Beginner Questions

[M700]

Hey all. I just built myself a nice workbench and finally have some room and a solid area to work on my guns. I want to get start reloading, but i know NOTHING about it. I really only want to do 2 calibers (.308 and .223) to begin with, as they are getting pretty expensive to shoot. I want to load something comparible to the Federal gold medal match that I shoot. I have a few midway catalogs lying around and have browsed through all the stuff, and its rather overwelming. Can someone point me in the right direction, maybe let me know what to start off with? I want something that is good quality and that i can maybe add to later if I get more into it. On the other hand I dont want to break the bank either. I was looking at the RCBS Rock chucker master reloading kit. Is this any good to start with? What else would I need? What books are a must have? Where is a good place to get all this from? Any other insights are greatly appreciated. Thanks for the help!

 

[Jeeper]

You are starting with a great kit in the rockchucker. I have had mine for many years and it is great. That kit will do most everything you want. I use this for my rifle cartridges and use my dillon for pistol. I used the rockchucker alone for a long time. There are few additions you need. I would reccommend:

Hand priming tool - This is much easier than the one on the press
A few more case plates - These hold the brass while charging them with powder.
Powder trickler.

Books - I like the speer and hornady the best.

With this you should be set.

EDIT
You should also get a tumbler and case seperator. The combo in Midway is pretty cheap.

Have fun

 

[Mal H]

I second Jeeper's opinion of the Rockchuker master kit. The press itself is first class for a non-progressive. The kit will contain almost all you will need to get started and a few things you probably won't need, but the cost of the kit is usually cheaper than buying the individual items.

The latest Speer manual comes with the kit, or it used to anyway. To that book and the Hornady one Jeeper mentioned, I would add the Lyman Reloading Handbook. It is chock full of useful information on almost all aspects of reloading and ballistics in general.

 

[Steve Smith]

There's nothing wrong with the Rockchucker setup, but I believe a turret press is a better 1st press. After you learn what you're doing, you'll be able to speed up the process using the turret.

 

[shu]

After considerable thought, I jumped in a few months ago, waiting till the RCBS Master Reloading Kit was on sale at Natchez. It is a good start, with *nearly* everything you need.

I also do 308win, 223rem, along with 38spl, 357mag.

You will need a set of dies and shell holder for each caliber. At the same time get a good caliper.

I whacked togather from heavy plywood a two level bench top intended to go on an old metal work bench I have, replacing the water damaged particle board original top. The shell trimmer, powder measure, and press mount left to right across the upper level. The minimum rig would be a section of 2 x 8 plank you could clamp somewhere and mount the press to.

You will need powder, primers, and bullets. Get the powder and primers locally to avoid UPS hazardous materials charge. Large rifle primers for the 308win and small rifle primers for the 223rem.

I began with Speer bullets, because of course the Speer manual comes with the RCBS kit, and ordered them by mail; not always available locally in the type you want. Good to learn on.

If I had it to do over again, I would start with Varget powder. It has use for both 308win and 223loads.

I bumbled around with various ways of cleaning the cases, finally gave up and ordered the tumbler kit from Midway for 85 bucks or so. Works great.

After you get the steps under control and want to branch out to other bullets and powders you will find data for the combinations of various powders and bullets to be incomplete, conflicting, and confusing.

Received today from Midway the caliber-specific books I ordered. These are 5.5 x 8.5 inch comb bound booklets containing photocopy of information published by the various manufacturers of bullets and powder (preceeded by a couple of pages of advertising for each, doubtless the pay-off for allowing use of their copyrighted data). These help sort out the above problem.

Enjoy.

 

[WESHOOT2]

SAFETY GLASSES ARE MANDATORY

Read the thread here titled "Bare minimum reloading set-up".

Plenty of great advice!

 

[M700]

Great. Thanks for them help everyone.

 

[nnciderr]

NYRSCCA,

I have just ordered the stuff i need to get started as well. I typed up all the different components I needed in an excel file. the prices from different retailers, and price per round for components. If you have MS excel and want the file i'd be glad to email it to you, and anyone else that would like it.
I was/am using it for .223 components and equipment.

email at nnciderr@hotmail.com for the file.


no wait, I see I can attach it below so here it is:


sorry if the file is confusing, i have my own symbolism

 

[sundog]

NYRSCCA, someone from my ole stompin' grounds. Except for a while when I lived in Maine, I grew up in the Port Jeffereson/Mt. Sinai area, graduated in 68 from ELVHS (Port Jeff). How are things in that part of the world?

You got good advice from these guys. I've been loading almost thirty years, and all I've ever used is a single stage for rifle. That's not to say that there's better ways, just what I do. I've got an RCBS Jr, Lyman Orange Crusher and a Rockchucker - all good presses. Don't forget the eye protection! And wash your hands after reloading and handling components. sundog

 

[labgrade]

Might as well grab yourselk the Sierra RIFLE reloading manual. AFAIK that's the bullets Federal's using in their Gold Match.

 

[Bruegger]

I have several manuals (including all those mentioned above), but like the Sierra manual the most, by quite a margin. It gives velocity figures for all loads, not just the min and max loads. It also gives a recommendation for the best accuracy load and the best hunting load, which is a nice feature.. Also has some great tables in the back for calculating maximum point blank range for different sized targets, etc. I use them all (Lyman, Speer, etc.), but my favorite is the Sierra. Excellent book.

For a beginner trying to grasp the mechanics of handloading (how to do it vs. what components to use), I doubt you can beat the NRA’s reloading guide, which you can get from them for $8-10. The illustrations are excellent.

For components, check out gun shows in addition to Midway, Wideners and Natchez. I find deals on primers, bullets and brass at the shows that are better than I can find in the catalogs, and don’t have to pay shipping. For powder, I haven’t been able to find anyone better than Widener’s (and they pay the hazmat fee!), except when the local shop has a big sale on excess powder.

For a caliper, I got mine at Harbor Freight tools and paid $15 for the same stainless steel .001 caliper that costs 2-3x as much in the catalogs. My Harbor Freight store also sells the 20 and 50 round J&J ammo boxes.

For cleaning a small volume of rifle brass, you can use 000 steel wool or Scotch-Brite pads instead of a tumbler until you make the investment in one. Just wrap the case in the steel wool and twist.

Semper fi,
Bruegger out.