How did I ever live without it.

[Marvin S]

What is the one reloading tool you bought, thinking that I probably don't need but once you got to using it, thought man how did I ever live with out this. Mine would have to be the RCBS Charge Master set up.

[lathesmith]

No contest: My Star lube/sizer, by a mile. A couple of other near-greats-- my Lee Classic Turret press, and Lee 6-cavity molds. 2-bangers are such a drag!
lathesmith

[DLCTEX]

+1 on the Lee Classic Cast Turret and safety Prime.

[runfiverun]

the dillon primer tube filler.
dump,push button go back to loading, take the tube and drop primers in the dillon put it back in the filler and dump another 100 in and go finish the first 100 primers all in about a minute.

[leadhead]

It would have to be the Lee primer tool. Best damn thing ever
invented. I've worn out three of them over the years, but for
the cheap price, who cares?
Denny

[Marvin S]

Got a couple of the Lee prime tools myself and rank them high also.

[dragonrider]

My Star, no doubt about it.

[Heavy lead]

What is the one reloading tool you bought, thinking that I probably don't need but once you got to using it, thought man how did I ever live with out this. Mine would have to be the RCBS Charge Master set up.
Ditto

[Kskybroom]

Bought a simple right angle motor ? ( 1/8 hp right angle 1/4 in chuck ) Turned in to very handy case prep tool. Had to turn drive over. To turn the right way. Made a holder for deburing tool. Saves alot of work.

[sundog]

outside neck turning lathe

[briang]

Bottom pour pot.

[kir_kenix]

Forster co-ax. My all time fav reloading room addition. My wife accidentally gave it to goodwill when we were moving (whole box of reloading stuff got mislabled and pbly ended up in a dumpster ;( ). Anyway, it was my very first purchase when i got back into the country.

No shell holder, no threading in dies, plus very straight ammo.

[rbt50]

rcbs trim mate case prep center,saves a lot of time

[JesterGrin_1]

I have only been reloading for about 2 years now so I am sure my thoughts will change lol. But for me thus far was the LEE CLASSIC CAST TURRET PRESS. I have no idea what in the world I was thinking loading rounds on a single stage rock chucker lol.

And sorry I just do not think I will ever be able to trust an electronic powder scale lol. So I stick with my RCBS 10-10 scale. :)

Sorry I just took this shot tonight with the new GB 44/444 Boolit and my Lee Classic Cast Turret Press and the PAT Mount :)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v453/SHAKERATTLEROLL/IMAG0052.jpg

[hammerhead357]

Star lubricator/sizer and then H & G 8 and 10 cavity moulds. I am getting used to the 6 cavity Lee moulds. Plus Hornady LNL progressive press.
I have had Dillons and RCBS green machines and liked those also. One of the Dillons I sold and the other was stolen, the Green mach. was lost in a divorce settlement.....Wes

[Recluse]

Calipers.

:coffee:

[Echo]

+1 for Leadhead and the cheap Lee primer tools. I have three, two w/caseholders permanently mounted for .45 and .38, the third for everything else. Maybe not a lifesaver, but makes loading loading a dozen or so a lot easier.

[mtgrs737]

Star Lubersizer, Dillon 550b, Lee hand primmer tool, Frankford Arsenal Vibra Prime Primer Tube Filler, My trusty Rockchucker Press. No way I could choose between them, they all made this hobby more enjoyable.

[Lloyd Smale]

star loader and a progressive press or better yet 5 of them.

[Gary51]

Very fond of my old Lyman All American press!

[dolang1]

Gary51, I too am very fond of my Lyman AA and the Tru-Line Jr., but I have to say I got kinda tingly looking at the picture of JesterGrin_1's Lee classic turret press. I've wanted one of those presses for a while, but his scary uncluttered loading table makes me nervous. LOL Later Don

[Shiloh]

I have my original LEE priming tool. The handle is very flimsy and breaks from time to time. I don't know how many replacements I have gone through, but the original tool is about 20 years old.

Shiloh

[Shiloh]

The other tool is a media sifter that fits into a 5 gal pail. Geez what a convenience that sifter is!!

