New reloader - list of components

Forster press and Giraud case trimmer. Would also say to get the Forster FL and seating dies.

Speer manual or similar

Don't use One Shot case lube.

It's ridiculously expensive and if you don't absolutely hose your cases down with it you'll end up with a case stuck in your sizing die.

If you want a spray on case lube then fork over the money for the Dillon lanolin & alcohol spray lube... Or for roughly the cost of one can of One Shot you can make a 5 year supply of your own lanolin and alcohol case lube. The recipe for it is probably in the archives of this site... or elsewhere on the internet.

The Lyman check weight set is not worth the money. I know because I bought it when I started. Save that $35 and apply it to something else. (More on that in a minute)

And as mentioned...

You'll need at least one reloading manual... You mentioned ELDM and ELDX bullets. Do you plan to use Hornady brass as well? If so, the latest Hornady manual would be a good start. A lot of folks don't like Hornady for various reasons... But for a beginner, loading their bullets in their brass with their load data isn't a bad way to get started.

Most of the other equipment you listed is fine.

When anyone asks me about getting into reloading and what to buy, I advise them to buy whatever press and dies they desire... some are fancier/have more features... But they all smash brass and seat bullets.

I tell people to spend as much as they can afford on a good scale. Lab quality digital if they can afford it. After a few hours trickling powder onto a balance scale you'll understand... The goal is to make ammo to shoot. Spend more time shooting ammo rather than making it. Powder measuring is time consuming.

The other item to pay good money for is a set of Mitutoyo 6 inch digital calipers. Cheap? No. But not outrageous either. They are buy once, cry once. And if taken care of will last forever.

Seriously, a good set of quality digital calipers and the best scale/dispenser (or combo) you can afford is where your investment will yield the best return. Not sure you're ready for the A&D fx-120i scale with v4 auto trickler... But maybe go for something a bit nicer than the balance scale. You can make some damn accurate ammo with a balance... You just won't be making a lot of it very quickly.

Mike

OkieMike said:

Don't use One Shot case lube.

It's ridiculously expensive …

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This is true, but I really like the way it smells for some reason, so I still use it when doing small batches.

It’s why I still use Hoppe’s #9 to clean guns too! LoL

Re: scales… digital is much, much faster than a balance scale.

I rarely need to be accurate to more than +/- 1/10th of a grain for the majority of my reloading. Mostly .45 ACP, .308, 6.8, 450 BM and a ton of 300BLK. I only get anal on my 280 AI and 300 WSM loads, but then I’m usually measuring everything twice anyway.

We use a buddy’s multi-stage Dillon press when doing bulk reloading, but for my usual stuff, I have a couple of Hornady’s quick throw “auto charger” with several metering inserts already set up for my most common loads, and separate dispensers for my most often-used powders too.



After verifying the first couple charges, I just go to town and usually only check when I swap trays or need to refill the canister. Speaking of canisters to hold powder, check out dram worx. Their pyrex tubes are pretty sweet.


There are better, and faster setups out there, but the basic Hornady stuff work well for 90% of my needs.

Lots of good advice here.

I used to have all kinds of fancy gear for reloading and shooting matches. I sold almost all of it when I gave that game up.

These days I keep it pretty simple. I use a Forster press, Forster dies, a 505 scale, Mitutoyo calipers and an RCBS manual trickler. It’s not a fast process by any means, but I’m just reloading for accurate hunting loads, and I enjoy doing it.

I did initially start with the RCBS Rock Chucker kit, but sold most of it to upgrade.

91Eunozs said:

This is true, but I really like the way it smells for some reason, so I still use it when doing small batches.

It’s why I still use Hoppe’s #9 to clean guns too! LoL

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No this is bad advice. I have used lanolin/alch and one shot for years and the one shot is superior. It's quicker, less mess , doesn't gum up dies and I have yet to have a stuck case.

In fact stuck cases are usually more of a die issue than the type of lube. Even the shittiest lube will work but a rough die it doesn't matter what lube you use.

If you like the smell of one shot you might be missing a chromosomes. The fuq......

