I have a Forster and a Lyman case trimmer. They are both very good. Everything RCBS and Redding make is excellent. So are Forster Benchrest dies.

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What to buy for safety and what's good for the powder, but nothing large in size?

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A lockable steel wall locker in a cool, dry place will be OK for storage of powder. Naturally, keep it locked! AND, WHEN YOU ARE LOADING UP SOME AMMO, ONLY ALLOW ONE CAN OF THE KIND OF POWDER YOU ARE USING ON YOUR BENCH AT A TIME! That way, you'll NEVER USE THE WRONG KIND!

In my opinion, forget about the carbide dies in 243. Most dies are decent, the micrometer straight-line seating dies are wonderful, but if you are after MOA groups, utterly unnecessary......

ABC's is good, from there just start adding manuals. Buy the manual of the bullet maker you prefer to start with, and just add from there. You'll end up with all of them, eventually. It just works that way.

Trimmers? They all work, and they all suck. The one piece of equipment most people rave about most is a motorized trimmer, but I've never used one. Someone here will chime in to give the skinny, though.

As far as reloading with kids, I've done it, and a good, locked, closet is the answer. Powder should be locked up, but powder is not near as big a deal as primers. Powder should be in a cabinet that is designed to "vent": if you do not confine smokeless powder, it only goes "woosh". If you put it in a confined cabinet (i.e. gun safe), it goes "bang". Powder is less flammable than good rum!

Primers should be locked up, period. Not for kiddo fingers.

Have fun, Dutch.

Looks like you are off to an excellent start. As far as case trimmers, I recently gave up my RCBS, which I had used for years, for a Wilson. The RCBS worked well, I am thrilled with the Wilson. I've read lots of post here recommending the Lee trimmer also. If you are interested in a RCBS I'd be glad to see mine go to a newbie so I'm sure we could work something very favorable to you out. (Send me a note eps842@sbcglobal.net )

Books? Most of the manuals have very good intro sections, try the Sierra manual.

Powder? Buy one-pound cans, be sure to store in the original containers. When you find a powder you love nothing wrong with 5# or 8# containers to save a little $ and have a bunch from the same lot around. Keep in a constant environment, cool and dry. Interior closet works well, way up high so the kids don't want to play with it. Stored well it will probably last longer than you or me. For your .243 suggested powders to consider IMR 4350, IMR4064, Varget. Caution is a virtue, but don't start your loads lower than published starting loads for safety reasons. Rule of some thumbs is to begin 10% below max and work up in .5 grn increments.


If you have not found Steve's pages yet, book mark his site and live there this winter.

http://stevespages.com/page8.htm

Dies? Start w/Redding or RCBS standard dies. The three die sets are nice and cover all bases. Not a carbide expert but the only ones I have used have been for pistol rounds.

Most of all, have fun!!!

By all means do a lot of reading in a number of standard reloading manuals and other shooting magazines; however, spend a few of those cold days sitting with several EXPERIENCED reloaders who can give you some hands-on practical advice while actually using the equipment you have and help you get properly set-up and running in a safe and efficient manner. Keep them handy to answer questions as they come up, because they will.

As for carbide dies, these are only available for rifle cartridges at high cost, and you would probably still have to lubericate the cases some anyway. If you use full length sized cases fired in your rifle, you can buy a neck sizer and just lube the neck instead of the whole case.

After you have reloaded for awhile, you will start acquiring not only essential equipment, but also all that "nice to have" stuff - and then looking for more space to do it all in. Keep an eye out at your local gun shows, and e-Bay is a great source also. Have fun.

Phil S.

Wayne, you don't know how right you are. My kids don't even come within earshot when I'm in the basement reloading: they know they'll be pulling the handle seating bullets, loading 20 ga, decapping, or -- the horror -- wiping lube off brass. It's a chore to them, and they want as little to do with it as they have to. Dutch.

I recomend a Lee trimmer it is very easy to use almost fool proof because there is nothing to adjust.

One thing to remember is to put the powder back in the can it came out of as soon as you are done reloading. If you leave it in the powder charger it will draw moisture, discolor the charger, and you will in time forget what powder is left in the charger. Once this happens you will have up to 1lb of �Wonder Powder� because you wonder what it is. I have done this it is an unsafe practice and there is no safe way to figure out what the Wonder Powder is so it must be disposed of. Reloading is a challenge and a lot of fun but can be extremely dangerous, and as previously stated is no place for children.

Good luck and enjoy safe reloading.

Hello all. New to reloading and I'm wondering which is a good case trimmer? Heck, I'm not even sure how they're supposed to be used at this point as I have just been buying items others have recommended and putting them on the bench until I'm finished READING MORE BOOKS on reloading.
So far it's looking like I have a lot of RCBS stuff out there on my bench:
Rockchucker Supreme
Uniflow Powder Measure w. stand and the micrometer adjustment-thingy (can u tell I have not read the instructions yet?)
Powder Trickler
Hand Primer and tray
Loading Block
Calipers (cheap Frankford Arsenal pair)
RCBS 502 scale
Case lube pad
Satern Funnel from Sinclair Intl.
ABC's of reloading book. Next book will be Lyman's latest edition. Not sure what book willl come afer that, recommendations?
PLEASE, don't worry. I'm not going to start anything until I know what I'm doing out there. I'll be going after a .243 Winchester prairie dog load ... first. I'm a conservative guy and will err on the side of caution.
Hopefully come May '05 I'll be accepted into the gun club 10 minutes away from my house and then I can start the reloading. In the meantime I have all winter to read and make minor purchases to get ready for this hobby. I live in Minnesota so winter really sucks for shooting at a range and it does not look like reloading in the house (basement) will be occuring either (3 small children and a recently finished basement).
Storage for powders is a concern for me. What to buy for safety and what's good for the powder, but nothing large in size?
I asked above about a case trimmer. I'm looking for ease of use and simplicity, reliability etc.
A buddy of mine who reloads mentioned to get carbide dies when I'm ready to purchase them. Seems like a lot of people like Redding dies. Oh yeah, I'm not going to be a bench-rest guy. I'm more of a "3-4 inch shot group at 200 yards and I'm OK with that. 2 inches would be nice," kind of person. Who makes good carbide dies and why are they recommended?
I went prairie doggin' 1 hr, east of Rapid City for the first time this June and loved it despite almost catching a tornado (4 miles from us) and the 1 real day of shooting we had there were 20-30 mph winds all day. It was awesome and we knocked off about 200 dogs for the rancher that day just shooting into or with the wind behind us. Addictive stuff.
Well, it's getting late and I'll leave the rest open for whatever else I am missing. Thanks for all your help. I've enjoyed reading what I have come across on this forum.

Later,

Ross