Reloading startup?

[Hoggr9]

I have been gifted a Lee single stage press and a set of 9mm and .223 dies.
I know i need some way to clean brass, possibly trim brass, weigh powder... possibly a beam scale, powder thrower and trickler to get started. Looks like hand primer would be a good way to get started. And i do have a reloadi g manual to get me started. Any additional recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I have been watching lots of videos and i know the basics of what needs done. Dont have an unlimited budget so want to spend my money wisely, would be fairly low volume as i do not compete mainly would like to be able to work up my own loads for my t3 in .223 and any future calibers, son has a 6arc that will need fed also. We also live in a straight wall rifle sate for deer humting so a .350 or 400 legemd may be in the future.

 

[spife7980]

Mechanize the process where you can if you can afford it.

By that I mean 1) electronic powder measure like a charge master and 2) powered trimmer, ideally with a three way blade that lets you trim, chamfer and deburr all in one step.

By going electronic powder and 3way trim you will cut your time expenditures on reloading cut in half when compared to a beam scale and trimming, anger and debuting in three separate steps by hand.

 

[Downzero]

Hand primer is good. Get yourself an electronic scale that will do .1 g and a powder dispenser like the RCBS Chargemaster. I use a Lyman that is similar and slower but only because it's what I have had forever. A lee hand trimmer is like 10 bucks and I have one for every rifle cartridge, as much as I have thought I was going to buy a power trimmer a long time ago, it is crazy expensive for something that is not that important. Get the little lee tool that chamfers case mouths. Spend the rest of your money on primers, powder, and bullets.

 

[culater]

I'd go buy PRIMERS and POWDER and Projectiles FIRST. That your biggest on going cost when reloading. Plus cost of these items are always rising over the years. Nothing wrong in buying bulk.

 

[spife7980]

Hand primer is good. Get yourself an electronic scale that will do .1 g and a powder dispenser like the RCBS Chargemaster. I use a Lyman that is similar and slower but only because it's what I have had forever. A lee hand trimmer is like 10 bucks and I have one for every rifle cartridge, as much as I have thought I was going to buy a power trimmer a long time ago, it is crazy expensive for something that is not that important. Get the little lee tool that chamfers case mouths. Spend the rest of your money on primers, powder, and bullets.

The lee hand trimmers have an adaptor to put it in a drill. It’s not three way and takes three times as long but drill mounted is still much better than pure elbow grease.

I was just trying to say to invest in making it easier on himself wherever he can.

 

[Rust]

Well, for determining if your brass needs trimming you need to measure it, so a decent caliper is needed. A simple hand primer will get the job done no problem, you can always upgrade later if you feel the need. Cleaning brass on the cheap a simple vibratory tumbler will get you started, along with a brass separator (when using media always check the primer flash holes for any media stuck there). For .223 pretty much any bullet, if you are price sensitive get seconds. For brass use one head stamp, be it Winchester, Remington or whatever, cast volume can differ and that matters, think like changing compression ratio in a car. First starting out pick a primer brand and stay with it until you get comfortable loading. Now the one more expensive tool that I consider very much worth it is a powder dispenser like the RCBS Chargemaster, pick your poison as far as brand. I got so tired of diddling around with trickling 100 rounds for rifle.

Starting off you don't have to spend a lot of money if you're willing to expend some elbow grease. With care you should be able to load perfectly good ammo with a beginners kit. Once you get familiar and comfortable with the process you can look at upgrading to fancier toys.

One thing, SAFETY. Don't mix up small pistol and small rifle primers, small pistol primers in a .223 will pierce, the cup isn't as thick. DO NOT MIX UP POWDERS. A 9mm powder in a .223 will blow up your rifle in your face.

 

[Near miss]

Decapper die is also nice to have with ultrasonic cleaner, you can decap brass before wash and they clean throughoutly and dry fast.

Frankford arsenal prep center was a good buy. You can prep your brass completely with it.

I do not have digital powder dispenser but rather than spending for a dropper, I would buy one of those.

