I was just wondering what equipment you all prefer to use for reloading! I single stage press or turret style, what brand? Electronic scale or a standard balancing scale, what about the charge master or similar items, how well do that work and are they worth the money? Any other advice would be greatly appreciated. I know im asking alot of questions but i would really appreciate any advice you all have.
Thanks everyone

How many reloads are you planning to do a month or a year? This helps determine if you need a single stage, turret, or progressive press. Will you be loading rifle,handguns or a mix?

Why are you interested in what we have and do? What is important is what you will do. Learn enough about reloading to anticipate your own needs and to determine the capabilities of the available equipment. Your efforts will meet with more success at that point.

Reading through old posts here and on other forums is a good start.

I am interested in what you all have to say because i am fairly new to all this so i am trying to gain as much knowledge as possible! For example what is a more accurate type of scale digital or balancing? What presses do you use and have you had prblems with them? These are things that some of you might know that i dont! I will be reloading rifle only and i will probably load no more that 200 rounds a month. like i said before any help would be appreciated.

Adam, at that volume, a single stage press will serve you fine. I load a lot more volume than that, and only use single stage presses, 2 of them actually. If I was gonna start from scratch, I would recommend strongly the RCBS master reloading kit WITH the univeral priming tool, and the Chargemaster digital scale dispensing system.

You will get a lot of different opinions, but I far prefer digital scales. I can also tell you, that almost all really serious laboratory work is done on a digital scale. I have one of those also, and I ocassionally compare my Chargemaster to it, the Chargemaster is plenty accurate.

I like my Forster Co-ax single stage press a lot, it makes ammo with very little effort that is extremely concentric, and you don't need shellholders. I personally would still have both this press and the RCBS Rockchucker since some of the dies with Micrometer seaters won't fit in the Co-ax due to it's handle design.

A couple little extra's that I really like, and aren't that pricey are the 'Heavy Duty' polypropolene loading blocks, they are case specific, the cases fit in there great and very stable, I love them. The other one is the Satern powder funnels, they have them at Sinclair and Midway too. The nozzles on them are caliber specific, so they actually will not fit if soemhow you forget to size a case--believe me this will happen some day.....

A concentricity gauge can be pricey, but is the best way to determine how concentric your ammo is, and where inconsistencies get introduced in your loading process.

As far as case trimming goes, I think the best all around in terms of speed and precision is probably the powered RCBS Trimpro (or Trim-master??) I have several others, and I really like my Wilson Sinclair, but it is not real fast, and requires seperate case holders for every cartridge family, sometimes two as some cases need one for fired and unfired cases...it is extremely accurate and a pleasure to use.

One other thing, go ahead and get a case tumbler, it's just too simple and inexpensive to tinker around without a case cleaning setup. I bought a Dillon with the combo tumbler/seperator, but I think it's pretty much 6 of one 1/2 dozen of the other, I have read that a lot of the tumblers are made by one company which private labels them for many of the industry guys, say RCBS, Dillon, Lee or whomever....

Good luck to you!

I have the RCBS single stage with the charge master. It's great

I have Forster Co-Ax single stage press and have tried others, but this is the best IMHO. I use Forster Benchrest micrometer dies, Satern funnels, RCBS 1500 chargemaster combo(digital scales with dispenser). Good Calipers,Forester concentric gage, RCBS electric trimmer, RCBS prep center. These are higher value components, but they produce very high quality reloads. If I wanted to sell them, they have good resale value. I would get a good reloading guide book and read it( I prefer the one the bullet manufacters guides). I only reload my rifle ammo, if I reloaded a mix or just hand guns I would own a Dillon 550 Progressive press.You might look at www.stevespages.com and www.varmintal.com/arelo.htm they have some go info on reloading. People here want to help, but you are asking a very broad question. Hope this helps and keep asking questions, that is how we all learn.

I load between 500 and 1000 rounds total for 30-06, 22-250, 300wsm, 325wsm per year the last couple years. Here is a list of what I use: RCBS rockchucker IV; Redding delux die sets and I just got a comp seater for one cal; RCBS case prep center; RCBS trimmer; Stoney pt / Hornady COL and headspace guages w/ .001" 6" caliper; K&M VLD deburring tool; Lyman Inside flashole debur tool; RCBS primer pocket uniform; RCBS neck turner; Lyman 600 pro tumbler w/ corncob; Lee Powder thower; Lyman LE 1000 didgital scale; Chronograph alpha model; Many relaoding resources internet on paper; JBM tradjectories online calculator. As well as a home-made runout guage made from an old caliper - important if you are really trying to shoot the hair off of a gnat's a$$ at range

With hindsight, I'd get the follwing to replace the products I have: Redding Big Boss press (not a big deal, but they are a little better machined); K&M or sinclair neck turning tool rather than the RCBS P.O.S. that I got; Forster or Redding case trimmer (again, not huge deal, but better machined for not much extra); I will probably not get another comp seating die unless I get a custom rifle built that can realistically use it to it's full potential ($95 for the die); I'd like to get the chargemaster in the future.

