Cheap Start to Reloading?

[paulsharvey]

I have been watching too much YouTube, and now am seriously thinking about starting reloading. My thought is Lee Breech lock $35 press, Lee 3 die set ($35), Lee Ram Prime ($15), Lee Powder scale ($25-30) or Frankford Arsenal ($30). Powder ($30/#), Primers ($4/100), Projectiles ($20/100). Do you think it's doable to get started (equipment and consumables), for less than $150?
As another option, I inherited an old Lee Landloader for .270 Win, that's in questionable shape. Would powder, primers, projectiles, and a scale with this be a good starting place? Am I better off using this money to buy factory brass ammo for another year, and think about this at a future date?

.270 Winchester (bolt)
6.5 Grendel (semi auto)
7.62x39 (semi auto)
7.62x54 (bolt)

9mm Makarov
9mm Para
.40 S&W
7.62x25

.410 (single shot)
12 Ga (pump)

 

[Peter 315]

It depends on how much you shoot

 

[rdinatal]

Since you have not reloaded before do not go with a progressive press. Complicated and the setup $ can be 3-4x as much.

Stick with a single stage press for rifle. Spend the extra $ and get a rotating turret press. This will let you keep all dies in place and adjusted. Just rotate the die when you're ready for the next stage.

You will also need:
A case trimmer for bottle neck cases.
Nice to have:
A way to clean the cases. Vbration case cleaners are good and not too expensive.

For your pistol cartridges I would stick with factory in bulk. To do those on a non-progressive press is slow and tedious. Not worth the $ when bulk 9mm is under $10/box. Less for steel or aluminum cased...

Shotgun... Unless you shoot >100rds each trip it's not worth it. Different setup, same $ to start.

Like it was said, depends on how much you shoot. Expensive cartridges return the most savings. I reload 45/70 and it's about 20 cents where factory is over $2/round. But then I shoot 50rds every other week so it's worth it to me. If I only hunted with the expectation of buying 20rds every other year, it wouldn't be.

-R

 

[paulsharvey]

It depends on how much you shoot

I shoot more 9mm Para than anything, but I don't see a huge return per round on that. Shoot in pistol and carbine. Probably around 500 rnds per year.

9mm Makarov, I like but don't shoot much sense I got my PT111. Maybe 100-250 rounds per year, but it's all crappy Blazer Aluminum case...

.40 S&W, don't shoot, and probably will get rid of the pistol at some point.

7.62x39 and 6.5 Grendel are both probably about equal, but both have cheap steel ammo. I could see reloading 7.62x39, just to get better ammo for same money. 6.5 Grendel is kinda the same story, but there is available, expensive, top quality ammo at most major sporting stores. Not sure how long brass would last in an SKS, or if it will get destroyed with the violent ejection.

.270 Win I shoot the least, and frankly good PPU SP ammo has came down as low as $15 at Academy, but probably has the most support (loads, projectiles, ect). It also is my best rifle, but honestly, I hunt with it, and 3 shoots to confirm scope is on, and maybe 2 deer per year, a box of ammo could last 4 years...

7.62x54R I would like to shoot more, but it's hard to find anything decent.

 

[Gunny]

Amazon.com: lee reloading kit: Sports & Outdoors Forget about the breech lock hand press, you'll regret it, and there's no way you'll ever resize a rifle case in that thing. Spend your money a little more wisely. The kit includes the Lee hand primer, so you can get by without the Ram Prime. You also forgot the most important thing you'll need to reload - a manual , at least one, more if you can swing it.

I'd also look on Craigslist and Ammolist for used equipment. Lee will get the job done, but just about everything else is better. As mentioned before, a turret press is great if you can find and afford one. Lyman makes a good one to start out with.

 

[paulsharvey]

Amazon.com: lee reloading kit: Sports & Outdoors Forget about the breech lock hand press, you'll regret it, and there's no way you'll ever resize a rifle case in that thing. Spend your money a little more wisely. The kit includes the Lee hand primer, so you can get by without the Ram Prime. You also forgot the most important thing you'll need to reload - a manual , at least one, more if you can swing it.

I'd also look on Craigslist and Ammolist for used equipment. Lee will get the job done, but just about everything else is better. As mentioned before, a turret press is great if you can find and afford one. Lyman makes a good one to start out with.

I didn't mean the Hand press, the small Lee Press now is in breech lock (or one of them is, the C-clamp looking one). For manuals, I was thinking of one of those $5, 'Complete Guides' as well as Powder manufactures websites. The Challenger press seems like a fairly minor price increase for a pretty big upgrade, and the kit seems like a good deal. With that set up, your starting for around $250-300. YouTube, Johnys Reloading Bench, has a couple series with the C clamp style, reloading 9mm, I think he said for $350, it included everything but brass, to reload 1000 rounds. He also did another series with the Challanger series, doing .308 and .223 I think.

So, if I go the cheapest route, the Lee Classic Loader 27 Winchester - MPN: 9 that I already have (minus recapping rod, it's missing), a pound of Varget or CFE223, some large primers, a box of Hornady .277 projectiles, I still would need a scale, and probably not save any money, and turn out inferior ammo, right.

I had completely over looked case trimming and cleaning...

 

[paulsharvey]

I have been creeping eBay presses for a year, and frankly, the press is only a quarter of the total package to get going, and a lot of the used ones are as much or more than brand new.

 

[Peter 315]

Hornady Lock-N-Load AP Progressive Press plus 500 free bullets

 

[paulsharvey]

Is it realistic too knock out 50 rounds in an hour on a single stage if your using pre set dies with bushings? Measuring each charge with dipper and trickling up to +/- 0.2 grs?

 

[rdinatal]

Is it realistic too knock out 50 rounds in an hour on a single stage if your using pre set dies with bushings? Measuring each charge with dipper and trickling up to +/- 0.2 grs?

Oh, that might take longer than a hour, not much though. Depends how much you get distracted.

-R