New Reloader

[xsn10s]

FWIW I'm finding Ken Waters' excellent book Pet Loads at amazon & Midway for $65. I found it for a lot less, but at a vendor whom I've never seen before and don't trust.

If a lot of load development is in your future you may want to think about how you might make your equipment portable. Unless you have your own range.

Wow that's a much better price than what I saw last year! Good find!!!!!

 

[xsn10s]

FWIW I'm finding Ken Waters' excellent book Pet Loads at amazon & Midway for $65. I found it for a lot less, but at a vendor whom I've never seen before and don't trust.

If a lot of load development is in your future you may want to think about how you might make your equipment portable. Unless you have your own range.

Oh I see the 2 volume set is $100. But still that's a good price since on ebay I saw a set for $169. So still a really great find.

 

[tydaws]

You're going down a hell of a rabbit hole here. It can be a ton of fun, very rewarding & also extremely frustrating. I've been handloading on my own since I was 13 years old. Started out with cheap tools and equipment that were handed down, have spent a boat load of money making marginal upgrades and 27 years later I believe I finally have a pretty good setup. My tool list + the make and model that I use is listed below. There are probably better options and everyone has an opinion on this stuff, but just noting what I use.

Single Stage Press - Rock Chucker
Decapping Die - Mighty Armory
Electric Case Prep Station - RCBS
Primer Pocket Uniformer Tool - RCBS carbide for case prep center
Primer Pocket Cleaner Tool - RCBS for case prep center
Tumbler - Berry's QD 500
Tumbling Media - Frankford Corn Cob
Media Separator - RCBS
Annealing Machine - AMP + case pilots & brass grip
Caliper (nice to have a couple) - Mitutoyo
Comparator Set (headspace & ogive) - Area 419
Resizing Die - Redding Type S FL w/ Redding TN bushing
Sizing Lube - Redding Imperial
Case Trimmer - Giraud + cutter heads & cartridge pilots
Priming Tool - Primal Rights CPS
Primer Tube Loader - Double Alpha Primafill
Powder Scale - A&D FX-120i with AutoTrickler V4 & all of the Area 419 upgrades
Loading Block - Area 419
Powder Funnel - Area 419
Seating Die - Redding with micrometer plug (standard or VLD, depending on the bullet)
Shell Holders - common + Redding Competition Sets

There are thousands of dollars invested in this tooling. I realize that is a huge leap (for most) to get started. It took me 27 years to get to this point. I want to make it clear that I'm not saying you must have all of this to manufacture quality ammunition, because you do not. I'm just outlining all of the tools that I use. I'll also say, if I had invested in all of this on day 1 (half of these tools didn't exist then), I would have saved a whole ton of cash skipping all of the marginal upgrades from then to now. As others have noted, there are tons of extremely useful resources available today. Hope this is helpful.

 

[cajun]

Just keep it simple. Single stage press full length dies. Try to avoid getting sucked into the many rabbit holes out there. You can make good ammo with very basic stuff.

 

[bas402]

This is the best book I ever picked up for starting my precision reloading

 

[MarkInPA]

A good how-to for the basics.

 

[skipglo]

"HEY GOOGLE"......(then ask any questions here)
You Tube ....for watching hands on at work
Load Data.com....to for un-bias load data for almost all known common projectiles and powders

 

[TontoDean]

The reloading book bas402 recomended is a must read. Zediker is no longer with us, but his son has now
begun to publish his books. I gave mine away and need to replace it.

 

[ntsqd]

Wow that's a much better price than what I saw last year! Good find!!!!!

Poking around a little more I see it is also on Wolfe Publishing's page:

Ken Water's Pet Loads Complete Volume

www.wolfeoutdoorsports.com

Whom I think are likely the publishers of the book. Wolfe also appears to own loaddata.com

 

[xsn10s]

Poking around a little more I see it is also on Wolfe Publishing's page:

Ken Water's Pet Loads Complete Volume

www.wolfeoutdoorsports.com

Whom I think are likely the publishers of the book. Wolfe also appears to own loaddata.com

Hey awesome they are reprinting it! That's great find, thanks for sharing.

 

[cdherman]

Pet loads are NOT where a beginning reloader should start. New reloaders should learn the basics of proper case prep, trimming brass, resizing etc. Problem with "Pet loads" is that a new reloader is tempted to just toss stuff together like a Betty Crocker cookbook.

Except the outcome can be more troublesome than a flat cake.

Just my $0.02. Ken Waters is obviously an old time favorite. I am NOT critiquing his body of work. Just saying that you need to learn all the old rules and proceduresh too.

 

[ntsqd]

Pet loads are NOT where a beginning reloader should start. New reloaders should learn the basics of proper case prep, trimming brass, resizing etc. Problem with "Pet loads" is that a new reloader is tempted to just toss stuff together like a Betty Crocker cookbook.

Except the outcome can be more troublesome than a flat cake.

Just my $0.02. Ken Waters is obviously an old time favorite. I am NOT critiquing his body of work. Just saying that you need to learn all the old rules and proceduresh too.

I don't disagree, but I do wish that I'd known that such a book existed much, much earlier in my reloading career.

 

[RUFFIAN R - NY]

Unless one has a shelter / camper to handload from at the range, its not all that easy to drag all that equipment. At my camp had a shed on the range which held the running gear for the targets to come back - saving many a trip back and forth. Then I went to the camera system. Tried handloading there just not very comfortable always needing something. Went back to the main house for loading. I was benchrest shooting at that time also. Just didn't work for me or us then. It was fine for the tractors and the wood stove and the shooting bench with the barn doors facing the range just for shooting but not for loading. Shooting was fine.
PET Loads what works for one may not be for another, no two guns shot the same.

 

[bghunter20]

Thank you all for the advice. This will definitely help