I don’t reload......
But, I’ve just come into a Remington Genesis BP rifle. I was going to post a thread to gather info from BP shooters......
I’ll just piggy-FR-back on your thread.....
;-)
Reloading isn’t particularly difficult, but you need to be a very careful, detail oriented person.
If possible, work with an experienced reloader when you start.
Pick up a couple reloading manuals and read them several times before you start. It’s wise to find several recipes for the caliber you plan on reloading to make sure you aren’t making any mistakes. (AS a blatant example: If manual one says you need 55 grains of Unique, while another says 5.5 grains of Unique, you really want to get another opinion before you do anything.)
You might want to check out the reloading forum at http://thefiringline.com/
Make friends with an old timer and spend a month or 4 with him/her.
Details, details, details. Follow up with a healthy dose of consistency. If you use your garage to do the reloading, make sure it is in a prepared area that’s kept clean - reloading on the old wood bench works, just makes for bad rounds.
Spend the money for a good scale - top advice. A drifting scale means drifting rounds, either on the range, or worse when you’re hunting. Buy a good brass cleaner - if you can’t afford one, go in with others to buy one and share it.
Your local gun club likely has at least ninety experts on reloading - that’s a little bit of a spurt under pressure. Take any and all advice with a grain of salt, and be willing to experiment - a LITTLE. Don’t go crazy, it’s not going to help you, and it just might kill you.
I've handloaded rifle, pistol and shotgun ammo for almost thirty years, and it's a rewarding and enjoyable activity. Good luck.
Good luck!
mark
He chose a Lee Classic Turret Press kit from Kempf gunshop in Indiana. It is only $140 plus shipping and has everything that you need to get started, EXCEPT a good handloading manual - an absolute MUST. For that I use Hornady's; but Lee, Speer, and Nosler all make good manuals, as do some others. Those are the only ones I've had my hands on.
I reload a lot and I find it enjoyable and satisfying as well as cost effective.
My advice is, don’t do it on the cheap. I started out with a beam scale, total waste of money. Then I went to an electronic scale along with a manual powder measure. I didn’t like the way the measure cut the longer powder grains like 4064. Soo, I’ve got a lot of stuff I never use.
Wound up with an RCBS electronic dispenser, RCBS case prep station that does fast case prep and RCBS electric case length trimmer. Just my 2c.
Some have already spoke of the Dillon Presses.
Can’t go wrong with them.
Get with another loader-get the Lyman or Lee books on reloading, read and follow label instructions carefully.
It is safe and inexpensive as long as you stick to the basics.
You need to be a bit more specific in your needs.
Are you reloading lots and lots of handgun ammo?
Are you after ultra accurate rifle loads?
Trying to save money on your plinking?
I compete with handguns and use my Dillon 550 to crank out 500 to a 1000 rounds a month.
I started with a cheap little Lee press that just wasn’t up to the job, but was a cheap way to get started and I’m still using most of the Lee dies I bought.
Some buddies that shoot handgun only are found of the Dillon Square Deal B, which is cheaper, but loads only handgun rounds.
Find someone at the range where you shoot who reloads and make him/her your new best friend. Try the reloading forums on Glocktalk, brianenos.com, and some other enthusiast sites.
When pricing out the gear, make sure you get quoted on the bells and whistles. This is a very gadget heavy hobby and can easily add 40-50% to the cost of the overall setup.
If you decide on a Dillon, be sure to go through the brianenos.com site, he has a lot of good info and can cut you a slightly better deal.
Good luck, and start picking up brass at the range today.
Or Post No 11’s recommendation aka Dillion !
RCBS Rock Chucker and Dillion are my mainstays........good products.
BTW, ther are a lot of reloaders who never, ever read the instructions so beware of their counsel. For each piece of equipment you get, read the instructions five times or until you understand them. It pays off.
If I had known just how cheap reloading was and how easy it was to produce rounds that are better than store bought at 1/4 the cost, I would have started decades before I did. It is very rewarding.
Most of the advice you’ve gotten so far is pretty good, especially the part about getting more than one manual. If I may make a suggestion though, don’t go out an buy some top-of-the-line outfit until you’ve cut your teeth on some more basic equipment.
Not everyone enjoys reloading. You might try it and find it isn’t to your taste. Even Dillon equipment won’t command a decent resale value unless you’re very patient and wait for a gullible sucker to come along. Your first press should be a used press. If you decide to give it up you can get your money back and if you decide to continue reloading you can always use a second press. (I still have the used Lee Challenger that I bought out of the Nickle Ads.)
Whatever you do, don’t rush out and buy some Dillon/HAL-9000 Computerized thingamajig until you really have a need for it. If you’re loading less than a hundred rounds a week you need (yes, NEED) to spend a certain amount of time tweaking and pampering whatever equipment you have. All that work will pay off when/if you do go to the superpress.
Have fun!
Reread post #27. Spend very little money to get started. You can spend the big bucks later, or as I have done, gone to simpler more accurate technique.
There is no relationship between the cost of the press and the accuracy of the ammo.