reloading gear

[scoobs]

evening all, first post

just looking for recommendations on some reloading gear for reloading .308 rounds and in the future, 22-250.

looking at a hornady kit to get started, unless there is anything else around for a similar price that you can reccomend.

been looking for 2nd hand gear but cant seem to find much



cheers,
scoobs

[Bang-sticks]

I would look at the lee kits. Can't fault. Mine loading 30-06 204 and 243. I would load 100rnds a month with it. And generally a bit cheaper than most other options.
If money wasn't an issue though rcbs would be my choice.

[colinbentley]

I considered a Lee kit when I was getting started but a couple of people said it was plastic crap. Not good advice. For what it offers it is excellent value even if you have to replace a few things. And I can tell you fro experience that LEE has after sales service second to none.Go ahead and buy Lee.

[bladeracer]

Lee is what I look for first and if they don't have what I want then I start looking at others.

[Mulder030]

I have just gone through this exact process Scoobs. I fought with myself internally as to which brand/kit etc and found it hard to find second hand gear for .308 gear in reloading. I opted for the RCBS Rockchucker Supreme Kit, definitely happy with the purchase. Although the price alone delayed my initial beginning into reloading, after using it, I am sure it will outlast/exceed all my needs. There were a few additional items I bought along with the kit to get me going (case trimmer, tumbler, etc as I had all my once fired brass to reuse).

reasons behind me opting for the RCBS was wanting to invest in something that I felt would last the distance (however long that distance may be). All the reviews/forums I read were positive, and thought to myself I would prefer to spend a higher price once, then smaller increments multiple times replacing or upgrading.

I'm not saying the kit I purchased is the best, it was just the best for my personal situation and projection of what I wanted out of the reloading kit.

[Gamerancher]

Western Firearms in Sydney are listing the Lee Challenger Kit at $258. All you need to add is a set of dies, $60, a case lube pad, $20, and a reloading block, say$10, and you are in the reloading game for about half the price of the Hornady or RCBS kits.
By all means if you have the coin, upgrade ( if that is what it is), or spend the change on components and powder and reload a lot more ammo for your $$.
I've loaded many 10's of thousands of rounds with the Lee gear and have yet to wear it out or see any difference in accuracy between my rounds and others who load on "high end" gear. (That's target shooting out to 1000yds.)

[superdave]

Lee. The upside of buying lee is that if you decide that you want to upgrade a little, you can buy other brands of dies and use them in a lee press for a little extra advantage.

For example when loading 223, I use lee, hornady and lyman dies in the same press. Mine's a Redding T7, but I wouldn't be fazed using a lee press to do the same job. Just a bit pissed at the amount of stuffing about changing dies.

Lee classic turret (you can use it like a single stage or a turret press), my vote.

[scoobs]

thanks guys, i shall have a look at lee gear.

[Supaduke]

Lee has the quick change bushings.... gold.
I can't fault Lee stuff for price and performance. In reality all the major brands are good.

As far as lee being plastic crap? What are they doing? Using it to hammer in nails ?. I have reloaded 1000's of rounds on my lee press without issue.

[Gamerancher]

Don't know about the "plastic" bit. All of the single stage presses are 100% metal. The progressives have no more plastic parts than a Dillon 650. The powder throwers are plastic but I've used mine alongside a $350 Harrels and it would throw Identical charges time after time after time........ That's from light 4 grain charges of pistol powders right up to 80 grains of blackpowder. The scales are plastic but I don't use them, I have an electronic set. The hand primer unit I'm using is nearly 30 years old and I didn't break the handle until about 6 years ago. $6.50 for a new one.
For someone just setting up, ducks nuts I reckon. I doubt you'll see the need to "upgrade".

[scoobs]

cheers for the replies.
mainly adding up costs etc at the moment, will likely be waiting until after i get my 22-250 before i get into reloading. not that its far away

[Tiger650]

I have just gone through this exact process Scoobs. I fought with myself internally as to which brand/kit etc and found it hard to find second hand gear for .308 gear in reloading. I opted for the RCBS Rockchucker Supreme Kit, definitely happy with the purchase. Although the price alone delayed my initial beginning into reloading, after using it, I am sure it will outlast/exceed all my needs. There were a few additional items I bought along with the kit to get me going (case trimmer, tumbler, etc as I had all my once fired brass to reuse).

reasons behind me opting for the RCBS was wanting to invest in something that I felt would last the distance (however long that distance may be). All the reviews/forums I read were positive, and thought to myself I would prefer to spend a higher price once, then smaller increments multiple times replacing or upgrading.