For sizing lube I’ve used imperial sizing wax for years. Recently, in the last year, I’ve switched to Alpha munitions lube in the spray bottle. I just put a few hundred in a gallon ziplock bag, 3 or so sprays of lube and roll the bag around for 20-30 seconds. Zero issues in the past 1,500 rounds.

I used the Lanolin/Alch mix for years. It works it just takes more time and space to offgas. I did have some issues with gumming of dies and inconsistent sizing so after talking to some guys switched back to One shot. Since then no issues at all. I throw about 150-200 cases in a gallon zip lock, Spray, shake , spray shake, spray shake. Open bag and let it gas off for about 5 minutes. Dont need to wear gloves, no gummy residue and sizing seems to be a bit more consistent (which I do on a Dillion 750).

I may have to try the Alpha lube. Any idea what it is?

DeathBeforeDismount said:

I used the Lanolin/Alch mix for years. It works it just takes more time and space to offgas. I did have some issues with gumming of dies and inconsistent sizing so after talking to some guys switched back to One shot. Since then no issues at all. I throw about 150-200 cases in a gallon zip lock, Spray, shake , spray shake, spray shake. Open bag and let it gas off for about 5 minutes. Dont need to wear gloves, no gummy residue and sizing seems to be a bit more consistent (which I do on a Dillion 750).

I may have to try the Alpha lube. Any idea what it is?

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No idea, it’s whatever they use for their resizing operations in house from my knowledge. I don’t believe it’s lanolin (never used the lanolin mix) and it smells good. Also doesn’t need to off gas

@jaguar0405

I guess we should ask... How much ammo are you going to load?

How quickly and how precise do you want to make ammo for your 6.5?

If you're going to load up 50 rounds a month then the manual equipment will work. It will be slower but has a lower cost of entry.

If you're wanting to load 100+ rounds twice a month... Look into getting something faster.

The disclaimer to the advice above is that most folks start out loading a little bit of ammo... But eventually progress to loading more than one caliber... And often will move to loading larger volumes of multiple calibers. Only you can make that call.

And as 91Eunozs suggested... One of the manual powder throws can help speed up the process if using a balance scale... Once you have it set to throw a specific charge then it will keep throwing relatively accurate charges that don't need to be checked for weight every time.

Mike

If you are going to reload with crappy hornady components save the money, buy norma factory ammo for $22-25 a box. Sell the brass and you will come out ahead with better ammo, spending less money and not wasting a bunch of time.

Reloading is a waste unless you shoot alot (more than 2-300 rounds a month), you need more accurate ammo than factory or your time is completely worthless.

DeathBeforeDismount said:

If you are going to reload with crappy hornady components save the money, buy norma factory ammo for $22-25 a box. Sell the brass and you will come out ahead with better ammo, spending less money and not wasting a bunch of time.

Reloading is a waste unless you shoot alot (more than 2-300 rounds a month), you need more accurate ammo than factory or your time is completely worthless.

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Ah yes the standard DouchebeforeDiscount reply... Never anything constructive or helpful. Just critical, condescending, and argumentative.

Are you ever NOT an insufferable prick?

The dude is just starting out... May or may not stick with it. But go ahead and tell him he has to go $5k in the hole to get started.

It's no wonder you get banned every other month.

Mike

OkieMike said:

Ah yes the standard DouchebeforeDiscount reply... Never anything constructive or helpful. Just critical, condescending, and argumentative.

Are you ever NOT an insufferable prick?

The dude is just starting out... May or may not stick with it. But go ahead and tell him he has to go $5k in the hole to get started.

It's no wonder you get banned every other month.

Mike

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Sorry your feelings got hurt over someone's opinion. You seem a little too emotionally invested.

Drill and blow torch to extend the life of my brass with annealing.

Brass dremel brush with a drill to clean .223 primer pockets. Easy peasy. For a different caliber, do the math.

Case Neck Brush

I started out with that same beam scale, but eventually found a used Ohaus RCBS beam scale that is superior. You might also want to consider some non-static tweezers, for over/unders, if you're going to do precision reloading.

Check weights are unnecessary. Instead, use a bullet that you know is an accurate weight.