Adam,
Are you reloading for hunting, center fire target, or bench rest?? What caliber?? How old are you or do you have any weaknesses or disabilities?? What kind of budget are you on?? Kudude

You'll never go wrong buying the best you can afford.

thanks for all of the help so far guys. Kudude i am 23 and i am mostly reloading for varmint hunting and just shooting targets with the guys, i have no disabilities and as far as weaknesses go im not really sure what you are looking for but i am physically fit if thats what your asking. You all have given me some great tips so far, you say digital scales are the way to go what about calipers and micrometers would digital be better there also? Once again thank you all

Adam, I like digital in both calipers and micrometers. Having said that, the one digital I use is a damn good one, and ran about $150 I think, but that is overkill too. I use it mostly for the head to shoulder measurements, and for case lengths etc. I usually end up using a 'analog' caliper, I have several (30) on my bench.

There are some good buys on digital nowadays, I'd look at Sinclair, those guys give good honest reviews of the products they sell IMO.

Lot's of places to pick em up, I buy a lot of stuff from Rutland Tool and Supply also......
Being 23, your eyes probably aren't an issue, but digitals are nice if you just left your reading glasses over on the gun cleaning cradle and you're already sitting at your reloading press

I'm using two single stage presses, a Rockchucker Supreme and Forster Co-ax... I really like the Co-ax best but I do use them both... The Chargemaster 1500 combo dispenser and scale is accurate to one tenth of a grain and I'm getter VERY consistent velocities using it... Electronic digital calipers and mics are wonderful and easy to read...

My two cents for what it's worth...

Ken....

Adam, A digital caliper is just a handier tool, not necessary. If you can read a manual one with ease you should save your cash and get a manual one since you can actually read a manual caliper to the nearest .0005 if it is marked to the nearest .001". IMO, a micrometer to measure .0001 is unnecessary unless you are really getting into searious accuracy like benchrest compatitions where .1" groups are the norm.

I have a Lyman caliper, used to have a cheap china made one and they both worked fine -- many are made by the same company and have different names painted on them. You need one that is stainless steel and a dial at minimum. you should be able to get a entry level one for about 30 or you could spend 150 for a top notch digital one.

I like to keep things simple and there is rarely any advantage to going complex. Single stage presses are simple, turrets and progressives add complexity. Plus, no turret or progressive is as solid as a single stage because there HAS TO BE SOME "SLOP" IN THE PRESS OR THE TURRETS COULDN'T TURN.

Perhaps the best current single stage press is the Bonanza Co-Ax, but at a high cost. Next is the Lee Classic Cast (iron). It's high quality and sells for about a third of the price of other compairable units.

Both beam scales and digitals are plenty accurate but digitals are more complex and less reliable in the long term. Ditto calipers, dial vs. digital - just when you really want to use the things the digital's battery will be dead. An inexpensive 6" stainless dial caliper will do all you need for years, the reloading brand calipers are all Chinese made and it appears that they come from the same plant.

It is likely that you will need a case trimmer. I think the Lyman "Universal Trimmer" is the best equiped, the simplest to use AND perhaps the best working trimmer of the commonly available types.

For sure you will want a powder measure. The Reddings and Hornady copies are perhaps the most reliable available at a decent price. And get a powder "trickler" too, the Redding is the only one I think is of much use, all the others are much too light for stability.

You will want good dies but understand that ALL die makers do a good job. If you want "pretty" stuff buy Redding. If you want good dies that are pretty inside but don't care if they are kinda homely outside then get Lee's dies. The rest cost more than Lee but less than Redding while providing little or nothing to the quality of ammo produced. Well, except the Foster dies which are on par with Reddings for quality but aren't quite as pretty.

Advise that you read a lot, then pracitice loading and shooting while you learn a LOT about the basic mechanics of reloading and load development before you even think of a chronograph. Ditto neck turners, primer pocket reamer/uniformer, neck dies, etc.

For that amount of ammo, you'll be well suited with:

Lee Classic Cast press
RCBS 505 beam scale
RCBS or Redding dies
RCBS Cham/debur tool
RCBS Primer pocket brush
RCBS or Lee Funnel
Set of Lee dippers
Dial Caliper that goes to .001"
lee trimmer and pilots
RCBS Loading block


That will be a great start.

Check out the RCBS kit.

I like the Lee CC press better than the RCBS RC, but some may have differing opinions.

Good Luck

Reloader

I recomend the KISS principle.
Learn on a single stage press. Use a balance beam scale and a set of check weights.
Get a 6" dial caliper. Invest in a few reloading manuals.
Remember what onefunzr2 already said. Get the best you can afford.
You will use the above equipment no matter how involved in reloading you get.

muck

Sorry about not getting b ack to you.

I like Muck's suggestion. I'd go for a decent single stage press. The basic, cheap Lee is a good place to start. Later on, you can use this for secondary operations like decaping, seating etc. It is a very serviceable press.

A good scale Lyman or RCBS is a necessity.

A dial caliper and bullet puller is a necessity.

A Lee primer will get you thru about a couple of thousand rounds while you are on the look out for an old RCBS priming tool.

A set of Lee dies plus a Lee collet die would be nice for varmit shooting.

If you are going for extreme accuracy, I'd suggest one the reloading dies that let's you drop the bullet in the front thru a "window" and has a micrometer seating stem. I thing mine is RCBS. Nice tool.

When you get old and get arthritis like I have, you'll will appreciate a Bonanza press, but you have plenty of time for that.

I'd also get a good powder measure. Midway or the brand they sell is a good one. For volume loading, it works great. Kudude