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So, this is sort of within the bounds of this thread (if not, I politely withdraw to ask elsewhere).
How much am I looking at to get started with reloading? I'm not looking for the absolute cheapest, just a round figure of what tools I need presuming I am going to buy quality. Lets say just 45 ACP for now. I know very little about it, other than I need power, bullets, primers, brass, a tumbler to clean the brass, and... some kind of dies.... or something? What's it cost to get the foot in the door?
lord_blackfang wrote: Respect to the guy who subscribed just to post a massive ASCII dong in the chat and immediately get banned.
Flinty wrote: The benefit of slate is that its.actually a.rock with rock like properties. The downside is that it's a rock
My father just started. He bought a machine that does all pistol calibers, and some very limited rifle. He figured the math, and I think it was around the 1,000 round mark, it paid itself off. May have been more, just spitballing. But if you're a heavy shooter, it's worth the money. If your not throwing several hundred rounds a week, it might not be worth your effort.
The machine and equipment though, probably $500 or so to get it all rolling.
I got set up in 3 diff calibers for about 100 bucks with the lee basic reloader set, about 25-30$ per kit, each kit supports one caliber.
I still use my lee loader for stuff like 30-06 where I only need a few rounds every so often, its perfectly accurate and very adjustable, just slower. again, super cheap.
bonus pts because you get to freak people out when you use a hammer to reload!
my advice, is if you actually want to shoot a lot, dont get a stand alone single stage press.
yes, its sort of "easier" to learn on, and yes, its cheaper, but its sooooo slooooooooooowwwwww... and after the first 10 bullets, you will be wishing you had something faster that you dont always have to change the set up on for each stage of reloading. so not only is the progressive faster, it tends to be more accurate as less chance for stuff to wiggle around between stages.
from personal experience, dont waste money on a single stage, just watch you tube vids and skip to a progressive press, manual index, so that you dont waste $ and time on a single stage that doesnt really do the job as well.
getting a manual indexing 4 stage press will crank out lots of rounds per hour, only set you back about 600$ or so with one set of dies (they are ~80-100$ per die set, you need one die per caliber, it can do pretty much every caliber ever)
It comes with the powder thrower(measurer) which is a must have IMO
dillon is the best brand of manual indexer IMO.
basic lee loader here,
I can get ~60 rounds and hour on it
dillon
I can get about 1500 rounds an hour on this if I have everything prepped and ready to go.
dillon is also awesome, lifetime warranty, simple to use, great customer support.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2014/05/21 23:44:25
Ouze wrote: Thanks guys. Food for thought. I don't think I shoot enough to justify it immediately, but long term... probably.
I certainly don't, yet. So I just leech off my father for now. He's going to bring me about 400 rounds of 9mm next time he visits and that should last me a while. Being stationed with the Army now, I'm going to be shooting my service weapons a lot more, so should fill me "need" to make things go bang pretty well.
The pistol, a .22, is a Chinese manufactured copy of the official Olympic shooting pistol. It's strictly for target shooting, which I did competitively when I was a kid.
The three rifles are:
Ruger Model 10/22. A nice .22 carbine with telescopic scope. Good for shooting squirrels, target shooting, that sort of thing.
Remington Model 03-A3 .30-06. Good, solid hunting rifle. Bolt action.
M1-Garand .30-06. The rifle that defeated the Nazis. This one was carried in Normandy by my grandfather. Still has the original bayonet, and fires like a charm.
The pistol, a .22, is a Chinese manufactured copy of the official Olympic shooting pistol. It's strictly for target shooting, which I did competitively when I was a kid.
That seems like a fun deal, was it?
lord_blackfang wrote: Respect to the guy who subscribed just to post a massive ASCII dong in the chat and immediately get banned.
Flinty wrote: The benefit of slate is that its.actually a.rock with rock like properties. The downside is that it's a rock
Ouze wrote: Thanks guys. Food for thought. I don't think I shoot enough to justify it immediately, but long term... probably.
I certainly don't, yet. So I just leech off my father for now. He's going to bring me about 400 rounds of 9mm next time he visits and that should last me a while. Being stationed with the Army now, I'm going to be shooting my service weapons a lot more, so should fill me "need" to make things go bang pretty well.
It's also about quality though. If you're reloading blasting ammo it probably isn't worth the time investment. But if you want to crank out match ammo for your bolt action, the cost savings are huge, and you can develop a load that is designed specifically for your rifle.
TBH I didn't get into reloading until I started shooting bolt action. The thought of reloading pistol ammo makes me cringe.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
djones520 wrote: Ok, so the Army absolutely sold me on Red Dots. Anyone know some good but cheap ones that I could purchase?
Primary Arms seems to be the best cheapie red dot.
djones520 wrote: Ok, so the Army absolutely sold me on Red Dots. Anyone know some good but cheap ones that I could purchase?
