Thinking about learning to reload.

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  • Gd999

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    What’s a good basic setup to reload 9mm and 5.56? As far as basic supplier and reloading equipment. And where is a good place to get it? Thanks.
     

    d.kaufman

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    All I can say is good luck
    All components for reloading are getting scarce and when you can find them, are 3 or 4 times the price, especially primers. Looking like die sets have doubled in price as well, if you can even find them in stock.
    Not a good time to get into reloading at all
     

    Bennettjh

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    I usually just peruse gun shops for my stuff. MidwayUSA is my go to for equipment. Primers and powders usually have hazmat shipping fees online so that's counterproductive in my opinion. Honestly, this is a horrible time to start. With any luck, it'll come back around.
     

    Gd999

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    I would take a trip to Shelbyville and talk to Kimball at Bobcat Armament. Your picking a real bad time to start looking. Components dry up faster than ammo, so if you get to the point you cant find ammo, and decide to reload, your basically to late to reload.
    Yea I’m way late to the party. I have plenty of ammo now. Just wondering if I should learn to reload.
     

    Bennettjh

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    Yea I’m way late to the party. I have plenty of ammo now. Just wondering if I should learn to reload.
    Definitely. I enjoy it for one. You'll learn a lot about guns/projectiles. Pick up a good manual or three and do some studying. Lyman makes a great manual. Might have to have some patience on availability.
     

    Gd999

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    Definitely. I enjoy it for one. You'll learn a lot about guns/projectiles. Pick up a good manual or three and do some studying. Lyman makes a great manual. Might have to have some patience on availability.
    Thanks. Yea hopefully things will calm down and I can get into the setup for a reasonable price.

    The one range I’ve been to said they don’t allow reloaded ammo. Is that normal?
     

    Bennettjh

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    Thanks. Yea hopefully things will calm down and I can get into the setup for a reasonable price.

    The one range I’ve been to said they don’t allow reloaded ammo. Is that normal?
    I've never ran into that before, but I've never thought to ask either.
     

    Thegeek

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    No reloads is pretty common. Places like Indy Arms Company have (or had last time I was there) policies that not only do you have to shoot commercial ammo, but you have to buy it there too. One can assume so handloads aren't repackaged. The only way you can shoot your own ammo is if you show them the license to be a manufacturer.
     

    1775usmarine

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    You absolutely should learn. Personally I save no money reloading, but I get better ammo, and enjoy it. Now is just not the time. Give it a couple years, and jump in with both feet.
    Actually in this time you would be saving money especially if you had a good stock to begin with.
     

    1775usmarine

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    This is true, I probably am saving money now, but in my mind 9mm is still 20 cents, and 556 is still 30 cents.
    My last bullet order was for 3k 115gr RMR bullets at 7.79 cents a piece. I was saving a nickle for each 9mm since I no longer consider brass in my figures as I got 16gal containers full.
     

    VERT

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    Bad time to get into reloading. Wait until all of this settles down. I predict there will be a lot of never used reloading equipment hitting the classifieds.
     

    1mil-high

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    As others have said, it isn't a great time to start, but it is a great time to learn. Dive in to these forums, a couple manuals, and youtube. Lots to soak up and also help you decide if you will enjoy the process.
     

    VERT

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    As others have said, it isn't a great time to start, but it is a great time to learn. Dive in to these forums, a couple manuals, and youtube. Lots to soak up and also help you decide if you will enjoy the process.

    I can save the OP a lot of time in forums and FaceBook reloading groups. Any questions he asked will be followed with “buy a reloading manual”. I genuinely hate reloading forums most days. Incidentally, I own multiple manuals and have not read them multiple times like people suggest.

    This weekend I spent the evening with a friend teaching him to reload. We setup a brand new set of dies, we checked the load data, we checked the powder charge on a beam scale, used the check weights, taught him to read a dial caliper. He loaded 100 rounds of 9mm and successfully shot them yesterday.
     

    76Too

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    You absolutely should learn. Personally I save no money reloading, but I get better ammo, and enjoy it. Now is just not the time. Give it a couple years, and jump in with both feet.
    I mildly disagree with this statement.

    Now is the time to start reading, researching, watching every video he can. Buy himself a VERY SIMPLE single stage press once he finds a few components (presses, to my knowledge have NOT increased in price) and start learning!

    I got into reloading during the Sandy hook shortage and it FORCED me to go slow, learn the proper way to do things, and gain a genuine interest in the process.

    All that being said, there’s no substitute for hands on experience.

    OP, keep your eyes peeled for components and hit me up when you have enough to make 100 rounds of your favorite caliber and I’ll offer to spend a few hours with you in the bat cave and show you the ropes.
     

    Thegeek

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    Most people make the mistake of investing in a big progressive press right out the gate. You don't need to. A good single stage is all you need. It might be slower, but once you have a good cache of brass you can do things in stages. Spreading out the time has been really good for me.

    For example, I handle my brass in groups. My .223 brass I have 4 different reload groups. Group 1 is all clean, deprimed and in a cardboard box. Group 2 is about half shot up. Group 3 is all loaded in mags, and group 4 is in loaded in an ammo can. So over the next couple days I could go through group 1 and inspect/gauge the cases. Then a few days later, prime them all and put them back in the box. At this point, all they need is charged, pressed and crimped. That last step goes pretty fast. But, I don't need it to. I've got plenty of loaded ammo to go have some fun. I don't really need to do any reloading until I get down to 1 group loaded.

    Over the last 6 months, I've cleaned, resized and deprimed ALL of my brass (except for group 2). And I've loaded about 700 rifle and about 900 pistol. My problem now is a low stock of primers. I even had a buddy who's been saving his brass for years ship me about 50 pounds of brass last month. It's been sorted and tumbled and I might resize it just out of boredom.
     

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