Hi All,
I have spent the last week or so reading through the forum; lots of great information.

I have ordered some books. I ordered the ABC's of Reloading from abe.com. I have also ordered the Hornady manuals and the Lyman handbook of reloading from Midway.

What I need is ya'lls opinions/suggestions as to the approach for my situation and goals.

I was an avid reloader in the 80's. Albeit not pistol and rifle, but of shotgun (20 gauge). I shot a LOT of skeet back then. I have since sold my reloader (it was a progressive unit). So, I have some "related" experience. I know, I know the process is not the same.

I want to start reloading .40 S&W, at first, for my Glock 22. I guess to get my feet wet again. But I do not want to stop there. I will want to eventually load Pistol (9mm, .40S&W, .357Mgm, .44Mgm, and .50AE); Rifle (.300 Savage, 270Win, and 30-06 Sprng). I also, should the Lord grace me with the opportunity, want to load .50BMG if I ever acquire one. I know that the latter requires its own single stage press so this post really does not concern that caliber.

As far as quantities go:
I will shoot about 500+ pistol rounds per month. Keep in mind I only own the Glock 22 at the moment, but will acquire the others later; still keeping about 500 rounds per month combined for all calibers.

For the rifles I would want to shoot 50 - 100 rounds per month. More or less to stay comfortable with the weapons, but will want to strive for accuracy (Moly is not out of the question here.)

Now for factors to consider:

For startup I have about $500. (that would include everthing to make a bullet)

I have a dedicated space and bench for this operation.

I don't like buying something only to have to re-sell it later to upgrade to what I will eventually need. If I will need X later on, I would rather buy X now and save the extra expense.

My friend/mentor in this area has all RCBS equipment. If it makes sense to stick with that brand because of this, sobeit.



I have looked at the most talked about brands (Lee, Dillon, and RCBS). I am not biased toward any brand. What I want is what will work best for my goals and situation. My first thought was to go with some turret press, but many of you bring up valid arguments otherwise.

What are your thoughts?

I have not forgotten the face of my Father.
-mark

personally I'd look to dillon for the handgun reloading.....Hornady's lock and Load AP is also a good press.

I'm sticking to my RCBS Rockchucker for the rifle reloading and if that volume goes way upI'd go back to Dillon for that as well.

It will be hard to get everything you need for all that reloading for 500 bucks. You may be able to do it by buying second hand stuff. I load for 4 rifle rounds and 2 pistol, and to get everything I needed I have spent somewhere around $1000. I bought everything new though.

I agree with vapodog on the dillon. If you are going to be loading that much pistol ammo, you should get a quality progressive press. You will quickly tire of how long it takes to do pistol rounds on a single stage press.

I started with the rcbs rock chucker kit, and bought everything else I needed to go along with it. It's great for rifle, but I decided that I am going to have to get a progressive for my pistol rounds.

It looks like you have already started out well by ordering the books first. Before you buy anything else, read the books. They will help you decide what you need/want.

As you seem to already know, there is a wealth of information here. People will help you with whatever question you have. I have learned a lot from the members here.

Welcome to AR
Be safe and have fun.

If you shop around you can get the RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme Kit and the RCBS Accessory Kit for around $300 total.

That will give you everything you need except dies, shellholders and components.

As for the .50BMG...better put another $500 aside.

I agree 100% with Vapo and Steel Slinger. Start with an RCBS Rockchucker reloading kit, it will have all of your basics to get started. Natchez Shooters supply has it on sale for $219:

http://www.natchezss.com/

With the rest of the $500 you can buy dies, brass, bullets, primers and powder.
For pistol you will eventually want to upgrade to a progressive press and when you do buy a Dillon 550 or even better 650, but you won't be able to get one and all you need to get started for $500. The Rockchucker will be slower than you will want for pistol but it will load any caliber and will be what you will want to use for load developement and most rifle loading later. If you buy the Rock Chucker kit you will be able to load any caliber with just a die change. On a progressive type press there is a lot more goodies you'll want to buy when you change calibers, a full setup for my Dillon 650 costs over $200 to change calibers.
I'm still using the first Rock Chucker press that I started with 32 years ago even though I now also have a Progressive for some high volumn calibers. Start with a Single stage kit like the Rockchucker kit and as you learn more you'll figure out where your next money is best spent.....................DJ

Thanks All for the advice. Looks like I have some reading to do when the books come in. To clarify, the $500 was only startup. I do expect to spend more as I get more into it. I just hate buying somethng I won't use later on. Maybe I start single stage (Rock Chucker) and move to progresive (Dillon or RCBS) later. Looks like I can keep the Rock Chucker to develop my Rifle loads.
Thanks Again, I'll let you know how this progresses.

Welcome to reloading msymms! As you hang around you'll find there are some real advantages to using this sight as a sounding board. ( It can be pretty entertaining too!)

I'm still using a Rockchucker I got in kit form about 20 years ago. I like it for the rifle loads quite a bit. I have used a couple other progressives but wasn't impressed.

For high volumn pistol, I think Dillion is ahead of the others.

On your budget I'd recommend the Rockchucker kit and build from there. Nate