How much $ to start loading?

A

ArkansasHunter

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how much would it cost to get started on reloading i know theres a lot of factors i think i would start loading .243, .308, 9mm but i would like to get in it to produce ammo like the 6.5 creedmor

I dont think i would need to produce ammo in mass quantities so im thinkin just a single stage press

So all-in-all to get the essentials and to get started what is your opinion?

Should i get a Lee or lyman manual? I'm not sure which bullets i would want yet. ive heard alot about the lyman 49th edition, however i saw a manual "The ABCs Of Reloading: The Definitive Guide for Novice to Expert"

**please no arguing** everyone will have different opinions & thats okay.
 
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$200-300 should get you everything you need to get started. As you progress in your loading you will always need-want some more trinkets.
 
Welcome.

There is a thread on the Handloading page titled "For the New Reloader: Equipment Basics -- READ THIS FIRST" This will give you a list of your basic needs.

Take a look at the thread and perhaps shop eBay, Amazon, and the Buy/Sell/Trade thread on this site, and Gunbroker. There is always someone looking to either move up in equipment or get rid of a hobby they are no longer interested in so you can cut your budget if you spend the time to shop. Some companies sell starting/bundled packages if you wish to go full retail.

First stop on your shopping list though is a loading manual or two or three.... read it and ask as many questions as you care. The people who occupy the Firing Line are knowledgeable and always willing to help. The "search" facility on the site will usually get you what you need as well.

If you want a barometer, I looked back at my shopping list from 4 years ago; Lee single stage intro kit (press, scale, powder drop, primer pocket cleaner, lube), vibrating cleaner, bullet puller, 2 dies sets (9mm and Makaraov), and caliper, I spent less than $500, including lumber to build a loading bench. That was full retail at the time, could probably cut that a little if I shopped used.

You'll find threads on "benches" - lots of pictures, lots of incredibly talented craftsmen/women in this community. You need to work on something.

You'll also need a budget to start your inventory; primers, powder, cases. This is where a loading manual will be mission critical as it will explain the primer types you will require for your respective calibers along with powder and bullet types.

Best of luck to you. It's not often one could say that there are addictions that are "healthy." This is one of them.
 
I personally would get a turret press if you will load mostly pistol. Lee classic turret kit can be had for 200 bucks. Another 70 for two sets of dies. Powder, primers, projectiles to give you a good start... I'd say 400 bucks gets your equipment and enough components to load roughly one or two thousand rounds.

I have one and it works quite well. Be careful though... Once you get started you will always NEED MORE components. And then a new, better powder measure. And then a way to trim cases (if you load for rifle). Oh and all the old coffee cans you will scrounge to hold brass and components...
 
Loading up a hundred 9mm on a single stage press is not going to be enjoyable if you have anything else to do. I take a different approach, go right to a Dillon or RCBS progressive and you are done buying presses for life. Press, scale, one die set, and components for 500 rounds of any caliber should run about $1000.
 
^^^^^Agree with something beyond a single stage. A 4-hole turret press would be my recommendation. It is not much more expensive than a single stage. You can use it like a single stage or use it the way it is meant to be used and reduce the labor intensity. I think I saw a Lee the other day somewhere for $130.00 or thereabouts. It was either on the Lee's 2nd's list on their web site or on Amazon.com. A set of dies will be about thirty to forty dollars a set. A 4-hole turret (thing you screw your dies into to place on the press) is about twelve bucks. Then you will need a primer tool and a powder dispenser. You will need various prep tools and don't forget loading manuals. Not to mention a bench, powders, brass, bullets and a scale.

I started out on .243 Winchester back in the mid 1970's. I got stated for about fifty bucks using the wack a mole hand loader for less than ten bucks. My Lyman balance beam scale was fifteen bucks , but all that was a different time. I still have all of it just to remind myself how tedious it once was for me.
 
Press $150. Dies $40 a set. Length trimmers for rifles ~$10 or ~$50. Scale $30. Powder measure $30-$150. Go-no-go gauges for rifles ~$30. Deburring tool ~$30 $40 cheap tumbler and on and on and on.

