The title is a little disingenuous, I'm not a beginner, I am however a beginner when it comes to rifle loads. I've been hand loading for pistol cartridges for hunting and other purposes for years. I am now ready to move in to the "precision" arena with rifle cartridges. I have 2 new purchases and I want to get the most of out them and also the rifles I've already been using. I am going to be reloading .243, .260, 6.5 Creedmoor and .308. I have lots of quality brass for all 4, lapua, winchester and Hornady match. What I need now is equipment. So here is my question. What equipment do I need to get started. I will be doing my own load development over the next few months in between jobs. Treat this like I have zero equipment because the stuff I've been using to load handgun rounds will not work for a rifle. I plan to have a bench set up in my garage, bench is in the process of being built so this equipment once set up will not be moved or taken down. I will probably use it to also load my handgun rounds but right now I just want to focus on rifle. Any help you can give me is appreciated. I know the question will come up, so after looking at prices I plan to spend between 1k to 1500 on this stuff. I want to do it right the first time and not be upgrading later.
Beginner needs help
- Thread starter mark112278
- Start date
Must haves:
A press you like. I prefer the versatility of a progressive. A D550 or 650 will cover ALL your needs.
Die sets. You need not spend hundreds on each. Forster ultramic strikes a great quality/price ratio, but plain old $30 RCBS are just fine.
Case headspace measuring tool. Hornadys is good to go and covers all your cartridges.
Caliper. Mitutoyo or Starrett is fancy but absolutely unrequired. A $10 dial caliper from harbor freight is fine.
Powder funnel. I like Satern, but they're caliber specific and $15 a pop. A universal one is $5 and totally adequate.
Brass cleaning. Any of the vibratory units are fine. You'll need a sifter too. Stainless tumbling media does a beautiful job, but is a hassle and a lot more money...as in ~$300 vs $100. Pick your poison.
Brass trimming. Trimming sucks. Bite the bullet now and spend $450 on a Giraud. You'll NEVER regret it. Otherwise, buy any trimmer that rotates the CASE, not the cutter. Reddings unit is nice. Get the Giraud!
Charge weighing. Value: RCBS 505. Premium: RCBS 10/10. Top choice: RCBS Charge master 1500. I'd buy the 505, and upgrade to a CM1500 later. Always good to have an old school beam balance.
Case mouth debur tool. Lyman sells one that's a handle with a bunch of different insers; pocket cleaner, inside debur, outside debur. Good tool. The inside debur tool should be "VLD" style.
Reloading manuals. Several. I like Speer, gives a lot of good info.
Priming tool. I prime on my Dillon press, but still have an RCBS hand tool. They're all about the same.
A press you like. I prefer the versatility of a progressive. A D550 or 650 will cover ALL your needs.
Die sets. You need not spend hundreds on each. Forster ultramic strikes a great quality/price ratio, but plain old $30 RCBS are just fine.
Case headspace measuring tool. Hornadys is good to go and covers all your cartridges.
Caliper. Mitutoyo or Starrett is fancy but absolutely unrequired. A $10 dial caliper from harbor freight is fine.
Powder funnel. I like Satern, but they're caliber specific and $15 a pop. A universal one is $5 and totally adequate.
Brass cleaning. Any of the vibratory units are fine. You'll need a sifter too. Stainless tumbling media does a beautiful job, but is a hassle and a lot more money...as in ~$300 vs $100. Pick your poison.
Brass trimming. Trimming sucks. Bite the bullet now and spend $450 on a Giraud. You'll NEVER regret it. Otherwise, buy any trimmer that rotates the CASE, not the cutter. Reddings unit is nice. Get the Giraud!
Charge weighing. Value: RCBS 505. Premium: RCBS 10/10. Top choice: RCBS Charge master 1500. I'd buy the 505, and upgrade to a CM1500 later. Always good to have an old school beam balance.
Case mouth debur tool. Lyman sells one that's a handle with a bunch of different insers; pocket cleaner, inside debur, outside debur. Good tool. The inside debur tool should be "VLD" style.
Reloading manuals. Several. I like Speer, gives a lot of good info.
Priming tool. I prime on my Dillon press, but still have an RCBS hand tool. They're all about the same.
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Nice to haves:
Bullet comparator. Hornadys setup ain't bad. Sinclairs is nicer. I use the Sinclair "hex style" one. Its OK.
Bullet puller. Kinetic works for one-sies and two-sies. A collet puller is way, WAY nicer for pulling down 10+ cartridges.
Primer pocket cleaner. Close to a "must have".
Ammo boxes. MTM are the standard.
Drop tube. Forster blue ribbon. Nice to have but probably not necessary for your cartridges.
Lee universal decapping die.
Chronograph. Magnetospeed is a heavy favorite around here for good reason.
Various a sundry case prep tools. Pocket uniformers, flash hole debur tool/reamer, etc etc.
