Where to start? Looking for gear recommendations.

[WhyGuy]

This site was recommended to me as the best place to go for good info, so here I am, throwing myself upon the mercy of the almighty snipers.
I have been telling myself to load my own rounds for about 10 years, and buying a 6.5CM bolt gun has finally pushed me to do so. With that said, what would you fine gentlemen recommend for a budget friendly set of gear? For now, I'm perfectly happy to spend a good amount of time on each round. I'm also open to any general beginner tips you may have, but mainly interested in gear tips, seeing as I'm sure that I can find good literature on actually loading to avoid bothering you guys too much. I want the cheapest manual gear I can that will allow me to be confident in the resulting product.
I enjoy reading articles and such, and wouldn't mind some literature recommendations either.

 

[Cr1775]

But a Lyman manual and a RCBS kit shellholders and die set and go thats how i started

 

[Rocketmandb]

The cheapest you can go with a quality press is a single stage. The RCBS Rock Chucker is highly regarded. While not cheap, it's not expensive and is a sturdy press.

Any of a number of FL sizing and seating dies will work. As @Cr1775 mentions, RCBS makes quality stuff that won't break the bank. Get a bushing FL seating die and the associated bushings. You can ask folks what bushing sizes they use with the brass you plan to use - get a few of them - maybe up and down a size.

I prefer to hand prime and use the 21st Century hand primer.

 

[camocorvette]

Maybe don't go my route...

Started with a Lee Classic loader and a rubber mallet.. pounding out your own neck sized rounds and wacking primers home.
Did probably 1500 that way. Whew. They shot good though. -The cheapest route

Then a Lee Hand Press. I've done probably another 1000 308, 2000 556 and a few random ones like 7.62x39, 303 british, 9mm and 45. Its a work out and gets old real quick. But the rounds have all been good about 1/2-3/4 moa for the precision stuff. -another budget route

Now a Lee loadmaster. It works for the amount I use it.

I think if I did it again knowing the little I do.

I'd get a progressive press, a good body die and a good neck sizing die with mandrel for the neck tension you want. Everything else doesn't need to be fancy. But the cheaper you go the more time reloading will consume. A RCBS 505 scale works great, is cheap; but takes time to throw charges. A electronic powder trickler is more expensive; but saves a lot of time.

All depends on your budget. If had to do it again. I'd save and buy less "manual and budget" stuff. You'll get some more knowledgeable advice to follow I'm sure.

-Not a sniper

But I was issued a M24

 

[WhyGuy]

Excellent, much appreciated. Looks like I'm investigating the RCBS presses first. I do a lot of research before I spend my $, as any self respecting poor does, and I greatly appreciate the starting point.
The internet is just too good at selling everything as "the best" and having a good starting point is invaluable.
Gonna have to start piecing together the goods, seeing as I just spent damn near $5k on weapons, but dammit, I'm doing it this time.

 

[jbuck88]

Rcbs rock chucker is a good start. I would reccomend the full kit from them. Use it a while until you figure out what you want next. I still use mine that was a hand me down from my grandpa.

After the press my electric scale/powder dispenser was my next favorite purchase.

 

[Cr1775]

Starting out my Lyman reloading manual was essential to learning and understanding the entire reloading process

 

[r.tenorio671]

Not a "sniper", but definitely a "poor"

...FWIW, "budget friendly" to me means an amount spent that can be walked away from if it isn't one's cup of tea. Reselling can recover SOME of the investment, but rarely all of it. You mentioned "weapons", so probably need to load for multiple calibers.

...I would suggest you look at the Lee Loadmaster progressive press for the economy of both funds and effort, not to mention versatility of calibers that can be produced. Don't be misled by antiquated posts about problems from when it was 1st introduced years ago, current models have corrected many of those issues....product improvement ;-)

Get the complete kit in a caliber of your choice, recommend it be a rifle caliber, which comes with the AutoDrum powder measure, much more accurate and versatile than the older autodisk measures. Changing calibers is quick and simple, I recommend getting extra turrets, dedicated to individual calibers. Once you have the dies set/adjusted, it's a simple matter of swapping the turret, takes only seconds. A reliable powder scale will be needed, digital or beam. Digital is fine (and just as common), just make sure it comes with a calibration weight. Measuring tools (calipers, comparators, etc.) are basic, but essential for safe reloading. Case gauges are good to have, but I will only recommend one that allows you to see multiple aspects of your loaded round, Sheridan slotted case gauges. https://sheridanengineering.com/ These actually perform many more functions related to the reloading process, the most critical being dies setup and verification of the loaded round (shoulder bump, bullet seating depth, body sizing, COAL).

