$200 bucks for reloading.WHAT TO BUY?

[Sitting Bull]

I got a little cash for Christmas to buy something for reloading. I am not an experienced reloader and have the basic set up. A single stage press, dies, manual and electronic scale etc...
I reload for a couple of hunting rifles and will reload up to maybe 300 rounds a year if i'm lucky .
I am dipping my powder with dippers onto a scale which is slow but at least I know I am consistent and accurate. I am thinking of getting the Lyman 55 powder measure. What do you guys think of it ? or is there better out there? What would you add to you're reloading set up if you had $200.00 to spend?
Thanks for the opinions.

[Nyksta]

I know its not what you asked, but a very convenient part of my loading equipment is a hypersonic cleaner. Gets all the burnt on carbon crud out of the inside of your cases, cleans off sizing lube. Brookside jewelry cleaners have less markup than the firearm painted ones. Just make sure the holding tray is big enough to hold your cartridge. I like to face mine all neck down so the dirt has an easy escape down when it dislodges from the case.

[obsessed1]

Powder thrower, and powered case prep station. Both will speed up your loading time. If you can only get one go with the prep center. A powder thrower and trickler is awesome with your current digital scale. Lyman or rcbs case prep w 5 stations will speed up all your brass prep time. I run inside/outside burr, primer pocket uniformer and case length cutter on my rcbs unit.

[Scottmisfits]

Two different suggestions.

1. What piece of equipment drives you nuts and you really want to replace?

2. Is there something that works ok but would be more comfortable to use, ie the different reamers or chamfering tools.

[260 Rem]

What is you goal, just happy if it goes bang or are you looking to up your game in terms of accuracy?

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Sitting Bull

I got a little cash for Christmas to buy something for reloading. I am not an experienced reloader and have the basic set up. A single stage press, dies, manual and electronic scale etc...
I reload for a couple of hunting rifles and will reload up to maybe 300 rounds a year if i'm lucky .
I am dipping my powder with dippers onto a scale which is slow but at least I know I am consistent and accurate. I am thinking of getting the Lyman 55 powder measure. What do you guys think of it ? or is there better out there? What would you add to you're reloading set up if you had $200.00 to spend?
Thanks for the opinions.

Nothing wrong at all with a Lyman 55!
That will speed things up for you.
Cat

[marky_mark]

I’d buy the 2 sets of hornady comparators
Or try and find a chrony

[Cageyc]

On the safety stand point, I’d buy a bullet puller for the press and not the hammer type, ultrasonic cleaners are a good buy

[fps plus]

Most guys that start loading a good number of rounds have a powder dump.All the guys I shoot with own one .

You will find it to be a real asset and I don’t think you would regret buying one

[360hunt]

If $200 Is your budget..... I would suggest finding a local gunshow. Reloading components and equipment would be much cheaper letting your money go a long way.
Make offers on things that you know your going to use.

[cat336]

Take a walk through some of the local pawn shops. Since you are in Edmonton Uncle Ed's on 97 St. is closing in March. He used to have a lot of guns and reloading stuff. Maybe you'll get lucky.

[Sitting Bull]

Thanks guys, never thought of checking pawn shops. Yes I want to stick to the $200. as this was Christmas gift.
Great suggestions,
I guess the thing I hate the most is trimming brass with the Lee manual cutters.

[Sitting Bull]

I do have a chrony. but did not think about comparators.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Sitting Bull

Thanks guys, never thought of checking pawn shops. Yes I want to stick to the $200. as this was Christmas gift.
Great suggestions,
I guess the thing I hate the most is trimming brass with the Lee manual cutters.

Case trimmer. Might find some deals at gun shows as well.

Grizz

[Mateo]

A gempro 250 electronic precision scale. I cant imagine not having mine. Or a neck turning tool. Neck tension plays a vital role in precision. Onthat note. You annealing?

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

Nothing wrong at all with a Lyman 55!
That will speed things up for you.
Cat

Spot on. I have 8 if them so I can leave 7 pre-set for the common loads I use. You can get them for real cheap on Ebay. I bought most of mine for 20-30 bucks U.S.. The old orange ones are better made and tighter tolerances than the newer grey ones, though I have both.

That will leave you a bunch left over from the $200 to buy whatever else interests you.

