Any handloaders in here?

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can't pull the trigger.

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nice

pops used to reload them himself when i was a little tike and we still had a fine place to dove hunt. i wish i would have been old enough to understand everything that he was doing.

Sure, what do you want to know?

Go buy yourself a Lee Loader kit. It is single stage, at less than $150, and it has pretty much everything you'll need. Go ahead and buy Lee dies as well. Lee while cheap is actually good stuff. The Lee designs on many things are simply the most innovative designs in the industry. That said, often the Lee stuff isn't that well made, but then again, break anything and all you have to do is send it to them and ask for a replacement and they'll send it to you for free.

But regardless, start out cheap and see if you like it. Any reloading manual will do, but they really aren't necessary because you can find all your loads and information on the internet nowadays.

I load a lot of metric calibers. As for bullets, I've pretty much discovered that if your rifle won't shoot Hornady Interlocks well, it won't shoot.

I don't think you need an electronic scale. I don't have one and I don't miss it. If you're not in into bench rest shooting, being accurate to the last fraction of a grain isn't all that important.

As for books, the Lee loading book is about half "How To". The whole front half of the book is about how to reload.

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Velocity is a much better indicator of pressure than all the usual signs like flattened primers or sticky bolt lifts. If you are getting a hundred fps faster than everything says you should be, you probably need to back it off a few grains.

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Thats the kind of shite I like to hear.
Though I probably would be concervative in my loadings, barely besting factory loads.

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How did you get started?

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Many, many years ago working up loads for 44 Mag handgun.

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I know I need a press, scale, powder despensor, dies for caliber, etc.

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Yup, that's pretty much the minimum needs. I'm not sure what you're referring to as "powder dispensor". If you're loading one round at a time (i.e. not loading w/ a progressive loader), you can just weigh the charge and dump it into the case using a funnel. The earlier post recommending Lee equipment is a good one. My first, and only, press is a Lee Turret. If you're going to load a high volume of rounds (usually for handguns), you might look at the Turret press. It's not a fast (nor as expensive) as a progressive press, but it's much faster than the typical single stage press.

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Any good books recommended? I would probably love to read about it even if I don't ever start doing it.

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I would recommend 2 or 3 of the most current reloading/data manuals available on the market. These are hardbound, produced every 3-4 years and cost $30 or so. Not only do the manuals have "how to" instructions, they also have load recommendations (powder/bullet recipes) for the rounds they've tested. At this time, I have the most current manuals from Sierra, Hornady, Hodgdon and Nosler. They're all very good. I'd be hard pressed to recommend one over the other. Hodgdon also prints a data manual in a magazine format every year. It has a few articles but not the "how to" instructions. OTOH, it costs &7-8. Some powder makers also have free loading data you can request from them. Some bullet and powder makers also have data info on the 'net. Hodgdon and Alliant (Reloder series of powders) come to mind, but I'm sure there are others.

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What do you reload?(caliber)

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Handguns: 221 Fireball, 223 Rem, 22 Rem Bench Rest, 22-250 Ackley Improved, 6x50R Bellm, 250 Savage, 257 JDJ, 6.5 JDJ, 7 Rem BR, 7x30 Waters, 30 Alaskan Bower, 300/221 (AKA 300 Whisper), 308 Win, 338 JDJ #2, 35 Rem, 375 JDJ, 44 Special, 44 Mag, 45 ACP and 45 Colt. I've got dies and bullets for others but haven't yet started.
Rifles: 223 Rem, 270 Win and 308 Win.

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Favorite bullets? (I've been wanting to shoot Sierra's latley but don't know anyone that does)

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That can vary depending on the use. For example, the Nosler Ballistic Tip works very well in my deer hunting calibers, e.g. 250 Savage, 257 JDJ, 6.5 JDJ, etc. For varmints, I like Ballistic Tips and Hornady V-Max's. In rifles used for deer hunting, I mostly avoid boat tail bullets. For deer hunting, I don't use any "premium" bullets except for Nosler Accubond in the 30 AB and 338 JDJ #2.

For jacketed handgun bullets, I usually start w/ least expensive bullet from major manufacturer. I also like to use cast bullets in some handguns, when I can find them at a good price.

You shooting the JDJ rounds in contenders, encores or ??? Like my T/C guns.

Why avoid boat tail bullets for deer hunting.

I'm a reloader.

Damn well Tiger covered a ton of the bases for rifle rounds. The main differences for loading rifle rounds versus pistol is that 1.) rifle brass must be trimmed 2.) rifle brass doesn't need a crimp (I don't crimp any rifle brass, but some do). Besides that, it's pretty basic. For .223, I buy bulk Hornady 55gr FMJ from Wideners.com. For shooting critters, I load 55gr Hornady Vmax. Both are just as accurate and both are boat tail. And to say a good thing about boat tail, both of them shoot consistent 1/2" groups.

As for handguns, I load 9mm, .40, and .45. I have never purchased brass for any and just pick up brass off the range. If you keep the rounds in the low pressure range, the brass will last forever. I have reloaded .45 brass probably about 12-13 times and they still work fine. If you're ever short on brass, swing over to Sherburne and load up because people there go through brass like candy and most don't reload.

For a basic pistol reloading kit, the main things you would need are...

1. powder thrower
2. powder scale
3. priming tool
4. single stage press
5. die sets (one for each caliber)

and then for each caliber...

powder
primers (small or large/rifle or pistol)
bullets

For pistol bullets, I buy my bulk ammo from Powdervalleyinc.com. Go to their pistol bullets section and click on Berry's. It's the best value in my opinion because they are copper plated and still very affordable. I can get 1000 124gr 9mm bullets for about 70 bucks. That's a solid deal there.

My advice is to load your handloads in the low-to-mid range to keep the rounds economical and keep the rounds fun to shoot. I load mine just hot enough to cycle the action on most guns and soft enough to be easy on the hands. You end up shooting more for less money and it's more fun since recoil is less intense. I let people try my handloads in their guns at the range sometimes and they're completely shocked at how much softer it is. Shooting my 1911 is like shooting a 22 when using my handloads.

And in all honesty, when people say you save money from handloading they obviously haven't done it. The real money savings are in the less-popular calibers like .44 mag, .357 sig, etc. since you can load them for less. The reason they cost so much is because they are made in low numbers. When I load 9mm, I don't really save that much money but I enjoy it and I end up shooting more.

Once you've been bitten by the loading bug, it doesn't go away. Enjoy your new hobby!

EDIT: Forgot to mention - once you start loading, there are two tests to figure out OAL (overall length). You first need to make sure the rounds fit in the magazine. And secondly you can do what people call the "plunk" test. Remove your barrel from the gun you plan to shoot it in and drop the round in the chamber. If the round can spin and fully seat in the chamber, your OAL is short enough. If you have to force it in, the bullet is contacting the rifling as someone mentioned ^^^ and the OAL must be lowered.