Hi everyone. My name is Cody and I am new to the forums here and really new to reloading. So I will start with the first of many questions. How much can I expect to spend to get started reloading 1 or 2 rifle calibers? Does anyone make a "starter kit" or do you have to buy all the parts individually? And last, where do I learn the basics so I can get started? Any ideas or opinions are welcome.
Thanks

RCBS Rock Chucker Kit and RCBS Accessory Kit. Will cost around $300. You will also need die sets and shellholders for each caliber.

Best way to learn? First read, then go to your locally owned gunshop and ask the owner for help.

First buy any reloading manual, Hornady, Lee, Speer, etc. and read it thoroughly. They have a section in the front of each one that tells how a cartridge works and step by step procedures for reloading.

Check any of the online stores for reloading supplies, Midway USA, Midsouth, Natchez, Lock Stock and Barrel, etc. they have reloading kits available from a bunch of the tooling makers. It pays to do a little comparison shopping.

Years ago we didn't have the web. It's better than sliced bread! Here's a good place to look (link below), plus all the powder manufacturers' web sites, plus Steve's pages. I like the book, The NRA Guide to Reloading, as a 'how to' manual. The key here is to read, read, read. If you can find an instructor, take the NRA Reloading Course.

http://www.reload-nrma.com/

Of course, this is a purdy good web site, too, especially when you get actually get started and have a question or two. sundog

I think a great way to get started in reloading is to get the Lee aniversary kit with the manual included. The cost is only about $60. Die sets are around $18 each. So for under $100 you can get everthing you need. Read the manual and other reloading manuals. The terminology may confuse you at first. It is good to find someone that reloads and ask them to go over the process with you the first time and maybe a second time too. Ask them questions. But the combination of reading manuals (you will learn something new from each manual), help from an experienced reloader and a low cost kit is the best way to get started.

Thanks for all the info guys. I am in the process of buying either a 7mm-08 os 260 Remington barrel for my Encore and was wanting to come up with some good loads for which ever I decide to buy.
Reloading seems like a fun hobby during the off season. I hope to learn alot from you guys.
Thanks again for the help
Cody

It's not a hobby, it's an addiction. I can still hear myself saying "Look at how much money I can save." Wifezilla is still laughing at that one.

I am not interested in saving money, I just want to have the pride of firing my own rounds and knowing they are the best.
I just hate to spend alot of money to get started and then decide that reloading is not for me. I wonder if it would be better to try to find some used parts to get started?

This is what I started out with.
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=646599

It is the RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme Kit. You might also think about getting a set of calipers and a case trimmer to start.
As others have mentioned, read the manuals and all of the online sites you can find. It has been mentioned that some of the terminology may be a bit confusing, yup, you betcha. I had a bit of trouble myself not to long ago. Steve's Pages http://stevespages.com/page8.htm is a great place to go to help clarify this lodin jargin.
Go to his site and browse through ALL of his pages, lots of helpful stuff.

johnnyb had some good advice start out with the
lee kit their quality is decent their warranty
is exellent plus it will all be new

quote:

Originally posted by hivoltg:
Hi everyone. My name is Cody and I am new to the forums here and really new to reloading. So I will start with the first of many questions. How much can I expect to spend to get started reloading 1 or 2 rifle calibers? Does anyone make a "starter kit" or do you have to buy all the parts individually? And last, where do I learn the basics so I can get started? Any ideas or opinions are welcome.
Thanks

I've got some equipment I'll sell you ultra cheap to get you started. I have a Hornady scale (I think made by Pacific), a Lyman case trimmer (hand), but I think there is one pilot missing but it is a pistol cal., I have an RCBS electric case trimmer, and a ton of once fired brass in 270, 30.06, 7 rem mag. I have about 100+ virgin WW 300 Win Mag brass.

PM me if you are interested.

Doc
PM sent

The RCBS Rock Chucker kit. That's what I decided to start out with. Very impressed with the simplicity and ease of use. You will still have to buy a few other things though. An inertia bullet puller has been an invaluable tool for me. Being new and inexperienced with this "hobby", I've made plenty of mistakes and had to take a cartridge or two apart. Depending on your brass, you may not need a case trimmer right off, I haven't, but I went ahead and got one anyway, cause you will need it. On the RC kit... shop around, I spent several days looking in catalogs and online to find the best price, and managed to find it for about 80 bucks cheaper than anybody else had it for at the time. Natchez had a sale on it, and not more than a week after I ordered mine, their price went way back up on it. The only other thing I can say about getting started (from my recent experience in getting set up) is READ!

OOPS!! Hit enter a line too soon. As I was saying, get as many manuals and books as you can and spend as much time as you can reading them. I found a highlighter very helpful. Makes it easier to find the more important parts when you need to go back and look something up.

I'm relatively new to the reloading habit, here's a 3 part primer that helped me a lot, Reloading Essentials by Dan Newberry....

http://www.savageshooters.com/ReloadingBench.html