[32-40win]

I you don't have comparators, get them, you'll thank yourself many times for it. They are worth just getting them as new.
A Lyman or Forster dry lube neck brush kit, makes sizing a lot easier, and easier on the brass.
Lyman, RCBS, Redding or Hornady powder throwers are all good units, nice to have when doing big lots of ammo. Look for a used one, they are around.

[obsessed1]

Originally Posted by Sitting Bull

Thanks guys, never thought of checking pawn shops. Yes I want to stick to the $200. as this was Christmas gift.
Great suggestions,
I guess the thing I hate the most is trimming brass with the Lee manual cutters.

While I have 3 different case cutters ( rcbs,Redding,lyman all lathe style) lately I have gone back to the Lee cutters, but with a twist. I used an old 12pt socket that the cutter just barely fit into. Welded up the 3/8 square hole and centered a tap for a standard threaded bolt I drilled and tapped a set screw through the side if the socket ( to tighten the Lee cutter into the socket) this gets mounted via the screw in the bottom onto my rcbs case prep station.
Now I have a single step case prep station the takes 15-20 seconds / brass for all steps( length cutting, champhering, primer pocket cleaning/ reaming) just an idea for trimming brass with the Lee.( I agree the Lee method is not the most fun and usually leaves my hands badly cramped)

[Sitting Bull]

Been looking on the NET regarding powder measures and noticed a lot of guys have to weigh their charges to make sure the accuracy is there. If I have to do that, why not keep throwing by hand? Whats the advantage?

[Dean2]

Back in 05 or 06, I tried weighing charges with a Harrel, a RCBS BR model, a Hornady BR and a Lyman 55. I test threw individual loads, then groups of 5 throws weighed together, and then groups of ten throws. I repeated this with two of my more commonly used powders, 23.4 of Benchmark and 12.6 of Lil'Gun.

The Harrel's single biggest advantage is you can reset the volume exactly, every time by just counting the clicks. In fact there is an argument that volume is what you should load by and the weight changing due to humidity etc should be ignored.

The most accurate, in terms of lowest deviation was the Lyman, much to my surprise. Set up properly using the 1st and 2nd slide for setting close (2nd slide half open) and then the first slide (smallest slide) for fine tuning, it would throw the 5 and ten lot groups at exactly 5 and ten times the nominal weight. On individual loads its max deviation was 1/10, being half a tenth over or under, and the SD was less than half that as 80% of throws were spot on.

The Harrel's was close but only about 60% of its throws were spot on and the deviation was from 2/10s under to 1/10s over, so quite a lot larger SD. The RCBS and Hornady were about half of that result.

One thing I clearly learned in this test, with all of the throwers, was that a consistent stroke and operation were key to consistent charges, as was ensuring the cavity was in the down position until the actual charge stroke was made. This kept the powder from settling in and packing into the cavity if I took longer to do something between charge strokes.

I sold my other measures and now have a number of lyman, all set to specific charges and powders, with one spare for adjusting for the loads I don't shoot as much of, like my big game hunting rifles.

The Harrel Culvers are great and smooth powder throwers and the Culver adjustment is very handy but for pure accuracy I will stick to the Lyman. I now no longer weigh any charges with short grain powders, except the occasional check charge just because it makes me feel better. In the 4 years since I have gone to this system, I have never had a preset one move and I don't adjust them for the humidity effect that can change the nominal weight by volume by 1/10 either way on any given day.

No thrower throws large grain powder like 4895 very accurately, you will always have to throw 1-2 tenths light then trickle them, but spherical or short grain powder like 8208, benchmark etc are very accurate. Also, throwing close with a Lyman is a lot faster than hand throwing, even if you have to trickle the last tenth of a grain.

[Sitting Bull]

Thanks Dean2, great info. The powders that use the most are 4895,4350,4198,4320 and leverEverlution. Even when I use the dippers I still have to trickle a few sticks to get exact.
Trying to find a used Lyman55 at a reasonable price is not easy. By the time you pay for shipping you might as well buy new.
I will check into when the next gun shows are and might find something there.

[260 Rem]

SB - I find that using a rounded spoon is much easier to throw powder into a scale pan than those little powder dipper things. Pour it into the pan so it mounds in the center ... makes it easy to take a few kernels if you threw too many. My “technique” is to throw a few grains under ... dip the beam ... check ... and add a few kernels from the spoon if necessary.

