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When buying the reloading equipment such as press and dies, is it a good idea to buy everything from one manufacturer?
Maybe when starting out, such as if you are buying a kit then everything will of course be from the same mfg.

I see however RCBS is NOT including a 'first' set of dies in their RockChucker kit like they used to but if RCBS is a consideration then at least keep it all 'green' starting out.

As you gain more experience you can study other mfgs. components and accessories and you might find some you prefer better than others.
 
All I can say is back in the day I started out with a Lee Challenger kit. Right out of the gate I was making 45 Colt ammo for about a quarter of the cost of factory ammo. Also shortly after I started adding and upgrading. Now 40 some years later I have 4 presses from 3 different brands. I have die sets from 6 different brands and sundries from who knows when and wherever. So in my long winded, left handed kind of way, what I'm trying to say is the kit worked for me. Of that original kit, I still use the dies when I make 45 Colt.
 
When buying the reloading equipment such as press and dies, is it a good idea to buy everything from one manufacturer? I am soon ordering the equipment and I do not want to buy kits because with kits we often buy things that we might never use and kits usually do not include things that are needed, and those have to be ordered separately. I would rather keep buying individual items, and as I go if I need something I can always order it.

I bought RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme Kit to get going quick. Still use everything that came with it. Even the scale for some things. You still need Dies, and Case Holders. Take the parts list of a kit and price it with what you want. Compare. All dies are pretty interchangable like has been said.

I bought Lee 3 and 4 die sets, bulge busters etc as I went along. Then I started adding things like anti static precision funnels, digital scale, better dies and stands.

Dies you can mix and match. I have 4 different companies' dies. The ones I use most are the Lee collet neck sizing dies and crimping dies with different companies seating and FLS dies.

Do it however you want. No matter what you buy now you will be buying more later lol.
 
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I got lucky later in my reloading 'life' and was given a bunch of reloading gear from two different people,

There were a lot of different brands of accessories and while some of it was 'older' (60s' - 70's era) It gave me the opportunity to compare to what I already had and see the differences.
 
When buying the reloading equipment such as press and dies, is it a good idea to buy everything from one manufacturer? I am soon ordering the equipment and I do not want to buy kits because with kits we often buy things that we might never use and kits usually do not include things that are needed, and those have to be ordered separately. I would rather keep buying individual items, and as I go if I need something I can always order it.
Personally I would vote for buying a kit. I bought the RCBS supreme master reloading kit.
https://www.ebay.com/p/1310366548 Good lord! What a time to start loading. :(

Yeah, there were things I was never going to use. I saw no sense in loading rifle, look how much farther you have to walk to set/change targets! :s0140: Things change! I use it all now. I even sold a gifted case prep center. Ouch.

If you think you'll expand into a more sophisticated loading style (turret press, progressive, etc) you should buy the color that has the ability to expand with add-ons.
 
I will get a neck bushing die and am currently looking at Forster (I misspelled it earlier) Bushing Bump Neck Sizing Die Kit for 30-06.
 
I will get a neck bushing die and am currently looking at Forster (I misspelled it earlier) Bushing Bump Neck Sizing Die Kit for 30-06.

Just because Lee has a rep for being inexpensive, and I have one for being cheap doesn't mean that you might not to want to go that route.

Here are some links to explain why. These folks know more usually than I and probably will do a better job explaining it.



 
Every single one of the many many thousands of rounds of 7.5x55 Swiss that I have made and shot since 1989 has been made on the same set of Lee dies. Not being one of those folks determined to move the backstop into the next county every time I shoot, that has probably not amounted to much more that around 12000 or so rounds all told, little more than a fairly busy morning on the range for many folks here, from what I've read over the years....

Not a bad return for my $30.
 
The discipline you choose will influence the type of equipment you need, to a degree. High-volume competitors use very different tools than bench-rest guys.

You sound more inclined towards the bench-rest type of shooting. It also depends on how far down that rabbit hole you want to go.

For example, way back when I first got into shooting, I decided that precision was where it was at, as that seemed to be a practical thing.

I eventually learned that there are different levels of precision, as well as diminishing returns. The average guy with his average rifle can go so far before you start needing very expensive gear, and the practicality of it tapers off to where it's just a discipline, a sport like golf. Nothing wrong with that, if that's what you want.

