Reloading Equipment: A Primer for the Novice

[Fried Chicken Blowout]

As a high volume ("hobby" reloader, not commercial) ammo reloader I'm often asked how to get started reloading. So last week I sat down and started writing... I wanted to cover just the gear topics and not the actual how-to initially. It's my opinion that many people are turned off by reloading due to the confusion regarding what gear is needed and what kind of results they can expect. So that's what I hoped I could cover here. In the last 4 years my reloading press has produced over 120k rounds of ammo which directly allows me to shoot more, stock more and be more prepared. I could just as easy buy imported steel cased ammo and meet the cost factor in the middle. It wouldn't be quite as cheap but I wouldnt spend as much of my time working on ammo. But, that imported ammo would would not work to my standard and it would still cost more. Plus buying imported ammo supports foreign economies where as my reloading Compoents support Americans, that work for American companies!

It's taken me 4 years of reloading to really respect what reloading can do for me and how good my ammo really is as a result of my expanding reloading experience. I've actually grown to enjoy reloading were I used to dread it. It's that ability to make a piece of art that will perform exactly the way I designed it to, that has gained my respect and increased my enjoyment.

Due to the lenth of the post and the number of photos, I've posted the write up on my blog. While not all relaoders may agree with my opinions, I can tell you that my reloading is time efficient and produces near flawless ammo in high volumes for personal use. I've well earned back the money spent on equipment have have knowledge of ammunition that I would have never gained without reloading experience.

Hope you all enjoy the post. Please feel free to start a discussion on any related topics in this post

Reloading Equipment: A Primer for the Novice

And for those that wonder about real numbers here's an example of prices and time...

It takes me about an hour's worth of my time to prep 5k 9mm cases. That means to sort them and process them through the tumbler. Then it takes me 5 hours to actually reload them to complete ammo. So 6 hours total time to completed 5k rounds of loaded 9mm ammo to my spec.

In order to load 5k 9mm rounds my costs are...

5k 124gr Bullets - $68.42/1k = $329.10
3 Pounds of W231 Gun Powder = $48.75
5k primers = $140
Total = 517.85 + 6 hours of my time

Currently the best price I can find on Wolf Ammo is $8.95/box which works out to $895 for 5k rounds + $123.68 for shipping of 100 boxes. This puts us at a total delivered price of $1,018.68 for 5k rounds of Wolf. Which is hardly the quality of what I'm making.

So if we start with the cost of the Wolf at $1,018.68 and deduct my parts cost of $517.85 we have a total of $500.83 that I SAVED by reloading my own ammo in 6 hours. That puts my HOURLY wage at $83.47...

How many people here make $83.47 HOUR? I sure don't, even when working at time+half. Now compare this to the same quality ammo that I'm producing from an American Manufacture and the savings will go up even more. Compare it to .40S&W or .45ACP and it goes up a huge amount. You will save substantially more loading the larger calibers as they component costs go up very little, but loaded ammo costs of those calibers go up a lot in comparison to loaded 9mm.

Now you don't get this speed of reloading during your first year of doing it and you can't do it with cheap equipment. I'll use about $2k worth of equipment to make this batch of 5k rounds of 9mm. But in the savings it quickly pays for it self as a long term investment.

It gets more complicated to compare match grade ammo vs reloading it as there's a lot more time involved to reload it. But I would venture to say that the hourly payoff is still there because the cost of the match grade long range rifle ammo is about $1 per round. Where as I'm making it for $0.38 per round if we're talking about a typical short action long range match load.

Oh and the bullet cost I quoted above are from Precision Bullets if anyone needs the link it's on my blog post. The primer and powders I quoted the prices on are from my local supplier Elk Bomb Shooting Supply. The Wolf ammo quote I used from AIM Surplus. I didn't just make up the prices for the example, those are real world numbers from in-stock dealers.

[Great-Kazoo]

The little town of Mead
Not for some time
Anyway nice write up. Always good to read and learn more then you think you already know, about any subject.

[Fried Chicken Blowout]

Always good to read and learn more then you think you already know, about any subject.

Well good, it's nice to know I can add to what an experienced reloader knows. While it was written for a novice, hopefully there's something for everyone.