[32-40win]

I have a Redding BR from the mid to late 80's. I set it up on a Jorgensen clamp to make it portable to the range and able to clamp onto very thick benches. Always dumped about 3 charges right off the bat, back into the jug and used two or three taps of the handle after dumping, did that on the Lyman when I had it, too. I liked the Lyman, gave it to a friend who was just starting out and needed one. That clamp seems to give it just the right vibrations to toss AA9 +/- .1 on rare occasions, I set it for 13.3 and just left it there, likely threw 20,000 loads with it. Works good with 760, 870, 4320, AA5744, BLC2. It doesn't like H4831 type lengths, usually about .5gr or so on those. I was kicking myself over Xmas for not using it with 1680 and 760 and 2230., Chargemaster is making me lazy.
I found the smallest Lee spoon to be a great trickler, gotta have the touch when you tap it. After a couple or three over throws I seem to be able to pick out the right nbr of grains of whatever powder pretty easily. I'll take that over a trickler any day.
I can remember setting up my shotshell loader to load 12 ga when I first got it, before I ever got a thrower, I was mortified trying to get a consistent throw out of it, seems to me it was about +/- .2. I fought with the shot charge as well. Finally met someone at CDTSA a week or so later, that reassured me that was just fine on that load, explained it all to me. That was about 37-38 yrs ago, remember his face, but, the name? Must be gettin old.

[jef612]

Tools I use and love:

1) RCBS Chargemaster Scale. The new Lite version seems to also be a winner.
2) Frankford Arsenal Hand Primer - easily the best priming tool I have tried and I have gone through a few
3) Frankford Arsenal Case Prep Center - one of the best purchases I have made

Yes you can reload with cheaper stuff - but I have bought and sold so much stuff over the years I really wish I would have started with this stuff right from the get go...

[Sitting Bull]

A big thank you to AO member leo.
I picked up a Lyman 55,a case trimmer and powder trickler. I'm very happy but need to learn and practice with the powder measure.
Now just need a few more things.
What do you think of a flash hole deburring tool? and what other case prep tools would you recommend ?

[Captain Alberta]

Originally Posted by Sitting Bull

A big thank you to AO member leo.
I picked up a Lyman 55,a case trimmer and powder trickler. I'm very happy but need to learn and practice with the powder measure.
Now just need a few more things.
What do you think of a flash hole deburring tool? and what other case prep tools would you recommend ?

I would pick up one of those heavy duty RCBS or Lyman case mouth chamfering hand tools. They work very well and will last forever.

For my first powder measure I went whole hog and bought a Redding target model with an iron frame and drum. Very consistent and very accurate.

Later I also bought a vintage 1960s or 1950s Lyman 55, with an iron frame and the brass drum and sliders. It has a blued steel top cover on the hopper.

It turned out to be just as accurate and consistent as the Redding!

Cost me twenty five bucks in its original box with the warranty card.

[obsessed1]

Flash hole deburr is a good tool to have. A stuck case tool is valuable to have in the cabinet. Other items could like case lube, funnel powder pan( one like the pic) or bullet puller are handy as well

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Sitting Bull

A big thank you to AO member leo.
I picked up a Lyman 55,a case trimmer and powder trickler. I'm very happy but need to learn and practice with the powder measure.
Now just need a few more things.
What do you think of a flash hole deburring tool? and what other case prep tools would you recommend ?

Tough work with coarse grained powders, I generally set it so it just throws consistently short, with two throws .

Grizz

[6.5 shooter]

Calipers RCBS makes a good one. EVERYTHING you do in reloading requires a measurement of some kind.

IF your just shooting a couple hundred rounds a year? Lee makes caliber specific trimmers, about 5 bucks, you need to buy a cutter as well, 10 bucks they work just fine for most hunting loads.

Buy another reloading manual.

Couple brands of primers.

I hate hammer bullet pullers but...
RCBS makes a great collet style puller which is worth the money if you want to spend a bit more.

That should bring you up to your $200 spending limit and the above will last you a life time...except the primers..

[fps plus]

I have found that to get the most consistent charge out of a powder measure is:

1/ use ball powders or the smallest log powders

2. Use exactly the same technic / movement with the powder dump. Ie if you tap the handle once always do it once , if twice always twice or whatever your style is .