I'm looking to get started reloading, i'm only going to load 375h&h to start, I have no equipment at all and I need advise on what’s the best bang for the buck as far as starter kits go or just get individual pieces one at a time, needs and don’t need, come on let's hear it,

Most single stage and turret press kits are reasonably priced and come with everything you'll need except dies.

I've heard some complaints that RCBS isn't as good as it used to be. Some people don't like Lee presses. Both have good prices on kits:

RCBS Turret Press Deluxe Kit $400
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewp...productnumber=256779

Lee 4 Hole Turret Press Kit $188
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewp...productnumber=622290

Pros and cons, RCBS has a better powder dispenser, Lee's is ok I use a Prodisk on my Lee Loadmaster press. RCBS is a 6 hole, if you mount th powder dispenser in a powder dispenser mount you can set up 3 sets of rifle dies in the RCBS. Neither comes with a case trimmer.

The Rock Chucker kit doesnt come with a trimmer either. $340 It used to.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewp...productnumber=646599

Given all this all this and several years of my experience I'd go with the RCBS turret kit add a stand for the powder dispenser, $22 http://www.midwayusa.com/viewp...productnumber=550505 and a trimmer, I'm not sure if RCB does 375 H&H.

The advantage of a turret over the Rock Chucker is that you set you die once and don't take it out of the press. It's always set the way you want it.

If your budget is high and you only want to buy once then Redding is pretty much top of the pile.
Versa Pak kit $370, trimmer, powder dispenser, scale. Everything except a press and dies.
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewp...productnumber=149595

T-7 Turret press, $247.
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewp...productnumber=588482

The last two are everything except dies.

Anywhere from $200 plus dies and a few things to $620 plus dies.

For dies I'd say RCBS, you'll get opinions.

I used Midway for convenience. Shop around for prices and shipping. I know it's pricy but I'd go with the Redding stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by jam70:
I'm looking to get started reloading, i'm only going to load 375h&h to start, I have no equipment at all and I need advise on what’s the best bang for the buck as far as starter kits go or just get individual pieces one at a time, needs and don’t need, come on let's hear it,

At one time we were all FNG's
RCBS is hard to beat. Get 3 or 4 manuals & have at it.

I always recommend that those just getting into reloading purchase a reloading manual or two and read through the sections about loading (not the data section) before they purchase any equipment. I personally like the Lee reloading manual for this purpose.

As for where you get the best "bang for your buck" you'll have a lot of disagreement. However, it would really be hard to beat the Lee Classic kit from a price standpoint. I have a couple of Lee presses and have found them to be adequate and reliable. The one exception to the Lee products is the beam scale. I do not care for the Lee Scale. Just about any beam scale will be better than the Lee. I have a Dillion that has served me well.

This is just my opinion. You'll need to weigh it against advice you get from others.

Good luck! One thing I'm sure of is that your entering into a wonderfully rewarding avocation.

Don't be afraid to buy some good gear used if you have to. A used press from RCBS or Redding is going to save you money, and they're built like tanks.

Companies like Dillon, RCBS, Redding, Lyman, Hornady, all make quality equipment. And they will usually fix or replace pieces if there's an issue, which takes some of the "risk" out of buying used gear.

I still have my first press, a Rock Chucker I got in the 70's. It still works fine, and I routinely use it to make ammo. The H&H case will fit in a Rock Chucker.

You can find dies, shell holders, priming tools, and presses for sale fairly regularly in the classifieds forum. You can even post a "WTB", for "Want To Buy", and ask for what you're looking for.

I would rather buy a good used tool than a crap new one.

You will need a press, shell holder, dies, brass trimmer, dial caliper, powder scale, and a couple of reloading manuals. I would consider that to be "minimum" to get started. A brass polisher/vibratory case cleaner is a nice addition if you can swing it, but you don't need it.

Also, a good notebook. And keep records and notes about loads you've tried, details on the load: powder and charge, primer, brass, bullet, and over all length. And whether the load shot good, how good, or not at all. Very handy for going back later and duplicating "good" loads.

Also an adjustable powder measure, or electronic powder measure adds convenience, but is not necessary. You can still just hand weigh each powder charge and drop it into the case instead. That was my only option for many years when I got started.

If you buy a manual first and read the first part of it thouroughly it should give you a pretty good idea of what you want for your individual reloading needs.

I initally bought all of my equipment and components used off of someone that was getting out of reloading, and got a very good deal, way cheaper in the long run than buying individual pieces. It may be worth while looking for a used set up and getting everything you will need in one shot for cheap.

