Setting up a new Press Kit, what else?

[DackJaniels]

Hey everyone, I received a Hornady Lock-N-Load AP kit, 095100, and am just getting around to opening the box. I’m gonna get it set up next week after a hunting trip this weekend. So what I have is the press, a couple dies, some powder and primers, and dirty brass I either picked up after range days or caught when I remembered to bring a brass catcher.

Anyways, I was hoping to get recommendations on what I should get next. I don’t mind getting stuff off the EE here or ordering online, I just don’t know what I need. I want to get a Hornady reloading book. But other than that, all the tools and accessories are a foreign language to me. So could y’all recommend what stuff I need to prepare the casings, best way to distribute powder, and anything else I should know. Please and thank y’all for any advice!

Also, off topic, but did the site recently change for mobile users? I no longer have all the different subsections of the EE and other forums, but now it’s all grouped together but has categories.Can I change it back?

 

[DaChank]

It really depends on your budget. As far as the essentials go I would say all you need is a scale, calipers(comparator would be good), and some case lube. Everything else you would be paying for precision or convenience.

I believe the site made some major format changes earlier this week but no your not able to change it back. It’s really not so bad once you get used to it.

 

[KeithStone]

My Reloading Tool List: What I Use and Recommend

If you’re new to reloading, figuring out which reloading tools you need to get started can be overwhelming. If you’ve been doing it for a while, those tools have probably been replaced with …

panhandleprecision.com

Several articles here to get a good list together

 

[Amanda4461]

My suggestion: Read the fabulous Reloading stickies on this forum before spending any more cash.

In my case, I reload 9mm, 45ACP, .357 Mag., .300 Winchester magnum and 5.56mm, so I use the stuff below. Some folks will use a progressive reloader for bottleneck rifle loading, or so they say. I use the progressive for pistol only and the Bonanza Co-Ax single stage for rifles. I am a clean freak, so I use the following:
1. Get a vibratory case cleaner, walnut or corncob media and a tube of brass polish from Dillon. Their motors stand up to long use and heavy use. You will regret putting dirty brass through your dies and weapons. The machine is good at removing case lube also.
2. Case Lube to allow for resizing. Spray-on is available, but I prefer the little metal tin of lube. Try both and see which you like.
3. Either an electronic weigh scale or the old faithful balance beam scale will be needed to set and verify your powder charge. How much $$ you have to spend, and/or how accurate you wish to be, determines the equipment. Rabbit Hole alert.
4. I use Dillon and Bonanza presses. Dillon has an integrated powder measure, so I set the charge weight with the scale on the Chargemaster, verify with my old balance beam scale, and then load pistol ammo at 250-400 rounds per hour. Rifle I only single-stage load one at a time on the Co-Ax. The chargemaster auto-trickles each load to my desired weight, and I load a case and seat a bullet while it is dispensing the next load of powder. If i needed to use the Dillon as a single-stage press, I could. You didn’t mention caliber you are loading for, but I am assuming rifle. I don’t use a progressive press to load rifle, due to the fact that each case must be lubed and deprimed/resized, then needs the lube cleaned off before priming, charging and seating the bullet. I believe that the press you mentioned is a progressive. If so, the only time it will act like one is when using carbide dies and straight-wall pistol or rifle ammo. Bottleneck cartridges will all require lube application and removal of same, meaning it will act like a single stage.
5. If using military cases with crimped-in primers, you’ll need a swaging tool to remove the crimp.
6. I measure cartridge overall length using a bullet ogive comparator and a Starrett caliper. Get a good quality caliper and comparator.
7. Inertia bullet puller. Cheap and will salvage the inevitable screwups.
8. Obtain two or three, or more reloading manuals. You can download PDF loading data from the powder and bullet manufacturing guys, but the manuals will provide basic instructions on reloading, as well as more powder and specific bullet data.
9. Chronograph if you wish to know how your loads work. The manual velocities are test barrel readings. You don’t shoot a test barrel. Another Rabbit Hole $$. You can do just fine for $125 if you already own a tripod, or you can buy a LabRadar with battery, triggers and end up with $750 spent.
10. Couple of bound books and pens/pencils to record your data. The data comes in handy in the near and far future.
11. Primer pocket cleaner and case mouth chamfering tool. These can be found in an all-in-one tool or separate.
12. Plastic ammo boxes to hold your new loaded rounds. Cheap plastic boxes from Midway or Dillon work fine. Many others out there.
13. Loading blocks to hold your empty, primed cases, if you use the single-stage method to load rifle cartridges. Plastic (cheap) or Aluminum (expensive but much nicer).
14. Aluminum powder funnels. Don’t buy plastic funnels due to static discharge being a bitch.
15. Good overhead lighting, preferably not fluorescent, is needed.
16. A good, sturdy bench is needed for the loading press, and another is preferred for the scale(s). I keep the press separate from the scales, so as to keep from damaging the sensitive scales. I am OCD, so I have another electronic scale to check the scale on the Chargemaster, every so often. Shit happens. I don’t want shit to happen when loading a fast powder in a handgun. I wimp out and use powders that will be obvious when a double-load occurs, like BlueDot in the 9mm. Another advantage to single stage loading, is you will have 50 or 100 charged cases in your loading block, and can verify the powder levels in each, prior to seating bullets. I don’t worry about a double-charge of H1000 in my .300 Winmag. I worry about an under-charge, which can cause destructive pressures in that particular cartridge.
17. If you single-stage load, you might prefer a hand-primer. I use Frankford Arsenal’s autoprime tool, but many others are available.
18. Get a shooting friend who loads his own to give you some basic instruction.
19. Bored or Broke yet? The STICKIES are the best bet

