boscobeans

An example of a nice kit to start with can be seen on the Kempf gunshop's website(nice folks).
Get a good reloading manual and a decent caliper and you should be good to go.

As far as prices... check out the above as well as Midway or any of the other online places that sell reloading equipment.

bosco

Landric

If you want a single stage kit, I'd go with this one:

MidwayUSA - Lee Challenger Breech Lock Single Stage Press Anniversary Kit

In addition to the kit, you will need:

-Dies for each chambering you want to load ($25-$35 a set on average)

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...tNumber=140349

or, if you want to seat and crimp in separate applications (which I like, but takes longer on a single stage):

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...tNumber=885350

-Extra breech locks for the press if you are loading more than one cartridge ($8 per box of 2)

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...tnumber=971565

-A loading manual ($12-$30, depending on the manual, the Lee manual is the least expensive and has a lot of information)

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...tnumber=484416

-A set of calipers ($15-$30, depending on brand and digital vs. dial)

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...tNumber=604242

-A bullet puller, for when you mess up ($15-$20)

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...tnumber=630146

That should get you going. There is plenty of optional stuff, and you might want to consider some way to clean brass, such as a tumbler.

Then you just need components (primers, powder, and projectiles) to go with your saved brass. There are plenty of options with 9x19mm. I like Hodgdon HS-6 for it, but Titegroup, W231, and many others are also good powders. Pretty much any small pistol primer will do for 9mm (and get what you can find right now), but avoid magnum primers. In my experience, small pistol magnum primers work fine in larger cases, but in 9mm they can cause significant pressure and velocity increases over standard primers. As for bullets, I really like Missouri Bullet, www.missouribullet.com. Unless you are totally against shooting lead, go with them. They are inexpensive and good quality, plus they have excellent customer service and very fast shipping.

As for the apartment issue, I just bought a house last year. I started handloading in 1994, and from then until 2008 I handloaded in various rental property, apartments and houses over the years. I don't see any reason not to do it, so long as you have space.

I would not attempt to cast boolits in an apartment. I just took that up myself this year, now that I have a place to do it.

__________________
-Landric

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

bigo5552000

thanks for the great rely!!
is it necessary to crimp the rounds?

__________________
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."-Einstein

Landric

For a semi-auto, or anything with heavy recoil, semi-auto or otherwise, you want to apply at least some crimp. You don't have to do it as a separate step though, the bullet seat die can be set to only seat the bullet, or to seat and crimp at the same time, saving the extra step of crimping as a separate application.

I like to seat and crimp as separate steps, but I do the huge majority of my handgun loading on a progressive or 4-station turret press. Since I have to pull the lever anyway on the progressive, or four times per round on the turret anyway, it makes sense to do it as a separate application. However, when I did all my handloading on a single stage (as I did from 1994-2001), I always seated and crimped in the same step.

Assuming you have no experience handloading at all, you might consider just starting out seating and crimping in separate operations. Lee sells 4-die sets perfect for that, and they cost slightly less than the three die sets from other manufactures and also include a shell holder. The seat die included with the 4-die set will also crimp if you want it to, but they also include the factory crimp die with the set.

__________________
-Landric

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

boscobeans

Great advice and great links from Landric.

You may want to look into a tumbler and some medium for it if you intend to use already fired brass. Not needed all the time but polished brass is cleaner to work with and helps keep your reloading dies cleaner as well..

bosco

llred

I just got one of the Lee Anniversary Kits and it works great. I was surprised at how quickly you can reload once you get the hang of it and get into a good rhythm. Check around at some of your local gun stores to see what supplies they have too. It is an easy way to avoid shipping and hazmat costs (primers).

bigo5552000

ok thanks!

I have a couple rock tumblers can I fill them with corn cob medium and use those??

__________________
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."-Einstein

bigo5552000

if you don't mind me asking how much did you pay for everything? including powder brass etc.

thanks!

__________________
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."-Einstein

llred

I got the kit for my birthday, but I know my girlfriend got it from midway. The dies I got from the Bass Pro Shops in Katy, Texas. I got RCBS 3set Carbide Dies and I think they were around $32. The lee dies are cheaper and have the shell holder which is a plus. I have 2lbs of power (Bullseye and Unique) both were right at $20. I ended up buying a RCBS universal Shell Holder set from another store in houston for $21. I have 1000 small pistol and 1000 large pistol primers for $30 per/1000. The bullets I got were Hornady XTPs for .45acp and .357 mag. They were kinda expensive at $22 per 100. I got a good deal on .45acp Brass because BPS had them on sale when I was in there for $18 per 100.

If you shop around you can find better deals, and if you reuse your brass it can pay off faster. The only reason I bought brass was because I got a good deal on it and it was going to be for my first reloading session so I wanted something that would be easy to use.

bigo5552000

sweet thanks

__________________
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."-Einstein