Check along 41A, I think Tennessee Gun Country, Allen's or Kentucky Gun/Knife may be able to help... Beyond that, the Franklin Gun shop down by Nashville or Whittaker Guns up in Owensboro, KY are sure bets to get decent priced red dots. (both Franklin and Whittaker guns are fething MAASSSSSSIIVE, if you can put up with the drive)
djones520 wrote: Ok, so the Army absolutely sold me on Red Dots. Anyone know some good but cheap ones that I could purchase?
good but cheap?
if you like red dots, youll love holographic red dots... finer dot, and you can look through the glass at any angle and your point of impact lines up with the dot no matter what.
I have had one last me almost 5 years now, excellent durability and accuracy, cheap as heck.
comes with built in irons on top too, so no messing around with a 2nd set that costs 70+$, and no co witnessing BS
it has a great small dot and enough variability on the settings that its not useless past 250 like most red dots are, and I find the T mark with the dot inside is great for hold overs and windage.
I can keep both eyes fully open, and the holo red dot stays in focus, its the absolute bees knees for CQB type stuff,
I have had ncstar and primary arms red dots break after a few shots, I honestly dont think they are worth the $ IMO
Also you have to buy an adapter to get those to the height you need on an AR to properly account for the parralax effect, with the bushnell I linked its already at the correct height, so might actually be cheaper then the others+ adapter
M1-Garand .30-06. The rifle that defeated the Nazis. This one was carried in Normandy by my grandfather. Still has the original bayonet, and fires like a charm.
my goodness... I am extremely jelly... garands are awesome, and canadian! but to have one your grand pappy actually carried with him is a treasure, never EVER sell that! not that you would OFC, but dont!
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2014/05/22 01:01:11
The pistol, a .22, is a Chinese manufactured copy of the official Olympic shooting pistol. It's strictly for target shooting, which I did competitively when I was a kid.
That seems like a fun deal, was it?
Yeah, it was. I started when I moved down to New Mexico to live with my dad when I was about 8 and did it til I was 12 and moved back to Seattle, where gun culture is pretty nonexistent. Won a few ribbons and a trophy or two. That's actually how I got into warhammer. Needed a new hobby. I'm still a pretty decent shot and can embarrass most of my friends when we go to the range. I just moved back to a rural area after twenty years of living in the city, so I'm really hoping to get back into shooting. I just need to figure out where people around here go to shoot without paying range fees.
So I've been planning out my three big projects for gunsmithing school.
Project rifle 1: .456 Win Mag, Mauser Action, heavy barrel, wood stock, iron sights, tapped and drilled to take a scope. Internal magazine... probably will get three or four rounds in there if I'm lucky. This is set up as a dangerous game rifle. .456 Win Mag means I can take game just about any where in the world, and the Mauser action is a great one as a bolt gun for fast follow up shots and clearing malfunctions. I chose this as my first project rifle because it MUST be a traditional American bolt gun, and a big game rifle is not something I would purchase of my own accord.
Project 2: RIA+ Program - Not a full project so to speak, I have a couple hundred hours of gunsmithing (approximately 100 guns worth) of "actual" gunsmithing to do before I can start my final project weapon, I can however work on my own weapons which will include taking my RIA 1911A1 and upgrading it with some VERY sexy parts from Wilson Combat to include a WC Match trigger, combat extended safety, skeletonized hammer, match grade barrel AND most importantly dovetail high vis sights to replace the old school blade sights my baby has on there now.
Project 3: This is my final project and I have plenty of freedom in how it gets done. To that end it's going to be a Cooper style scout rifle in .308 based on the Rem 700 short action with a timany trigger (assuming I can find one), a mod so I can feed my .308 magazines, iron sights with a relief scope mounted forward of the action, and a wooden stock I'm going to carve in the Dragunov style. Action will be pillared and glass bedded. If I do it right the rifle will be less than 1 meter in length, and less than 3 kilograms in weight. That restriction may make me switch to a "plastic" stock, but I think the wood cutouts for the Dragunov style stock should save enough weight in theory.
I beg of you sarge let me lead the charge when the battle lines are drawn
Lemme at least leave a good hoof beat they'll remember loud and long
Ouze wrote: So, this is sort of within the bounds of this thread (if not, I politely withdraw to ask elsewhere).
How much am I looking at to get started with reloading? I'm not looking for the absolute cheapest, just a round figure of what tools I need presuming I am going to buy quality. Lets say just 45 ACP for now. I know very little about it, other than I need power, bullets, primers, brass, a tumbler to clean the brass, and... some kind of dies.... or something? What's it cost to get the foot in the door?
You too? I'm looking at a Dillon 550 myself.
COMP-Tac reigonal IDPA Saturday in Big D. Ya hoo!