Good cases / materials. So you know how everything works like it should be. I started with used brass and recommend to just get it started easy and tackle the problems later. Once you know how things are supposed to work, you will notice when something goes sideways/not how it is supposed to.

Do start your case prep and other activities with range brass until you get a feel for it.


List of reloading tools needed, but not all of them are needed.
Copy paste into excel and start crossing when you shopping.

Reloading Press (Single Stage, Turret, Progressive)

Die Set ( Neck Sizing Die Set, Full Length Sizing Die Set)

Case Trimmer (On Press Trimming, Lathe Type Trimmer, Power Trimming Kits)

Cleaning Equipment (Dry Vibratory Tumbler, Ultra Sonic Cleaner, Wet Rotary Tumbler)

Powder Measure (On Press, Stand Alone, Digital Powder System)

Scales (Manual Digital, Manual Balance Beam, Digital Powder System)

Priming Tool and Shell Holder (On Press, Off Press)

Reloading Manual / Hand Book

Powder Dribbler / Trickler

Lubrication (Aerosol, Apply By Hand)

Vernier Calipers (Manual, Digital)

Case Loading Trays / Blocks

Ammunition Boxes

Quinetic Hammer / Bullet Puller (Hand Held, On Press)

Brass, Bullet Heads, Primers, Powder

 

[Near miss]

I have to confess I never read any reloading book, but I was already quite well acquainted with reloading through friends. And youtube videos, I watched a ton of youtube videos and they teach so much more than a reloading book. I later on read one from Hornady and was a bit disappointed in the information provided. The nomenclature and technicals were explained very well though.

You do need to save recipes in pen/paper or digitally on excel sheet.
Similar to this:

I can ofc share mine as baselayer if you want it

 

[FredHammer]

The lee hand trimmers have an adaptor to put it in a drill. It’s not three way and takes three times as long but drill mounted is still much better than pure elbow grease.

View attachment 8316367

I was just trying to say to invest in making it easier on himself wherever he can.

The advice you gave was great. Sidebar - These little lee kits did honorable duty for 20yrs. Had one for every cartridge. Then I got a borescope and realized factory chambers have long neck dimensions of .030-.040 thousands of space between a trimmed neck and the chamber wall. Carbon ring haven. So I got the Frankfort Arsenal 3 way and took control of my case trim length to match the chamber better, reduce the width of the carbon ring. Cases didn't even need trimmed for a good while, and some never grew to the .005 distance I targeted.

What are the Henderson trimmers up to these days? Like, $900?

 

[johnnyvw]

Surprised nobody mentioned a case gauge. I consider that one of my most important tools. The rest you just have to decide money vs time and ease of use.

 

[Near miss]

The advice you gave was great. Sidebar - These little lee kits did honorable duty for 20yrs. Had one for every cartridge. Then I got a borescope and realized factory chambers have long neck dimensions of .030-.040 thousands of space between a trimmed neck and the chamber wall. Carbon ring haven. So I got the Frankfort Arsenal 3 way and took control of my case trim length to match the chamber better, reduce the width of the carbon ring. Cases didn't even need trimmed for a good while, and some never grew to the .005 distance I targeted.

What are the Henderson trimmers up to these days? Like, $900?

This.

If OP gets a borescope, he too can see how far the chamber goes. Once I looked at it I realized I will probably never have a case last enough to outgrow the chamber. I do trim my (from factory ammo) batches to the same length so they start from the same point.

 

[Near miss]

Surprised nobody mentioned a case gauge. I consider that one of my most important tools. The rest you just have to decide money vs time and ease of use.

I have always considered that I have a case gauge already - the firearm.
As long as you keep the COAL (bullet seating depth mainly) within your chamber limits, you can try your cases/ammo in your gun and not miss anything?

