Guns, Bows, Shooting Sports, and Hunting Handloaders

[SHobbs]

Question for those that handload. I am thinking about getting into this mostly for . 380 acp and . 40 s&w and eventually a few rifle rounds. What equipment do you use? Which would you recommend? Single presses or the progressive ones?



Thanks

Scott

 

[BDW]

I use alot of Lee stuff myself. I wont recomend one over the other, but if you are not useing a progressive loader you will make life easier with several singles. It is a pain to try and use one single press. If you cant afford to jump in with a progressive loader then you might start with acouple of singles. To be honest, buy the time you buy enough singles you could pay for one progressive. And dont forget about the amount of space you have to work with.

 

[AMink]

I use a Lee progressive. It has three stations. I wish it had a forth for the factory crimp die that I use, but I have single set up for that. That's the setup for plinking. For hunting I use a single stage and weigh every powder load for consistency. I don't load a lot of hunting rounds so the extra time is no big deal.



The Lee works good for what it costs and their dies are, IMHO, as good as the pricier ones for what I do.

 

[SRath]

I had a gun shop owner tell me two weeks ago that the 40 S&W was a poor choice to be reloading due to weak cases after even just one use, when I was looking at buying a reloader and was checking supply costs.

To me, any brass will eventually stretch and stress too much, but that's why you check them and try to keep track of the number of times they've been reloaded.

You mentioned 40 S&W so I thought I would bring this up and see what others here think about reloading them.

 

[KevinSmith]

I finally bought my own setup a couple of months ago. I just got the RCBS starter kit because it seems like the best kit for the price. Every one that I know that reloads has different reasons for liking what they like. I have used single stage RCBS for pistol and rifle with great results. I personally enjoy the alone time in my own little world enough that I don't think I need a progressive loader. If I was shooting several hundred pistol rounds a week that point of view would most likely change.
If you plan on doing rifle rounds at some point I would get started with a single stage. That allows you to do any reloading you want and it will give you time to develop your processes. In addition once you start reloading you start talking to people about it and that leads to some pretty good deals on slightly used stuff that somebody doesn't want anymore.
A side note: I looked on Ebay for reloading equipment and I found that most prices are the same or more then I found in a sporting goods store. Then shipping was often on top of that.
Just my pennies worth ( It used to be 2 cents worth but Obama took half)

 

[SRath]

You're right about the used prices being as much or more than store prices, Kevin! Sometimes I think I ought to buy from the store and re-list on ebay "for fun and profit". It's incredible what some people will pay rather than go shop around locally!

 

[SHobbs]

Thanks for the information. I have looked at Lee infact I am looking at what they call a turret loader. All I am looking for is a cheaper way to shoot. Between me and the folks we have two . 40 Glocks. two . 380's several . 38's and now that my daughter is turning 21 she will have a handgun as well. With current ammo prices, a day at the range can get a little pricey. I have a small arsenal in military surplus ammo so i won't need to load any rifle rounds for a while.

 

[crobertson1]

I got into reloading about a year ago. I bought a Dillon 550. I thought, I may as well get what I'll end up with right off the bat. I started with . 223 and I'm getting ready to start loading 9mm. I think I did it backwards because most people start with pistol rounds then move to rifle rounds. I really enjoy it. It's like a hobby within a hobby. Fun stuff!

 

[Hoefler]

I use a RCBS Ammo Master 5 station progressive. Will load any cartridge out there.

 

[WDixon27]

hard to go wrong with dillon quality, i've had a 650 since back when you could get one for around 400, if pistol was the only round to load a square deal B would be a cheap dillon to get into, not sure if they ever got those to load rifle rounds, like most people i got started on a single stage rcbs and after you get a progressive auto indexing press you have no idea how you got along :-laf

 

[CKelley1]

take crobertson1 advice and get the dillon 550. it is the very best on the market. and the 40 s&w case is not that weak. i have reloaded some more than 25 times. because of obama the reloading supplies and ammo prices are astronomical. before election it cost 9 cents to load a 40 s&w 8 cents for 223

 

[DOUGMartin]

I think the dealer said not to reload 40 so he could sell more iv seen that before.

 

[SRath]

I wondered about that, Doug.

 

[12V Ford]

My brother has the dillon 650. It costs a little more than a 550, but it auto indexes, which is great. A reloader will last a lifetime and most of them have a lifetime warrenty, but I would say get a good one. An RCBS single stage reloader is good for smaller batches, but if your going progressive, I'd say get the Dillon.

 

[Midnite]

I think the dealer said not to reload 40 so he could sell more iv seen that before.

I'm guessing that he actually thought he was giving you good advice. Most people shooting . 40 S&W are doing so in Glocks, which have an unsupported area at the feed ramp to enhance reliability. The . 40 is a relatively high pressure round, and so Glock-fired . 40 brass tends to have a bulge near the base from this. Other guns that have better case support don't show this bulge.



Mike

 

[Radshooter]

I have both a single stage and a progressive. I like to work up my "recipes" on the single stage by loading 20 or 30 cases, take them out and see how they shoot. Then I go back and tweak my recipe a bit until I get something that shoots good. When I get the recipe dialed in, I transfer it to the progressvie, crank out a few test rounds, and if it is good, I go to town. My wife and I used to shoot over a thousand rounds a month. The progressive paid for itself real fast.