 

[Bigfatcock]

Buy the Hornady manual. Read it twice.

 

[Western Living]

Knowledge/understanding is the most important thing to acquire -- not gadgets. I think the three posts above mine give some ideas about how to acquire some.

Progressive presses are suitable for both rifle and handgun cartridge loading, but I suggest doing it in two passes. Because of this, a case feeder is what makes the progressive the most useful. Personally, I would use three passes:

I use a progressive press with a case feeder just to deprime. A Lee APP with feeder would also work. No other depriming tool or method has a case feeder, so I'd be picking and pulling cases one at a time -- no thanks -- I'll use a case feeder for a mundane operation like that every time. I clean my brass after depriming because if I decap after cleaning them I get wet, grungy primer pockets. For me, the case must come off the press after depriming -- but I still prefer to use my progressive because of the case feeder.

If the cases aren't very dirty (revolver and rifle cases that are picked out of the gun instead of thrown in the dirt), I might just lube them and resize them on the same pass as I deprime. Otherwise, I take the deprimed brass that's out of the case cleaner, mostly dried, and lubed. It goes in the case feeder and run through the press for all the sizing operations (neck, body, mouth expansion, whatever is called for on that case type).

Then I clean the cases, or clean them again. You mentioned dirty cases but no case cleaner. I know guys will go on and on about how the clean brass. I'll spare you and offer only this advice: go big. Cleaning small batches is a waste of time. Buy a lot of brass and keep a big stock of sized and cleaned brass ready to load. The more capacity your brass cleaning process has, the less often you have to be bothered with it.

I store my brass sized, cleaned, dry, and preferably primed.

A progressive press works great for charging, seating, and crimping provided you're willing to accept the charges dropped by the measure. Most people accept the powder measure for handgun, and it can be quite good for rifle, esp. with spherical powders.

If you want to trickle, get a bench powder measure, beam scale and manual powder trickler or instead of all that, an auto trickler (chargemaster, matchmaster, auto-trickler, prometheus!). You can seat and crimp on a progressive, but it doesn't always work ideally depending on how easy it is to place cases with bullets into the press. A single stage or arbor press (with chamber type seating die) can be preferred.