Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles If you knew then what you know now

If you were buying all new equipment what would it be now? Especially since so many guys start with kits. I've wasted some bucks on things that didn't matter much.

Mostly I'm interested in the pieces of equipment and brands you value the most. Press, scales, tumblers, trimmers, deburs, etc?

Also, is there a die maker that stands out - redding has been good to me.

My stuff is mostly RCBS and it's come piece meal over fifty years. On the rare occasion something gives me trouble, one phone call has a new piece in the mail. I like my Redding scale better. I like my home made trickler better. I have four different brand measures and they each have strong and weak points.

If I were starting over I would never have started with the dinky rockchucker kit. That 800 dollar kit with the chargemaster and case prep center is the way to go. I think I wore the knuckles in my fingers out before I finally got powered stuff, and I hate most of the cheap balance beam scales.

Awww, I guess I am just old school kind of guy.. when I find something that worked, I just keep with it...

I was self taught on a Rock Chucker kit, used RCBS, and Lee Dies mainly... and have Redding for about half a dozen caibers...

got use to the Beam Scale and Lee Powder dippers ( started out with an old spoon picked up from Good Will).. good friend offered to give me an entire electronic scale set up for free when he got a newer one.... even wanted me to try it out for a month.... I gave it back after trying it for a month, and told him to give it to someone else.. Damon was a doctor, so he would buy spendy toys and then just give them away when he found more spendier trendier toys...

despite being able to try all sorts of fancy 'time saving' stuff out there, I still preferred the old hands on stuff...

dies I admit to having 2 or more sets of dies for almost each caliber I load for.. one brand might have features that are better in certain situations than another...its also good to have a back up if a replacement part has to be sent.. when people find fault with having more than one die set per caliber, I also point out the fact that many dies sets, cost about the same or not much more ( or less) than a box of bullets does in many instances...

the bullets don't last long, meanwhile the dies.. ain't worn out any set of them yet... also the old Lee Dipper sets lasted me a long time also... and when I found a new set on sale for $5 I bought those also as back up...

I do admit to having two hand primers... one set up for 223 loads and one for .473 bolt face stuff, that I keep a 30/30 holder on it... so it works on any .473 bolt face, plus 30/30 and 6.5 x 55 head brass... that way I only have to change shell holder for the 444, a couple of pistol cartridges and any magnum cases...

and my powder thrower, and primer press stuff that came on that Rock Chucker kit.. I ended up giving those away because I never used them...

how I lube my cases will really make the purists freak, but works fine for me all of these years... a $5.00 blue camping frying pan, 49 cent hook to hang it on the bench from... and it gets lubed with a shot of Amzoil version of WD 40... just throw the brass in it and shake it around a little.. then clean it off either with a shop rag, or running the finished ammo thru the tumbler for say 3 to 5 minutes.. shot of Amzoil lube is good for a couple of hundred cases usually...

Most of my hand loading gear is RCBS and they are good.

I have a couple of sets of Redding rifle dies with the FL die and I would not buy another Redding die because they have no air bleed hole like the RCBS does.

The scale I have used for quite a while now is a Ohaus with the magnetic dampener. That's very good.

The Saeco measure is the best one I have used.

The obvious basics:
- Anybody�s good single stage press, lots of good ones out there.
- Anybody�s good powder measure. I�ve used the same RCBS Uniflow for 37 years, but again there are lots of good powder measures.
- A good scale. I like a balance beam, it has served well for 45 years but if someone likes an electronic scale, go for it.

Dies:
I wouldn�t get a standard FL die set of even a "regular neck die" for anything any more. Instead, I�d get:
- Lee collet die.
- Redding body die.
- Redding seater die. You can get a competition seater and they do work, but I�ve found the standard Redding seater dies to seat bullets just as straight. I suspect other brands might work well but I�ve only used Redding and I know they work great.