 

[FredHammer]

My two scents:
- Don't rely on the arbitrary die instructions. Turn to contact the shell holder lightly, but use a Hornady "Head & Shoulders" comparator to determine the correct shoulder bump. Only bump .002 from fired brass length for a bolt gun.
- Whatever hand primer you get, make sure it is seating primers deep enough the primer sits beneath the primer pocket walls a few thousands. When I had cheap hand primers this would require using a spent primer beneath a live primer to get the primer deep enough. Then I quit that silly shit and got a 21st Century Innovations hand primer and can control the depth with click adjustable collar. Brilliant!
- Don't mix brass. Brass brands all have different metallurgy, size differently, and can drive a guy mad trying to get consistency. A new loader will think something is wrong with his setup, when it's really just the brass.
- There's little difference between regular and magnum primers. For instance, WLR is as hot as Fed 215M. CCI tend to run a tad less hot. #34 are billed as magnum strength primers but run 30fps slower than WLR. I run 215M magnum primers across the board for all large rifle/magnum rifles now. For .223 small rifle, Ginex primers from Grafs are good to go. Good as CCI 41.
- Case lube. Hornady One shot. 45 degree angle spray on cases in a plastic loading tray. All four sides.
- COAL, CBTO, DTL - a tool-less method I use for all my rifles new and old is to load a round longer than usual "book length". Long enough it doesn't chamber. Pull the bolt, rifle butt on bench, muzzle to sky. Clean chamber, sized brass that can be inserted into the chamber and fall free. Then push the loaded round up into the chamber. If the round doesn't fall free with gravity, it's stuck in the lands. Continue to seat the bullet deeper till it falls free with gravity when you remove your finger from the case head. I go .003 increments at a time, so when I hit that depth where the round falls free I am .001-.002 off the lands.

 

[johnnyvw]

I have always considered that I have a case gauge already - the firearm.
As long as you keep the COAL (bullet seating depth mainly) within your chamber limits, you can try your cases/ammo in your gun and not miss anything?

Yes, that's an option. But I load mostly to standard spec because I run the rounds in multiple guns, especially 223. So using a gauge ensures I "probably" won't have an issue. And I run 100% of the cases in the guage...kind of a PIA to do that in a gun

 

[spife7980]

If you have to run every case into a gauge to make sure it fits then you need more stringent quality control and actual measuring, not additional checks after the fact.

 

[Near miss]

Yes, that's an option. But I load mostly to standard spec because I run the rounds in multiple guns, especially 223. So using a gauge ensures I "probably" won't have an issue. And I run 100% of the cases in the guage...kind of a PIA to do that in a gun

Not stupid at all. When I started reloading I had few cases (range brass) that came out oversized. All in all maybe 20 or so over time, once one got into a competition.

Mostly because I wanted tight as possible fit and tested different lubing solutions. I have since realized that I have almost endless supply of quality brass so I just size them a bit smaller just for reliability and ease, I can now just spray ballistol, stir with my hand and size away huge amounts of brass quickly.

I have separately lapua brass which I rarely use but I mostly prep 2-3k brass and shoot them away. I usually collect most of them to keep ranges in neat condition though.

Since OP only has the T3 he is reloading for, I doubt he actually NEEDS one, maybe after he has the most important toys and bells and at that point he will probably know his sizing die settings

 

[johnnyvw]

If you have to run every case into a gauge to make sure it fits then you need more stringent quality control and actual measuring, not additional checks after the fact.

I don't HAVE to....I'm fairly new at this so I like to measure everything along the way. You can't have too much information.

The 223/556 brass has a lot of different headstamps, theyre being shot out of 5 different guns, and there's some range pick-up as well.

 

[Gunfighter14e2]

I have been gifted a Lee single stage press and a set of 9mm and .223 dies.
I know i need some way to clean brass, possibly trim brass, weigh powder... possibly a beam scale, powder thrower and trickler to get started. Looks like hand primer would be a good way to get started. And i do have a reloadi g manual to get me started. Any additional recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I have been watching lots of videos and i know the basics of what needs done. Dont have an unlimited budget so want to spend my money wisely, would be fairly low volume as i do not compete mainly would like to be able to work up my own loads for my t3 in .223 and any future calibers, son has a 6arc that will need fed also. We also live in a straight wall rifle sate for deer humting so a .350 or 400 legemd may be in the future.

