Well I have been lurking for awhile and have learned a lot but it is time to jump on in, I have a new 7mm-08 Remington Mnt rifle, never had a Remmy before and there are a few things Im not to crazy about with the gun but it felt so darn good I had to get it, and my wife told me to,,,waaahaaaa Ive got it made



Anyway I want to reload some for it and some others, I have been looking and listening for a while, have folders full of info from the net and mags. Now I need some specific advice, I have narrowed my starter setup to the following; Im not rich at all, 2 kids, wife, mortgage and all that but want quality to start. After I get some good loads going I will mostly be loading following



7mm-08, 700 Mnt rifle, couple hundred rounds a year, deer and coyote, hogs, targets

30-30, mod 94 lever scout scope setup, 50-100 rounds a year, deer and coyote, hogs, targets

30-40, Springfield 1898 Krag, 50-100 rounds a year, deer and hogs, targets



9mm- 200-300 rounds a year, targets, whatever gets in the wifes way!

10mm-200-300 rounds a year, targets, deer, hogs



I have limited my press choices down to the following 3



Forester Co-axe press

(Very accurate results, strong, ease of changing dies, very good but slow priming system)



Redding T-7 Turret Press

( about the same as above but the turret may provide some easy of switching dies, can put 2-3 sets in and leave them. Have heard mixed results on the priming system )



Redding Big Boss O frame, or new Cast Lee with the large die hole so it could run the Hornady lock and load system.

( easy to change dies, strong, am leaning toward the Redding between these two)



I would appreciate any advice on the three presses, I like the primer disposal system with these three, down the ram and outa there. Really appreciate stories on these three.



I am also thinking about the following to round out my starter kit.



Hornady or better powder drop

I already have a 5-0-5 scale from RCBS,,,use it to weigh charges for the savage ML.

A set of cleaning and cutting tools and mini lathe, Redding, or RCBS??

A good starter handloading book, thinking Hornadys 6th edition

Thinking the hornady spray lube, anybody use the dry graphite lube??



Dies,???? Have some lee 30-30 dies I think will suffice for the 30-30, what do you recommend for the other calibers, strong, dependable and consistent being the most important?

Your choices are good, and will work.

I'll suggest, however, that you get an entire kit and work from there.

I don't think the rcbs master supreme reloading kit can be beaten, for 269 on midway..

it's the rcbs supreme press and the master kit, which has everything but dies for your purpose.

jeffe

I second what jeffe said. I started reloading about ten years ago with RCBS kit and still use it for all my reloading. For high capacity pistol reloading, there are better options (think progressive). However, for general reloading use I think it's a great option. Get a set of dies, some components, and a caliper and you're on your way to making great ammo. I would also recommend an additional reloading manual or two. I'm pretty fond of my Hodgdon manual, and I think the Lyman (now in the 48th edition) is a great resource for the beginner and expert alike.

and for the mutual admiration society.,..

D-Ram is right, get a couple manuals.. and go conservative..

get name brand calipers...

and for powder thrower, if you have to have a "better" one, the lyman 55 can't be beat

jeffe

hand primers are great...
the aps benchmounted is awesome

jeffe

Hello again and thanks for all the feedback,

Sounds like RCBS is the brand of choice, I like the 5-0-5 scale of theirs, have been very impressed with it, I will check on the compatability of the Hornady L-N-L bushings with their press,,,,

One thing I was worried about on some presses is the primer collection system making a mess of things,,,are presses that pop the primer and any gunk in the case streight down the ram any neater to use? I have a very nice built in vacume system I put in my garage when I built, can adjust the suction power from sucking in the cat to barly moving dust, different hose sizes up to wall ports, was thinking of running a 1 inch line to the press,,,just for during deprime,,,,,,no noise inside from this system shop vac is housed outside, cost a whole whoping $300 to build.

Also would the small additional cost of the T-7 turret be wirth it when doing pistol? my pistol #s in the 10mm could climb up some if our shooting club starts up again

I sold a gun and some stuff to start reloading,,,got about 500 to work with, the less the better but like I said before I want the good stuff the first time around, thats where you-alls advice is so great

Thanks again

Pposey,

The Hornady Lock-N-Load conversion kit definitely will work with the RCBS presses. I have one installed on my Rock Chucker and it works great.

Changing dies takes 5 seconds or less and the rubber "O" ring lets the die free float just enough to ensure ammo comes out concentric with very little fuss.

IMHO this set up is one of the best "Bang for Your Buck" methods of single stage reloading.

Is the L-N-L system good enough to make a turret press unneeded or do ya think the T-7 be worth it for loading pistol,

I'm in no rush on this just want to have everything together by early August or so.

FYI-The RCBS kit no longer has a case trimmer in it. The Lyman kit does. I would add that to your list if you go with the RCBS. I also concur with the hand primer. I prefer the RCBS or Hornady.

Good Luck,

Bob

I can concur about RCBS products being a good value, that's what I have. That being said, with the amount of reloading your talking about I think the Redding Turret Press would be awful handy especially if you swap from caliber to caliber ( I like the idea that your dies are always setup,and that you just rotate the next die into place). Depending if there is potential for you to reload more you might consider the Dillon AT500,(I think that's what it's called)which can be set up as a 550 progressive press later. Like others have said the hand held priming systems are the way to go with a single stage press.
Good Luck in your choices,
Jeff

The Forster and Redding presses are excellent, as are Redding and Forster benchrest dies. With the amoiunt of shooting you do, I don't think you are going to be handicapped with a slow priming system. I have used Lee presses and the priming setup that comes on these presses, and these priming settups are very poor (slow & weak!!). I guess Lee wants you to have to use a hand primer! I do, but I use a Lyman-Ideal 310 tool with priming die! Yes. One primer at a time! But it does allow you to feel and see exactly how each primer is seating in each and every case!

Redding and Forster dies are outstanding, RCBS dies are excellent, and there is noting at all wrong with the dies Lyman is selling these days!!

I have an old Lyman 6 die turret press. It works fine for my pistol reloading (.40S&W, .38 spl, .357 mag), but really does not save a significant amount of time. The problem is that the additional slop due to the rotating die head makes adjustment for good rifle ammo tricky. I ended up 'locking mine down' by tightening the nut on the turret, effectively making it a single stage.

As you might be guessing right now, I am not a fan of turret presses....YMMV.

Pposey,

I have never owned a turret press. I have a Dillon 650 with case feeder to do high volume work. However, looking at pictures of turret presses, I don't see how they would speed up the process. They appear to simply be a single stage press with a rotating turret to hold dies. Thus, the only speed advantage would be in changing dies not in the reloading process itself.

If you go with the Lock-N-Load conversion kit or the Co-Ax press, the time it takes to change dies is nearly the same as it would take to rotate the turret. However, when the turret is full and you want to load another caliber you now have a much greater interruption in your loading process since the dies must be screwed in and out. Meanwhile, the Lock-N-Load or Co-Ax dies would still just pop in and out in a few seconds.

If you need more speed go with a true progressive.

Wahoooo,

Thanks everybody for all the feedback,,, The more I have looked at the turrets the more I have thought ya know the L+N=L would be about the same thing?

I'm prowling Ebay looking at stuff, shy of buying used though, rather spend 0-25% more and get new with all the papers +stuff

RCBS competition dies pretty good? found a set for my 7mm08 new on ebay, will check the price of new ones retail figure I may just make a group order for everything from natezz, cabelas or midsouth.



Thanks again for all the help