I load 9mm on a single stage and its fine. The key is dont put your self through the torture of trying to load 500 in a day. I take the dogs out in the evening for their last break for the day, Ill sit in the garage and knock out maybe 20-30 rounds in 10 mins. Do that again the next night or the night after and before long you have several hundred rounds, then thousands. Do it. Its fun and economical...after a while.

Start on pistol rounds and work up to rifle rounds as they are a lottle more complex and carry extra steps.
 
Between the sticky in the handloading forum and what these guys already have told you most of your bases are covered, so I'll just throw in a side note.

If you buy Hornady die sets, they give you 100 bullets for free, your choice of caliber (they schedule weights). On average this can save you about $18 per die set. Also, if you're not sure what bullets your guns might like this can give you a free sample pack or three to test out not only the bullets, but also powders.

Also, be prepared to spend a little on dozens of containers (I've been buying the generic tupperware-style ones at Wally world) to hold everything from brass to shellholders, etc.
 
When considering the Hornady "Free Bullets" promotion, keep in mind that the list of choices is fairly limited, and your choice (more often than not, as of now) is likely to be backordered several weeks or months out.

"Free Bullets" options:
Code: 
22 CAL .224 55 GR SP W/C
6MM .243 100 GR BTSP
270 CAL .277 130 GR SP
7MM .284 139 GR BTSP
30 CAL .308 150 GR SP
9MM .355 115 GR HP/XTP®
38 CAL .357 110 GR HP/XTP®
10MM .400 155 GR HP/XTP®
44 CAL .430 180 GR HP/XTP®
45 CAL .451 185 GR HP/XTP®
 
I'm somewhat of a minimalist, so a single-stage press works well for me. But then, the only semi-autos I use are rimfires. I like revolvers and bolt-action and lever-action rifles. So I don't need to crank out thousands of rounds trying to keep up with the ravenous appetites of hi-cap autoloaders. Mere hundreds will do.;) My press is an old Lyman Spartan that I picked up used at a gun show for 25 bucks. Used equipment, if good, will save a lot of money when starting out. A trustworthy scale is important. When I started reloading, a chronograph was something only a major manufacturer could afford. You still don't really need one, but they have become attainable, affordable, and useful. You will want one sooner or later. Make sure your first one is inexpensive. After you shoot a hole through it, you can buy a more expensive replacement. You don't have to keep all your equipment the same brand. Some companies seem to be better than the others when it comes to certain items. I have had generally excellent results with RCBS products. Lee makes some lower cost products, some of which I really like. As a minimalist, I like the Lee case trimmers that you can either use by hand, or chuck it up in your cordless drill.
 
I had this exact same conversation with some drinking buddies last night. Here was my recommendation. I emphasize making reloading very very easy, so that you do not hate reloading. I hate single stage presses. Five pulls of the handle for one round? That's torture.

He wanted to reload 223. So I gave an example of 223 start up cost. He also wanted it cheapest possible, PER ROUND. This necessitates buying components in bulk.

Components:

Power: $20 per pound approximately. If you can buy in 48 pond increments, it's cheaper per pound. Pistol powder is, on average, cheaper than rifle powder, btw. $900 for 48 pounds of powder, after haz mat and shipping fee, which comes to average of $18.75 per pound (zero sales tax because purchased out of state). If purchased at the LGS, same powder, one pound at a time, would be $30 per pound.

Primers: $25 average per thousand primers, aka a brick. S&B primers are usually cheapest I see, at $22 per 1000 average. If you can buy in 50,000 increments, it'll be cheaper per brick. $1150 for 50,000 primers ($1100 for the primers, $25 haz mat fee, $20 shipping, and zero sales tax).

Brass: 5c-20c each, if range brass. New brass is more expensive. Pistol brass can be shot forever, so the cost of pistol brass is insignificant because it can be amortized. Rifle brass has a shorter life span. I have 223 batch that has been through 20 reloadings, and they're starting to crack at the neck.

Projectiles: 9c-$1 each, depending on many factors. I buy in bulk at 9c a bullet.

This sounds like a lot of money, but it's not. You'll eventually spend this much if you get into the hobby. You may as well plan for the future and save money by buying in bulk.

