Beginner reloader setup

Stainless wet cleaning is the best way to go. If walnut vibratory set up lizard bedding a pets store cheap solution to media. If wet set up go and purchase a used food dehydrator to dry the brass. Forster presses great. Can't beat the rcbs rockchucker. Both will last a lifetime of yours, kids and grandkids. lol. Good luck learning this hobby.
 
My Hat is off to you, Congrats on your first step down the rabbit hole......
I went down the fly tying rabbit hole for decades & it is consuming, reloading seems like the same.
That said, you are smart for starting this, guys like me will have to hope that whatever we need will be on the
shelf when the time comes & it is coming for sure.
Good Luck & God Bless.
 
jason367 said:
Stainless wet cleaning is the best way to go. If walnut vibratory set up lizard bedding a pets store cheap solution to media. If wet set up go and purchase a used food dehydrator to dry the brass. Forster presses great. Can't beat the rcbs rockchucker. Both will last a lifetime of yours, kids and grandkids. lol. Good luck learning this hobby.
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Just picked up used Frankford wet tumbler with steel pin media and separator yesterday. Also got a good deal on a dry tumbler with walnut media at the same time. Going to experiment with both of them. First chance I get a steal of a deal on a rockchucker I'm not gonna hesitate to also expirement with it also! Thank you!
 
MagnumManiac said:
This is exactly how all of my rifles/barrels are set out in my folder.
Range notes include elevation, temperature and time of day at the top. What date it was tested at.
Then wind speed and direction in the last column.
All aspects of the load, powder, bullet, primer type, primer crush, case brand and number of sizings. Also has COAL/CBTO column.
If I no longer have that rifle, all those notes go to the new owner.
I can't understand anyone that doesn't do this. I bought a Full Bore rifle in 308, the guy gave me a card with powder used, no weight, bullet used, just weight and no brand and the case brand. No other info, how many rounds fired, no builder name. I re-barreled it with a 13" twist at 32", it shot competitively well, when I sold it, it got all the above info provided.

Cheers.
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I will already have individual notebooks and folders marked for each one of my 3 rifles I plan on reloading for. Knowledge is power!
 
ntsqd said:
Videos are great for seeing a particular technique. Those aren't usually conveyed very well in words or pictures. Pictures are usually better than words, but videos are much better than pictures. But I'm with Alibiiv on information. Even a multi-page pdf is not as useful as a book.

As soon as he can PM me he'll be getting some older Speer & Hornady manuals. I don't throw away or otherwise get rid of old manuals as I find that the info in them changes. Sometimes for the better, but not often. These that I'm offering him came out of an Estate and are duplicates.

Batteries do die. IME it takes literally months of constantly being on to kill those used in my calipers. When turned off after each use I can get more than a year out of one. When I buy replacements I buy several and store them in the fridge. We have a lower door shelf container specifically for batteries.
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I'll definitely be reaching out when I can for sure! And the videos have been a life saver for me in this process because I've never watched someone reload in person before, let alone seen a reloading room. It helps put words to action like you said!
 
JustMe2 said:
Be careful about using old reloading manuals. I had an old box of 50 original Barnes X bullets I thought I might as well use up in my 300WM. These old bullets were not listed in Barnes' online loading data or anyone elses. I thought, luckily I still had an old Barnes book that listed these old smooth sided X-bullets. Started a workup from mid to high powder charges using H4350 using the data in this old book. Saw pressure immediately at medium powder charge. Realized that H4350 composition has changed through the years. Pulled the remaining bullets, dumped the powder, re-neck sized, dropped another 2 grains below medium, and started the workup again. Never even made it to the middle charge of this old manual. So, be careful using old book data.
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Safety is and always will be my number one priority. I live on a farm and work on equipment a lot. I've seen a lot of things blow or blow up with just 100 psi. Theres no way I will be pushing the limits of anything, stuff scares me a bit.
 
Alibiiv said:
I'm probably going to start a fight here and ruffle some feathers, but...I do not consider the Forster press to be an upgrade from an RCBS Supreme press on any day. I have had both, I prefer the RCBS press over the Forster. To me it is a matter of preference. And you are correct, buy once, cry once. I prefer actual manuals over videos. You Tube is a good place to start, however I am ole school and prefer going back into my manual over trying to locate the information that I am looking for in a video.
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I'm wanting to try the coax just for the "poetential" embetterment with alignment and runout. If I couldn't get a coax, my first choice was the rockchucker. I promise you the first chance I get a good deal on a rockchucker I will be getting one to try to decide between the two. I'm all about seeing what actually works the best and what works best for me! Thank you for the input
 
MarkInPA said:
The one thing I have been trying to figure out. The original poster has spent considerable money on some of the best equipment. Why so hesitant to spend a few dollars on a couple of manuals. Especially the manuals from the bullet manufacturers you plan to shoot.
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I will, for sure 100% have more manuals than I probably need. As of right now everything I have been getting is me finding online and shipping as I have very little free time this part of year due to farming. Not many people are selling and shipping manuals online compared to equipment. And all of my equipment I've gotten and will get is 100% used and a borderline steal on it. The manuals already have a spot saved on a shelf in my room!
 
A_Brandt said:
I'm wanting to try the coax just for the "poetential" embetterment with alignment and runout. If I couldn't get a coax, my first choice was the rockchucker. I promise you the first chance I get a good deal on a rockchucker I will be getting one to try to decide between the two. I'm all about seeing what actually works the best and what works best for me! Thank you for the input
Click to expand...
I used an RCBS Rockchucker press for decades, and then one day I decided a wanted a new press. RCBS was running a special on the Rockchucker SUPREME press for like $160 so I got a new press. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the Rockchucker press that I had, I just wanted a new one. With all of the variables involved with "any" press, I believe all of the concentricity work comes from prepping the brass and from the dies, and not the press. The press is only a means to deliver the case to the dies. There are clearances everywhere on either the CoAx press of the "O" press and one cannot get away from those clearances. There are clearances between the die body and the press alone, the play between the ram and the press body, the clearance between the casing and the shell holder and I can go on and on. Does there have to be a certain level of precision built into the press, absolutely, however the final work gets done within the die itself and not the press.
 
I didn't see what you listed for a press (could've overlooked it with my "man eyes"). You cannot go wrong with the big green, RCBS. Also, do not pass go, get yourself a Garmin zero chronograph. I've gone through four in my long and storied reloading career and the Garmin is the best thing since sliced bread. A final thought, the only thing you can tell about your load without a chrony is how do they group and do they seem too hot. You need all that speed and variance data to help build ballistics charts and forecast reliability and velocity for dial turrets etc.
 

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