For chamfer and deburr, I use the Wilson (with drill adaptor). Vise the drill so it's stable, and ba da bing. It's been a much more efficient method.

I use a heavy paper clip, bent to form, to check the inside of the case for separation near the base.

@jaguar0405 in addition to @OkieMike ’s question about quantity you plan to reload, I’ll ask the question for the other side of that coin: How accurate do you need this ammo to be?

You can spend a ton of time and money chasing 0.1MOA improvements in ammo, and on gun parts too of course, but if you’re not already at the point where the ammo is the LIMFAC, it may not be worth it from a financial perspective.

There’s nothing wrong with doing it anyway to learn a skill, and to better understand how changing a component can change the way your gun shoots, but understand going in that this is a very deep rabbit hole if you’re doing it to chase accuracy improvements vs. just using good factory ammo.

Most of my reloading is done to destress (not as important now that I’m retired…again!), and because I like having the ability to control my supply of ammo to some extent. Most of my reloads are just for plinking or for popping pigs inside 100 yards, so I don’t need to chase perfection…minute of pig suffices for the vast majority of my needs.

I do go overboard and get ridiculously anal on a couple calibers for longer range shooting though, and for those I take my time and measure, and remeasure every single component during the process. Even with those, I’m not really saving any money even discounting my time…saving maybe $1 per round vs. the premium ammo I run in those guns…but I like performing the process itself and get a lot of satisfaction seeing the finished product made by my hand.

Being able to produce my own ammo when I can’t find what I want in my local stores, or even online is a nice bonus too. I’ll buy components in bulk when I can find them and just set ‘em aside for when needed…peace of mind is worth a lot to me.

Re: annealing, invest early in something for this if you start seriously reloading. You can get away without doing it once or twice, but will start throwing money away quickly with brittle brass and jacked up neck tension after a few reloads.

I made this mistake when we were shooting a lot of 6.8 trying to get rid of feral hogs on the ranch, and trashed some ammo and ruined a lot of cases by not annealing before reloading.

This annealer has been a great boon to my needs: https://agscustomparts.com/product/ags-brass-annealer/

Great value for the money even if I do need to adjust the flame position when I switch calibers, but it works fantastic once dialed in.

jaguar0405 said:

How much faster is a digital scale than a balance scale when measuring powder? Would the Ohaus Scout SJX323N/E be a good intermediate electronic scale?

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Nothing wrong with a beam balance scale when you are starting out.
For ease of use, a quality digital scale is better BUT you need to use the dust cover when measuring. Those load cells are very sensitive and a small unfelt breeze (such as the a/c coming on) can affect the load cell. So many folks complain about digital scales fluctuating when they haven't taken the steps to properly use the scale.
I don't think you need to drop the coin on something like the Ohus Scout, something like the RCBS Rangemaster 2000 is more than adequate.

With all that being said, if you do much reloading, you will quickly tire of hand measuring each load.
I suggest getting an auto dispenser, such as the RCBS Chargemaster, from the get go.

Been down this road and ended up with several scales and powder dispensers.

(Not a fan of the buy once cry once mantra, especially when you are starting out.
You just don't know what fits you needs yet.)

DeathBeforeDismount said:

Sorry your feelings got hurt over someone's opinion. You seem a little too emotionally invested.

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Opinion is what we need... You go out of your way to be a dick. Kind of a shame too. We know you're experienced and intelligent but being an insufferable prick is what you're known for.

Mike

Dies: I’d buy a standard RCBS full-length sizing die. It is around $40 or less and is seemingly made for Lapua brass as it only sizes the brass the minimal amount necessary. I think it is .002” under bullet diameter.

In other words, you get the benefit of a bushing neck-die or a FL die with a custom honed neck without the cost. You also get all the benefits of full-length sizing in a package the maximizes brass life, by minimizing the neck sizing.

If you reduce the shoulder only a couple to few thousandths and use safe loads, your Lapua brass should go 20 firings without annealing and still hold 1/2 moa at 500 yards and shoot single digit standard deviations across 25 rounds. I’ve done this many times in .308 and 6br. Not sure why 6.5CM would be any different, I just haven’t gotten there yet.