Get the rcbs supreme master reloading kit. Loading the 375 on this press is fairly easy. This is a complete kit, except dies. Powder thrower, scale, priming tool, book, funnel, etc

http://www.midsouthshooterssup...em.asp?sku=000449357

If you already know how to reload, and are just buying gear, the Hornady lnl AP is the press I wish I had bought first. Not for dead out beginners

Whats a FNG, fawkin new guy ?



.

Definite beginner, all i've done so far is research. Read ABC's of reloading and alot of internet searching

IMO, you don't need nor want a turret press but rather a sturdy, "O" type single stage and not a "C' type. In addition, you're not loading lottsa pistol or .223 ammo. One other thing to be aware of is that since you intend to load for a cartridge with a rather long case, clearance in the press, especially when seating bullets is also a consideration. I dunno if a .375 case will work in a standard size "O" press or not but check it out before you buy. I ran into this problem with my .45-120-3 1/4 when seating bullets. The only way I could seat a bullet was to back off the seating die, insert the case with the bullet sitting on top, then screwing the die down. Not handy. I ended up getting an RCBS AmmoMAster press specifically for the operation and then got rid of my regular size RCBS press.
If this is the case, you'll have to buy the components separately since all of the reolading kits I've ever seen come with a normal size press.
Good luck and study manuals even more. It's lottsa fun & enjoyable.
Bear in Fairbanks

Edited to add:
If you decide to buy a kit (easiest way) I would first call the company. Ie. Huntinton's for RCBS or Redding if you want to go with them. I do know that Huntington's has very good customer assistance. This would be the easiest, most reliable way to go. I'd also, personally stay away from Lee stuff especially for a .375.
B.I.F.

How much money to you want to spend in the first purchase? <$100, $300, $500? Is used OK or do you just want new?

If you want new, all the manufacturers make intro kits, find one at your price point and get that for starters.

The cheapest you can go and still have reasonable quality is the "Lee Breech Lock Challenger Press Kit" which is about ~$100 and it goes up from there. If you are on a budget check the local craigslist and if any gunshop has a bulletin board and find some used equipment.

Otherwise just decide on what color will match your drapes and buy a kit in a complimentary shade and be happy. If any of the companies turned out junk they wouldn't be in business anymore but basically everyone makes good quality equipment.

I bought a Lee press just because I had heard so many folks bad-mouth Lee stuff. I felt most of the stuff posted was based on price, not knowledge and I wanted to see for myself. I haven't seen where it is any worse or less precise than any other press I own or have seen. Perhaps not as smoothly finished as some of the high priced ones but when you compare it to a press that cost two or three or more times the money, it's pretty darn good.
I bought one of the "see how straight your ammo is" gizzies and just for fun I loaded up 50 rounds of .223 ammo using the Lee press. Of the 50, a total of 7 had a run out greater than .002". Not bad for a cheap press, don'tyouthink? The gap between the shellholder and the bottom of the top of the Lee press is 4" while the gap on a RCBS press is @ 3.75". I've never loaded any ammo for a .375H&H but I have loaded ammo for an 8RM. For that you merely have to lift the nose of the bullet into the seater die and then place it on the case mouth. A fairly simple manuever.

I'm not a shill for Lee, in fact, I own very little of their stuff but everytime a thread like this gets started, the poor newbie has to wade through reams of crap about "you've got to buy the most expensive stuff out there because I did and I want to be reassured that I wasn't being stupid. I mean, it costs more so's it must be better right??????" ROFLMAO

Oh, the sailor goes ashore in a landing barge, the Captain goes in his gig. It doesn't go a damn bit faster, but it makes the old bastard feel big.

Mark, of course i'm on a budget but I don’t have a problem spending 300 or 400 if there that much better than the 100 kit, I have been looking for used as well I just haven't came across any yet, will dies from different mfg's work in other mfg's presses?

I didn't go with the Rock Chucker kit because it needed stuff added. To cut the buget you could buy the Versa Pak and pick a press. I also skipped used because it can be hit or miss both by availability and condition.

quote:

Get the rcbs supreme master reloading kit

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:

quote:

Get the rcbs supreme master reloading kit

this will take you from 17hornet through 505 gibbs... and its a darn good kit. the huge window makes it worthwhile

Jeffeosso,

Will the Hornady progressive work well w magnum calibers such as 375 h&h etc?

SSR

Cross,
works just fine with 375 and 458 lott ... i have loaded both in mine .. the problem is that these are the top of the window for the LNL ap

quote:

Originally posted by jam70:
Mark, of course i'm on a budget but I don’t have a problem spending 300 or 400 if there that much better than the 100 kit, I have been looking for used as well I just haven't came across any yet, will dies from different mfg's work in other mfg's presses?

