Enough and proper equipment????

[jeepinbanditrider]

Alright I"ve been shopping for reloading equipment over at Midway USA.

Here is what I have in my shopping basket right now. Any more stuff I need or stuff I can do without. I'm thinking about dumping the tumbler as various websites I read say just to wipe down the casing to make sure no dirt is on it.

Hornaday Caselube pad and reloading tray

Frankford Arsenal Case Lube

Frankford Arsenal Dial Caliper

Frankford Arsenal E-Z Case tumbler

Frankford Arsenal Electronic Scale

Lee Aniversery Reloading Kit
url and list to what the kit contains:

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpag...eitemid=149097
Kit includes Press, Auto-Prime, 11 Auto-Prime Shellholders, chamfer tool, primer pocket cleaner, 2 oz case lube, Cutter and Lock Stud (Case Length Gage and Shellholder sold separately), powder scale, powder measure and powder funnel.



Lee .45ACP 4 piece die kit

Lee 9mm 4 piece die kit

Later on I plan on pickin up dies to reload .380acp and 7mm Mauser (the most expensive round I have right now).

[SchultzKa]

If you get the carbide die's You don't need case lube .

[CharlieHo]

that and the 2oz that comes with the LEE kit will go a long way.

Personally, I'd ditch the electronic scale and keep the tumbler

[polykarp]

If you dont mind, I'd like to know the ballpark cost for that. I'm too lazy to put it into a cart at the website

I've heard [please clarify] that it takes 2-3 years or shooting an absolute ton to break even. Only judging this on cost basis not for the other perks associated with reloading. Any thoughts?

[agalindo]

If your going to reload bottlenecked rifle cartriges you will need case lube. I make my own spray on case lube. 50/50 liguid lanolin and 100% aclohol. It works better than the spay on stuff I bought before and it's way cheaper.

[jeepinbanditrider]

Originally Posted by polykarp

If you dont mind, I'd like to know the ballpark cost for that. I'm too lazy to put it into a cart at the website

I've heard [please clarify] that it takes 2-3 years or shooting an absolute ton to break even. Only judging this on cost basis not for the other perks associated with reloading. Any thoughts?

230 dollars total. if I remove the scale it will be right under 200 I believe.

I figure I'm not going to be saving much if any money on the 9mm. Just doing some very rough math in my head I'm figuring it will cost me as much as a case of WOLF to reload 1000 rnds of 9mm. Maybe a little less.

The .45 acp is going to be where I make/save my money. I can get 1000 bullets for right at 100 bucks from Midway. Plus primers and powder. I figure I'll be saving 50+ dollars per thousand there.

[xd357]

I found this over at BrianEnos.com and thought it may give you a better estimate on price per round for reloads. I was suprised how much was actually saved when I started plugging in numbers. Especially for .357sig loads compared to factory. (Don't forget to figure in shipping/handling)

http://handloads.com/calc/loadingCosts.asp


This may have been posted before but I thought I'd throw it out there.

[Dibs50]

Originally Posted by CharlieHo

Personally, I'd ditch the electronic scale and keep the tumbler

+1. Lose the electronic scale and go for the tumbler. If you're going to do any kind of quantity, you'll want a tumbler.

I have a regular scale that has worked just fine. It's made by Dillon Precision. Here's a picture from their website. Several manufacturers make them. They run from about $42-$50

Eliminator Loading Scale

This precision instrument eliminates the guesswork by a simple triple-poise balance beam. Easy to use for the novice; precision accuracy for the professional.


Also, I'd highly recommend a case length gauge. This one is in 45 ACP but you can get them for any caliber. I think one of the reasons I had a kaboom in my Glock 21 was that the round was not pushed all the way into the chamber. The base of the round was wider than at the neck. I've since gone through all of my reloads and pulled the bullets on rounds that didn't fit in the gauge. Then, I chuck the brass. Trust me...it's worth spending $10 as opposed to $150 for repairs.

http://www.lockstock.com/prodinfo.asp?number=WCL45ACP

[jeepinbanditrider]

Alright I'm going to dump the electronic scale. Would you suggest getting a scale at all or just going without one. Will the powder measures work fine for loading powder?

I'll add a case length gage to the basket.

[Dibs50]

I just looked at the kit that you're going to buy and it says that there's a powder scale included. The powder measure only dispenses the powder. The scale is used to accurately measure how much powder is being dispensed from the measure.