Going to start hand loading, need help

[Jonathan_S]

Zwickeyman-

 You will make some mistakes, and the inertial pullers ruin bullets. 

how do they ruin bullets? I assume your talking about the hammer style.

  before buying a press puller, I pulled a lot with the RCBS one and they shot just fine.

[jasnt]

I've heard the opposite, that the collet style can ruin bullets

[fly-by]

Zwickeyman-

 You will make some mistakes, and the inertial pullers ruin bullets. 

how do they ruin bullets? I assume your talking about the hammer style.

Using a hammer puller usually results in smashed tips for me.

[Magnum_Willys]

I throw a little padding in the cap so tips don’t slam into the cap.  They should come with a rubber cushion disc in there.

[Evil_EdwardO]

I've heard the opposite, that the collet style can ruin bullets

I've only had one bullet that was ruined by my collet puller. It was a 45 colt that was seated to deep.

[BigGoonTuna]

i like the hornady collet puller.  pretty easy to use and quick (if you load a bunch and decide to pull the bullets for some reason). much easier to salvage the powder too. i use a hammer type one for those "oops" moments, like turning in the depth adjustment when setting up my seating die.  would hate to pull a dozen bullets with one though.

i'm a fan of fine measuring tools, so i bought a nice mitutoyo digital caliper.  actually, i bought it at a pawn shop, so the cost was less than one of those chinese made cheapies that you'd get in the reloading too section(i think i paid $25 for mine, it's about a $150 model).  much nicer to  use.

i have had no issues with my lee dies, the price is certainly right.  i replace the lock ring on my full length sizers with a hornady lock ring, and set them up to bump the shoulder back a few thousandths from a fired case from my rifle(i don't have any 2 rifles chambered in the same cartridge at this time) and leave them.  i really love the collet neck sizers too.

[jasnt]

I throw a little padding in the cap so tips don’t slam into the cap.  They should come with a rubber cushion disc in there.

my rcbs one has about an inch of cushion

[BULLBLASTER]

I’ve had Berger tips fill up with rubber in the hammer pullers. I have one and also a collet puller. I’d much rather use the collet puller

[Fl0und3rz]

You think you need "help" now, wait until you start hand loading.

[wooltie]

You think you need "help" now, wait until you start hand loading.

 

I started reloading last year....wait until you get a load that won't group, then you have to figure out how to problem solve it.  (where I'm at now)

[zwickeyman]

Mental overload for sure

[SGTDuffman]

What you should get will be dictated to a large degree by how much your planning to shoot. If you’re just doing some hunting or precision shooting where you likely won’t send 100rds a day a single stage press will do just fine for a long time. If you sling lead like Rambo, you’re gonna want a progressive press with all the bells and whistles like a shell and bullet feeder. If you’re like me and fall somewhere in between, a progressive press without all the bells and whistles is just fine. I use a Hornady LNL  I told myself when I got it that if I wanted to, I could get the feeders later. I still don’t have them like 14 years later. I used to load more handgun ammo, but I can find it so cheap anymore that it isn’t really worth the time and hassle to load. Pet loads for the .308 are a different story. Buying match rounds at $1+/ea doesn’t work for me if I can make them for like $0.35/ea. If you can shoot 3 or more times as many rounds for the same price, it’s definitely worth doing.

[wooltie]

I bought everything individually and probably spent $8-1000, including a chrono.  I figured that I'd end up upgrading everything in a kit, so I just bought what I wanted.  Things that make the process easier, faster for me:

powder trickler,
loading trays
seating die w/micrometer,
hornady bullet comparator,
digital calipers
bullet puller w/collet (mounts in die)
primer pocket brush/cleaner

I hunt and load for the 30-06, use the RCBS chucker press.

[hogslayer]

I did buy a kit in the beginning. Only thing that’s left is the single stage press. I recently thought about taking it to another level with arbor press and have a seating die made from custom reamer used for the chamber I have. But I am not that good of a shot.

[W_Ellison2011]

Most of my stuff is used. Buddy kept upgrading and then giving me his old stuff. It works perfectly still. For 300 win mag I would go with H1000 or H4350. My fathers savage 111 really likes the h4350 and 180 gr barnes tsx. Those bullets are not cheap compared to hornady and others but his rifle really loved them. My new custom 300 win mag is eating a healthy dose of H1000 with 208 eld match bullets. Every rifle is going to have a certain powder and bullet its going to like more than others. Starting out I would pick up a couple different powders and a couple different .30 cal bullets. If you aren't looking for extreme accuracy then just buy the rcbs .300 win mag dies. Should be a full body sizing die and a seating die. If you want more accuracy and to really watch the seating depths, which you will get into later... trust me it can be annoying but make a big difference in groupings, then buy either the higher end hornady dies or the redding comp dies. A single stage rcbs press in a kit is a good start. If you wait for a sale you can find the kits for $200-$300. You will still need a few things like calipers, bullet comparators (which make things easier imo), shell holders, etc. It can be expensive and daunting to start into.. but once you make some bullets that go bang and hit paper it will become an addiction. My wife finally started complaining because every time a package comes to our door its either reloading or firearm related... brownells, midway, etc lol! I would highly suggest going to the guys places that offered and check out the process and learn from them first hand. That is a HUGE help! Also set yourself up the way you want and make yourself comfortable and have fun with it. It can be frustrating sometimes when you are trying to find a working load and nothing seems to go right. That's part of the game though!