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/05/22 12:20:42
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
Yeah, if I do go in to it that would be where I'm going. That video that Easysauce linked (thanks btw) has me sold. I don't think I have the startup capital at this moment but it's definitely on the list.
lord_blackfang wrote: Respect to the guy who subscribed just to post a massive ASCII dong in the chat and immediately get banned.
Flinty wrote: The benefit of slate is that its.actually a.rock with rock like properties. The downside is that it's a rock
Ouze wrote: Yeah, if I do go in to it that would be where I'm going. That video that Easysauce linked (thanks btw) has me sold. I don't think I have the startup capital at this moment but it's definitely on the list.
my pleasure!
The dillon 550 manual index 4 stage is what I have right now, and I canot say enough good things about it.
my only other advice is to start hoarding brass and such now, and maybe find sources of primers and powder as primers seem to be ok to find, but I havnt been able to pick up a new keg of bullseye powder for over a year now... severe shortage of powder up here :(
also, cleaning wise, stainless steel tumblers are the way to go if I was starting over, buy the pins once and done, and it gets things sooooo much cleaner then tumbling in corck/shellse/whatever as well as reducing the chance that some of your tubling medium will get stuck in the case.
my cost saveings went from ~40-50 cents a shot for .45acp to ~8cents a shot, so its paid for its self after only a year of steel challenges and 3gun.
How hard is it to get to say Federal Gold Dot kind of accurate (aka FBI rated defensive rounds). A big factor for me is accuracy. I want more accurate rounds. Becuase clearly its my crappy ammo and not my inherent John Wayne like accuracy that is making me miss.
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
Just finished filling out the paperwork to get a permit to purchase a handgun... In 3 to 6 months I'll actually be able to buy one... I'm thinking about purchasing a 1911, and recommended brans?
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
Catyrpelius wrote: Just finished filling out the paperwork to get a permit to purchase a handgun... In 3 to 6 months I'll actually be able to buy one... I'm thinking about purchasing a 1911, and recommended brans?
I like in New Jersey in a town that doesn't have it's own police force. This meens that I need to go through the State Police for permits and things... They take forever...
I've already got a firearms ID card, which lets me buy long guns in the state but ever time I buy a pistol I need to apply for a new pistol permit...
I own alot of long guns but I looking to pickup my first (non- .22 revolver) pistol and I've got no real idea what I want.
How hard is it to get to say Federal Gold Dot kind of accurate (aka FBI rated defensive rounds). A big factor for me is accuracy. I want more accurate rounds. Becuase clearly its my crappy ammo and not my inherent John Wayne like accuracy that is making me miss.
took me about 4 "tries" to fine tune my stuff,
Its much, MUCH more accurate then things like UMC brand, and still more accurate then gold dot.
If I put my 45 in a rest at about 5 meters, and each hole isnt inside the first one, or at least mostly touching/overlapping (barring wind OFC) I would be dissapointed.
Depending on how much fine tuning you do, and how anal you are about things, your reloads have the potential to be on par or better then the best factory made match ammo.
For matches, Ill even separate cases, bullets, so that each component is exactly the same size/weight as the others, then load it all, then check weight and size again, and separate out again.
match ammo is great, but its still generic, there are a lot of things you can do to specifically tailor your ammo to your particular gun, for instance, I seat the bullet at a different setting on my M&P then I do the 1911, and the difference is "noticable" to a super anal reloader like me.
you also wont get the variations between batches like you will buying match ammo from different production times.
The fact that i only blow a couple bucks a clip instead of 5$ a clip also improves my accuracy, because Im more relaxed about it too!
My plan is the same powder, same primers (CCI), Starline brass, and work up the optimum bullet/powder combo (probably bayou bullets buy local!), both for my M&P but a consistent general round as the the family shoots 9mm and we have some family friends who want rounds.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/05/22 20:09:07
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
djones520 wrote: Ok... good info. New Jersey is now off my list of states to ever live in.
Much truth. Hell, even Illinois isn't that bad. Albeit, it took me 3-4 months to get my FOID before I could even handle a firearm in a store
Illinois just has that 3 day waiting period, that is really a 4 day period. Which was still annoying as hell. I love it here in Tennessee/Kentucky. I go right to the Post Exchange, hand them cash, and they hand me a gun. Just like back home in Michigan.
djones520 wrote: Ok... good info. New Jersey is now off my list of states to ever live in.
Much truth. Hell, even Illinois isn't that bad. Albeit, it took me 3-4 months to get my FOID before I could even handle a firearm in a store
If you live in a town that has it's own police force it's not that bad, their pretty quick and if you catch someone on a good day you can get the permit almost right away. The real problems start when you need to go through the state police.
And if you're drinkin' well, you know that you're my friend and I say "I think I'll have myself a beer" 