Shiloh

[wallenba]

I find my Lee Challenger breech press the best thing ever for batch loading, something I do for two of my best guns for total control of each finished round. Each die goes in and out in just seconds!

[Sprue]

A tie for first place would be the upgrade from a Lyman Spartan to 550B. Next would be ******.

[Rockchucker]

Dillon 550b, Lyman 4500, Rockchucker Supreme, and the list goes on & on.

[Crash_Corrigan]

The best implement I ever found was when I went to a gunshow and saw a Lee 6 banger with 3 wooden handels. Mine only had one and it was a bear to make boolits with. I bought another whole mold with the 3 handels and I have yet to go back to the old method of two leather gloves on the left hand holding the mold.

The other item which has made life a lot easier is the Lee Factory Crimp die. I use it on everything from 9mm through my 30-06 Paper Patched rounds for my Garand. It covers up a lot of mistakes and gets the round chambered. With the PP rounds I can get a very light crimp on an unsized cartridge case which will not damage the PP and yet still hold the boolit in the case mouth through the action cycles of an M-1.

[1hole]

Concentricity gage.

Before that I was eye-balling bullets rolled over a glass plate. Now I know the ammo has to be really bad before run-out's visable that way. Before the gage I actually thought more expensive dies worked better than inexpensive ones! NOW I know that only the Forster and Redding dies are better, by only a little bit on average, than the others which are all tied for third place according to my measurements of a lot of die sets! (There's as much or more variation between dies of the same maker as there is between makers.)

Anyone finding a digital powder dumpster to be very much faster than a conventional measure, trickler and beam scale just wasn't working very effectively.

[EMC45]

Lyman 4500, Lee Perfect Powder Measure, 12ga reloading and casting gear!

[Patrick L]

Ditto on the RCBS trim mate case prep center. I even remember thinking to myself when it came out "What kind of lazy SOB would buy one of those?"

I don't use it as much these days now that I have discovered X dies, but I reload ammo for NRA Highpower for both myself and my father-in-law, and I used to trim every other firing. I would be loading two calibers, 500 or 600 rds each. That was a lot of deburring. I would also clean out the primer pocket as long as I was at it.

Actually, I guess the X dies should be in first place, then the trim mate would be second, right?

[MtGun44]

Lee Autoprime, then Star lubesizer.

Bill

[jack19512]

Bullet puller. :)

[wv109323]

Tongue in cheek- Powder scale.

[Kraschenbirn]

Lee Auto Prime and My Belding & Mull powder measure.

Bill

[cajun shooter]

Dillon 550, Star sizer, RCBS Pro Melt, Hoch custom molds for 45Colt

[Bret4207]

I dunno. I did without for so long I can't put my finger on any one thing that really changed things. I suppose it would be the Auto Prime type tool. I'm beyond the Lee now, got an RCBS and it's much better quality, but the old one at a time loading of primers really stunk. THe other thing would be my Forster tool. Very, very nice to have.

[wallenba]

[QUOTE=Crash Corrigan;617746]The best implement I ever found was when I went to a gunshow and saw a Lee 6 banger with 3 wooden handels. Mine only had one and it was a bear to make boolits with. I bought another whole mold with the 3 handels and I have yet to go back to the old method of two leather gloves on the left hand holding the mold.

Your kiddin' right? Please tell me your kidding, I can't stop laughing!!!:bigsmyl2:

[Beekeeper]

I was at a gun show this last weekend and saw several lyman single cavity moulds without handles and the first thing to come to mind was Crash's story.
Started to laugh and the guy thought I was nuts.
Sorry Crash I didn't buy any as he had no idea what they were and no handles.
But a good laugh anyway.


beekeeper

[357maximum]

TOOLS
1. co/ax press
2. lee auto prime


I also relish in the day I discovered LANOLIN.....I use the anhydrous form with a bit of beeswax for case crunching/forming, and the liquid kind mixed with alcohol for a spray on lube (shake and bake fashion) for batches of normal case sizing................ :evil: of course I realize some have been exposed to lanolin since puberty, but we will leave Ray out of this. :evil: I am just grateful I finally discovered this magical substance.

