Reloading-Where to start?

[DirtySteve]

As Falfan said, Stay a way from the Lee Progressive presses.. If you ordered one I would send it back for literally any other press... My neighbor has one and loaded about 10 rounds on it and stopped because a bunch of issues with the system. Some were probably him, lol, but no one has good luck for long with them. Remember max charges are usually not the most accurate. Also a Lee Factory crimp die usually solves all feeding issues with autoloaders...

 

[Dub]

Large primers is the best for 45ACP.

 

[searcher]

When first starting out loading pistol ammo in the larger sizes requiring a good crimp (such as .45acp), I'd strongly recommend purchasing what I believe is called a chamber gauge or "round checker". Been so long I forget the name. anyway - you can get them at Sinclair International, Midwayusa, etc. It is just a small metal cylinder that you drop your loaded round into and it serves to tell you whether your loaded cartridge will likely fit and function in your firearm. It sucks to load up a ton of ammo only to find it wont cycle or even fit into the chamber. Better than running a test round into your chamber. Setting up a crimping die can be a bit of a trial and error adjustment till you get it just right. This will help. Cost is minimal.

 

[hoz53]

I have been hand loading for 41 years. When I started you could actually save money by doing it but it took a while to work out the cost of equipment. These days don't plan on saving any money by hand loading unless you are loading a thousand or more rounds of practice ammo a week or quite a good number of hollow point self defense/hunting ammo because you probably will not live long enough to make up the price of the equipment. Components these days are not cheap like they once were. If you are not hand loading seeking for the best accuracy possible you are actually wasting time and money. With that said let add this. If you are going to be hand loading I suggest that you purchase QUALITY tools. Pay once, cry once. Some things that Lee has are OK for longevity but others are not and some are just plain junk. Lee dies in my experience are good to go. One of the BEST things they have come up with is the Lee Factory Crimp Die. This makes ammo run like water through semi auto's in my experience. The aluminum frame Lee presses are not very good. They will wear out and they also flex. Get a good steel frame press. The Lee powder scale is junk get a good scale. Get a good powder measure RCBS or Lyman. I would also get a good hand priming tool. The old no longer made Lee was great and I still have one that I use. The new "improved" Lee screwed up a good thing. If I was to purchase a priming tool these days I would get a Frankfort Arsenal. As has been said I would get a good manual and I probably would get the Sierra myself. Best way to get cases is to purchase Winchester, Remington or Federal which ever I could get the cheapest, 230 FMJ ammo and keep the cases after you shoot it up. These are just a few suggestions.

yeah i remember i started in early 70s just out of high school and 45 acp was the first pistol and third cartridge i loaded for. It was penny for primer penny for powder and 3 pennys for bullet. 5 cents per or 2.50 for 50. i was broke so even that was lot then. Good memories. OP its easy stuff - just remember its easy to double and possible to triple charge your cases with powder and blow your gun up and hurt yourself. also its easy to miss a charge and stick the bullet in the barrel and shoot another one into it and wreck your gun or worse. watch these things carefully and you will do fine.

 

[JSH]

Not much I can add.
Don’t get caught up with gadgets!
As mentioned unless you shoot a bunch you won’t see much in the way of savings.

Younger friend of mine just went down this slippery slope. He wouldn’t listen. He got spooked because he couldn’t find ammo, so he bought a bunch of stuff he will
use very little.

I broke it down for him in how much he shot per year on center fire. What he spent on what he thought he needed, would have bought enough ammo for him to shoot for almost 9 years. This was at today’s prices and no sales.

As I have seen said here before, reloading doesn’t save me money it just lets me shoot more.

 

[Retired Grunt]

The only thing I can add to all the great advice above is that the first shot is the scariest. After you take your first shot of ammo that you carefully and safely loaded yourself and it goes where you wanted it’s a very exhilarating feeling and you will be hooked.

Oh and don’t lose focus. Whether you’ve been loading for one day or 50 years it is still very easy to make a stupid mistake so don’t get complacent in your reloading.

True about the first shot. Last June at a practice, our match director and a couple of others were there. When it was my turn to go, I told them I had been shooting Factory Ammo and I was trying first hand load, I closed my eyes as I pulled the trigger and they were laughing saying I had shot a 10.

 

[Dlee]

Tried posting a response, it didn't like the content
Thanks for all the advice

 

[rkittine]

What kind of shooting are you doing in what kind of 45? I can't be bothered casting projectiles even though it would be a savings, but buy 185 grain SWCs 2000 at a time. Brings the cost down.

Bob

 

[cdhbrad]

I started reloading about 10 years ago.....45ACP on a Lee Turret Press and loaded thousands before moving to a Dillon 550 about 3 years ago. It will do just fine to start. No one mentions the Lee Reloading Manual but, if you are going to use Lee stuff, check it out as it has a lot of information on setup, etc. Lee dies work fine too, though my preference for pistol calibers now are the Redding Competition sets. For rifle, I tend to buy Whidden or Forster. If you go with Lee, just be sure you get a set that will have the dies to allow you to seat and crimp on different stations.
Lee powder measures will work, but I set all mine up with RCBS Uniflows, with micrometer adjusters and case activated linkages.....I spent more setting up each powder measure than I did on the press. Worked out OK since I transferred each to a Dillon Toolhead and they work great. My Dillon powder measure is still in the box.
.45 brass is very forgiving......use it till you lose it or it splits, just inspect it carefully before every reuse and discard if you see any cracks. No need to trim, anneal, etc. like you'll see discussed here for rifle calibers. I've never bought pistol brass...I scrounge it at my local ranges where I shoot and, if you ask nice, a lot of folks will even help you pick it up as they are interested to talk about reloading. You can buy once fired processed brass too, if you want. If I were a serious target shooter, I'd go with Starline, but I have no reason to go that route.
I've only loaded cast lead too.....never saw a need to try jacketed or plated for the target rounds I shoot. If you go with cast, do yourself a favor and only buy the "Hi-Tek" coated cast bullets. No wax lube to worry about that makes a mess of your dies and your other equipment. Lots of good casters offer these bullets, but my favorites are Missouri Bullet Co. and SNS Casting. The coating is all the same...its made in Australia and, at least initially, was imported and distributed by Bayou Bullets, another good source.
Have fun......when others can't shoot you will be able to because you reload.

 

[Old Tanker]

I dove in to reloading about 1.5 years ago. Here are things that helped: A good mentor who walked me thru the process on his press; Lyman 50th Edition reloading manual, Lee Manual and Hornady manual. Read and re-read. Be forewarned that you have to look past Lee’s self aggrandizement. I have the Lee Classic cast iron press and it is very sturdy but look at higher end dies. For straight wall cases and flat base bullets, look Lyman M expander die. Really make sure you understand headspace and pressure before diving in. I’m still overly cautious, so in the charging and seating process, I seat the bullet as soon as I charge the case. I don’t leave multiple, charged cases in the loading block. This reduces the chance of a double charge. Finally, read everything you can on this site. These guys are great.

New to this forum, very new to reloading, ordered some Lee equipment to slowly start gathering parts to start. I am wanting to do 45 ACP for now. I picked up the Complete reloading manual for 45 ACP, watched a few videos online. Should I start looking for brass first? Large or small primer, I want to do more shooting, more training, recommendations on bullet? Grains, 230?
Thanks for any advice for a newbie reloader