Buying the right equipment the first time? Advise wanted!!!

[shortpants]

Now that I have the reloading command center built it's time for me to start acquiring the reloading equipment. I'm firm believer that is cheaper in the long run to buy what you really want the first time so with that in mind I'd like some advise on what will best fit my needs. I'll be starting out just loading for my .300wsm but want to keep my options open for smaller and larger calibers in the future. Long Range and in the future Extreme Long Range is the goal. Redding competition dies are on the list. What advise do you guys have for press, scales (digital and bar), brass prep tools, calipers, reloading manuals, etc...???

Thanks for your help guys,
Jason

 

[rscott5028]

It is cheaper to buy the right stuff the first time.

off the top of my head...

Forster Coax press with standard shellholder adapter plate
Redding competition dies
RCBS Chargemaster Scale
K&M primer pocket uniformer & flash hole deburrer
K&M expander mandrel
VLD Inside neck chamfer tool
Outside neck chamfer tool
Wilson micrometer trimmer
Neco concentricity gauge
Neck wall thickness mic
Digital caliper
Hornady or Sinclair Ogive OAL adapter + inserts
Hornady or Sinclair headspace adapter + inserts
Redding dry neck lube & imperial sizing wax
usual items e.g. loading blocks, funnel, brushes
steel wool
electric screwdriver
Hornady (or Harbor freight) sonic cleaner and Hornady cleaning solution

I use my Lyman trimmer with a neck turning adapter, but I think Sinclair or K&M would be better.

K&M arbor press and Wilson seater die for the range
beam scale (no real preference)
RCBS hand primer tool for the range (otherwise, the one on the forster press is excellent)

Whatever loading manual you don't have... that's the one you need.

Hope this helps!
-- richard

 

[Daveinjax]

Lee collet neck dies and Forster ultra micrometer bullet seater. Buy both sets and sell the Lee full lenght sizer and bullet seater dies. I'm still cleaning with corn cob media and a vibrating tub type but I'm going to the ss pin media and a tumbler. A friend got some and it works great. As for the rest the list above is pretty good.

 

[trebark]

It is cheaper to buy the right stuff the first time.

off the top of my head...

Forster Coax press with standard shellholder adapter plate
Redding competition dies
RCBS Chargemaster Scale
K&M primer pocket uniformer & flash hole deburrer
K&M expander mandrel
VLD Inside neck chamfer tool
Outside neck chamfer tool
Wilson micrometer trimmer
Neco concentricity gauge
Neck wall thickness mic
Digital caliper
Hornady or Sinclair Ogive OAL adapter + inserts
Hornady or Sinclair headspace adapter + inserts
Redding dry neck lube & imperial sizing wax
usual items e.g. loading blocks, funnel, brushes
steel wool
electric screwdriver
Hornady (or Harbor freight) sonic cleaner and Hornady cleaning solution

I use my Lyman trimmer with a neck turning adapter, but I think Sinclair or K&M would be better.

K&M arbor press and Wilson seater die for the range
beam scale (no real preference)
RCBS hand primer tool for the range (otherwise, the one on the forster press is excellent)

Whatever loading manual you don't have... that's the one you need.

Hope this helps!
-- richard

BAM! that pretty much hit it just right.

The only issue I would have is the RCBS chargemaster. I have one and do not consider it totally reliable. At this point I use it as an initial dispenser as it dispenses more quickly than I can with a trickler, but check the weight on a balance beam scale to be sure of accuracy.

 

[shortpants]

Awesome replies! Thanks for the detailed answers! Keep em coming!

 

[shortpants]

As far as the RCBS Chargemaster goes I've been told to make sure there perfectly level and zero them out often and they work pretty well but I have no experience. Any other thoughts on this?

 

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

BAM! that pretty much hit it just right.

The only issue I would have is the RCBS chargemaster. I have one and do not consider it totally reliable. At this point I use it as an initial dispenser as it dispenses more quickly than I can with a trickler, but check the weight on a balance beam scale to be sure of accuracy.

I'm with you on this one. I had to reset min twice yesterday to factory zero and it still was not working right. I dont know what I'm going to do.

 

[SidecarFlip]

No 'Command Center' is complete without an annealing setup for bottleneck cases, so add a Bench Source Annealer for 500 bucks, a bottle of Templaq for 15 and start annealing those fired cases.

No point in being spendy on dies and then shoot yourself in the foot (pun intended) with crappy work hardened brass cases that cause split necks and inconsistent neck to bullet tension issues....

 

[Daveinjax]

Stay away from Hornady dies and equipment. Lots of advertising dollars and poor fit and polish. I have the LOA guage but they were Stoney Point then. I hope Hornady doesn't ruin those, I might need an replacement insert one day. To be specific , the trimmer uses a shellholder to hold the case. A cammed ram pushes the case forward in the holder witch means your trim length will vary with your rim thickness. Really bad design! The dies are poorly polished and chatter and vibrate when used. Also poor runout with the bullet seater. The new concentrity tool just bends the necks to fix the runout you get from using their seater die, NICE!, not!

 

[drbill]

I'm with you on this one. I had to reset min twice yesterday to factory zero and it still was not working right. I dont know what I'm going to do.

Hey try this I read it on a 6mmBR sight.

instantly eliminates and prevents static cling! : Static Guard

I guess guys spray it around tabletop and on scale and pan and area of scale and its stops drift or something like that. I was going to get a can of it and try it just to be on the safe side.

Worth a try. Ill try to find the article on it and add if i find - nevermind I found it.

Reloading « Daily Bulletin

Page down and its in there. I need to reread it right now too.


Shortpants - add that to your list if you get an electronic scale and it will also keep your Shortpants static free!

 

[SidecarFlip]

Stay away from Hornady dies and equipment. Lots of advertising dollars and poor fit and polish. I have the LOA guage but they were Stoney Point then. I hope Hornady doesn't ruin those, I might need an replacement insert one day. To be specific , the trimmer uses a shellholder to hold the case. A cammed ram pushes the case forward in the holder witch means your trim length will vary with your rim thickness. Really bad design! The dies are poorly polished and chatter and vibrate when used. Also poor runout with the bullet seater. The new concentrity tool just bends the necks to fix the runout you get from using their seater die, NICE!, not!

Helluva good advertisement for Hornady quality if I don't say so myself......

 

[Daveinjax]

What really sucks is I bought a bunch of their stuff to find that out.

 

[SidecarFlip]

From personal experience in benchrest .223 shooting, Hornady produces some fine projectiles and brass, actually, all I use at the moment.

Looking at pictures of the LNL stuff, especially the presses, they look complex and hard to use but that cou7ld just be me.

 

[Daveinjax]

I use a lot of their bullets. I sort them for bearing surface and weight and shoot them in sorted batches. Bullets work fine but the tools are terrible. The brass is ok to me. If I'm plinking I use the cheapest brass and for target I use Lapua or Norma. Honady falls in between them so I don't use it much. Btw the new Winchester brass is really , really bad.