Reloading 9mm ... not just the cost BUT

[Lloyd Braun]

re: priming

My Lee Anniversary Kit came with the auto-prime (swinging arm that drops the primer).

Since I like to clean the primer pockets immediately after resizing, I've found combining case expanding with the auto primer makes a lot of sense and saves time.

I had heard mixed reviews about this primer method, but out of 200 I had only1 that did not seat correctly. That was likely a brass or operator error

Maybe I should/could be more anal about my powder measure (weigh every 5 or 10), but I can now crank out 25 .357 rounds in under 20 minutes on my single stage setup. I might monkey around getting the bullet seat depth and/or crimp dialed in when I first put the dies in, but seem to crank there after.

I use that auto prime too and when i seat a primer, I then turn the brass a half turn and press it again to make sure its uniform

 

[brickman]

Thanks for all this information about reloading. I too have been thinking about reloading. My wife started shooting with me a few months ago (which makes it much less complicated to get to the range. You married men must know what I am talking about) and together we shoot aprox 200 rds of 9mm per week. Plus her or I have taken some sort of defensive handgun course about every month which uses another 300-400 rds each. This is quickly depleating my surplus stock. I am buying more as I go and saving all the brass I can (aprox 2000-3000). The cost savings does appeal to me, but also all the talk about increased accuracy. I can use all the help I can get. We are thinking small then adding on the way a few have said. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for the info and I will check back for more.

 

[smurf hunter]

@brickman - I know exactly what you mean about marriage and range time. I have almost 100 hand loads of varying charge, primer and projectile anxiously waiting for test...

 

[AMProducts]

No, Lee products are not garbage, they're just as good as any other brand of reloading tools. I have and use two Lee presses, an O frame Challenger and a Pro 1000. The Challenger I use to seat and crimp my 223 and 7.62x25. My Pro 1000 does EVERYTHING else, 9mm, 10mm, size and Decap 223, 7.62x25. In 10mm and 9mm my Pro 1000 is FULLY progressive. I have loaded over 10,000 rounds between both presses and both still function perfectly. There is no other company that gives you a fully progressive press for less than $300.00 that will load thousands of rounds. My presses have already paid for themselves twice over!

That's great. I bought a lee pro 1000 years ago, I used it until I could afford something better. Also, if you want the full pro-1000 experience, you can often buy them on the "used and refurb" part of lee's site for about $50. In the last year I've loaded about 100,000 rounds on a dillon 1050, and another 1.5 million on both a camdex and an ammo load. This has paid for my machinery probably a dozen times over.

I'm not telling you this because I think your baby is ugly, I'm speaking from experience, I know what lasts and what doesn't, lee makes a few good products, their deburring tool is top notch, however I still have the scars from when their hand priming tool snapped off (while priming brass) and sliced my hand open (which required a very expensive hospital bill).

The conversation we are having at this point is essentially craftsman vs harbor freight. There is a time and place for such tools, typically, if you can afford better, do so. Also, I recommend everyone starts out with a single stage press, as this press will come in handy later. Yes, it's slow, but it's cheap, and you're less likely to blow your hand off being slow and methodical.

 

[Point356]

Wow, 1.6 Million rounds in one year? 99.9% of the members of this board who reload probably don't have the funds to purchase ammunition manufacturing machinery of that scale nor would they have the Sq/footage to house it.

I was simply responding to a post that stated that brand X was garbage when compared to brand Y and offering my experience with brand X. I have used other brands as well, all of which when used properly function as they should have.

I am having a hard time picturing your use of the "Lee" hand priming tool that would incur such serious injury. I use both of my thumbs to actuate the priming lever which is plenty of force to fully seat the primer, seeing how the case is pointed away from my face the only injury I can foresee; is receiving a scratch near the web of one of my thumbs if the lever were to snap off.

As a hobbyist reloader/sport shooter with a Wife, 3 daughters and a dual income, my budget is kinda tight and in my experience when it comes to dies and presses they are all equal in the way they work! By all means if it makes you feel better to over pay for a tool that does the same job as a less expensive tool I wouldn't want to stop you.

 

[AMProducts]

I am having a hard time picturing your use of the "Lee" hand priming tool that would incur such serious injury. I use both of my thumbs to actuate the priming lever which is plenty of force to fully seat the primer, seeing how the case is pointed away from my face the only injury I can foresee; is receiving a scratch near the web of one of my thumbs if the lever were to snap off.

As a hobbyist reloader/sport shooter with a Wife, 3 daughters and a dual income, my budget is kinda tight and in my experience when it comes to dies and presses they are all equal in the way they work! By all means if it makes you feel better to over pay for a tool that does the same job as a less expensive tool I wouldn't want to stop you.

The lee hand priming tool's handle snapped (because it's cheap pot metal) leaving a jagged edge which sliced me up pretty good given the force I was putting on it. I used to have one of the "reloader's classic" presses, until it snapped in half full length sizing .308 brass.

When it comes to loading, the cost of a set of dies, (RCBS is my favorite) is almost immaterial compared to the volume of ammunition you will load over the lifetime of the dies. A good carbide sizer will last for 5 million rounds before it becomes too worn out to use. (usually less for rifle carbide sizers) So while you save a little on the front end, it's very easy to get sub standard results from cheap dies. Lee is notorious for this, because they use o-rings instead of jam nuts. So when you do step up to a bigger progressive, it's easy for the dies to walk, and next thing you know, you just loaded 1000 rounds of .45 that are too long to fit into a magazine. Also, the lee "unbreakable" decapper will simply back up into the die if it hits a primer that doesn't want to come out. Sometimes if loading on a progressive, instead of causing a noticible failure, it will simply index to the next station, where it will crush a primer, sometimes resulting in the entire primer tube exploding. The same situation is quite dangerous on lee equipment, because that primer tray is usually pointed at your face. I have never been seriously injured by a dillon primer system exploding. Most of the commercial machines tend to be tolerant of this, and a single primer may detonate, but it rarely takes the whole magazine with it.

The way I look at it, tools are the cheapest part of reloading, sure you can spend _A_LOT_ of money on tools, but most of those are one-time expenses, most of your money is going to go to components. I'm trying to get you to look at a slightly bigger picture. You can dismiss my claims as never happening to you, but I assure you they will some day. Best of luck!