Basically anything made in the last 50 years will interchange between the manufacturers so unless it is something really old from a garage sale you'll be OK.

When I got started many many years ago I used a RCBS rockchucker and even though I do not have it any more it is still going strong. I will say that if you get an "O" frame press it will last you your entire life, so an extra $50 or so is not necessarily a frivolous luxury.

Having said all that, this is my generic reply to someone buying equipment for reloading a single caliber-

Buy a "LEE BREECH LOCK CHALLENGER PRESS KIT" and a set of dies, the Lee case length cutter and lock stud, and some Imperial Sizing Wax.

And powder, primers, and bullets and start loading and decide what you like and what you don't. Upgrade the stuff you don't like.

See, the Lee stuff works, and it works pretty darn good for the most part. However, EVERYTHING they make (possibly with the exception of a few specialized dies) someone else makes in a better quality, but usually at triple the price. So if you are only loading for 375 H&H, and are only planning on shooting a few hundred rounds a year I suspect this kit will keep you happy, and at a later date you decide to load for pistols or something you can look at a progressive. And if you find out now that you don't like the Lee scale or powder measure you can just purchase that stuff you want to, and at that point you'll know a bit more about the process where you can make your own decisions.

To appreciate on what Mark said, the money you can save can be applied toward a Chrony which will open up all sorts of reloading doors to you, and a case tumbler which is one of the nice-to-have items that is nice to have. And then there's a top-o-the-line balance beam scale.

FWIW, I bought a used RCBS Jr press 50 years ago. It would have made a helluva boat anchor if it hadn't been such a good press. A few years back, I gave it to a young fellow that was getting started.

jam70: You have a PM.

I would recommend that you buy a quality starter kit. Once you get familiar with the process and want to add more accessories or a progressive, you will still have a quality single stage to do odd and ends or load development or whatever. I like RCBS and their no questions customer service and support but that's just me.

The other thing you will have to learn how to filter out is brand loyalty.

Consider if you went on a popular car forum and asked, "Which is a better car, Ford, or Chevy?". You will see many of the same types of reactions here to these kinds of threads.

Also, to borrow the theme from Mark, Some guys are very sensitive about how cheap they are when it comes to tools. They must validate their cheapness by convincing others that they must buy the absolute cheapest made tools in the industry. No one comes CLOSE to Lee for cheapness. They truly have that market cornered.



Think of it like Lee is like Chevy. It will still get you there, but you don't really want any of your friends seeing you get out of it (or using it, in the case of Lee)!




No, but seriously, most of that is written tongue-in-cheek, but there is truth to it also.

When your talking about tooling that will literally last your lifetime and beyond, fussing over a $10 die set vs a $25 die set seems foolish to me. Same principal applies to press, trimmer, etc. These tools will last forever (The NOT Lee ones ). I couldn't tell you what I paid for my first press, back in early 70's, but it's been running strong for very close to 40 years straight now. I have some dies that are over 30 years old as well.

You're stuck with the "quality" of what you've bought, long after you've forgotten about the price you paid.

If you consider the years of use vs, the cost, the cost is nothing.

And besides, who wants to be stuck loading with a Lee tool for 30-40 years?! I couldn't do that to anyone...

Slim, has something against Lee. He's never bought anything from Lee, never used anything from Lee, doesn't want anything from Lee, and will tell everyone what poor quality it is from his experience.

I once purchased a set of Lee 44 Mag dies. This was many years ago, and I once thought, like many here, that the price was what mattered most.

I was wrong. They were crap. I hated using them. I bought a set of RCBS dies to replace them with, and they were great. Still have the RCBS dies. I gave away the Lee dies.

I once purchased a Lee brass trimmer for 30-06. Same story and result as above for the die set.

During my 20 odd year stint working in various gun stores and sporting goods stores, I frequently encountered most of Lee's products. Both as store stock, and when customer's would bring the sad, broken pieces of their Lee stuff in for us to exchange.

As a "tool guy", it doesn't take a whole lot of time spent with a particular tool to tell if it's crap or not.

So Sam, you have jumped to an erroneous conclusion.

"Think of it like Lee is like Chevy. It will still get you there, but you don't really want any of your friends seeing you get out of it (or using it, in the case of Lee)!"

Bash lee all you want but please leave Chevy out of this. How about Hyundai, Dodge, Datsun or something else more appropriate then the chevy-lee analogy.

