looking for reloading equip.

[CowboyTuff]

new to the reloading deal and am needing advice and the necessary equipment.

thanks in advance!

-Tuff

[GunTroll]

How much do you want to, or can you, spend is the real question. RCBS has a starter kit that is fair. Come to think of it all seam to have a starting out kit. Comes with the basics to get you going but be forewarned! Reloading will not save you money! You just shoot two to three times as much!

[CowboyTuff]

thanks for the info! what type of stater kit would you recomend?

[GunTroll]

I went with a RCBS master supreme or whatever. Your gonna need a tumbler and case trimmer if it doesn't come with one. I've tried all the dies out there and found Redding to be my favorite. Hornady my least but I still like em' the same. Get ready to drop the wad. There is always something else that seems you got to have to make reloading better. Soon you'll be wanting a Dillion progressive with all the bells and whistles. Just look at some of the guys on this sites "reloading room" there is thousands invested in some of their stuff. Not to mention but now is a horrible time to try to find all the components that you'll need to reload you cartridges. I.E primers,powder, bullets, and brass in some instances. Its out there but you got to look.

Have fun I do. You can make that good shootin gun you got shoot even better once you learn some tricks.

[k2peaker]

This is definitely a loaded question where you're likely to get all sorts of opinions.

I agree that your expected "reloading volume" drives in one direction over the other.
I'm a competitive shooter who reloads a considerable volume so I am very biased in that direction (Dillon 650 for .223/9x19/.45, Dillon 1050 for .38 Super, Dillion Super1050 for .40/.223). But I'm an extreme case. Clearly my bias is Dillon -- I think in the last survey of USPSA Nationals competitors, 85%+ use Dillon presses. More "extreme" cases? Probably.

If I were starting and I thought I was going to reload more than 100 rounds per month, that's when I would start thinking progressive over a single stage. I know there are plenty of folks that load that volume and higher with a SS, I just wouldn't be one of them as my time is too valuable. And, for me, reloading is just an means to an end, i.e., I find no recreational value in reloading other than being able to fine tune loads.

And, cost-wise w/o doing some research, I have to believe that one of Dillon's starter progressives (like a 550) is probably not an order of magnitude higher than one of the nicer SS starter packages. With the 550, you have expandability, i.e., you can add a case feeder, multiple toolheads (one for .223 brass prep in resizing & trimming), etc. So you can easily grow it into a press that is capable of 300+ of rounds per hour.

Another factor, Dillon's customer service is top shelf with any issues.

The add-ons add up too though: calipers, scale, primer flip tray, enough primer tubes, tumbler, media, media polish, brass/media separator...). And all of this is before you buy any of the consummables (brass, powder, primer, bullets).
When I was starting out, I did try to save money on each step but in the long run, I ended up paying more, i.e., case feeder add-on instead of bundled up front, analog calipers but eventually had to have digital (both are cheaper these days anyway), electronic scale (I can't imagine using a balance beam scale any more), at least 10 primer tubes per primer size loaded, two tumblers... Again, my volume is 50K+ rounds/year so all of the little time savers add up for me.
Best of luck. K2

[k2peaker]

Here's handy link showing comparisions across Dillon's line:
http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/customize-reloader.html