Start-up costs?

[Bobert0989]

How cheap can an average joe get into Reloading these days? Equipment-wise... I know the caliber/quality will really reflect the cost of the ammunition, but what is a generally "okay" system/setup to start with?

Thanks!

Bobby

[MookNW]

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=48128&highlight=newbie
This was a very informative post by Linkpimp. What you want to make and how fast you want to make it will determine the actual start-up costs.

[Pal]

You can spend alot of money, if you choose. If you are really on a budget, a RCBS Rockchucker single stage press kit is relatively affordable. Its slow and basic. For about $325 its a good start for a beginer. After that, you could probably be reloading (at least one caliber) for another $150 in gear. You'd still need a die set, caliper, powder trickler, primers, pound of powder, box of bullets, brass.

This is what I started with. I was broke. I bolted the press to my junky kitchen table. I picked up brass at the range. I accumulated the rest of my equipment over the next few years. Theres alot of useful gear, that you can get by without for a while. For example, you don't need a bullet puller or case tumbler right away. You'll want that stuff soon enough, but you can make do without for a while.

**In my opinion, reloading isn't a great money saver, but I do save some by doing it. Its made cheaper if you can get free brass, buy inexpensive bullets or buy in quantities of a thousand or more. I do it because I enjoy it, and I have a supply of ammo when others can't find it on store shelves.

[Bobert0989]

You can spend alot of money, if you choose. If you are really on a budget, a RCBS Rockchucker single stage press kit is relatively affordable. Its slow and basic. For about $325 its a good start for a beginer. After that, you could probably be reloading (at least one caliber) for another $150 in gear. You'd still need a die set, caliper, powder trickler, primers, pound of powder, box of bullets, brass.

This is what I started with. I was broke. I bolted the press to my junky kitchen table. I picked up brass at the range. I accumulated the rest of my equipment over the next few years. Theres alot of useful gear, that you can get by without for a while. For example, you don't need a bullet puller or case tumbler right away. You'll want that stuff soon enough, but you can make do without for a while.

**In my opinion, reloading isn't a great money saver, but I do save some by doing it. Its made cheaper if you can get free brass, buy inexpensive bullets or buy in quantities of a thousand or more. I do it because I enjoy it, and I have a supply of ammo when others can't find it on store shelves.

Thanks for the info, I was just thinking it would be fun and something interesting to learn... and if it saves me a little money on shooting days, then that's another bonus!

I appreciate it!

[chadbag]

If you buy things in bulk (maybe share with a friend) (powder, primers, etc) and buy once fired brass and use your own range pickups, you can, over time, save a bunch of money. Your circumstances may be different than mine and it may take you 10 years to pay back your gear while another guy may have his gear paid back in 6 months.

The real advantage is that you can have ammo when there isn't any (assuming you buy in bulk and keep ahead by replacing what you use so that you always have a stash), can tune loads to your firearms or needs, and most importantly, you can shoot more for the same money. Lots of guys don't save money but they shoot more for the same money...

Buy your powder, primers, and bullets in bulk. The savings is significant. You may need or want to find other people in your area who reload in order to be able to buy in bulk and split the large boxes into more your size of box according to your needs.

Buying 1lb powder, 100 primer trays, and 100 bullet boxes at a time is not going to save you money unless you are loading esoteric stuff anyway.

[dew4au]

It cost me about $300 total to get started. If I could stress one thing, it would be to do your research. Lots of people will just say "Get a Dillon" when you ask about gear, but the important thing is to find what fits your needs best.

I started out with something simple like .45. Once I got the hang of it, I bought the dies for .223 and got into the real work of reloading: Case preparation. I'm typing lightly as I write this because I just deprimed, trimmed, polished, and cleaned the primer pockets of 500 rounds last night.:p

Do your research!

[markm]

"Get a Dillon"

Amen to that! The only question is which one.

There's no need to suffer on a Single stage to prove you're a fool. I do own a single stage too, but you won't regret starting on a progressive if you take things slow.

[chadbag]

Amen to that! The only question is which one.

There's no need to suffer on a Single stage to prove you're a fool. I do own a single stage too, but you won't regret starting on a progressive if you take things slow.

