Could someone post a list of the bare essential loading equipment and supplies I would need to get started reloading?
- Thread starter CodenameFatBoy
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The absolute bare essentials will fit in your pocket. I started with the Lee Loader and a single Lee powder scoop and a Lee Trimmer. I bought it all for $10 at a pawn shop. I loaded my first 200 rounds with that. The next step above that would all fit into a tackle box:
1) Press
2) Dies w/shell holder
3) Lee Trimmer
4) De-burring tool
5) Scale
6) Lube
7) Neck Brush
8) Primer pocket cleaner
9) Dial Calipers
10) Priming Tool
This is the absolute bare minimum required to load safe, full length sized, ammunition. Most would consider this an extremely spartan list, yet this is more than what the benchrest guys take when they reload at the range, but they are neck sizing only so don't trim brass at the range.
1) Press
2) Dies w/shell holder
3) Lee Trimmer
4) De-burring tool
5) Scale
6) Lube
7) Neck Brush
8) Primer pocket cleaner
9) Dial Calipers
10) Priming Tool
This is the absolute bare minimum required to load safe, full length sized, ammunition. Most would consider this an extremely spartan list, yet this is more than what the benchrest guys take when they reload at the range, but they are neck sizing only so don't trim brass at the range.
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For bolt action? Something like this Kit near the botom.
For pistol or carbine? Something like a Dillon 550 kit.
For pistol or carbine? Something like a Dillon 550 kit.
Hmmm..., bare essentials? To do what, exactly?
If what you intend is to do what the factories do with their basic loads, the list is simple.
Bulk components, including a versatile powder for the intended application.
A simple, rugged single stage press with the essential dies and shell holders.
A means to clean fired cases.
A good dial caliper.
I have had and used all of the more specialized equipment over the span beginning in the early 1990's, and have pondered 'the essentials' for that entire time. I have evolved (devolved?) to the stage that stresses simplicity.
My reasoning is that great factory ammunition, like Federal Gold Medal Match, is made on an automated line that simply precludes the possibility to do all of the niceties that reloading aficionados deem 'essential'. Yet FGMM ammunition's accuracy exceeds my capacity to exceed its performance regardless of my approach. I may not be alone in that.
There must be something going on here that basically thumbs its nose at the individual painstaking approach so many of us consider 'essential'. Hard as that may seem to determine, it's not. There is the attribute of consistency, which lends itself so well to mass production; i.e. KISS, but do it (religiously) consistently. In essence, if you can achieve success at load development, then the real task is to duplicate it without fail.
If that success has at its heart the unswerving commitment to complexity, then it may just be that we're building our foundations upon hills of sand. Simpler is more robust; simpler is better.
I accept whatever degree of concentricity my generic F/L dies can provide.
I accept that simply produced ammunition may need to sacrifice a degree of accuracy; and then I look back to FGMM and recognize that this is not a certainty at all.
I no longer clean primer pockets. I no longer trim/deburr, I simply mike the case length and cull ones with excessive length; reasoning that they all get culled eventually, and some just get there sooner. Dummy cases have to some from somewhere, anyway; don't they?
I leave the case necks precisely where they are when they come out of the tumbler.
More importantly, I address the factors that contribute most to case length growth. Chief among them is hotter loads. Who needs them? I don't, and I reckon maybe none of us does. They are attractive for all of the wrong reasons. They are penny wisdom, pound foolishness. They are built upon the premise that it's OK to work hard at wrecking our brass.
Simple fact; if the generic load can't do what you want to do, you're using the wrong chambering.
Consider this narrative and then ask your questions.
Greg
If what you intend is to do what the factories do with their basic loads, the list is simple.
Bulk components, including a versatile powder for the intended application.
A simple, rugged single stage press with the essential dies and shell holders.
A means to clean fired cases.
A good dial caliper.
I have had and used all of the more specialized equipment over the span beginning in the early 1990's, and have pondered 'the essentials' for that entire time. I have evolved (devolved?) to the stage that stresses simplicity.