Like others have said, there are a lot of other things in reloading that are more important for accuracy than absolute precision in powder volume, such as case prep and the right load. Even that is wasted if the rifle and shooter are not capable of the same level of precision.
 
If you're loading for precision rifle, spend the extra $ on a good competition bullet seating die. I like the Forster bench rest seating die personally. Worth the small amount of extra coin IMO.
 
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I was reading in my reloading manual and watching some video about case resizing, and as I understand FL resizing will bump shoulder slightly (in 1/1000 s of 1in) such that the cartridge can fit into the headspace. I saw that some people use caliber and head space gauge to measure and some just keep putting a cartridge back into the chamber until the rifle bolt easily locks. That all seems an easy concept. However, what do you do with your shoulder bump if empty cartridges easily sits into your chamber and bolt easily locks/ That is the case with my Tikka M658 that I just purchased. I tried a couple of empty 30-06 shells that I shot this weekend and they all go in smoothly and bolt locks easily. I can't see any difference between inserting and locking live factory ammo and a spent shell. Does this mean that in this case I could just use my FL sizing die to shrink neck to factory specs (or could just use bushing die to bring neck tension to .332 since all 5 types of factory 30-06 ammo that I got has neck OD of 0.333-0.334). By the way, to what neck OD (neck tension) a regular full length die brings a 30-06 cartridge? So far I measured 5 types of factory 30-06 ammo and they all have or 333 or 334 neck OD.
 
If that brass was fired in the chamber you intend to reload for, then it's probably about .001" or so under the chamber length. You could use the fired brass as your guide for resizing. Generally the brass will stretch to fill the chamber and then shrink back roughly .001"



Eventually though the brass will keep growing until it's an interference fit which can lead to reliability issues at a minimum.

I highly recommend full length resizing each time, especially for a beginning reloader.
 
If that brass was fired in the chamber you intend to reload for, then it's probably about .001" or so under the chamber length. You could use the fired brass as your guide for resizing. Generally the brass will stretch to fill the chamber and then shrink back roughly .001"



Eventually though the brass will keep growing until it's an interference fit which can lead to reliability issues at a minimum.

I highly recommend full length resizing each time, especially for a beginning reloader.
This one the factory ammo shot only once and the ammo I intend to load will be rifle specific. Yes, I got a Forster full length die and am planning on using it.
 
I haven't FL sized in years, and I'm the family ammo source. Read this, and pay attention to the third reply. Mathman really knows his stuff:


Every piece of brass gets indexed to a rifle. That rifle then "owns" that brass. It's a custom fit until pressure causes the brass to "grow" enough to need trimming and a should bump. The rifle will tell you. I'm on six firings with some brass without FL sizing.

I've only been reloading for 11 years so I'm still a newbie but I can roll some pretty good stuff, safely. I have some great data on .30-06 if you're interested, 180 Partition and Accubond.

I'm a bearded man as well so I'm going to cut you some slack on that awful sweater you're wearing in your avatar. If it was a present from your mom I understand.




P
 
I haven't FL sized in years, and I'm the family ammo source. Read this, and pay attention to the third reply. Mathman really knows his stuff:


Every piece of brass gets indexed to a rifle. That rifle then "owns" that brass. It's a custom fit until pressure causes the brass to "grow" enough to need trimming and a should bump. The rifle will tell you. I'm on six firings with some brass without FL sizing.

I've only been reloading for 11 years so I'm still a newbie but I can roll some pretty good stuff, safely. I have some great data on .30-06 if you're interested, 180 Partition and Accubond.

I'm a bearded man as well so I'm going to cut you some slack on that awful sweater you're wearing in your avatar. If it was a present from your mom I understand.




P
I will drop you a PM to discuss some good "receipt" for 30-06. A chalange is to get powder these days. I am following a Lyman loading manual and trying to get some powder from their manual. I am supposed to buy 1lb of RX22 powder tomorrow, and for what I read that powder should work for 180 gr bullets. If I get across IMR-4350 I will buy some. In Lyman's manual that powder covers pretty much all range of bullets that I would use in 30-06 and 300 WM.
 

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