Beginner

[hildy19]

Okay, I have numerous questions as I am trying to get started in reloading without any previous experience. I've read over numerous posts on this site and have gained lots of knowledge. I have a reloading manual in the mail to read over as well. I am looking at getting the Lee Turret press due to initial start up cost of the Dillon setup. I have time and think I'd enjoy doing this so speed isn't a concern but money is. Now I shouldn't say Money is a crutch as my hopes is to be able to buy supplies in bulk. But I've read on here to start with small quantities to see how it works out. My hope was to be able to buy a large quantity of powder(Tite Group, Hp-38 or 231) so as to lower the cost per round. Am I wrong to consider buying 8lbs before trying(buying in bulk would spread out the hazmat cost) the powder to see if it'll work? The same goes for bullets, is buying large amounts of 1000-4000 a bad idea without first trying 100? I am no marksman so what I will buy will most likely outshoot me. I live in Columbia so I can pick up stuff at Midway(except for powder, which supplies seem hit or miss). If I do need to try a 100 rounds before I buy bulk bullets would 100 rounds of something they stock similar to what I'd order,but a different brand, be adequate to determine if they'd work? Lots of questions! You've all been a tremendous help so I was hoping for some tailored advice to my situation.

Thank you,

Chase

[hildy19]

A few things I forgot, I was also planning to get some Power Pistol or Unique as I hear it has a larger volume so it's prevent a double charge. So I would start with this powder to learn the ropes before using one of the others I listed.

Also I don't have a chronograph. Should I get one of those.

Other info I omitted. I'll be reloading 9mm for my Glock 17. Maybe 223 for my rifles. And eventually 40 S&W if I get around to buying a limited gun(just shot my first Uspsa match so the addiction has started....)

[Neil E.]

Seeing that you have a USPSA club, ask other shooters to let you try there loads. Get there input on reloading. The best resource is the buddies you shoot with. The guys in the club I started shooting with, steered me in the right direction. Saved me a lot of trial and error and expense. Almost everyone in this sport is more than willing to help. All you need to do is ask.

Good luck and welcome to the addiction.

[hildy19]

I don't have a USPSA club. I just shot my first match Saturday so haven't met/had time to discuss all this with people. Idk when time will permit me to shoot a match again. Hopefully next month!. I'm not always good with waiting haha so that's why I asked you guys if you had thoughts on my plan!

I'm leaning towards a powder that has more volume rather than Tite Group in order to keep the double load from happening.

Thanks for your response. I'll definitely be chatting them up at the next match hopefully sooner rather than later

[Sarge]

Sent you a pm

[Miranda]

welcome to a world of opinions --> reloading.

with some very clear boundaries, mostly safety related.

what works for most is very likely to work for you as well.

so being part of a bulk buy is a good way to find a middle of the road choice.

Specific powder and primer and brass and bullet are each a choice with tradeoffs

and for a while, are not going to have clear results for you.

get familiar with reloading and shooting them

and after a while you can come to see where your choices make a difference to you.

on the less discussed and sometimes important aspects

there is cleaning your brass.

there is maarking your ammo/brass

and the ever elusive 'best' seating die...

There is no need to be in a wild rush, watch how the advice givers act too.

don't blink

miranda

[Youngeyes]

Welcome to the addiction. I have two words of advice. Keep reading.

[Hi-Power Jack]

Powders with "more volume" helps with the problem of double charging, but at a cost:

They are "slower" powders - they usually have more perceived recoil.

Most shooters use "faster" powders (Like WW231) with heavier bullets (124 or even

147's). Makes for a "softer" recoil.

To ensure NO DoubleCharge - buy a small light for your reloader, and visually

inspect the amount of powder in each case Before you load the bullet in ...

Very important.

Yes, the Best way to buy reloading supplies is in large quantities - you can

go in with a group of shooting buddies, or bite the bullet yourself - that will

save you a LOT of money.

Read the 9mm reloading section here at BE - see what bullets, primers,

powder are working, before you make a large buy .... Not a bad idea

to buy a 100 of different types of bullets first.

But, no real need. If you buy 4,000 bullets and you or your gun don't

like them - you can trade/sell them, or what I do, is use them for practice.

