good thread, glocknewb!
i've never reloaded, but i've read a little bit on the subject.
i've noticed that dillon presses are considered good stuff by many folks, as sfguard mentioned
sf, how are the cheaper lee presses? good stuff too?
I had a nice long response full of good info and the freaken computer burped and now it is gone. Let's try this again shall we and I will try not to leave out anything I had in before.
As far as Lee presses go I only have a single stage Lee press. I have no problems with it at all. I am sure the progressives work fine though. One major difference between the two Lee comes with a 2 year warranty and Dillon a lifetime warranty. (I love my Dillon but it costs a lot more to set up different calibers than with the Lee)
As far as other stuff needed the link I posted came with about everything you would need for 10mm. Except you would need a tumbler, lube, a bullet puller would probably be a good thing to have around, a buldge buster, caliper and the most important of all thing to get.....
A RELOADING GUIDE. I suggest one from a reputable reloading company. I use and like Lymon's reloading guide.
In most guides for rounds are broke down by caliber and bullet weight. You will then see two different powder charges given for each type of powder they list info on. The smaller is the min. and the larger is the max. Never go under the min and never go over the max.
Something else to consider is primers. There are hard primers and soft primers. And ones kinda in the middle. I myself use CCI. They are a hard primer but I have never had any problems with them.
Powder. Boy, I don't know where to begin here. There are LOTS of different types. Some cleaner than others some a lot more expensive and so on. For someone just starting out I would recommend Unique. The reason is unique is a coarse powder that fills the casing almost to the top. This will prevent a accidental double charge. Unlike some of the more fine powders that you can fit 3-4 times the charge into a casing with.
Unique is also in most guides so info on it is easy to acquire. It can be used in Rifles or pistols. The only downside of it.....it's dirty. Your gun will get filthy from shooting it. Be ready to do some cleaning, but it is a great powder to get started with.
Trimmers.....You aren't going to need one for most pistol rounds. Most pistols by the time the casing would expand to the point it would need trimmed you have exceeded the safe number of times the brass could be re-loaded anyway. Rifles however are another story. Rifle brass almost always needs trimmed every time you re-load it.
Before I forget the bulge buster. If you plan to reload for 40s&w or it's parent round the 10mm make sure you put all your casings through a bulge buster EVERY TIME. There is a small bulge that forms just above the rims of some calibers casing worse than others. The 40, and 10 are notorious for it. Basically what happens is every time you reload it and shoot it if you don't put it through the bulge buster that bulge gets bigger. Eventually the round may not chamber all the way. In a non-supported chamber this is very bad because the round will still go off.
This will certainly ruin your range trip and your whole day very quickly.
Reloading is a lot of fun. I make the occasional dollar at it from someone at work (but be careful doing that without a license) I find it therapeutic actually and when everyone else couldn't get ammo at Wally world I had plenty. You can also save $ doing it. Just be careful as it can also be dangerous. The biggest thing is watch your charges. Be careful not to accidentally double a charge. Never leave a casing in the machine. Finish making the round before answering the door or whatever it will only take a second.
Watch the bulges and inspect your brass. Don't use it more than 8 times or so is what they say. I inspect mine closely and get rid of it when something looks wrong. Off to the recyclers it goes.
If I can be of any help just let me know I will answer anything I can via the net sometimes it is more difficult that way though. I reload the following rounds if you have any questions about them. In no particular order:
Pistol
380acp
9mm
38spec
357mag
357sig
44mag
44spec
40s&w
10mm
50AE
45acp
Rifles:
223
308
338 lapua mag
50BMG
