Beginner reloading

[Revolver]

My nephew who lives in another state contacted me and asked about reloading advice. He just purchased a Lee breech lock hand press, I am currently waiting for more information from him but wanted advice on what forum to point him to for beginner reloading questions and research, or is there a section on the forum here (he will be using j-words). He is asking what equipment he needs to get started, which I am working on advising him. I have already advised him to acquire some books. I already gave my books away but if there are any suggested titles that would be useful too. Thank you.

[Three44s]

Just a quick google:

http://forum.pafoa.org/ammunition-reloading-25/40420-reloading-equipment-procedure-basics-beginners-read-first.html


I go to so many forums I am dizzy with the array of available info.

Off the top of my head as to where I go .........

Predator Masters, Ruger forum .com, Greybeard outdoors ..... you name it there are countless ones and if your nephew gets a cold shoulder on a particular forum .... just consider the source!

As a whole I find fellow shooters very happy to help newcomers ..... after all it's the life blood to the Second Amendment!!

Caution him on one thing:

It's pretty standard and good advice for established loaders to admonish newcomers to GET MANUALS ........ and its in their best interest to do so ..........

............ What we don't want happening is for someone to camp out on the net and be spoon fed load suggestions ........

........... BUY the book ......... lots of them and READ!!!

We are not here to hold you up ........ you have to do most of the heavy lifting but we sure are here (gladly) to give a hand or three!!

That's we earned our stripes ......... and so should your nephew!!

Best regards

Three 44s

[nhrifle]

Castboolits is the forum I would recommend. There is so much information here, and so many knowledgeable members that he doesn't need to go anywhere else. Have him sign up and start reading.

Lee has an inexpensive C-frame bench mount press that will probably be alot easier for him to learn on than that hand press. I use my hand press for loading at the range for load development, but it is awkward. The C-frame is usually about the same price as a hand press and I think Midway has it on sale right now.

The Lee 2nd edition load data book has an excellent section on the how-tos and theories of reloading that is geared toward the beginner, but even seasoned pros can get a few things out of it.

Specific information will depend on which caliber he is loading for. Just have him sign up here and post his questions. Lots of friendly folks here who will be happy to guide him in the right direction.

[jlchucker]

Just a quick google:

http://forum.pafoa.org/ammunition-reloading-25/40420-reloading-equipment-procedure-basics-beginners-read-first.html


I go to so many forums I am dizzy with the array of available info.

Off the top of my head as to where I go .........

Predator Masters, Ruger forum .com, Greybeard outdoors ..... you name it there are countless ones and if your nephew gets a cold shoulder on a particular forum .... just consider the source!

As a whole I find fellow shooters very happy to help newcomers ..... after all it's the life blood to the Second Amendment!!

Caution him on one thing:

It's pretty standard and good advice for established loaders to admonish newcomers to GET MANUALS ........ and its in their best interest to do so ..........

............ What we don't want happening is for someone to camp out on the net and be spoon fed load suggestions ........

........... BUY the book ......... lots of them and READ!!!

We are not here to hold you up ........ you have to do most of the heavy lifting but we sure are here (gladly) to give a hand or three!!

That's we earned our stripes ......... and so should your nephew!!

Best regards

Three 44s

That's about as good as you can say it. BUY THE BOOKS! That way your nephew can have a reliable reference open on his bench to refer to and he learns! There's plenty of good information posted on various websites, BUT THERE'S ALSO A LOT OF ****!!!!

A good reference to start with would be one of the Lyman reloading manuals. They are big, cover all of the steps, and contain safe and reliable loading data. When I started, it was with a kit that included a Speer manual. After a while I had manuals published by most of the bullet makers, but I've gravitated back to mostly using Lyman. Lyman doesn't make J-word bullets, so their data may be more objective. For cast boolits, they've been making molds for longer than most, if not all of us have been alive, and publishing lots of data over the years for the boolits from their molds.

The Lee Book is another good one, but some of their stuff leans pretty heavily on the use of their own tooling.

Good luck.

[mdi]

http://reloadingmadeeasy.com/forum/index.php Some beginner's info here, but I'd suggest "The ABCs of Reloading" and "Lyman's 49th Edition Reloading Handbook" first. If he reads these he'll have a good idea of what reloading equipment will suit his reloading needs.

I've read a lot of "new to reloading" stickies on various forums, and while very helpful, they do contain a lot of opinions on what a new reloader needs and many folks will have different opinions on items needed. This is why I suggest the two texts above, simple facts and let the reader decide. Also a catalog or three from the major reloading equipment vendors (Midsouth, Midway, Natchez, Widners, Graf and Sons, etc.) are helpful to get an idea of what equipment is available and the costs involved.

[bbqncigars]

Ditto on the books mdi mentioned. Those would be the two I would advise as the basic minimum necessary to a noob to start safely. I would get the Lee Classic Cast press as the best value for a press that you wouldn't outgrow too quickly. I bought one just for loading .50BMG, but it will do lesser rounds just fine as well. :-)