Sounds like you're in for a LOT of fun coming up - enjoy it.

p.s. Yes, a $80 chronograph is very important.

pps. Great to start with the 9mm - it's easier to reload than the .223 - and the .40 Major takes some practice first.

ppps. If you have the money to reload 9mm, .223 and .40, I'd suggest you dig up the funds to buy a Dillon 550 and forget

about the Lee.

PPPPs. Write in smaller paragraphs Lot easier for people to read.

Edited July 11, 2016 by Hi-Power Jack

[js1130146]

I'm also in the Mid MO area. Graf & Sons in Mexico MO is a great place to get 1lb cans of powder to try before you buy 8lb jugs online. They usually have a solid selection and good prices. Where did you shoot at?

[hildy19]

You got me thinking about just going to the 550b now... haha Sorry about the paragraph, got carried away!

I'm also in the Mid MO area. Graf & Sons in Mexico MO is a great place to get 1lb cans of powder to try before you buy 8lb jugs online. They usually have a solid selection and good prices. Where did you shoot at?

Ya I've been by there, might be a good idea to go check them out before I order a large quantity. I shot at USC in Jeff City, do you shoot around here? I think I'll probably hit their next match. Green Valley's just haven't fallen on the right weekends for me.

[js1130146]

I just recently had a kid and purchased a house so my shooting has been very limited, but I usually make it out to Green Valley every month. Lafayette Rod and Gun Club in Higginsville isn't too far off and put on good matches once a month as well as Bench Rest Rifle Club in Wright City. There's a USPSA match within ~an hour drive of Columbia basically every weekend. If you find time to attend one at GV shoot me a PM and we'll find a way to hook up at the match.

[jschweg]

With powder, you can never have enough, especially if your buying something like W231/HP38, Unique, or Bullseye since you can load almost anything with it and have great results. You never know when it'll get scarce, so I buy everything I can get even if if don't really need it.

Bullets, not so much. You can always get bullets from tons of sources in lots of weights, profiles, coatings, etc. Before you buy bullets in bulk, you want to make sure they run well in your gun and shoot the way you want them. Only way to figure that out is to load lots of different kinds and figure out what you like. Nothing worse than being stuck with 2k bullets that you hate.

When I started, I was focused on the cost of the press, but it's all the billion extras that you need that adds up lol.

Powder Scale

Primer flipper

Calipers

Tumbler

Media sifter

Case lube

Ammo boxes

Primers

Case gauges

Bullet puller

Little case funnel for putting powder back into cases after weighing charges

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

Edited July 12, 2016 by jschweg

[hildy19]

With powder, you can never have enough, especially if your buying something like W231/HP38, Unique, or Bullseye since you can load almost anything with it and have great results. You never know when it'll get scarce, so I buy everything I can get even if if don't really need it.

Bullets, not so much. You can always get bullets from tons of sources in lots of weights, profiles, coatings, etc. Before you buy bullets in bulk, you want to make sure they run well in your gun and shoot the way you want them. Only way to figure that out is to load lots of different kinds and figure out what you like.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

The powder being in supply was my worry. I have considered just stocking up on it even if I wait to reload until later. As another member mentioned in my introduction thread, don't know what'll happen after Nov 2nd.

Edited July 12, 2016 by hildy19

[MemphisMechanic]

If you only have the money for the Dillon 550, get it. Even if you have to wait a month or two to purchase all the things you'll need to actually be able to load on it.

You will NEVER regret that purchase.

I found titegroup to be a very good, forgiving powder to learn on. And under 124 or 147 bullets it will feel beautiful when compared to your factory ammo.

I have since progressed to even faster, softer powders than titegroup - but still continue to recommend it to new loaders. It works in all of the common USPSA type reloading calibers. 9, 49, and 45.

I load bullets from blackbulletsinternational which are much cheaper than your locally available jacketed ones will be, but buy in small lots at first... if you feel the need to.

Most of us get our powder/primers from one place in bulk (I buy 10k primers at a time) and our bullets from another. (6,000 at a time)

[hildy19]

Hey MemphisMechanic I think I'm leaning towards getting the 550b. Buy once cry once type of situation.

