Newbie question regarding dies

[ThemGunsThough]

Hi all, not new to the forum but new to reloading. I just picked up a hornady lock n load classic reloading kit that came with a cleaner. Why this one? Well reviews show it to be good for the money, plus it was on sale almost half off and I had a good amount of cabelas points to use. Oh, and it has the 500 bullet mail in offer as well. Anyways, with the lock n load, do I strictly use hornady dies or? I have no idea how it works and couldn't find my answer through searching.

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[oremike]

Hornady presses use standard dies

 

[Otter]

Lee dies are excellent for pistols. You can pay more and not get a better die.

For rifles, all of them are pretty good, but you can't get much better than a Redding type S FL die with bushings unless you buy a custom FL die. Brass can have different neck thickness and the bushing allows you to compensate for that.

Same goes for seating dies...all seem to be pretty good. If you can afford them, the Redding Competition seating die with the micrometer are a pleasure to use and induce minimal runout.

Good luck with your reloading efforts and I hope you enjoy it. Some people find they don't like doing it though. I personally find it fun.

 

[FA9]

For pistol dies I'd go with lee carbide dies. For rifle dies I use whatever brand. Make sure you use a good case lube I myself use spray cooking oil.

 

[ThemGunsThough]

So the dies can be any brand? That's good to know! I've saved so much brass over the years and gotta clean them up. Now just gotta learn more and more of the basics.

 

[jrd541280]

Dude, you scored!!! you can use any standard die and set in the lnl bushings. Depending on how many calibers you have, you will need to "invest" in more bushings. I have one also and love it. You can also use rcbs shell holders in the lnl. All you have to do now is-follow the brass brick road.

 

[The Courier]

If it came with a vibratory tumbler I would highly recommend snaggin a harbor freight rock tumbler so you can have squeaky clean brass. I paid $50 for mine and it works like a champ even brass thats black comes out almost like new.

 

[Crohnos01]

For pistol dies I'd go with lee carbide dies. For rifle dies I use whatever brand. Make sure you use a good case lube I myself use spray cooking oil.

Just to he clear, since you are new at the reloading game, the lube is for thr rifle cases. The carbide dies, if you have them, are for handgun cartridges and do not require lube... FA9 knows this I am sure, but the message didn't clearly delineate that, so I just wanted to clarify for you.

 

[ThemGunsThough]

Just to he clear, since you are new at the reloading game, the lube is for thr rifle cases. The carbide dies, if you have them, are for handgun cartridges and do not require lube... FA9 knows this I am sure, but the message didn't clearly delineate that, so I just wanted to clarify for you.

Thank you. Haven't started yet. Still need primers, dies, holders and some bullets/powder. Is powder different between calibets/pistols/rifles/etc.? Might as well get some of the stupid questions out of the way.

 

[Otter]

You will need different powders for pistols and rifles. Many pistol powders will cover lots of different pistol calibers. Rifle powders tend to have a narrower window of calibers you want to use them in, with a few exceptions like Varget which seems to work in a lot of rifle calibers.

What are you planning to reload for? These guys can point you in the right direction for what you will need. There are lots of tricks and tips too...for instance a ball powder for rifles will meter better but usually benefits from a magnum primer.

Someone suggested getting a tumbler. I agree 100% you need a quick way to clean brass, either with a tumbler, ultrasonic or with stainless pins. Brass needs to be clean in order to see developing defects. Cleaning rifle brass by hand is time consuming and can turn you off to reloading. Not sure you can even clean pistol brass by hand...never even tried.

 

[jrd541280]

Oh boy, yeah buddy!!! You got yourself a top o the line press. Now, don't walk, but run down to your favorite sporting goods store and get yourself a top o the line reloading manuel and memorize all of the steps to reloading before you start.

 

[bsa1917hunter]

jrd is exactly right. Buy a few different load manuals. One from your favorite bullet manufactures, so you can be as spot on with your reloading as possible. Read though the manuals and pay close attention to the tips/tricks of handloading, like the quick easy way to find your rifles cartridge OAL without having to buy special tools. When I started hand loading, I didn't have a mentor that I could rely on for help but the load manual was there and it was all the help I needed...

 

[Crohnos01]

Hey, and you have a forum full of mentors right here. I am sure everyone would be more than happy to answer any questions you have. I suspect that the combined knowledge here is in the hundreds of years range and millions of reloads. Don't hesitate to ask.
Fair warning though, asking a question like "what is the best (insert equipment or component brand here) to buy?" Will spark a whole bunch of opinions which are likely to be in conflict with each other. Just sort through them, weigh their merits, and do whatever works best for you.

 

[ThemGunsThough]

Thanks everyone. I will be looking to reload. 45 auto, .500sw, .223, 9mm, .40. I'll probably start with .45 and .223.

 

[Member 5605]

Any current production dies have the standard threads that your press uses.

 

[Otter]

I reload 9mm and 40 S&W and found both Power Pistol and Hodgdon CFE works great. Lots of other pistol powders will probably work just as good.

I've reloaded a lot of .223 and there are many powders that work well. H335 is probably the benchmark powder for lighter bullets, especially if you plan to use a powder throw instead of weighing each charge for volume reloading. H322 and H4895 are great light weight bullet powders but because it is a stick powder every charge should be weighed until you have confidence in your ability to throw an accurate charge. If you are going to load heavy bullets Varget would be a better choice in most rifles. I have good luck with Varget and light weight bullets too in a few rifles. For precision rifles N133 has always delivered best for accuracy in my rifles and I weigh every charge for precision reloading.

A lot will depend on what you expect out of your reloads. If you want to spray lead out of an AR-15 that isn't all that accurate to begin with, throwing H335 is what I would do. Thousands of rounds are cranked out of Dillon presses with thrown H335 charges and accuracy can be very good. If you have an accurate AR or a bolt action and you want to shoot as small a group as you can, you will want to weight each charge and eventually get anal about how you process brass and load it all up.

 

[Mikej]

Thanks everyone. I will be looking to reload. 45 auto, .500sw, .223, 9mm, .40. I'll probably start with .45 and .223.

Get more than one reloading/recipe book. And use the powder manufacturers website for loads also. Look at the different guides recipes, they will be different, and that just help get a feeling for it. Then look what powders cross over to different handgun calibers. That's what I did anyway.

For handgun stay with "Ball Powder" It just measures easier than flake powder.

Most important of all, read the loading book clear through the process before you make any ammo!

It's sort of like Zen thing for me when i sit down to load.

 

[Crohnos01]

Yes, but sitting crosslegged with your thumb and forefinger touching, eyes closed and chanting can mess with production... Just saying...

 

[Certaindeaf]

.For handgun stay with "Ball Powder" It just measures easier than flake powder..

Flake meters very well for me.. and I would imagine it would stay in the case better than ball.. especially with one of those whirlygig progressives.

 

[Crohnos01]

I was going to say, my chargemaster doesn't seem to give a tinkers fart about measuring flake powder and delivers the required charge quite nicely. The only real issues I had prechargemaster was with extruded powders getting chopped in the powder thrower, but that was occasionally and I was weighing every charge anyway, so no biggie... Now I am lazy and only weigh about every 10th charge because the chargemaster is so freaking accurate.