Reloading can be fun and can be a real cash saver. Lets look at what is needed to start reloading. First you will need an area that you can reload. In some cases this may be a kitchen table or living room floor if your living space is very confined and your reloading is minimal. Most reloader’s however have a dedicated reloading bench in the garage or downstairs in the house. This reloading bench is the center of all your reloading activity, so when you build the reloading bench, make sure you have plenty of room and that all your reloading equipment will fit. Some people have made reloading benched with slid out bases that can be interchanged. This is a great idea if you are really strapped for space.
If you are the reloader who is doing minimal reloading and money is a factor, then I would recommend using a Lee Loader from Lee Precision. This is a great little reloading kit that will get you by and only costs about $20.00. If you’re like me and do a lot of reloading you will want a conventional set up. To get started you will need a press, reloading dies and shell holder(s) for the round(s) you will be reloading, a reloading manual or reloading data, reloading scales, a lube pad or spray on lube, a case trimmer, and a set of calipers.
The reloading press is the backbone of the reloading each and will be used to resize your brass. Reloading presses come in two varieties. There is the single stage press where each step of reloading is done one at a time. There is also what is called a progressive press that has multiple stations on the press and each stage can be done at the same time. I happen to use both for my reloading. I really like the RCBS Rock Chucker single stage press and use one for my reloading of rifle cartridges. Today all the presses on the market are good presses. The Lyman or Hornady press will do everything my RCBS press will do. It’s a matter of personal preference and what you can afford. Most of my reloading for my handguns is done on a Dillon 550 progressive press, but again the other progressive presses from Lyman, Hornady, or RCBS will do what you want them to.
Reloading dies also come from several reloading suppliers and all do the same thing. They resize the brass you are reloading. I like the Hornady dies due to the tapered expander ball. It seems to slip in and out of the case a little easier. Although I like the Hornady dies, I have dies from RCBS, Lee and Lyman as well. I’ve even got a few old C&H dies as well. Dies need to be cleaned and lubed so that they will last a life time. With the dies, you will need a shell holder to hold the case you are resizing. Shell holders are specific to a head size so be sure you have the right holder for the case you’re reloading.
There are several reloading manuals as well as the internet for reloading data. I own several manuals as well as have data off the internet. You can never have too much data. The trick is to match your data with what you want to do. Old manuals are ok for referencing out of print data or for odd cartridges that aren’t in the new manuals, but ALWAYS use the newest data you can find. When a new reloading manual comes out, I buy it. My old manuals go to a reference section or to a box of old manuals. Books like my Barnes reloading manual #1 I keep handy for a reference on my 8mm Remington Magnum when I load 250 grain bullets. Try to find new load data for that one! How about finding new data for a 325 grain Barnes X bullet for a .416 Remington Magnum. Again here is a place for old reloading manuals.
Reloading scales are used for weighing powder charges and cases when you get into the more advanced stages of accurate reloading. Reloading scales come in two varieties, balance beam and electronic. The traditional balance beam scales are made by all the major reloading manufactures. They are easy to set up and to use. I usually have a couple on the bench out of the way in case I need them because of problems with my electronic scale. I used a balance beam scale for years and have recently graduated to an electronic scale. Mine happens to be from Cabela’s and I love it. It makes life at the reloading bench much easier. The down side is, it takes a few minutes to warm up and calibrate. The electronic scales are also more expensive.
A lube pad or a can of spray on lube is a must. Without lube on a case the case will get stuck in the reloading die. Remember you are exerting several thousands of pounds of pressure on the case to resize it. It has to be lubed or you will spend several minutes trying to remove a stuck case from the die. Each case that gets stuck will most likely be lost. That is money down the drain Lube is critical on bottle neck cases.
If you do a lot of shooting, cases tend to stretch. You have to trim the cases so that they will chamber correctly. This is where the case trimmer comes in. there are two types of trimmers, manual and electric. Again there are less moving parts on the manual trimmer and they work just fine. The electric trimmers are very nice if you have a lot of cases to trim and it takes a lot of the work out of trimming. I like the Lyman power trimmer for this job.
With trimming, you need to know what the length of the trimmed case is. Calipers will give you the measurements that you need. Calipers come in a standard dial type and an electronic digital type. I love the digital type as it makes reading the length a breeze. With a set of calipers you can also measure the loaded overall length of your cartridges.
These items represent only a small part of all the reloading tools that are out there. With these items, you can get started in reloading.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 6:32 pm and is filed under reloading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.