?'s on Reloading Equipment

Originally Posted By: hill1970I do not want to go buy a kit and figure out that I want to upgrade this piece of equipment or that piece of equipment later. I would rather buy the best that I can afford the first time.

That's why I didn't buy a kit. I decided how much I could spend & picked the specifics that fit the budget. In my case I went with a Dillon RL550-B press. My bench is an assortment of manufacturers, I have Dillon, RCBS, Redding, Hornady, Lyman, etc

Started with a manual scale, later added an electronic one (Dillon) which has been accurate & trouble free for many years.

Started out with the essentials & added specialty/advanced tools along the way, spreads the impact on spending over time.
 
When I started reloading 5 years ago, I decided to buy the cheapest set I could because in the past I've had this problem of diving in head first and buying the most expensive stuff I could get, only to lose interest in it later. So I spent $90 for a Lee kit on sale and it worked fine and made good ammo. Of course I ended up loving reloading so I upgraded everything later but all in all, I'm only out the $90 for the Lee set and it was a good one to learn on. Of course if I had it to do over again I would have just got the Hornady or RCBS set up front.
 
thought about this. don't want to come across that I think dillon is "the best" choice.

my point was that I picked what I thought was best for me, with my goals & plans. and it turned out that it wasn't a single brand or line of equipment, I picked from all of them.

pretty much all of the companies make quality tools that will make ammo you'll be thrilled to shoot, but there are differences that will make some tools stand out for you & your needs. What's really great is that we have the choices that we do to pick from.
 
If you pretty sure that you won't be loading a lot of pistol ammo, I would go for the CO-AX.

If your need for pistol ammo warrants a progressive press, its hard to beat a Dillon RL-450B. The Dillon progressive can also be used as a great single stage press. This assumes you use a hand primer tool like the RCBS Universal. I would rather not have to deal with priming on any press.

There is also some extra tool heads needed for quick change over to different calibers. Changing the shell plate may also take a little extra setup time on the Dillon.

If your thinking is that reloading will be a lifetime hobby, then by all means, start with the best equipment your budget will allow. It takes some fairly good equipment and a lot of attention to details if your going to improve accuracy much over factory ammo. Don't even consider reloading if your not willing to spend some time doing it right.
 
I started many years ago with an RCBS kit and have, over the years, wound up with a Forster Co-Ax and related dies...I used to shoot a lot of handgun competitions and bought a Lee 1000 progressive and only have about three hundred invested in it for three calibers, but it has served me well for over 15 years...

I use the Forster for all my rifle ammo and even for building test loads for my handguns and then switch those factors over to the progressive, once I've settled on a good combination..
 
Good reloading equipment, when taken care of, lasts a lifetime. I have an old Pacific "C" upstroke press that was my grand dad's and when he quit reloading in 1955 +/- he gave it to me. Still works great.

Having said that you may consider watching for someone that is upgrading and wanting to sell his used equipment.
 


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