If just starting, I would suggest a pistol rounds first, like 9mm or .45 before you get into 223 or 556 with neck sizing.
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So, ideally I want to load 147gr polymer coated for competition shooting.
Iāve started collecting my brass when I go to the range, but Iām not against buying it, at least in the beginning.
Right now Iām leaning toward the lee breech lock hand press and buying a carbide crimping die and extra breech lock adapter for it. Mostly so I can reload a handful while Iām sitting on my butt watching TV.
I know absolutely nothing about powder or primers, so definitely need to look into that.
I see Lyman recently released a 51st version. Would that be the place to start?
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I only own handguns currently, and the drive behind getting into reloading is customizing competition rounds, so Iāll be starting with 9mm.
Iāll move to .45 eventually, and other things when I start buying rifles.
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Not a bad idea-pistol rounds to start. But keep in mind that rounds that are neck sized are ONLY for use in the firearm that fired that particular round originally. The act of firing that round caused the brass to expand to the dimensions of the chamber in which it was fired. After firing, as the brass cooled, it shrank uniformly while maintaining the āslightly reducedā chamber dimensions. The act of neck sizing sizes the neck sufficiently to maintain a uniform pressure to hold the projectile in place. When such rounds are prepared in this manner and fired, each projectile is released in a uniform manner, often resulting in increased accuracy.
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Interesting.
I thought the resizing die took care of that, but Iām like 4 hours into learning.
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Gergory258
I would recomed it I have the 50th edition , the older ones do not have the new powders that they come out with today but they are still good if you use the listed data as i have a nosler manual and it listed the 40 cal with blue dot powder that i realey liked but they quit makeing blue dot just true blue now.
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Yeah. I figure the newer I get, the more likely I am to have info about whatever is out there right now.
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258 that is true but they have as they have full length dies and partail resizing dies I like the RCBS dies as they have a lifetime warerenty no problem who baught them
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You are correct insofar as the resizing dies ātake care of that.ā But resizing dies size the cases down to SAMMI specifications, which reduce whole length of the cartridges to a size that may be safely fired in any firearm of that particular caliber. Neck sizer dies reduce only the neck of the cartridge while the rest of the cartridge retains the dimensions of the chamber of the firearm that discharged it originally.
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Ok. Thanks for that clarification. Iām only planning on reloading pistol rounds right now, but I would like to be able to fire them from any 9mm handgun I own.
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Ordered.
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In that case, the only choice you have foir 9MM is whether you buy standard dies or carbide dies. I would recommend 9MM carbide dies as you donāt have to lube the cases as heavily and they resist being scratched and ,thus, transferring those scratches to the cases you are sizing. Standard dies are somewhat softer and require the cases to be well lubed and clean.
Neck sizing only becomes an option for bottleneck cases, such as .270, 30-06.
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That would be idea!
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Yeah. The press kit Iām looking at is all carbide dies and the crimping die Iām looking at is too. Iām hoping that saves some hassle.
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RCBS is superior then other dies as far as I am Concerned.
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The 11th edition Hornady Manual is good. If you can find one, the 9th edition Hornady manual is good, as well but not critical to own if 9MM is your main interest. However, in each edition of manuals, even if they are put out by the same company, they often drop or change some calibers that might be of interest to you, You canāt have too many manuals. I have a Sierra manual from 1978.
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The Hornady New Dimension dies are good, as well. But, even if Iām using the Hornady dies, I use RCBS Shellholders in my Rock Chucker Press.
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What I do is clean the brass with a tumbler walnut media / de prime resize brass with die use die th open mouth of shell to accept bullet
then prime brass with hand held rcbs primer tool than set up powder measurement again rcb scales using a powder
dispenser using the scales and adjusting the powder tool to achieve the desired weight weigh them put powder in brass using reloading blocks caliber specific every 25 0r so check powder weight usually dead on when i git the block full i git a flash light to look in all the brass to see if all the powder looks the same height then i insert the bullet and check for the over all length with calipers
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.32-20, .38-40, .45 Colt, .45acp. .357, .32 H&R, 7.62x39, .45-70 but mostly.38 Special.
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I had a box of 80 grain Sierra Match king BTHP bullets. I weighed my brass, inspected my brass, reloaded them and only loaded 10 because I wanted to see how they perform. I gauged them and measured them. The first four rounds shot well. and had a good pattern then I went to shoot the next one. With a big explosion and the magazine flying off, I knew it was bad. The casing was stuck in the chamber, yet the bolt was missing the bottom portion off of it. The upper and lower are bulged out. I destroyed my Ruger 556! Actually, it belonged to my wifeā! YEOUCH!!!
I do not know where I went wrong.
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