Advice for a newbie?

Great thats a good start.

Do you know if your dies are full length or neck sizing?

Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)

Shamu wrote:

Saving money will not happen. You will shoot a lot more for the same price though!

I definitely second that..... Wink

i only load a few thousand of anything and mostly less than a thousand of any one ,

as to equipment -

i use a vintage lyman turret for 45 colt , 45 ar/455 webley , 38 S&W , 28spcl , i use an older RCBS rock chucker for 4570 ,

i only buy carbide dies and tend to RCBS sets , i hand prime each case , i hand dip my powder for each cartridge , i enjoy each step of the process - it can be very relaxing to dedicate a little time to what you love to do ,

i use a cheaper tumbler with walnut media to clean my brass - i get lots of reloads because i download mine to cowboy loads and i inspect every piece when i de-prime , i throw anything that is questionable , i lose some at every shoot and some to wear every year , im guessing less than 10% overall between both , i buy my brass at starline 500 at a time and my bullets 1500 at a time [but a friend and i also cast our own , maybe 5000 a year for three of us] thats another whole program ,

if i were going to load larger quantity of anything - 9mm , 45acp , 223rem , 308win , i would buy a dillon - higher end version , you set it all up on head plates and simply switch them out , one machine would do it all ,

i have a backlog of most anything i shoot , way more than i shoot in any year right now , actually more than i would shoot in a few years - i dont have to reload to go to the range or to a shoot , even if i shot a three gun season - thats why i dont have a dillon and i dont shoot 3-gun any more so i have factory in this area ,

i load my cowboy shotgun on a hornaday 366 - if i were going to load quantity id look for a poncious warn or pacific - a dillon would be fine as well , this area is easy for me because i can shoot factory trap light loads that are readily available over the counter for cowboy , regular for trap and sporting clays ,

i basically reload what i shoot in a given year , i do it in the winter - now , i have about 300 to load right now and im in no hurry , you gotta take the time to enjoy it - thats why i use the simple approach to it as suggested above ,

i need to add here that i also have lots of 303 in stock so i do not load for that at this time , that might change and it might inspire a dillon , but i could load what i currently shoot on the rock chucker ,

Bear43 wrote:

Shamu, the set I have is the full length sizing die. I'll need to get the neck sizing die yet.

You just use your full lenght die but bask it off so that it doesn't size the body of the cade, just the front of the neck.

Life.. a sexually transmitted condition that is invariably fatal.

Bear, if you can spring the $24, buy a Lee Collet Neck Sizer (they are sold individually). You'll be very happy with this die.

I use a F/L die when necessary. But even backed off to size the neck it still requires lube, the collet die does not and it minimizes cold working of the neck (a collet die squeezes the neck to the final diameter as apposed to a FL die that squeezes the neck smaller, then expands it to the final diameter as you withdraw the case). You can get different size mandrels too direct from Lee Precision if you want to play with neck tension.

I believe the collet die is one reason I've been able to get so many reloads of my brass, perhaps as many as 50.

Instructions sent. Please let me know if they arrive successfully there were problems with the Yahoo a/c when sending but I think its fixed.

Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)

Sweeet.

Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)

Bear,

If you anneal the S&B brass, is it very good stuff.