....FWIW, I load 9mm, 45ACP, 40S&W, .38SPL/.357, .223/556, 300BO, 6.5CM, .308/762 and 6ARC on mine with no issues.

...check out TITAN reloading, they maintain good stock, fair pricing and FAST shipping. https://www.titanreloading.com

YMMV

 

[huntnh]

I Second the rcbs rock chucker get a powder scale a set of calipers priming tool and go for it

 

[r.tenorio671]

...forgot to mention case trimmer, a "powered" one will best, many of the manual one now have a power attachment. Also a universal decapper is handy, but not necessary. A tumbler as well to clean your cases, I prefer the wet tumblers, gets EVERYTHING cleaned out, including the primer pockets so primer seating is consistent.

 

[Mike Casselton]

Do not, I repeat, do not try to start learning to reload on a progressive press.

Get the Rockchucker kit.
You will grow out of a few things in the kit, but you'll be able to load good ammunition.

Learn basic reloading straight out of the book and stay off of Youtube.

There's lots of good info there, and there is even more bad info and techniques.

YouTube can become a rabbit hole of "You gotta have this, or your ammo is shit."
Don't fall prey to it until you understand the nuances of basic loading.

 

[DownhillFromHere]

I started with an RCBS Rock Chucker kit and a Speer loading manual well over four decades ago.

I just looked at the RCBS site. It appears the venerable Rock Chucker - which is still sold - has been superseded by the Rebel Plus. The Rebel Plus kit looks to have a lot of what you need, including the current Speer manual. It does not appear to have a scale, which is surprising because a scale is critical.

So, In addition to the kit, you need:

• A scale. Simplest is a good beam scale like this one on the RCBS site. But beam scales are slow, and it's a Very Good idea to get a set of check weights if for no other reason than to learn how the scale behaves when trying to measure fractions of a grain. If you stay with reloading, you'll want to upgrade, and then you're into digital scales. RCBS and similar units are relatively inexpensive but tend to drift. Many here prefer the A&D FX-120i, which usually sells for over $700 but can be ordered for $470 + shipping here. This is where I got mine. If you don't like reloading, you'll be able to sell it here straightaway.
• A Very Sturdy bench. The RCBS presses bolt to the edge, and a lot of leverage gets applied to that edge. When I had my Rock Chucker, I actually had a big square of iron plate drilled with the RCBS bolt pattern and additional holes drilled to bolt to the bench - because I broke the edge off the bench without it.
• A vibratory case tumbler and corncob or similar media to clean&polish your brass. Some here use wet media and even stainless steel pins, but my Lyman tumbler dates back to the '70s and 90 minutes in corncobs media refreshed occasionally with Lyman polish does just fine. Warning: DO NOT use Brasso or other ammonia-based polishes; these will make the brass brittle over time.
• Caliper. It looks like the RCBS kits include a dial caliper. Probably good enough.
• Wilson or similar gages (their spelling) to insure your pistol rounds will chamber. No resize die will resize case webs (the solid part around the primer pocket). I use only range brass I've hoovered up for pistol, and I learned the hard way that my CZ competition pistols have FAR tighter chambers than my Glocks, Sigs, etc. service pistols. So, now every pistol round goes through the Wilson gage, and the oversized ones go into the "Glock Only" jar. Glocks will eat damn near anything.
• Whidden or similar gages for your precision rifle loading. Ya gotta know where that shoulder is.]
• I'm sure there's more.

It costs $$ to get started in handloading. Dillon Precision - the gold standard of progressive reloading presses - has break-even and per-round-cost calculators to help you analyze what you're getting into... but once you have the good equipment, it lasts about forever. My Dillon RL-550B is 25 years old. My MEC shotshell loaders are much older than that. They run forever with very little maintenance.

Handloading is a really deep rabbit hole. Come on in.

 

[r.tenorio671]

...a majority of "progressive" presses on the market allow for deactivation of the auto-indexing feature to effectively make the press a "single stage press". The learning objective (safe reloading of ammo) is the same for single stage, turret and progressive presses. The learning curve for the press "uniqueness" is what differs, i.e., the operations of the specific press to create safe ammo.

 

[jbuck88]

I would not recommend a progressive press for learning on. Too much going on.

 

[Rockdoc173]

But a Lyman manual and a RCBS kit shellholders and die set and go thats how i started

^^^ Do yourself a big favor and get a nice set of calipers, preferably before you buy the fancier stuff. I have both Starrett and Mitutoyo and both are very good. You'll likely be right around $125, and besides an OAL gauge it's my favorite piece of equipment.