sspargo

I've never reloaded before and know absolutely nothing about it. I am considering taking a class locally on reloading ammo:

1. If I were to get into reloading, how much of an initial investment could I expect to pay out of pocket?
2. Is cost savings a reason to start reloading?
3. Are there issues getting materials for reloading like there is with just outright purchasing ammo?
   

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farronwolf

I will answer the three questions you propose first.

1 Depends
2 Depends
3 Depends

Boy, that helped didn't it? I will do a search in this section to find out some previous posts about getting started in reloading.

The reason I answered depends on all three questions is because the answers to these questions depends on how much you want to spend up front, how fast you want to turn out ammo, or how much your time is worth, and if you are particular about what kinds of components you decided to use.

Re-loading

Reloading 9mm economics?

Ok,so I think I want to take up reloading........

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Just remember that shot placement is much more important with what you carry than how big a bang you get with each trigger pull.

heylin

Ive just started reloading 9mm myself for cost savings initially and after doing it for 2 weeks I wish I had started sooner.

a) its fun
b) its relaxing
c) it saves you money
d) sense of pride in making something yourself

Investment wise I would reccomend the Lee 50th Anniversary Kit + a set of dies for the caliber you are loading + a set of calipers, check out Midwest Reloading on eBay for around $200-250US you can get everything you need.

At the moment (in the USA anyway) you might run into issues finding some stuff now, but buy in bulk and put it on backorder, you will still save money in the long run.

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War is not about dying for your country, but making your enemy die for his.
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jfl

Buy a good manual or two, get a Lee turret press, and get your feet wet.
As previously said it is fun, you save money, and you can experiment with different loads.
After a while, you'll cast your own bullets; then each rounds will cost you the price of the primer, a few cents; a 1 lb. canister of powder will reload close to a thousand rds ... or more.

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The first rule of a gunfight: "Don't be there !"

jfl (NRA Life Member/Instructor - GOA - IDPA - GSSF - ex-IHMSA)

sgtD

Here is a thread with quite a bit of info on getting started cheap with a hand press. Plus info on other things.

Hand Reloading Presses for low volume work

You might want to consider it. If you have a place to put a regular press, one of the kits would probably be best. IMO, the Lee Turret Press kit is one heck of a deal if you need to produce moderate volumes of ammo.

Since that thread was written, I have added a tumbler, more dies, and a bench mounted press,(picked it up on ebay for just over $30) but still use my hand press for most stuff.

Last night I resized, deprimed, trimmed, deburred, and cleaned primer pockets on 50 .223 cases, while sitting in my easy chair watching a movie.

Then this morning I went down to the bench, primed, charged, seated bullets, and crimped them on the bench press. Total time in the reloading room was about 20min.

I have made some good ammo, both rifle and pistol, with the hand press. I have used it for everything up to 30-06 with no trouble.

To me, the only advantage to having my bench press, over the hand press, is that after the case is charged with powder, it's a bit easier to just set it in the stationary bench press, and then seat the bullet. It's not a real problem to do that on the hand press, you just have to be more careful to keep things upright.

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When you've got 'em by the balls, their hearts & minds will follow. Semper Fi.

Landric

This kit has everything you need to get started except a set of dies (about $25 for Lee dies which are perfectly good and include a shell holder), a set of calipers, a good manual or three, and components:

MidwayUSA - Lee Challenger Breech Lock Single Stage Press Anniversary Kit

Its only $90 for the kit. Its not the fastest setup, but its perfectly serviceable and a great system to learn on. Even in the event you become an avid handloader there will always be a place for a single stage press. I didn't actually buy the kit, but one of my several presses is a Breech Lock Challenger and I use both the "Perfect Powder Measure" and the safety prime system regularly. Its a very good system and an excellent value.

Saving money is the reason a lot of us got started (I know its the reason I did), but its also a great hobby and one can make ammunition that is significantly better than what is available from the factory and tailor it to one's own specific weapons. People often compare the cost of say WWB to their own handloads. I don't fault people for that, but sometimes its not particularly realistic. WWB is cheap ammo. It functions fine, but ammunition from a skilled handloader will be significantly better. Even so, I'd say I save about 50% over the cost of buying WWB in common WWB cartridges (9mm, .45ACP, .38 Special) and 75% or more on the less common ones like .30-30 Winchester, .357 Magnum, .44 Special, .44 Russian, .444 Marlin, and .45-70 Government.

Components are not much of a problem, with the exception of primers. The best thing to do with primers is check local stores for them. If they can't be found locally get a backorder in somewhere like Graf's or Cabela's and wait. They will arrive eventually. I haven't had any problem finding bullets, powder, or brass.

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-Landric

"The Engine could still smile...it seemed to scare them" -Felix

heylin

The above mentioned kit (Lee Breech Lock Challenger 50th Anniversary) can churn out a large amount of ammo, not as much as a progressive but still a respectable amount.

Ive had mine 4 weeks and already have

- 750 completed rounds of ammo
- 600+ sized, belled and primed cases ready to load

Estimate ive spent on average only 30 minutes to an hour a day for the past 4 weeks and ove got more ammo than I will shoot in 5 months.

Key is a systematic approach,

eg
size 500 cases
prime and flare 500
charge 500
place bullets then seat and crimp

PS: I use an RCBS 3 die set that seats and crimps in one stage, Lee requires a 4th die to crimp.

Some people say they have trouble setting up the seat and crimp feature, I only had to make 10 test rounds to setup all of my dies, and since then ive been churning out hundreds of quality made rounds all within spec.

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War is not about dying for your country, but making your enemy die for his.
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sgtD

The Lee dies will seat and crimp in one step too. You only need to use a separate die if you want the "factory crimp". The standard 3 die set for revolver ammo puts on a roll crimp at the same time that you seat the bullet. I am pretty sure that the stanard die set for auto cartiridges applies a taper crimp. But if you want the factory crimp, then you have to add the last step with the extra die.

At least that is how it works with my rifle die sets. You can either crimp with the bullet seating die, or adjust it so that it does not apply a crimp, use it to seat the bullet, and then use the factory crimp die to crimp.

I have only loaded revolver and rifle rounds so far. I planned to get into hangun loading first, then rifle. However, I got side tracked and got all my rifle die sets and have loaded nothing but rifle loads over the past several months. My next step will be to get the rest of the pistol dies I need (.40, .45., 9mm) and experiment with those.

So I have no drect experience with the autopistol dies, but I know people who have reloaded with standard dies for years using the standard taper crimp that the seating die puts on. The factory crimp die just adds and extra level of uniformity I believe. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

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When you've got 'em by the balls, their hearts & minds will follow. Semper Fi.

boscobeans

"The factory crimp die just adds and extra level of uniformity I believe. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong."

Correct.

I have a factory crimp in .40 S&W but not for the other pistol rounds I reload: .38, .357, 9mm, .44mag and .45GAP/ACP. My RCBS dies always bring the final product to measurements well within the cartridge dimensions and have never failed to function 100% in all my revolvers and semi-auto pistols.

bosco

Electraclyde

You really won't save any money, you will, however, shoot more for the same amount of money!! The reloading process itself is almost as much fun as shooting. I sure beats the h___ out of watching TV.

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