started reloading...could go one of two ways

Serious answer.

When reloading lock the door to keep the kids out, put the phone away, radio and TV off. Remove any other distractions.

It all seems like fun until you have a double charge go off by your right cheek. Ask me how I know? Detonated a buddies M4 using his handloads last year. I was wearing a pair of Oakley's and the chunk of extractor stuck in the lens would have blinded me. Still got mildly messed up in the ordeal.

Barely neck size a case enough to hold a bullet from falling inside the case. Seat a bullet long and put it in your rifle and close the bolt. Measure the round and it will tell approximately where your lands are.

I use a hornady comparator set fir headspace and bullet seating. It's more accurate.

Instead of starting at the minimum powder charge listed in the book, start in the middle. You are just wasting components by loading the minimum to the middle.

It's so simple anyone can do it. I only load for rifles.

If you ever plan on reloading bulk go with the progressive press. It's worth every dollar. If you are just doing precision rifle then a single stage will be just fine. Keep your powder in a climate controlled area. Pay attention. It's very easy to double charge or squib a load.

Bapple had a thread on here with some very helpful videos. He got me going in the right direction when I started. I'll see if I can find it.

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what set did you order.

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RCBS Rockchucker kit & Chargemaster, Redding master hunter dies. Plan to reload for my new 30 Nosler and a 22-250 I picked up two yrs ago. Will probably send the 22-250 off to be blueprinted and rebarreled for LR varmit shooter. They both shoot just under 1 MOA now @ 200yds and I know I can get that tighter than factory loads.

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ETA: Do a little research on the Chargemaster.

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Also look at the Chargemaster Lite. The main difference is that you can't store your load information but that seems like a very minor thing to me.

I’ve got a charge master and I love it. The best advice I can give you is get you a good manual and READ IT before you attempt to load a cartridge.

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Barely neck size a case enough to hold a bullet from falling inside the case. Seat a bullet long and put it in your rifle and close the bolt. Measure the round and it will tell approximately where your lands are.

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I get the bullet to seat into the barrel groves. I also make a dumbie case/bullet and mark what bullet and weight.

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Instead of starting at the minimum powder charge listed in the book, start in the middle. You are just wasting components by loading the minimum to the middle.

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Start 3/4 up. I found that working up a load, I am just under max. Now that all depends on the primer and powder I use.

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It's so simple anyone can do it.

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This, but care is needed along with good lighting.

Duckhammer,
Glad to hear your going to start reloading! Handloading has been an ejoyable and satisfying hobby for me for >35 years. Like guns, you'll find all handloaders are partial to their own particular equipment and that's understandable; heck, I'm the same way.

Some will say Lee tools are cheap and poor quality, but my personal experience w/ Lee tools has been actually been very favorable. The only piece of Lee equipment that disappointed me was the "Disc Measure." It's about as accurate as most inexpensive ones, but makes a mess when used w/ small, spherical powders. I prefer the $5 Lee case cutter and Lee case length gauge (you have to buy a different one for each caliber you load for) over my $80 Redding lathe trimmer. I've exclusively used Lee case and shell holders. My only press is a 3 hole Lee classic turret press I've been using for >35 yrs. There's nothing wrong w/ the single stage presses, but if set up right, the turret press can load much faster than a single stage (not as fast as a progressive, but pretty fast). I've been using my Lee hand priming tool the same time period, as well. Granted, the Lee stuff isn't as refined as other brands, but mine has worked well. I use a variety of brands w/ my dies (probably >30 sets of dies), including Lee, RCBS, Hornady and Redding. Lee dies are noticeably "cheaper" looking than the others, but I still produce sub MOA loads for my son's 223 using Lee dies. I don't like the spindle set up of Hornady dies. If the Hornady depriving pin gets broken (easy to do), you have to replace the entire $15 spindle for that caliber. W/ all other dies, you only replace the $0.25 pin (I keep spare depriving pins). Don't ask how I learned about that potential issue w/ Hornady dies. As far as dies, I think "the other green" (Redding) makes the highest quality, best looking mass manufactured dies.

Tips:
1. Buy a Universal Decapping and Depriming Die (costs about $10). Mine saved me on the opening weekend of deer season one year when the depriming pin on my 308 Win broke before I'd finished loading some hunting rounds. This leads me to #2.
2. Buy a number of extra depriming pins.
3. Once you figure out the basic powders you're going to use (you'll probably burn through a lot of 1# cans in the process), buy some 4-8# kegs of your preferred powders. Even w/ the $29 hazardous shipping fee you can still save $$$ buying powder and primers online in large quantities. When looking to buy powder online, wait for free hazardous shipping (usually 3-4 times/year w/ different companies) or get some friends to go in w/ you.
4. Repeat #3 by buying 1000/carton of your preferred primers. I keep my brands/types of primers to a minimum.
5. As previously mentioned, for trimming brass, I prefer using the Lee Case Length Gauge and put it in a power drill.
6. The customer service I've experienced from the different manufacturers has been good, but I've been especially impressed w/ Redding's.
7. If you're manually weighing each charge, buy a powder trickler. If not loading a large # of rounds, I still use my manual powder scale.
8. Buy the case and shell holder set (again, mine's Lee). Much less expensive to buy the complete set than to buy them individually.
9. When loading for multiple calibers in one session, only keep ONE can of powder on your bench. I've always had this rule, but managed to accidentally break it last year. It didn't harm me any, but I managed to mix 2 types of powder into a single can. One of the cans was brand new and cost $50/1#.
10. All my case prep tools are manuel, as well. Instead of buying a primer pocket cleaner, I'd buy a Sinclair primer pocket uniformer. The tool can be used to uniform the primer pockets (a step to enhance accuracy) as well as cleaning the primer pocket. I also use a Sinclair flash hole deburring toolto improve accuracy.
11. The Lee powder measure kit is VERY handy.
12. Have available, and freely use, multiple handloading manuals. Most will very nicely walk you through the handloading process. This is very important for a newbie like your self. There's a lot of load data on the net. Be VERY careful using someone else's date. I prefer to use factory load data on the net (Nosler and Hodgdon have good sites).
13. Buy a $12 electronic 6" micrometer from Freight Harbor. Mine's lasted >20 years.
14. I'd look at a kit like Lee Classic Turret Press. It'll have most of the basic tools you'll need.
15. Midsouth Shooters Supply will have the best prices on handloading tools and components.
16. The above mentioned kit comes w/ a priming tool to be used w/ the press. I prefer to use the Lee hand priming tool when loading for precision
17. My other favorite handloaing supplier include: Midway USA; Natchez Shooters Supply; Powder Valley and Shooter's Pro Shop (nosler store; good prices on blems
and overruns). Midway will have free shipping for order >$50 every month or two.
18. When loading for accuracy, I like to check neck concentricity, deburr the flash hole and uniform the primer pocket. Sinclair/Brownell's and K&M are good sources for equipment.
19. In closing, you CAN NOT be too careful. Enjoy yourself.

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