I’ve bought dies that were hundreds of dollars that did not perform any better and in two cases, much worse, where the die had to sent back and rehoned.

IMO, save money on dies and spend it on other items that have more value. The main item being a nice digital scale. Get a fx120i. Do it right the first time, you will forget about the price after a very short while, and if not it will sell fast here in the px. There are eBay sellers who are taking offers. There is also a thread on here about buying those scales on eBay with positive results.

Digital calipers are nice to have. I have analog bought at Boeing, and a few digital ones. The mituyoyo (spelling?) are so nice and what I typically use. But, the RCBS for $35 always read the same, just not to the same decimal point, which is unnecessary for reloading.

I have a bunch of presses; nothing at all wrong with a standard RCBS RockChucker, I’ve been using one that is almost 60 years old and it works just like my newer more expensive presses.

Trimmers are not necessary right away if using new quality brass. But I’d take a look at something like a Lyman. It will cut any caliber as is and works pretty darn well. It is also reasonably priced.

I’ve never used a VLD stem in my life and never had any seating issues on any level.

I don’t bother cleaning primer pockets and only sometimes clean the inside of necks. If I do, I use an oversized cleaning brush and a normal power drill. A quick in and out leave a really nice finish. You can also wrap the brush it bronze wool as it wears down.

I’d also get a good powder thrower, something like the Redding ones are very good. As for trickling, it’s been years since I’ve used a real one. I usually just use a thrower which you can get to with a few tenths of a grain very easily, then I just use my finger to grab a few kernels of powder. For years I would have been appalled if someone told me that, but after years of doing it, I’ve not seen any negative results downrange or on the chrono. If you want go ahead by all means, but again I’d put your money into the stuff that matters most.

You’ll need a way to measure headspace when setting up your full-length die. Hornady is good. Sinclair are nicer. And if you buy a die from Whidden, he provides a very nice headspace gauge in that specific caliber, it was about $100 last I checked.

Also, probably want some bullet comparators, for setting up seating die.

Which brings me the last point. Get a high quality seating die that holds the case in place as it seats the bullet. Forster and Redding competition dies come to mind. Each is approximately $100. But also nothing wrong with using a normal one like would come in a standard RCBS FL set. I’ve never felt handicapped using these dies, and I have expensive ones in each caliber to compare.

Probably more, but I have to get to Easter dinner.

jaguar0405 said:

Lots of pertinent questions! And then DeathBeforeDismount's comments, lol, although he does actually indirectly touch on a relevant point.
The amount of reloading I will be doing is not large - probably around 50, maybe up to 100 rounds a month. I know that I won't get to the point of net money savings for quite some time (although I will be saving between $1.20 and $1.80 per reloaded round); unfortunately, I have to drive at least an hour to get precision ammo. Following up on that, I have a flexible/irregular schedule and work from home about 50% of the time (IT consultant), so downtime is something I generally have plenty of. Plus, I'm a diagnosed insomniac. As @91Eunoz was saying, getting the right ammo has been problematic, so being able to produce it myself would be nice.
Regarding accuracy: I am able to hit 0.5MoA 5-shot groups, but not every time. I know that I don't need handloads yet, but they can't hurt.

I already have brass brushes (among other cleaning supplies), metal tweezers, and hand and power tools.

I looked at the AGS annealer that was recommended, but am leaning towards the Burstfire Gen 2 Annealer & Prep Center due to it's greater automation and the powered tool stations.

@fedupflyer Thank you for the tip regarding air movement/dust covers. I was already aware, but appreciate it nonetheless! I have found the Ohaus Scout available used for $200-250, so I'm thinking of grabbing that. My plan is to use a scoop or cheap dispenser (like the $25 Lee Precision Powder dispenser) to get close to my desired charge, then finish it manually with a trickler.

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That’s a long way to drive to go shoot while doing load development…

I would just say to stick to the basics because your going to spend a pile of money on gas driving to test out your loads. Unless money isn’t that big of a deal.

I also really dig the Forster press, you don’t need shell holders and you can use the press to prime your case’s. It’s slow but it doesn’t seem like you’ll be loading a ton. It also works great. At least for me it does.