I think I'm going to break down and do a full start to finish video about reloading .40S&W here shortly. We'll see if I'm up to the time to do it.

[funkymonkey1111]

enjoyed the blog read. thanks for posting

[bigmyk2k]

As one considering getting into metallic reloading- I have been loading shot for 6 months or so- your post is very informative and helpful, but it also raises several questions.

For background, I would consider myself representative of the more typical person considering reloading. I don't shoot a ton- several hundred rounds once every month or two- because it is time and cost prohibitive. I know this is not enough to have top notch skills, but it is enough to be comfortable. Since I have to drive an hour and a half each way to get to a public range where I can do all the different types of shooting I want to, it is also difficult to schedule.

The ultimate cost savings, and the hobby element, of reloading are what appeal to me. I know that I could turn out several thousand rounds in an hour with a high end progressive setup, but then I would be set for a year at my current consumption rate, and it would take me a lifetime to realize a savings over the cost of the equipment. Also, I tend to have hobby ADHD, and don't want to sink a couple thousand dollars into something that could end up collecting dust 10 months a year. (Yeah, I'm lame, but just being honest)

Not to discount your post- which is very thorough and helpful, and talks about every possible component of a top end consumer reloading setup- but, it doesn't seem that a $1200-1500 press plus another $1000 in peripherals is the best way for someone like me to start. In fact, with an upfront cost like that, it is unlikely someone like me would start.

So, my question is this:
While I agree that you probably don't NEED to learn on a single stage, from my standpoint, for just a few hundred dollars I can get everything I need with a Rock Chucker Master Kit, a decent budget tumbler, and a case trimmer, and have the ability to turn out more than enough ammo for a guy like me, using an hour here and an hour there between shooting sessions, all the while learning favorite recipes, etc. In several years, if I like it enough- and feel I can justify the expense- I can upgrade then, and only have to get the press and maybe a higher capacity tumbler, as I would already have all of the peripherals. Would you disagree with this opinion, and if so, why?

Unrelated question, you linked to a great source for tumbler media, but didn't talk about grit, and they offer two. Would you recommend one over the other, and why?

[spqrzilla]

I have long thought that it made sense to learn on a single stage press. Getting the basics down when you only have to think about the single die in front of you and getting its operation right seems to be more successful for novices in my experience.

There are others who disagree and certainly its a subjective opinion.

But if you get a progressive press later, the single stage press is far from useless thereafter. You'll often want to leave the progressive set up for the caliber you load a lot of and use the single stage for making up a different caliber or making up experimental loads of different charges or bullet types/weights.

[Fried Chicken Blowout]

So, my question is this:
While I agree that you probably don't NEED to learn on a single stage, from my standpoint, for just a few hundred dollars I can get everything I need with a Rock Chucker Master Kit, a decent budget tumbler, and a case trimmer, and have the ability to turn out more than enough ammo for a guy like me, using an hour here and an hour there between shooting sessions, all the while learning favorite recipes, etc. In several years, if I like it enough- and feel I can justify the expense- I can upgrade then, and only have to get the press and maybe a higher capacity tumbler, as I would already have all of the peripherals. Would you disagree with this opinion, and if so, why?

Unrelated question, you linked to a great source for tumbler media, but didn't talk about grit, and they offer two. Would you recommend one over the other, and why?

Interesting question. If you're asking about PISTOL then here's my answer...

My knee jerk reaction would be to say that reloading would not be worth it for you at all. You're shooting a limited amount and would be better off buying the cheapest factory ammo you can get your hands on. This is because, in my mind, loading pistol on a single stage press is a time waster. You're basically going to have to relearn everything anyways if you upgrade to a progressive and the amount of time you'd spend loading pistol ammo on a single stage would be a loosing proposition. So when I made the statement of not needing to learn on a single stage, I was referring to pistol reloading.

Now clearly I have opinions that would not be shared by everyone, but I would thinking getting into reloading on a single stage press would burn more people out than it would bring people into reloading. Single stage presses have one use in my mind and that's rifle reloading and specifically precision rifle reloading. If you want to get started on a budget for pistol and you shoot 5k or less rounds a year, then I would highly suggest you look at the Dillon Square Deal-B.

http://youtu.be/pNC7hE_KuHI

The Square Deal-B would at least make it worth your time to reload.


