If you had to start over - which reloading gear would you have bought/not bought?

aris

Well-Known Member
Follow on from this comment in another thread.

I dont regret starting reloading at all, but I do regret all the expensive gear I bought and now seldom use.
I wish I had stayed with basic kit, and a lot less of it, the room it takes up is now a real problem.

20/20 hindsight and all.

As I see it, for most stalkers, a lee loader and a rubber mallet will suffice :lol: I mean, unless you do target shooting, how many rounds will you actually shoot in a week/month if you do purely recreational deer stalking?

Of course, as males, we are genetically wired to be gear-heads and want all the latest and cool toys. As Hornet 6 said above, lots of it ends up not being used.

If you were starting over - what would you buy now - and what would you not buy?

As I happens i'm in the position where i'll be starting afresh, though i'll be doing target as well as (hopefully) stalking.
 
I wouldn't bother with a lube pad, nor would I buy a beam scale or tumbler. I use Hornady One Shot to lube my cases, prefer to use a digital scale after throwing the powder from the Lee powder measure, and just clean my cases ultrasonically :thumb:

One thing I wish I HAD bought though, was a tap and die set for removing the inevitable stuck case without completely f*cking my die :evil:
 
This is a good point.

Case lube - you can actually make your own using lanolin and isopropyl alcohol. Apparently some commercial case lubes are exactly just this!

Digital scales. When I look at the name brand (i.e. Hornady) digital scales and regular digital scales accurate to 0.01g (0.154gr) - they pretty much look physically identical at 1/5 of the price. I suspect they come out of the same factory in China.

Ultrasonic cleaner - yes - i'm tempted to get one just to clean other things too.
 
This is a good point.

Case lube - you can actually make your own using lanolin and isopropyl alcohol. Apparently some commercial case lubes are exactly just this!

Digital scales. When I look at the name brand (i.e. Hornady) digital scales and regular digital scales accurate to 0.01g (0.154gr) - they pretty much look physically identical at 1/5 of the price. I suspect they come out of the same factory in China.

Ultrasonic cleaner - yes - i'm tempted to get one just to clean other things too.

I make this lube too and not only is it a lot cheaper but I can lube 100 cases in about 3 seconds.
 
I wouldn't bother with a lube pad, nor would I buy a beam scale or tumbler. I use Hornady One Shot to lube my cases, prefer to use a digital scale after throwing the powder from the Lee powder measure, and just clean my cases ultrasonically :thumb:

One thing I wish I HAD bought though, was a tap and die set for removing the inevitable stuck case without completely f*cking my die :evil:

Drill the primer pocket out to a size you have a bolt for. Put a socket over the case, bolt with a nut on it fed through the socket into the pre drilled hole. Tighten up the bolt, tighten the nut down onto the socket and the stuck case will come out. No damage to die
 
Drill the primer pocket out to a size you have a bolt for. Put a socket over the case, bolt with a nut on it fed through the socket into the pre drilled hole. Tighten up the bolt, tighten the nut down onto the socket and the stuck case will come out. No damage to die

That's exactly how I learned to do it afterwards :oops: Except it was with the addition of tapping the hole to M6 that made threading the bolt in a lot easier. Assuming you then had an M6 bolt to hand, of course
 
Everything I have bought I have used. The one regret I have is buying superformnce powder, very little data on it. Plus it's not the same powder as Hornady use it their factory loads
 
Lube pad? Cut a cheap thin asda washing up sponge in half so it fits inside a clear plastic pack like the ones sliced cold meat comes in. Washing this first is good.

et voila
 
Powder dippers and auto loaders?

Using a coffee measure I liberated from my better half I get within a grain of my load now that I've had a bit of practice. Folded bit of paper as a trickler.

encore, et voila
 
Nothing, bought all the RCBS kit in one go from the states at half the cost I would have paid over here many years back. Including the die sets too. From memory the kit was about £350 at the time, I paid £150 odd.
 
I bought the Lyman turret kit, I don't use the powder dispenser and electric scale that it came with as the electric dispenser that I have upgraded to is far better, now that I have a die mounted puller I don't use my kinetic hammer either.
 
Did anyone here go for the Lee press & die option and then later regret it and buy something else? Is there really that much difference?
 
Did anyone here go for the Lee press & die option and then later regret it and buy something else? Is there really that much difference?

I bought the Lee brech lock challenger kit and find it works really well. I just had to add dies and case trim gauges for each calibre, Lee manual and Lock ring eliminators (optional).
 
I bought the Lee brech lock challenger kit and find it works really well. I just had to add dies and case trim gauges for each calibre, Lee manual and Lock ring eliminators (optional).

I bought a Lee Challenger Breech Lock Kit . Didn't like the cheap powder thrower or the difficult to read scales ,put them back in their boxes and bought a Lyman Gen 6.
Happy Happy Happy. Gadgets are great .
Anybody need them ?
 
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