Loading block. Almost a must have, but you can get by without one. "CNCSHOOTER" makes really fancy ones that are sweet.
Powder trickler. Helpful when using a balance beam scale to weigh out charges.
Powder Measure. If you develop an OCW load where the node spans .3 or .4gr, you can maintain accuracy and make ammo FAST with a powder measure.
Bullet comparator. Hornadys setup ain't bad. Sinclairs is nicer. I use the Sinclair "hex style" one. Its OK.
Bullet puller. Kinetic works for one-sies and two-sies. A collet puller is way, WAY nicer for pulling down 10+ cartridges.
Primer pocket cleaner. Close to a "must have".
Ammo boxes. MTM are the standard.
Drop tube. Forster blue ribbon. Nice to have but probably not necessary for your cartridges.
Lee universal decapping die.
Chronograph. Magnetospeed is a heavy favorite around here for good reason.
Various a sundry case prep tools. Pocket uniformers, flash hole debur tool/reamer, etc etc.
Loading block. Almost a must have, but you can get by without one. "CNCSHOOTER" makes really fancy ones that are sweet.
Powder trickler. Helpful when using a balance beam scale to weigh out charges.
Powder Measure. If you develop an OCW load where the node spans .3 or .4gr, you can maintain accuracy and make ammo FAST with a powder measure.
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If you don't already have it, get a Lyman manual. The last one I got is a #49. Read ALL the safety chapters TWICE. Rifle pressures and pistol pressures are a lot different. Because of the barrel length the pressures last longer too.
I have a Dillon XL650 for spitting out rounds. But for match quality loads I still use an old RCBS RockChucker. But since they are now made in China, I would suggest a Redding. If you are going to be making precision rounds I would get the Redding "S" FL sizing dies. That model uses bushings to get the final neck tension. Also you can neck size (if you wish) on a full length die. But you can't full length size on a neck only die.
Just trying to save you a few dollars and / or headaches down the road. My 40+ years pulling the handle should be worth something in saving a few bucks.
I have a Dillon XL650 for spitting out rounds. But for match quality loads I still use an old RCBS RockChucker. But since they are now made in China, I would suggest a Redding. If you are going to be making precision rounds I would get the Redding "S" FL sizing dies. That model uses bushings to get the final neck tension. Also you can neck size (if you wish) on a full length die. But you can't full length size on a neck only die.
Just trying to save you a few dollars and / or headaches down the road. My 40+ years pulling the handle should be worth something in saving a few bucks.
One thing to also take into considerstion are the LEE dies, especially the collet dies. a good case lube hornady makes a lube similar to imperial
Every thing else is pretty much covered, also a nice quite area where you can fully concentrate on the task at hand.
Every thing else is pretty much covered, also a nice quite area where you can fully concentrate on the task at hand.
I didn't see it mentioned (might have missed it) but I'd make sure I had a Wilson case length gauge for each caliber I reload. My Choice for a press would be the Dillon 550B and for dropping powder the RCBS Chargemaster is hard to beat. I like the Lee collet dies a lot and have been using them for quite a while with results equal to the RCBS, CH and Redding dies I own. I also favor the Dillon spray lube over any of the other spray lube brands. Midway sells a vibratory tumbler at a decent price and a budget media separator. I have been using both for 15 years.
The Redding T7 press will allow you to set up for a few different dies at one time. The Forster Co-Ax press is also excellent. I currently run both of those. I really like the Redding competition dies. I charge with the RCBS Charge Master. I hand prime with the Forster Co-Ax hand priming tool. I also use the RCBS Trim Mate Case Prep Center. Plus a plethora of other miscellaneous, yet important items. With that being said, if I could have only one reloading press there's no question if would be the Forster Co-Ax. It took me a little while to get used to it, but once I did I fell in love. Hope this helps!
I like the 3 way trimmers by RCBS. Trim, chamfer and deburr all in one step. You can buy one and change out collet for different calibers but it is aggravating. I have one for each caliber now and they save a lot of time.
A good powder trickler, if no one has mentioned it.
Flash hole deburring tool
O.A.L. gauge , I use the Hornady so I bought a 5/16 by 32 tap in order to use my own brass for measuring. I just thread the primer pocket of a correctly resized piece of brass.
A good powder trickler, if no one has mentioned it.
Flash hole deburring tool
O.A.L. gauge , I use the Hornady so I bought a 5/16 by 32 tap in order to use my own brass for measuring. I just thread the primer pocket of a correctly resized piece of brass.
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I personally use a single stage press on precision rounds and a charge master. Obviously you need some dies, I use Lee and need a primer seating tool. I use a turret for "mass production" rounds and I'm looking to go to a Dillon 650. But I stand by a single stage press for precision rifle rounds that I use for F-class shooting.
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Oh, I just order me a Forster case trimmer for the precision reloading that I do.
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