As for the bullets I've heard mixed reviews on the coated bullets in a factory Glock, which blackbulletinternational is coated lead correct?

Where do you buy primers and bullets in bulk of those quantities. I'd only seen smaller amounts than that.

Thanks for all the replies.

[taco101]

Definitely buy once cry once. 550 is the way to go. Powder Valley is my bulk supply source.

[Boxer1]

You can get most everything you will need from Midway. I would get powder at Grafs for 1lb bottles. Have you thought about Plated bullets like the Rainier? I have had good luck with them in the past. If you need any help finding a match local on a weekend drop me a message. There is match every weekend within an hour or 2 of Columbia.

[techj]

Once you have a combo of bullets + powder then buy the most bulk you can afford. For bullets, I would buy sample packs until I found one that worked well for me - different profiles will require different seating depths in order to pass the plunk test in your gun. My personal preference - for both my Glock 17 & my 9mm 1911's are the Blue Bullets in 125gr. I also like Power Pistol, N320/340, Bullseye, etc. PP works well but is flashy & loud compared to some of the others.

The chrono is essential especially if you are participating in IDPA or USPSA.

IMHO you can get away with a lot more variance in your Glock than in some other handguns.

Once you have your combo dialed in then the more you can buy & store (check your local fire regs fir any limitations on powder & primers) the cheaper it will be per round. I usually buy primers in 5 or 10 thousand increments and keep up to 50lb of powder on hand re-ordering at about the 25 lb mark to keep the shipping & hazmat costs down. Will usually buy 10,000+ bullets at a time - with some vendors (like the Blue Bullets) there are no shipping charges when you buy in bulk.

Best advice of all would be to make friends with others that reload where you shoot so that you can find out more about local suppliers and maybe get them to teach you the ins & outs of their presses...would have saved me a lot of time and grief my first year if I had had a mentor.

[johnbu]

Many opinions, but the "buy once cry once" thought is dead on the money.

However...

I would also recommend a single stage press to learn on. Get a few sample packs of bullets and experiment with powders. Much easier to change stuff and run just a few on a single stage.

I have power pistol. Works good, but waaaay more sound, flash and recoil. Not a bad powder, but not great for competition.

Franklin tumbler has been great as well as their digital scale.

And I don't know how anyone could reload without a chrono! A buddy tried and was proud of his load. On testing his 140gr 40sw were going 1600fps! Who knows the pressure, happily he never blew up his gun.

[oddjob]

Also remember there are loads that "feel" good..... then there are loads that "shoot" good in a match setting. It all depends on your style of shooting. Expect to change loads as you develop as a shooter. Document your loads in a journal. Have Fun!

[ChemistShooter]

Fairly new loader here. I started out on the 550B, 3700 rounds loaded and fired so far without any real problems. Just don't be in a hurry. Go slow, read a lot, ask lots of questions, make sure.

[firewood]

I will add my voice to those who say save up your money. I can understand the concept of wanting to see if you like to handload before spending all kinds of money. I though that way in a limited sense. Everyone comes to this activity from a different angle so generalizing might not be helpful, but if you have any plans to compete then you will have to find some way to like handloading even if you hate it. The easiest way to like it is to have quality tooling that is designed for volume.

In this endeavor there are as mentioned up thread many opinion givers. Good and bad comes with that but we all started right where you are and have progressed to the point we are at now. My Dad handloaded (and cast bullets) so as a kid I had a general idea of what was going on. So I don't think I can say that there was a possibility that I might not "like" it but I did reserve the option to be less than total committed to the hobby.

So when I finally committed due to the big ammo shortage I discovered two things. The first is once I had the ability to amass 1000s of rounds of pistol ammo, then I couldn't help myself from shooting more. The second thing is that while I enjoy making my own ammo, I do not want to plod along at a slow rate. That discovery came after starting with a single stage press, graduating to a turret press and then finally to a progressive.

One small comment I want to make is like many, my handloading plans were to make numerous calibers, 9mm, 40 S&W, 45acp, .223, 30-06, 35 Remington. So I purchased dies and such for those calibers. I have yet (after 3 years) even unpackaged my 35 rem dies and I handload by far more 38 special than anything else. I didn't even own a 38 until I was handloading for a year. So just concentrate on 1 caliber for now.