Well now that markm has said it, I will concur. There is nothing you learn and do on a single stage that you can't also do on a guood progressive like a Dillon. The people who claim otherwise probably don't have a progressive and are covetting one secretly.

Take your time, go slowly. Pretend like it is a single stage. You can ramp up your speed later.

Measure twice, cut once or consider twice, spend once.

Chad
Sent from my iPad from a park where my boy is at soccer practice

[Bobert0989]

I was hoping to start with reloading 12ga and 20ga 3" and 3.5", is this more or less difficult than starting with, say, 9mm or .45ACP?

I know I use a ton of shot shells, when I have them, because I enjoy going out and shooting crap, lol. I also hunt quite a bit with the 12ga, and the 20ga gets some use in Dove season as well.

But if I should try to start with smaller loads such as 9mm, that's practical too, as I own 3 currently, and again, love to shoot them.

Thanks guys, you're all a big help so far ;)

~Bobby

[chadbag]

I was hoping to start with reloading 12ga and 20ga 3" and 3.5", is this more or less difficult than starting with, say, 9mm or .45ACP?



Shotgun reloading uses a different press than you would use to do pistol and rifles. I don't know a lot about loading shotgun and have never done it (despite selling a high end shotgun press).

[epete]

As Eguns mentioned, shot shell reloading is a completely different animal. I wouldn't say it is any more difficult than center fire reloading, but it does come with its own unique set of challenges.

I load around 5000 rounds a year (which is nothing in the shot gun world) on a progressive MEC. There is a lot more going on at that the same time as compared to a pistol round.

Something else to consider is when loading for shotgun is the cost and availability of components. Lead shot has gotten damned expensive. If you are loading for 3-3.5" shells at 1.25-1.5 oz per that $28-38 25lb bag of shot goes really quick. Other components like primers, wads, hulls, etc may not be compatible with one another. You need to follow the recipes in the reloading manual.

Lyman's book of Shotshell Reloading if invaluable for the beginning shotshell reloader.

I started out reloading 45 ACP. 45 is a pretty easy and forgiving cartridge to load for. I'm glad that I had some knowledge of the reloading process before I started shotshells.

My suggestion would be to start with a pistol cartridge, get a feeling for the process and required attention, and start adding rifle or shotshell from there.

[koji]

Like people have said, do your research then as you decide if you like it and if you want to spend more - get tools that take the work out of whatever you don't like doing.

As mentioned case prep is the real work. After my basic stuff like dies and measures the first thing I really sprung for was the RCBS powered trimmer and three way cutting head. After doing a couple of thousand cases by hand with a Lee trimmer and a chamfer tool I was ready for something a little easier.

Those are pricey, but you don't have to spend that much. If you added a three way cutting head to how this guys doing it trimming, chamfering, and deburring would be just as easy as what I do and way cheaper if you've already got a decent drill:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw7Kp2FZ05w

Edit: Here's a guy also using a drill and the three way cutter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j65zHxVenz8&feature=related

[Pal]

My suggestion would be to start with a pistol cartridge, get a feeling for the process and required attention, and start adding rifle or shotshell from there.[/QUOTE]

Thats not a bad idea either.

Do you have any buddies who reload? You may want to watch/help them do it once or twice. It may not be for you. I've had two buddies buy all the reloading gear and decide it wasn't for them. They thought it was too time consuming and boring. Its not for everybody.

[mkmckinley]

brianenos.com sells a Dilllon 550B starter package with everything you need to get going. It seems a little expensive up front but it's way less than the cost of a quality AR. I'm always surprised when someone has a big gun collection with two or three nice AR-15's and a bunch of other stuff but they think spending $900 on reloading equipment is outrageous. The thing is, once you get set up to reload you can feed all of your firearms for one half to one third of the cost of buying new ammo.

[browningboy84]

Take the plunge, you wont regret it. I have a RCBS Rockchucker and love it. I have a 300WSM that I shoot a lot!!! I can reload match grade ammo for about $.85/ round. The same ammo is about $1.50-$2.00/ round depending on who has what I like in stock. Plus, I can tailor the load to what my gun likes the most.