I'm not saying the kit I purchased is the best, it was just the best for my personal situation and projection of what I wanted out of the reloading kit.

Wise advice ex Mulder, the cheaper stuff is good for reloading pistol caliber ammo but even then some parts, such as the priming tool, are a PITA.

You can buy junk and learn whilst replacing it or buy good stuff and have a wonderful learning experience with reloading.

[bladeracer]

Wise advice ex Mulder, the cheaper stuff is good for reloading pistol caliber ammo but even then some parts, such as the priming tool, are a PITA.

You can buy junk and learn whilst replacing it or buy good stuff and have a wonderful learning experience with reloading.

I haven't seen anybody suggesting he should buy junk.

[wrenchman]

i have a mix of lyman and lee and my lyman press was a gift from my late brother and my wife if you got a stater kit from lee you will be happy i am just getting back into reloading after years of not doing it very much.
i found that what works for me might not be what you like as you get into it more you will find what works for you best.

[Oldbloke]

I considered a Lee kit when I was getting started but a couple of people said it was plastic crap. Not good advice. For what it offers it is excellent value even if you have to replace a few things. And I can tell you fro experience that LEE has after sales service second to none.Go ahead and buy Lee.

Bit of confusion. Only the shotgun Lee load all has mostly plastic parts. The presses are not plastic. Cast aluminium I think. Lee loaders are Steel. A few parts from the kits are plastic but perfectly serviceable. Let's face it, cars are half plastic these days.

[Gwion]

Just buy whatever gear you can afford and get started, I say. It's unlikely you will need to upgrade if you loading for general hunting, plinking or even casual target comps. If you ever want uber precise loads for real long range hunting or because you get serious about some precision target disciple like bench rest or target rifle/f-class style shooting, then you will likely spend quite some coin upgrading.

[Oldbloke]

Just buy whatever gear you can afford and get started, I say. It's unlikely you will need to upgrade if you loading for general hunting, plinking or even casual target comps. If you ever want uber precise loads for real long range hunting or because you get serious about some precision target disciple like bench rest or target rifle/f-class style shooting, then you will likely spend quite some coin upgrading.

Yep, for 9/10 shooters/hunters Lee is fine.

[scoobs]

Which of the lee kits would you guys reccomend? The challenger or the anniversary one?

[Oldbloke]

What's the difference?

[Oldbloke]

A-ha, I just found this.

This kit (Challenger kit) features the same components as the 50th Anniversary Kit, but we have replaced the Safety Prime with the Auto-Prime XR and a set of Auto-Prime Shell Holders. This kit is for those who prefer to prime off the press.

[scoobs]

Whats usually easier/better for priming? On or off the press?

[bladeracer]

Whats usually easier/better for priming? On or off the press?

I found the Safety Prime thing to be crap, it's too flexible.
The Hand Prime is good though.

I do both, priming on the press doesn't require as much grip strength but lacks some feel. I feed the primers manually, although if I'm doing a lot with the Hand Prime I'll use the feed tray.

[juststarting]

Lee, Hornady and RCBS are much of a muchness. I find Lee dies to be a little low quality compared to RCBS and I've never used Hornady gear, so no opinion there. With benefit of hindsight, I'd get the cheapest kit from those three, RCBS dies (although, again, same, same). I would also get a Lee collet die from beginning. And GOOD digital scales (this is where you don't want to skimp). Then just have a go.

Make sure you 'have a go' on any day other than Saturday. That way, if you're missing something - you can quickly head to a gun or hardware store and pick it up

[Oldbloke]

Looks like this is the hand tool with auto primer.

https://leeprecision.com/new-auto-prime.html

I would go with that. So sounds like challenger is the go, especially if price difference is not great.

[Cooper]

I started with Lee kit with the hand priming tool. I mainly use Lee dies. But have a few RCBS and Forester dies now.
The Lee is fine for starting out. And I still do most of my stuff on the Lee press. I Also have an Rcbs rockcrusher press which I prefer to use if I am full length sizing. I just feels more solid.