Now if your whole question revolved around RIFLE reloading (which likely it did based on your need for a case trimmer) and that's all you'd be reloading (no pistol) then sure, get a single stage press. Just know that you're going to dedicate a lot of time, but less money. And you'll make some really good ammo after you get the hang of it. So yes if you're loading small amounts of rifle only, then you'd never be able to "pay" for the progressive press entry fee. The most similar option to the Square Deal B in a press that can do rifle is a turret press. That's not because the function the same, but because the overall cost is similar and there is an increase in production speed over a typical single stage setup.

For the media it really doesn't matter. Depending on your primer size, when you tumble your brass to get the lube off, after sizings, you may get either grit stuck in the primer pockets.


Hopefully that clarifies my statements. Sometimes when I'm writing, I have a specific image of what I'm trying to say and the other ways someone may be looking at what I say don't come to mind until someone points it out later... If that makes any sense at all?

[Great-Kazoo]

Now clearly I have opinions that would not be shared by everyone, but I would thinking getting into reloading on a single stage press would burn more people out than it would bring people into reloading. Single stage presses have one use in my mind and that's rifle reloading and specifically precision rifle reloading. If you want to get started on a budget for pistol and you shoot 5k or less rounds a year, then I would highly suggest you look at the Dillon Square Deal-B.

I tried a SS, for about 15 minutes. The most tedious time consuming "hobby" i have done. Combine the repetitiveness for each function with damaged hand & shoulder it was unpleasant to say the least. The other factor (For Me) is instant gratification. My reloads are target shooting, with a fall back as needed for a SHTF scenario. IF i was to get that anal (again) about precision loads, i doubt i would have gotten back in to reloading.
I load handgun on a 4 & 550, the rounds cycle my pistols, eject w/out issue and hit the target where i point. For me that's GTG.
I still have the SS, it gets some time with a few rifle loads and pulling bullets.

[Whistler]

Don't want to pick on your information thread and have nothing bad to say about Dillon at all but... what I'm seeing is a good write-up but one that I perceive predicated on a few false assumptions. One assumption being that the only justification and approach to reloading is your concept of a minimum volume and minimum investment. I'm sure your suggestions are great based on your needs but I could never justify that level of investment based on my needs. I can certainly afford it but why? I don't buy a 1-ton 4x4 pickup to fetch groceries either.

I am able to produce a reasonable volume (~500 pistol cartridges/hr, pre-prepped cases) on a single stage and a progressive for several calibers with substantially less investment. In good weather I shoot probably 2k-3K handguns loads and maybe half as much rifle per month. It may not be quite as fast or quite as easy but the ammo is every bit as good and candidly I'm not really trying to impress anybody but myself.

I don't assert my setup to be comparable however I do produce quality ammunition at a volume that is adequate for my needs. My entire setup with accessories and including materials to build the bench was under $1000.

The point I'm making is before you can make a determination or recommendation you should understand a potential reloader's needs, volume, budget and most importantly motivation. Not everyone reloads multiple calibers or in high volumes, some reload in the pursuit of their idea of a perfect round or may be restricted by income to a more laborious approach while others reload for cost savings or stockpiling ammunition in private, etc, ad nauseum.

I don't mean to discourage your write up just wanted to point out technique, tips, lessons learned might be more valuable than a particular opinion on equipment selection derived from a specific individual's requirements. The best tutorials aren't about what you think is right but imparting the knowledge for another to determine what is right for them based on your experience.

[ben4372]

First I'm gonna say RELOAD or more to the point HAND LOAD. I've never use a Dillion press but I have bought a few things from the Blue Press booklet. I have a couple single stages that I use for sizing and decapping but 90 percent of my loading happens in a 4 hole Lee. A little chincy but the easiest set up ever, except Dillion. Cheap press and the turrets are cheap too. Set up the dies once and set them aside for next time. It was best summed up by someone on this site as knitting but you get shiny things that go bang. For me it is a Zen like thing, focus on making them all the same. One after another. You can get into it for a couple hundred bucks. I started years ago so I could shoot 454 for less than 3 bucks a shot (one of the few calibers that has gone down in price in the last ten years). Now I just knit bullets.

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