dies but still works like a single stage. An arbor press is great for seating bullets. Never use a powder dropper for accurate reloads. They are OK for repetitious loading such as AR type rifles and casual target shooting. Like you when I decided to start reloading I had an excess of money to spend and bought a lot of things that are now collecting dust. If you find that you need something that is not at hand, shipping today is fast and right to your door. No hassles and no pain. Take your time and get very good at what you are doing.

Excellent advice. My wife said it best years ago when she said " you need to concentrate more on your shooting skills than trying to reload your way to first place". She wasn't trying to be smug she was only trying to help me get to where I wanted, plus she is usually right and this time she sure was. I started subscribing to precision shooting from the beginning plus lots of other reloading publications and I can say I've sure spent a lot of money on junk that wasn't cheap that is collecting dust. It's really hard to beat a good USA RockChucker and good dies, I see them fairly cheap as the old guys are crossing over. Kits are the biggest waste of money there is in my opinion. Bad thing of it is you don't know what works or doesn't work until you give it a try, not an inexpensive process.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Buy a good scale, AD fx 120i, the trickler sold by auto trickler is very nice. Use a cheap thrower to throw under weight charges. Get a K&M arbor press and wilson dies to seat everything. Use your press to size the brass only.

 

[DangerRanger]

Seems to be a pretty good consensus on the basics/where to start. Thanks everyone

 

[Link]

The most important thing you can buy is a mentor, a drink or breakfast.
Or buy your boat back.

 

[power55316]

get the ad fx120i buy once cry once so you wont have three scales like i do alex w is spot on !!!!

 

[snert]

After a good single stage press, good dies, scale and measuring tools, a way to clean brass, good manuals, invest in micrometer seat dies, and put the rest of your money in bullets and brass. Burn up all your factory barrels learning how to shoot in the wind. then buy good rifles, good barrels, good optics, and start over...building on the foundation you now have.

 

[garandman]

Wilson chamber type bullet seater dies

K&M Precision press.

 

[Killick]

I presume you will be shooting in competitions. What type? PRS, F-Class, ELR, XTC? Long Range, Mid-Range, Short Range? What type of rifle do you see being your go-to comp boom stick?

 

[Dave Collins]

Let's see, 2012 I splurged and bought a Co-Ax, wanted one since I started reloading in 1980. Discovered I still had to use the Rockchucker on some cartridges, and for bullet pulling. I wouldn't consider an FA version of the Co-ax.

2013 I splurged and bought a Chargemaster, got by with a Hornady M beam for many years, still use it. The Autotrickler V3 is interesting, and proven. The RCBS Matchmaster is as yet an unknown, that will have to be out for another year or two. Also picked up a Hornady concentricity tool, works OK, added the neck thickness kit to it this year. Also have a Hornady trimmer I had to acquire because of 1 cartridge I had, short Forster wasn't long enough.

2014 I started acquiring 21st Century neck turning setup, just finished this year in doing that, by adding the lathe trimmer stuff to it. That setup is a good one.

2017 I splurged and picked up the Hornady Case prep trimmer setup. Because I'm lazy and wanted an all in one unit. May not be the fastest cutter head, but it will do. Giraud is nice, but, gets pretty expensive with custom add-ons for cartridges, so does the Wilson.
Henderson trimmer is a sweet looking unit, as good a the Giraud? Maybe.

I still use a Redding BR3 powder thrower, thought about a Harrelson a few times.
Still use Lee powder spoons when trickling or using the beam scale.

I've liked Forster style seaters since my first set of Bonanza dies, 40 yrs ago. There are various version of them around now, Redding and RCBS and Whidden and even Hornady. I have mostly Forster, one RCBS and one Hornady seater.

Tempted to try a Redding body die along with the Forster bushing/bumps I have, haven't needed to yet.

I discovered using expander mandrels with using Lyman M-die 2 step expanders with cast bullets, I have them for everything these days, and pulled off all the sizing die expander balls.

Just ordered an Annealeeze unit, can't wrap my head around the price of the Benchsource yet, even though I have around 1000 cases that need doing. Wouldn't be so bad except for the dollar up here at present. Same issue with the Autotrickler V3. But, they didn't exist 5-6 yrs ago, when we had a good dollar.