Gear
Ok, here's the part where you clutch your wallet and tell me to fuck off, but hear me out. You can expect to pay anywhere from $200 - $500 for a new reloading kit, or less if you get one used from a private party (i.e. an estate sale or online listing). This is admittedly a substantial investment, however you will make your money back by the time you've made 1000 - 1500 rounds since ammo is astronomically high these days. You can further increase your cost effectiveness by scrounging for range brass and casting your own bullets from scrap lead, which I will go into later.
For a beginner, I would recommend you start with a single stage press, since I don't think the increase in price and complexity (like indexing moving parts, changing shell plates, etc.) is offset by the modest increase in efficiency. The brand isn't super important, since most dies are interchangeable with any 7/8" press. Hornady, Lee, and RCBS presses all work great. Ignore that retarded boomer in your local gun store that tells you that all *insert brand* presses are shit because one time he broke his while using it for something it wasn't designed for. A reloading kit will have the majority of tools you will need, but there will likely be a few you will also need. This is not an all inclusive list, but should be most of your big ones.
1) Manual
The most important tool in your arsenal is your manual. Your manual is written in the blood of men before you who paid dearly for their mistakes, and it accompanied with a sound head on your shoulders will take you a long way. I recommend you read through your manual before you even take the press out of the box, so you will have a solid grasp of the concepts you'll be dealing with. I will include a pdf of a highly regarded manual in the pdf portion of my post.
2) Brass tumbler
There are many myriad tumblers you could buy, and they all work fine, but I just use a cheap ass harbor freight tumbler. Walk your ass into the pet store and get a bag of crushed walnut terrarium filler for media. Add a splash of car polish and tumble for a few hours and your brass will shine like a new penny.
3) Dies
For every round you want to reload (9mm, .223, 7.62x39, etc.) you will need the corresponding set of dies. Your dies reshape your brass after it has been fired and expanded by being shot. As with presses, most dies work great and all are interchangeable, and on the off chance you fuck them up all the large companies have great warranties. You can expect to spend from $40-$80 on a set of dies.
4) Case trimmer
Every time you load and fire a piece of brass, it grows in length from the immense internal pressure. Some rounds headspace off the case mouth, and if you don't trim your brass within spec, you can end up with an out-of-battery discharge, which fucks niggas up big time. Manual trimmers work fine, but are pretty slow. If you wanna trim at high speed, most big gun websites sell trimmers that attach to your hand drill. Both work well and cost from $40-$60.
5) Calipers
You need calipers to measure your case length and cartridge overall length (coal). I prefer dial calipers or vernier calipers since they don't take batteries, but digital ones will work too. Good calipers are pricey, but I find myself using them for all manner of things, not just reloading. Expect to pay $80+ for a nice pair, and some pretty ok digital ones can be found for around $40.
#reloading
t.me/DerLoveShack
Ok, here's the part where you clutch your wallet and tell me to fuck off, but hear me out. You can expect to pay anywhere from $200 - $500 for a new reloading kit, or less if you get one used from a private party (i.e. an estate sale or online listing). This is admittedly a substantial investment, however you will make your money back by the time you've made 1000 - 1500 rounds since ammo is astronomically high these days. You can further increase your cost effectiveness by scrounging for range brass and casting your own bullets from scrap lead, which I will go into later.
For a beginner, I would recommend you start with a single stage press, since I don't think the increase in price and complexity (like indexing moving parts, changing shell plates, etc.) is offset by the modest increase in efficiency. The brand isn't super important, since most dies are interchangeable with any 7/8" press. Hornady, Lee, and RCBS presses all work great. Ignore that retarded boomer in your local gun store that tells you that all *insert brand* presses are shit because one time he broke his while using it for something it wasn't designed for. A reloading kit will have the majority of tools you will need, but there will likely be a few you will also need. This is not an all inclusive list, but should be most of your big ones.
1) Manual
The most important tool in your arsenal is your manual. Your manual is written in the blood of men before you who paid dearly for their mistakes, and it accompanied with a sound head on your shoulders will take you a long way. I recommend you read through your manual before you even take the press out of the box, so you will have a solid grasp of the concepts you'll be dealing with. I will include a pdf of a highly regarded manual in the pdf portion of my post.
2) Brass tumbler
There are many myriad tumblers you could buy, and they all work fine, but I just use a cheap ass harbor freight tumbler. Walk your ass into the pet store and get a bag of crushed walnut terrarium filler for media. Add a splash of car polish and tumble for a few hours and your brass will shine like a new penny.
3) Dies
For every round you want to reload (9mm, .223, 7.62x39, etc.) you will need the corresponding set of dies. Your dies reshape your brass after it has been fired and expanded by being shot. As with presses, most dies work great and all are interchangeable, and on the off chance you fuck them up all the large companies have great warranties. You can expect to spend from $40-$80 on a set of dies.
4) Case trimmer
Every time you load and fire a piece of brass, it grows in length from the immense internal pressure. Some rounds headspace off the case mouth, and if you don't trim your brass within spec, you can end up with an out-of-battery discharge, which fucks niggas up big time. Manual trimmers work fine, but are pretty slow. If you wanna trim at high speed, most big gun websites sell trimmers that attach to your hand drill. Both work well and cost from $40-$60.
5) Calipers
You need calipers to measure your case length and cartridge overall length (coal). I prefer dial calipers or vernier calipers since they don't take batteries, but digital ones will work too. Good calipers are pricey, but I find myself using them for all manner of things, not just reloading. Expect to pay $80+ for a nice pair, and some pretty ok digital ones can be found for around $40.
#reloading
t.me/DerLoveShack