Equipment, to make your life easy. This isn't the cheapest way, but this will make reloading very easy and not a chore.

Dillon 1050: $1800. You can go with the 650, but the 650 doesn't handle 9mm and small case rounds well (spills powder all over the place, and the YouTube fixes don't entirely solve the problem). Downside to 1050 is that the caliber conversions suck big time. It seems that a lot of 1050 owners own multiple 1050s because the conversions are terrible.

Dillon RF100 Auto primer feeder: $340 after S&H. A must have item.

Bullet drop. I forgot what I paid for mine, and the price isn't on the website, but I have one for each caliber I reload. These things put the big easy into reloading.

Tumbler with media: $50 from Harbor Freight for tumbler. $20 for big bag of media from Amazon.

Calipers: $30.

Scale: $200.

Bullet puller: $20.

Case lube: varies, cheap. Pistol doesn't need lube.

Table for mounting press: varies.

Have fun. It's a wonderful hobby. Welcome.
 
Okay! great advice, I CAN see myself getting tired of doing it or not wanting to as much with a single stage. I was leaning towards that just to get started I've watched some videos on both and the whole process. If the price isn't too far apart might as well get the turret if I'll end up buying it anyways.

You guys save a lot money doing it?
 
saving money on reloading ,is how you look at it ,price per round is cut in half ,but shoot 3x's the amount ,so you become a better shootist, get as many manuals as you like, i have 6 ,all give you different loads ,i like the lyman and nosler,some believe that 100%OR CLOSE TO CASE FILL gives most accuracy and nosler gives you that ,check out buy sell trade on this forum for some good deals
 
You guys save a lot money doing it?
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Yes.
And no.

I save money versus buying factory ammo.

But I can't really afford to shoot if I'm buying factory ammo.

So the bottom line is, essentially, that by reloading I get to shoot loads I couldn't otherwise and/or I get to shoot much more than I could if buying factory ammo.

Some examples:
I have a 7.62x54R hand load (using 215 gr Woodleigh Weldcores) that I bring up quite often, because the retail price for an equivalent load used to run* $115 to $135 per box of 20. I could claim (and have a few times) that my handload is "saving" me $90+ per box. But... it's a bit of a fallacy, because I would never, ever pay that much for an equivalent load if I only shot factory ammo. And you can't "save" money, if you weren't going to spend it in the first place.
But it does let me use an "ultra-premium" hunting load that is "out of reach" otherwise.
*(The only equivalent factory load, from A-Square, was discontinued a few years ago.)

And my wildcats...
I recently traded one off, but still own three rifles chambered for wildcat cartridges. One of them has factory ammo available, but it's about $2.50-$3 per round. The others... purely a "one-off" proposition. If I don't load the ammo, those rifles don't get to eat. But even the $2-3/round factory proposition can be loaded on my bench for $0.18/round (free brass is plentiful and never a factor for that one).
If I didn't reload, I never could have experienced the pleasure of any of these 'non-standard' cartridges (within my budget).


And, as I like to point out when I comment in these discussions...
The reason for the rifle load examples above, rather than handgun loads, is because that's where I see the most "savings". The margins on common handgun cartridges (and .223 Rem) can be pretty slim, when comparing cheap factory ammo to average handloads. But when you get into larger rifle cartridges, some 'magnum' handgun cartridges, and less popular cartridges, the gap widens quickly. My rifle cartridge handloads typically represent a "savings" of at least $12-20 per box (20) for cheap bullets, and $35-60 per box for 'premium' bullets. And the more uncommon the load, and/or more obscure the cartridge, the greater the difference in cost between factory ammo and handloads.

A couple nights ago, I reloaded 50 rounds of .444 Marlin with 265 gr Hornady FPs. While not an obscure cartridge, by any means, it is still on the less popular side. The equivalent factory load from Hornady would have run me $107.47 with shipping ($2.15 / round). I loaded mine for $0.51 per round, or $25.24 per box (20).
$72.23 "saved" in a single loading session. ;)
 
In my 45 years of experence,
My OPINION would be biased on Application.