I mainly use the Lee hand prime tool to do small primers (223). I also have the Rcbs hand primer that takes the shell press holders. Which I mainly use for larger primers and doing the small primers in the 6.5 Creedmoor Lapua case. The RCBS priming tool. Is a better tool in my opinion and seems to have much better feel when seating the primers.

If I had my time over again. I'd still by the Lee kit first. People like to hang s**t on it. Because it is pretty cheap. But generally I have found it pretty good.

[sungazer]

I have the Lee dies for everything I reload. I have also purchased a set of Hornady Custom to see if they were any better, they were disappointing. I Also bought a cheaper Hornady set I think expect when it arrived it was marked American Eagle much less quality than Lee. To get better than Lee in dies you need to be looking at the Redding,
Forster. All the dies I have found need the seating die, seating stem modified to really get consistent seating depths with any bullets other than round nose ones. All the pointy ones hit the end of the stem which they shouldn't.

[marksman]

use lee deluxe collet dies, you will have the most concentric rounds, you can believe the media about these collet dies
a lee starter kit with hand primer, the collet dies are made to be used with a lee press, upgrade at a later date to the heavy cast lee press
upgrade to 505 or 1010 ohaus/rcbs scales straight away, the lee scales are no good, stay away from electronic scales if you dont want dramas
steer clear of rcbs and hornady dies
a lyman trimmer is also the go, a hornady concentricity gauge to check how straight your loads are

IMO you can make very very good ammo using the lee collet dies and a wilson seater and you don't need to neck turn as you would with a bushing die

what I have written is what I have learnt over a very long time reloading, mostly the hard way

[wanneroo]

Lee is usually fine for the casual reloader. It will get you started reloading at a lower cost. I find some of their stuff is really good and some of it over the years has not gone the distance and I have replaced things with other brands.

I have a RCBS Rockchucker, powder measure and hand primer as well as some die sets. In the end I find their stuff really fiddly to set up and use. Their hand primer tool was a total waste of $60 and my time, sorry. The RC press is a pain in the butt dealing with spent primers and that stupid plastic tray. Eventually that press will get sidelined for a Redding T-7. RCBS is coy about where their stuff is made and I suspect some of it comes out of China.

Hornady I have just bought one of their progressive presses so time will tell how that works out. I never have used their dies but like their bullets for reloading.

Redding and Forster so far I have found to have excellent quality and precision. You pay more but I feel everything I bought so far is worth the money in the end.

Basically when I started I was on a budget and for whatever type of tool I needed I did my research and bought what I thought was the best tool for the job for what I could afford. And then over time when I found I could afford a better tool, especially one that automated or sped up the process more, I'd buy it. As a result I have reloading equipment from just about every manufacturer out there.

[sungazer]

Marksman you had me searching to see if there was a Lee deluxe neck collet die as well as the normal neck collet die. I buy the ultimate sets mainly just to get the neck collet die. The other dies ie the seater and the FLS I use until I have a need that requires greater precision. Then I would get the Redding competition Seater and the correct stem or mod one and either the Redding FLS or the body die and maybe the small base die.
Really the Lee dies will be great and take you a long way on both your shooting journey and as you learn more or become more fussy OCD about your ammo. You will be making upgrades to your gun probably long before you feel the need to upgrade your dies.
PS +1 on everything Marksman said

[BRNO_Bigot]

I have the Lee dies for everything I reload. I have also purchased a set of Hornady Custom to see if they were any better, they were disappointing. I Also bought a cheaper Hornady set I think expect when it arrived it was marked American Eagle much less quality than Lee. To get better than Lee in dies you need to be looking at the Redding,
Forster. All the dies I have found need the seating die, seating stem modified to really get consistent seating depths with any bullets other than round nose ones. All the pointy ones hit the end of the stem which they shouldn't.

Absolutely agree.

I have dies from Hornady, RCBS, Redding and (mostly) Lee.

While I do think the Redding dies are better, the RCBS and the Lee are on a par, with Hornady still to be used - I bought the Hornady for my 6.5 Grendel, which Winchester Australia haven't imported yet (CZ 527).

If I was reloading for F Class or something like that I probably would not use Lee, I cannot complain about them at all.

Some people will tell you Lee dies don't stay adjusted, because of the rubber lock rings instead of the rings with grub screws most manufacturers use - just screw them in and out using the lock rings rather than the die body - it's worked for me since 1986 with perfect satisfaction.