Before you buy anything, get with some local to you and pick their brains first hand.

 

[Downzero]

The lee hand trimmers have an adaptor to put it in a drill. It’s not three way and takes three times as long but drill mounted is still much better than pure elbow grease.

View attachment 8316367

I was just trying to say to invest in making it easier on himself wherever he can.

I found those to be wobbly and I have not used them since. The hand tool can do thousands of cases over a few nights after work, so I've just never seen the need for a powered trimmer.

I do have every tool in that picture though, besides what they are calling the "decapper and base" and recommend all of them besides the "lock stud."

 

[Smerft85]

When I started out I checked websites like craigslist for used set-ups, gunbroker can also be a great place to get used or new old stock at a discount. For example I found an auction on GB for 875 6mm projectiles that were from an estate, there were several different weights and brands of course, but I only paid $130 shipped. Another deal I made was through barter, a guy was moving and didn't want to haul his reloading stuff with him, I traded an unaltered 3 screw ruger SBH .44 for his entire Hornady setup, there were bulk projectiles, primers, powders, dies, trimmers, powder measures, scales, brass and so on, and every piece of equipment was Hornady. Now I have more supplies and such than I'll ever use in a lifetime,so I'm teaching my 10 year old daughter how to use the equipment she will inevitably inherit one day, and I've added mec shotgun presses and other things along the way. At this point I have the ability to load anything that isn't rimfire.

 

[Seth W]

I discovered that I don't like beam scales much for reloading. I went with that small Hornady electronic scale, and I like it. It's very small, about the size of your palm. I also bought Frankfort Arsenals' wet tumbler, the basic one. I also like that. It came with SS pins and cleaning packets.
Both of those things should cost you right about $160 bucks.

 

[Smerft85]

I saw safety mentioned above and couldn't agree more! Biggest issue I had in the beginning is that I was unaware that the primer pockets could expand, had to send the same rifle back to remington 3 times to have the bolt face fixed. Make sure you can feel the positive seat on the primers. If a case is questionable in ANY way, scrap it. Not worth destroying several hundred or even thousand dollar firearm to save a buck on a piece of brass! There is never a stupid question in reloading, when done right its a very rewarding hobby, when done wrong it could potentially end any future hobbies on a permanent basis.

 

[FredHammer]

I saw safety mentioned above and couldn't agree more! Biggest issue I had in the beginning is that I was unaware that the primer pockets could expand, had to send the same rifle back to remington 3 times to have the bolt face fixed. Make sure you can feel the positive seat on the primers. If a case is questionable in ANY way, scrap it. Not worth destroying several hundred or even thousand dollar firearm to save a buck on a piece of brass! There is never a stupid question in reloading, when done right its a very rewarding hobby, when done wrong it could potentially end any future hobbies on a permanent basis.

Primer pocket expansion is the best indicator of pressure. Glad you mentioned this.

 

[MarkyMark007]

primers and primer pockets are funny thing too.

because not all are the same. I got peterson brass which has got very tight pocket for european primers. and I got some primers which were very inconsistent at seating force.

so all in all; you can extend your primer pocket life with different primer.

 

[FredHammer]

primers and primer pockets are funny thing too.

because not all are the same. I got peterson brass which has got very tight pocket for european primers. and I got some primers which were very inconsistent at seating force.

so all in all; you can extend your primer pocket life with different primer.

Outside of Winchester with .2095 dia primers, the other manufacturers use .2105. It's common to use the Winchester in new brass and then switch to the .2105 primers after the pockets start to loosen.

 

[Ann Ominous]

I just started saving Winchester brass for my 6.5 cm. (From their long range expedition line nickel plated) will my cci primers not fit in there?

 

[Smerft85]

Only thing I know about 6.5cm brass is there are both large and small pockets available. If those have a large pocket and you have large rifle primers make sure they seat well, if you have a small pocket and large primers or the other way around they won't seat. NEVER FORCE ANYTHING!!!!!

 

[Ann Ominous]

I knew about the 2 different sized primers never heard about win primer pockets being different than everyone else