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Is there a good total kit for reloading .45?

Re: Is there a good total kit for reloading .45?

Look at Dillon. If you want to load just pistol, you can go with the square deal. You can get it with pretty much everything you need.
 
Re: Is there a good total kit for reloading .45?

I would just get all the items individually

and make sure you get carbide dies and you will not have to lube the cases. (except for every 50th one or so)

kits usually have junk stuff with them

the square deal is OK but you can only use Dillon dies

pistol is easy since there is no trimming

I use a Lee turret with redding dies and a Lee auto disc pro powder dispenser

I do not even have the rod in it to make it progressive and I can crank out rounds pretty fast

The lowest end Dillon I would get is a 550 since once you start reloading, you <span style="font-style: italic">will</span> want to do other calibers and it is easily changeable
 
Re: Is there a good total kit for reloading .45?

I guess I need to buy a a good manual and read through it first then start buying pieces to make a whole set up. What's a good manual to start with?
 
Re: Is there a good total kit for reloading .45?

The Lyman's Centerfire Handloading Manual has more actual usable data than any 2 or 3 others.

If you can squeeze out the money, I have a Dillon 650XL set up for 45acp. I think it's the best thing for the money.
 
Re: Is there a good total kit for reloading .45?

Unless you expect to shoot perhaps 200-400 .45 rounds a week you really don't need the hassel of learning to reload on a progressive press. IMHO.

NO kit is complete for anything. You will need dies and other small items to go with any of them. I agree that getting what you want piece by piece is the better choice.

I'd strongly suggest a Lee Classic Turret press due to its cast steel body, great strenght (it can be used to load .50 BMG) great spent primer handling system, fully adjustable lever and a very helpful auto-indexing turret system. The turret heads are inexpensive enough to have extras set up for immediate use. Pre-load heads for each cartridge you have dies for and they can be swapped in seconds with no tools; that's NOT possible with any other turret or progressive press I know of!

A Lee disc powder measure (dispenser) works well on the turret press but their "Perfect" measure is a better tool if you use it off the press.

Any beam scale from RCBS, Lyman or Redding will be a very good choice.

Lyman and Redding pistol dies are perhaps the "best" due to their excellant and unique expander/flaring design.

All currently made straight wall hand gun dies are carbide.

Other small tools - case holder/loading blocks, powder funnels, debur/chamfer tools, etc. - won't make a lot of difference, get what looks good to you.

 
Re: Is there a good total kit for reloading .45?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">If you can squeeze out the money, I have a Dillon 650XL set up for 45acp. I think it's the best thing for the money.</div></div>

Ditto.

Call Dillon or Brian Enos. Either will ask questions, advise which press would best fit your needs and a list of required accessories .

Good luck and welcome to the addiction.
 
Re: Is there a good total kit for reloading .45?

The Dillon 550 is an awesome progressive press--the only way to efficiently product pistol ammo which tends to get shot a lot! Dillon customer service is also an industry standard. Mike Dillon also puts out a great monthly catalog.
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Re: Is there a good total kit for reloading .45?

The fastest, most all inclusive kit I could recommend is the Dillon XL650. It is well suited to large volume non-commercial reloading of straight walled pistol cases.

It's massive overkill for the casual shooter's needs.
 
Re: Is there a good total kit for reloading .45?

thats the one i was looking at. should i get set up with the dillon xl650 or just spend all that money on factory ammo?
 
Re: Is there a good total kit for reloading .45?

Good grief....

Someone asks if there is a good, all-inclusive kit for reloading (suggesting he may be new to reloading, as also suggested by his posting history) and the Blue Crew bombards him with suggestions that he will immediately need a full-blown Dillon progressive press...

Most new reloaders are best served by a single stage press. Sure, some progressives can be used as a single stage press, but they are never as easy to learn on as a true single stage press.

As far as kits go, there are two general types of kits, or you can create your own. The cheaper kits have serviceable equipment which will not set you back too much should you decide to replace parts of it once you get your feet wet and know better what features you like and dislike. This is especially true if you are not sure you will enjoy reloading and stick with it in the future. Other kits are much more expensive, and have better equipment, but beware, if you really like to use best-in-class tools, no single brand makes best-in-class tools for every need in reloading. Some brands have great presses, others great powder measures, still others have better other tools. And even if you decide to upgrade to a progressive, a single stage press will still be invaluable on the reloading bench for small runs and operations for which you don't want to change over your progressive press.

I would suggest either starting out with an inexpensive Lee kit, and plan on upgrading pieces as your preferences and pocketbook indicate, or building your own kit from recommendations for specific tools you see here on the forums. A good reloading manual will give you information on the types of tools you will need for reloading.

Andy
 
Re: Is there a good total kit for reloading .45?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Most new reloaders are best served by a single stage press. Sure, some progressives can be used as a single stage press, but they are never as easy to learn on as a true single stage press. </div></div>

I agree, learning a SS is simpler than a progressive. However, if the average loader can't figure out a progressive without resorting to therapy, he shouldn't be handling powder and primers.

Somehow, millions of people learned to drive before the automatic transmission.