A 'Starter' kit from Lee would be fairly inexpensive,
These are OK for basic learning and 'Blasting' ammo.
Blasting ammo is VERY slow on a single die press of any kind,
I would bump up to a Turret style press that lets you switch calibers and keep your dies in adjustment from use to use.

Precision ammo will REQUIRE a more expensive 'O' frame press,
Simply because the open 'C' frame presses flex quite a bit and don't deliver accurately resized brass,
And removing/replacing dies will not provide accurately sized brass,
There will always be slight inconsistencies from swapping dies for the different functions while loading.

Some presses have inserts, inserts, collets or turrets that allow you to swap dies and get them back in the press properly indexed to the last adjustment you made.
Turret presses allow you to leave an entire caliber die set in place, indexed correctly, and allow you to swap calibers very quickly.

Speed loading, and accuracy will always be at odds with each other,
The sliding/moving parts that make speed possible also introduce 'Slop' into the loading process,
So I try and balance one with the other.

The turret style presses will speed up your loading considerably without introducing too much 'Slop' in most cases,
And they don't add too much cost.
If you are 'Handy' at all, installing a 'Thumb Screw' on the turret to help hold it in place,
Or 'Shimming' the turret in place helps a bunch with accuracy.

The other thing to keep in mind,
The base presses aren't very expensive, and once you have the basics,
Dies, scale, all the other stuff required,
A second press doesn't hurt a thing.

I'll always have the good old 'Rock Chucker' single for my accuracy loading,
A small 'C' frame (wide open in front, easy to use) for fast 'Universal Decapping' of whatever brass crosses the bench,
My Auto Indexing Progressive for loading volume.

Board mounting your 'Accessories', like the 'Universal Decapper' and some clamps so its not taking up space when you don't need it.
A lot of guys complain about space, but its often an orgiznation issue that's the problem....

I will tell you one thing most of us found out the hard way,
The basic beam scale from RCBS is MUCH easier to use than the beam scale from Lee.
I'm NOT a fan of the Lee scale at all!

As for saving money...
No way! You just spend more money on gadgets trying to make better ammo!

Non-Standard Accuracy Ammo often runs $3 or more a round.
You can reload for 30 to 50 cents a round without cutting corners.

'Standard'/Common caliber 'Blasting' ammo, you will just never catch up when you can buy it for 22 cents a round...
By the time you buy a press that will do production, case feeders, bullet feeders, ect., you will just never break even.

The reason is, you are compairing apples to oranges,
YOU will buy quality primers, powder, bullets, a good press, all the stuff that goes with it,
While the 22 cent rounds are all 'Factory Seconds' or sub standard components assembled in a country that doesn't have product liability insurance, $1.20 a day wages, ect...

*IF* you AIM every round, and you buy ammo that shoots fairly accurately,
(Meaning you already know the difference in ammo)
Then you will break even, ...eventually, while enjoying ammo that is good quality & accurate...

I would say with a Creedmore rifle, you already know the difference!
So reloading might be a good deal for you to get quality ammo for a reasonable price!
 
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Here we go again with the age old debate "saving money" or "not saving money". I'm into handloading for precision, for experience and for ammo panic independence. I've invested enough to be able to load 33k rounds of varied calibers. At $.40/round average that's over $13k . Add another $1500 for my reloading equipment. So it will take me how many rounds fired to recoup my investment? I have no clue, nor could anyone accurately project when I will start " saving money". Most people are guessing when the calculate a reloaded cost per round because it's very difficult to assign a hard cost to your brass as you have no real idea how many subsequent reloadings you will get. Brass also has a varied cost as sometimes you buy new, sometimes you buy once fired and then there is buying loaded ammo, shooting it and saving the brass.
 
**please no arguing** everyone will have different opinions & that’s okay.
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I do not believe it has as much to do with arguing but more to do with people growing up and leaving the house without learning to keep their hands to themselves. If you are interested in reloading and want to purchase equipment I can bundle you a deal. If you are coming back to Arkansas and want help getting started I believe help is possible.

I have no way to separate the talkers from the doers.

F. Guffey
 
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