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do yourself a favor and buy a relaoding book or data manual that has the basic reloading process described. it will give you an understanding on whats involved. the data manuals will have the data in it. theres the ABCs of reloading but iirc, has no data, but its a good way to readup on it.Originally Posted by MotherMopar
if you mean by "starter" kit like the LEE or RCBS or Hornady? then, they are great way of "starting" out. imo, there really isnt anyone thats better then the other, other then the brand you are loyal to or want to buy. most have all of what you will need, but you will end up buying something else to supplement your needs/requirements soon or later. all of the kits will do as they say, it will depend on what your needs are. also, you needs will probably change over time, so what fits now may not later. afaik, the starter kits dont have any case trimmers and calipers so you will need a caliper or should have one. afa the trimmer goes, you wont need one unless you do rifle. tumbers arent included so if you want to clean/polish your brass, you will need one of those too. also, one important piece is the bullet puller for boo boos.
brass? some people are picky about brass/brand, some arent. If you cant find it, are you going to be picky? have you look for brass in your area? or online?. do so and see what they go for. the prices arent that far off from others unless you get some of the speciality brass or brass thats not common. buying in bulk will save you $$$ same for the other components.
Case Trimmer; Manual vs powered. its up to you and how much you need to do. if you have 20 cases, then a manual trimmer maybe fine maybe not. if you have 2000 then maybe you want to look into a powered case trimmer. if you have the time, maybe you can get away with a manual one. its up to you and your needs/requirements.
Tumbers: do you want to polish/clean your brass? you can just wash them and call it good? do you want the polished look? then chances are, washing wont do it and you will need a tumbler.
have you looked at places like midway for prices? there are some other places that resell the kits too. have you looked there? maybe your local sporting goods outlets may have the kits/supplies. prices can vary espeically if there are any local taxes involved. i dont know what reloading components go for in your area, only mine. we dont have a sales tax here, but some components are high due to lack of supply.
buying in bulk will save you some $$$.
Power/Primes. They CAN NOT be shipped together and there is a HAZMAT fee to ship either. So, be prepared to add on an addition 20ish buck per shipment to your order. again, buying in bulk can save, or buying local.
it will vary. i dont pay attention to the time involoved since it takes what it takes. i will spend a few hours/days doing some case preping and then work on something else. if i get board with the reloading, then i stop and come back to it. i try to get all of my brass ready to reload so that when i do need to make some, all i need to do is to prime, drop the powder, seat and crimp. i have progressives and turrets and some times i will spend days preping thousands of cases. it will depend on what needs to be done. i dont work or setup for 100 cases, i wait till i get several thousand of cases to setup/change the equipment.
i can say that once i have the brass ready to reload, it will take me approximately 3 hours do load 1k rounds of handgun. That process is:
> prime (hand prime)
places cases in reloading trays and then:
> charge/inspect
> place/seat bullet
> crimp/inspect
this is all done on my turret press. not progressively. if you have a progressive then, it will take less time.
look at taht reloading calculator and see how it comes out for you. there are prices on the web and your local stores you can get the price of components. as i said, we dont pay a sales tax here, but some components are scarce and will demand alot higher price. you should be looking for components in your area anyway to have an idea on what they go for locally and if it will be worth it to go mail order.