I mean no disrespect to anyone and will admit that I'm not an expert handloader but I disagree with two points that are often made to advise newbs to this hobby. The first is reading numerous manuals before pulling the lever the first time. I'm not saying don't look over and read certain points within those manuals and I firmly believe that you should own several. It's just that the manuals are so boring that it is hard to visualize the entire process from the book. If you could find someone that does this and is willing to help it would be a great benefit. So don't imagine that reading a manual will fully prepare you to handload. Concentrate on safety. In the enos store there is a DVD on reloading for competition this is a good investment.

The other point of disagreement is with respect to starting with a single stage press. I started with one and yes it is very simple but my only squib in many thousands of rounds loaded came from a single stage set up. So, consider a progressive. If not, for about $30.00 you can buy a "C" press to load your first rounds. But a progressive is the way to go if your contemplating a lot of shooting.

So my (for what it's worth) experience began with a single stage, progressed to a turret press then finally a progressive. There are many die-hard turret press fans and the one I purchased is one of the better (and more expensive) models. But I should have passed on the turret because while faster than a single stage they are still a lot slower than a progressive. A turret press is still by definition a single stage press. Many of the fans of the more popular turret press end up buying a bunch of extra this and that, that they end up spending the equivalent amount of money one would pay for a good progressive in the first place.

So do yourself a big favor, save up. I personally use a Hornady progressive not a Dillon and prefer to stay out of the endorsement business but either way you are looking a spending more money than you would for most single stage or turret presses. Also, the way you mount the press and what you actually mount it to is also important and will make a difference in you ability to enjoy this endeavor. Some say they have more time than money. That may be true but if you need 400 rounds for the weekend and your doing it on a single stage or turret press you will at some point concede, if only to yourself, that faster is better.

ON EDIT: I forgot to mention my opinion on buying a lot of powder. I load for a G17 and have my favorite and several alternate loads that I like . But my opinion is buy a pound locally of several powders and experiment before buy an 8 pound keg. A pound of Titegroup (for example) 3.3grains using a 147g plated round nose bullet will make over 2100 rounds. I actually use a lot of WST for 9mm but finding published loads for this application is not easy. I use plated RN in my Glocks. I haven't tried coated in them yet but that's all I shoot in my S&W 929 (9mm revolver).

Edited July 14, 2016 by firewood

[Hi-Power Jack]

if you plan to compete, you have to handload even if you hate it. The easiest way is to have quality tools designed for volume.

when I committed to handloading, I discovered two things:

The first is once I had the ability to amass 1000s of rounds of pistol ammo,

then I couldn't help myself from shooting more.

The second thing is that while I enjoy making my own ammo,

I do not want to plod along at a slow rate.

I planned on reloading 9mm, 40 S&W, 45acp, .223, 30-06, 35 Remington. I handload more .38 special

than anything else . So just concentrate on 1 caliber for now

I disagree with two points that are often made to advise newbs:

The first is reading numerous manuals before pulling the lever the first time. I believe you should own several.

manuals are boring that it is hard to visualize the entire process from the book. If you could find someone willing to help

it would be a benefit. Concentrate on safety. Enos has a DVD on reloading - this is a good investment.

The second is to start with a single stage press . a progressive is the way to go if you're contemplating a lot of shooting.

A turret press is still only a single stage press. You can spend as much as for a good progressive will cost.

So do yourself a big favor, save up, you are looking at spending more money than most single stage or turret presses.

Also, the way you mount the press is important

my opinion is buy a pound locally of several powders and experiment before buy an 8 pound keg.

A pound of Titegroup will make over 16,000 rounds.

Firewood, you have some great ideas to pass along to newbies,

but I found it difficult to read thru your pp's,

so I condensed your thoughts a bit to

make it easier for new reloaders to catch your ideas.

Yeah, I know, I'm a compulsive person with too much time on my hands

[RickT]

Perhaps 1600 rounds out of a pound of Titegroup?

[firewood]

Hi Power Jack

I don't disagree with you one bit, that's for reading and editing.

Rick T 2100 rounds per pound of TG at 3.3g/round An 8 pound keg will yield 16k rounds thanks.

Edited July 15, 2016 by firewood