[olovo]

Redding Competition seating die - at first I wasn't sure I can justify the cost, but it's worth it.

[EMC45]

Also the Lee Universal Case Mouth Expander. Beats using a tapered punch!

[bowhunter]

:castmine:No doubt, i love my old rcbs 2a press. But the one tool i could not live without is my belding&mull powder measures. They are the most accurate and simplist to use. I love all of my vintage loading equipment.

[PatMarlin]

The "Crash C" casting method. When ever I need to humble myself with self inflicted pain.. :mrgreen:

Many of the above items, but one thing I first thought I blew it when I bought was the RCBS hand primer that fits all cases without shell holders. I really like that thing now. Nice to be able to grab it without changing shell holders, and it works really well.

[PatMarlin]

Dan's my buddy- he knows I'm just playin' ..:drinks:

[Geraldo]

Posted by Sprue:


A tie for first place would be the upgrade from a Lyman Spartan to 550B. Next would be ******.

My 550B and Forster Co-ax made life much easier. I haven't tried ******, but I don't see how it would improve my performance at the reloading bench. [smilie=1:

[BPCR Bill]

I would have to pick the digital scale. Got the Dillon D-terminator. Talk about fast for weighing and sorting cast match grade boolits! I still have my beam scale, but it just sits there not getting used at all. More a keepsake, my Dad bought it for me when I first started reloading.

Regards,
Bill

[greg gremlin]

+1 on the Lee auto prime. Have 2, set up as small and large so don't have to switch. GREAT tool to quickly prime brass. greg :Fire:

[rbuck351]

The tool I thought I could live with out but now find indispensible is a HF mini lathe. It makes an excellent outside neck turner as well as making "M"die punches, gas check making tools, H&I dies, hollow pointing boolits, and the list goes on. I know it's not normally thought of as a loading tool but it sure is handy on the loading bench.

[Marlin Hunter]

My kinetic bullet puller/hammer. I don't need it that much, but it's great to have when I want to disassemble a cartridge without damaging the components with plier marks.

[jar-wv]

Gotta be the Dillon RL550

jar

[Nora]

Posted by Sprue:



I haven't tried ******, but I don't see how it would improve my performance at the reloading bench. [smilie=1:

Not "at the loading bench", but "on the loading bench". It's called multi tasking.

Nora

[dogbert41]

I could probably cut and past a few earlier posts. My Rockchucker from 1980 which I still have bolted to my bench for the little chores I use all the time. The Dillon 550B that I wonder why I waited so long to get...

But if you load 5.56, you gotta know that trimmin is a big part. I got me a very innexpensive (not quite as cheap as the Lee case trimmer which I use to set up the Possum Qwik case trimmer, mounted it on a drill, dropped the drill in an ammo box that fits it perfectly, and never looked back. Stick a case in, press the button on the drill and a second later, a perfectly trimmed case. Then I finish with the RCBS case prep center which was a bit of cash[smilie=1:

My Dillon 5.56 case gauge....

and the CAST BOOLITS which I found just plunking around and now thanks to you guys I'm making my own:drinks:

[bullshot]

+1 for the RCBS case prep center.

[largom]

This site, without a doubt, has been my most valuable tool. I didn't buy it but I've donated to it and will continue to do so. I have thousands of dollars of loading tools which could all be replaced if necessary. Cast Boolits cannot be replaced! Yes there are many other casting/loading sites but only one CAST BOOLITS.
Larry

[Echo]

And one more thing - my Pacific/Hornady Pistol Powder Measure. Set the brass in the loading block, select the correct bushing, load the hopper, and throw those charges by hand, get the whole block charged in less than 2 minutes. And if I don't have a bushing that throws exactly the charge I wish, it is short work with the Dremel, or some masking tape, or whatever, to modify an existing bushing to throw exactly the charge I want.

[rvpilot76]

I can't believe nobody's listed this one yet; it's one of my favorites: the 3-way cutting head for my RCBS TrmPro powered case trimmer. Trims, chamfers, and deburrs in one step. I used it to cut down 550 pieces of 30-40 Krag brass for my 303 British; I can't imagine how long or how much pain that would have caused doing it by hand.

Kevin