Extras I couldn�t live without anymore:

- Trimmer � anybody�s powered trimmer. It has to be powered.
- Hornady OAL length gauge (aka comparator). Excellent for finding the lands and then seating bullets an exact amount off of them.
- Hornady headspace gauge. Excellent for setting the body die to bump shoulders back an exact amount.
- Bullet runout indicator to make sure bullets are seated straight. I use an RCBS Casemaster.
- Neck thickness gauge. The RCBS Casemaster works but I found the one sold by Sinclair to be easier to use and, for me at least, it seems to give more accurate readings. Sorting cases by neck thickness variation gives the single greatest improvement in accuracy of anything I�ve found.

If someone is just loading �good enough for deer hunting ammo� you can do without the runout indicator and neck thickness gauge but they don�t hurt one bit.

Would pretty much echo what you've heard; Redding 3 die sets (Neck S Die, Body, and seater), rockchucker or other heavy O-frame press, but the item I've long since forgotten about paying extra for is a good Culver-type measure. Harrell's has several models, I got the BR model with ball-bearings. It works well at home, and excels if you take your stuff to develop loads at the range in that you can take several bottles of powder and quickly swap 'em out without pouring, funneling, removing a typical measure from a stand, etc. I have a Redding on a stand at home, but rarely use it since I got my Harrell's.

I started with a rockchucker kit back when they came with the dies.
Still use all of it today.
To me reloading is not a chore its relaxing.
I have some equipment from Herters,Lee,Hornaday,Lyman and Redding.

Some die sets were only available from them.

Buy the best you can afford.It will pay off in the end.

RCBS all the way for me. That's all I ever use and have absolutely no complaints.....I do, however, use a handmade trickler that is the chit. I bought it from a member here and i'd be lost without it now....

Forster co-ax
Lee Collet Neck Sizers, Redding Body Dies and Redding Competition seaters in every caliber
Lee Zip Trim and Lee case gauges for trimming
RCBS 1500 Chargemaster


But then my storage drawers would be empty!

stay away from this website and posters names that start with B not you bsa ......... well you are a ruger fan

I like them all ...Hey I just bought a Rem 700 the other day because it was in a sweet little package (Older BDL 22-250). Good for yote shooting

Bonanza forester coaxial press, redding UltraMag press, Redding dies, Forester case trimmer, redding scale,

Lee Classic Turrent Press with a turrent for each set of dies
RCBS Chargemaster
Sinclair concentricity and neck guage
Hornady One Shot
Hornady COAL tool
Hornady headspace guage
I have all kinds of dies but prefer Forster or Redding

Jim's list pretty much mirrors mine, but I wouldn't be without my Lee classic cast turret press. The time savings associated with setting up a die set once and not screwing them all in and out over and over again is worth it.

Dies all set up and ready to go:

If you knew then what you know now?

RCBS Rockchucker and a few add-ons. In other words, nothing different.

If I knew what I knew now...I wouldn't have wasted my time with any LEE dies.

I bought a Lee Anniversary Kit and still have the press, funnel and auto-prime and I still use the Lee case trimming system. Redding scale, Lyman Ideal measure.

My ideal 3-die set: RCBS/Redding FLS, Lee Collet Neck Sizer, Hornady Custom Grade Seater.

I had hand-measured powder charges for years but got that Ideal about 9 months ago and am LOVING it, especially as I transition to Ramshot powders. Simply amazing results!

If I knew then what I know now I'd not have wasted so much time on case prep! I don't tumble/polish at all; nor do I clean primer pockets.

If I knew then what I know now........I would have 1 Glock 9mm and plenty of factory ammo for it. I would have 1 .308 bolt Rem 700 and plenty of factory ammo for it. I would have 1 22LR bolt rifle and plenty of ammo for it. And I would have 1 12 Ga pump shotgun and plenty of ammo for it. 4 guns and lots of ammo and with all the money saved through the years, I could have a vacation home in Florida on the beach. That is all!

I like Lee equipment. It is usually just so much cheaper and will do the job. I mean I would like the Dillon primer hole swager for getting rid of primer crimps, but I got the RCBS swager because it only cost me half as much. And Lee doesn't make one.