My reasoning is that great factory ammunition, like Federal Gold Medal Match, is made on an automated line that simply precludes the possibility to do all of the niceties that reloading aficionados deem 'essential'. Yet FGMM ammunition's accuracy exceeds my capacity to exceed its performance regardless of my approach. I may not be alone in that.
There must be something going on here that basically thumbs its nose at the individual painstaking approach so many of us consider 'essential'. Hard as that may seem to determine, it's not. There is the attribute of consistency, which lends itself so well to mass production; i.e. KISS, but do it (religiously) consistently. In essence, if you can achieve success at load development, then the real task is to duplicate it without fail.
If that success has at its heart the unswerving commitment to complexity, then it may just be that we're building our foundations upon hills of sand. Simpler is more robust; simpler is better.
I accept whatever degree of concentricity my generic F/L dies can provide.
I accept that simply produced ammunition may need to sacrifice a degree of accuracy; and then I look back to FGMM and recognize that this is not a certainty at all.
I no longer clean primer pockets. I no longer trim/deburr, I simply mike the case length and cull ones with excessive length; reasoning that they all get culled eventually, and some just get there sooner. Dummy cases have to some from somewhere, anyway; don't they?
I leave the case necks precisely where they are when they come out of the tumbler.
More importantly, I address the factors that contribute most to case length growth. Chief among them is hotter loads. Who needs them? I don't, and I reckon maybe none of us does. They are attractive for all of the wrong reasons. They are penny wisdom, pound foolishness. They are built upon the premise that it's OK to work hard at wrecking our brass.
Simple fact; if the generic load can't do what you want to do, you're using the wrong chambering.
Consider this narrative and then ask your questions.
Greg
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Thanks everyone for your replies. My two biggest objectives are to find a few cominations that work well in my remington 700 chambered in .308 and to also save some money in the long run. Another objective perhaps more important than the first 2 is to learn. Which is also why I joined this forum. I'm completely new to precision shooting.
I second the Lee Loader. That thing is cheap, rock solid, and will get you going on the fundamentals. Grab some powder, scrounge some decent spent brass, and get to hammering.
Strangely enough, it produces pretty decent ammunition. Another thing ... if you find reloading isn’t your bag, you’re hardly out any money.
Edit** Forgot calipers ... Don’t forget calipers.
Strangely enough, it produces pretty decent ammunition. Another thing ... if you find reloading isn’t your bag, you’re hardly out any money.
Edit** Forgot calipers ... Don’t forget calipers.
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My perennial .308 load is:
Commercial brass, F/L resized on a 2 die set, resizer ball intact. I am currently working with Prvi-Partizan, Starline, and Hornady; the first two named are being used as an experiment. I have also used Remington and Winchester in the past with excellent results. It is important to set the resizing die height so that the shoulder makes mild contact with the chamber as the bolt closes. New brass should not be simply loaded without resizing, rounds that have not chambered due to long shoulders have happened to me.
Sierra 175SMK seated to an overall length 2.815", the absolutely longest length that will fit and feed in an M14/M1a magazine.
CCI BR-2 primer.
42.2gr of IMR-4064.
I have a back burner project substituting the Hornady 178 ELD-X, and anticipate that the powder load may need to be tweaked.
Greg
Commercial brass, F/L resized on a 2 die set, resizer ball intact. I am currently working with Prvi-Partizan, Starline, and Hornady; the first two named are being used as an experiment. I have also used Remington and Winchester in the past with excellent results. It is important to set the resizing die height so that the shoulder makes mild contact with the chamber as the bolt closes. New brass should not be simply loaded without resizing, rounds that have not chambered due to long shoulders have happened to me.
Sierra 175SMK seated to an overall length 2.815", the absolutely longest length that will fit and feed in an M14/M1a magazine.
CCI BR-2 primer.
42.2gr of IMR-4064.
I have a back burner project substituting the Hornady 178 ELD-X, and anticipate that the powder load may need to be tweaked.
Greg
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