You guys are messing with my head with the chevy stuff.. Ive been a GM fan for years, that is until it became Gubmint Motors.. Cant bring myself to buy another now..


Anyway,, I used a Lee Challenger for quite a while. And just recently I discovered that I could get RCBS like quality @ a Lee price by finding a good deal on an older Pacific Press.. Now I have two of them and the Lee sits in the corner lookin all lonley and dejected.. I love my big red 07 press.. I swage bullets with it and the price was right too..


I also added a Lyman 55 powder measure and I personaly feel it is much better than the Lee measure.. But Lee stuff works.. I like the Lee case trimmers and their hand held primer tool and reccomend them both for newbies..

One thing you should not skimp on is a scale.. You dont need to break the bank but get a good one..

Slim, I do appologize for saying you never bought Lee products. I was reading another thread and was rminded that you did have a set of dies. When I wrote that last night I did not remeber the dies. I was honestly hoping to get back here before you to post that I had forgot the dies.

Now that you have expanded on your experience with Lee equipment your views are a little more clear. I have heard people malign Lee, RCBS, and Redding equipment while repeating other reloaders problems.

I must have had a better than average experience because I have had very few problems with my first batch on the Lee Loadmaster. I had used two or three sets of dies in pistol calibers before buying the Loadmaster. With the Loadmaster I had some setup problems with powder but that worked out after the first batch. I will admit that some of their products are cheesy and I have passed on them. They only failures of Lee tools I've had so far are I mangled a bullet feed finger while setting up my press and I broke the plastic feed block for the case feeder. Of course, I hit it with a rifle butt because I wasn't looking where I was going and ran into it. Functionally it was fine.

As for the Chevy\Ford thing I've had both and prefer my Jeeps. Even though I hate Chrysler Service.

I would not buy the Lee kit, to many of the access are just crap IMO, The Classic cast press is fine as is the LCT, but get a better measure & for sure pwoder scale. The RCBS RCII kit is really quite good & all you will ever need for rifle loading. The advantage of the turret is speed & for most shooting big bores,m that just isn't needed.
I would suggest you get The ABCs of Reloading & read that, good for a newb, helps you understand the process & better idea of what you need vs what you want.

Sam,

No problem at all.

I am mostly razzing the Lee/Chevy guys a bunch here. It is kind of fun, in a warped kind of way I guess. Call it boredom or ?

I go Javelina hunting next month with some friends. That will help eliminate the boredom a bit. Chalk it up to "Cabin Fever" I guess?

As an aside, I did completely forget about the Lee casting stuff I have/had. I have 3 of their molds, 2 of which work well, but 1 does not. The pins pull out of the blocks as soon as the mold gets up to temp. I know I can send it in, just haven't done it. I also don't care for the pot metal sprue handle/wood handle setup on the Lee. I admit I prefer my Lyman and NEI molds to the Lee's.

I also had a Lee bottom pour pot (2 actually) I got rid of it because it wouldn't stop leaking through the valve. The first one I got did it, so I threw it out and bought another one. It did it too. I now use a Lyman bottom pour pot, without any issues at all.

I gave my 2nd, nearly new Lee pot to Tyler Kemp (on this forum). Nice kid. He was just starting out, and was thrilled to have it, and I was thrilled to be rid of it. I think I threw in a Lyman sizer (which was in great shape), sizing die and some lead. It helped him get started casting, and as far as I know, he still has it.

I did tell him to watch out for the leaky spout, and to keep something under it.

Don't even get me started on Jeeps...



I've had 4 of them. A '64, a '77, a '90, and the last one was a 2000. All CJ's, and the last 2 were Wranglers.

I use the Spanish pronunciation, "HEEP", with the "J" as an "H".



Now I'm just razzing you again.

Just Empty Every Pocket

My wife says I need a cheap hobby.
I had a 91 Wrangler, my wife has an 01 Cherokee, I upgraded the 91 to a 04 Rubicon. Good vehicle poor customer service. Oh and 68 Commando, or as I say all the pieces still bolted together and on wheels.

Looking on the map, you don't appear to be too far from River Bend Gun Club, 988 River Bend Gun Club Road, Dawsonville, GA 30534, (770) 893-3502.

This is an organization full of knowledgeable shooters and reloaders, some of whom will be glad to set you on the right track, demonstrate the process and possibly put you on to some good used equipment.

All the reading in the world will not replace hands on experience, and you should be able to judge for yourself which equipment meets your needs best.

Agreed about the hands on, I've had another member even closer extend the same offer, i'll be taking him up on it in the next few weeks.