Beginner seeking advise

[ehoover]

I want to start reloading and need advise on equipment and manuals. I shoot my 45 cal. often and have aquired about 2000 spend brass cases. I have been interested in reloading for some time and would like sound advise on where to start. I want to purchase sound equipment, good for a beginner and get my feet wet.

I've spoke alot about reloading with people over the last few months but none gave good advise as to where to start. They just start telling what all to buy and how easy these products are to use. There is more to it than that so I would like to start with a good manual or guide for a beginner.

[exbluelight]

You won’t need all of them, but here’s are some good manuals to start with:

The ABC's of Reloading (I strongly advise starting with this one.)
Metallic Cartridge Reloading (I strongly advise buying this one second.)
Modern Reloading by Richard Lee
Sierra rifle/pistol manual
Speer Manual
Lyman Metallic Reloading Handbook
Hornady 5th Edition Reloading Handbook (2 volume set)

Good Luck & welcome to reloading...ebl

[ehoover]

Thanks for the help. I've noticed some of these titles on Midway so I'll take your advice. Any advise on the equipment once I decide to make my purchase?

[exbluelight]

What you purchase depends on what you want to do and the amount of money you want to invest. There are all kinds of opinions out there as to what is "the Best". If you know somebody that has some equipment, see if they will supervise while you try it. Personally I started on a single stage many years ago and got out of reloading. When I got back in, I went to a Lee Classic Turrent press. You can use it as a single stage to get used to the process by taking out the linkage. Put it back in and it cranks out about 200 rounds an hour by rotating the turrent to load. I finally went to a progressive later on to load quicker pistol rounds. There are kits out there that include ALMOST everything you need to get started & save you some bucks at the same time. I have heard Cabelas has kits for a decent price. Sorry to get long winded...but good luck, take your time, learn as much as you can and enjoy....ebl 

[papajohn]

I didn't have anyone to talk to about reloading back when I started, so there was a lot of trial-and-error involved.  But nothing teaches like experience, and I did a lot of experimenting, and learned a lot.  You don't need to learn everything about reloading to get your feet wet, you just have to figure out what each step does, how it works, and what happens if you do it wrong.  Being aware of the possible consequences can keep you on your toes, it sure did for me, and I still have ten fingers and two eyeballs, so I guess it worked.

For data I like the Lyman Manual, they test everybody's bullets plus a lot of (their own) cast designs.  Manuals from the various bulletmakers only include data for their bullets, nobody else's. 

For learning all the steps, the ABC's of Reloading (I like anything written by Dean Grennell) is an excellent read, and the Lee Manual is pretty good as well, but all the data provided is from other sources, they did NO testing of their own. 

Another good source for specific questions & answers is the Sierra Bulletsmiths toll-free number, those guys know their stuff, though I have managed to stump them a time or two, before I solved my problem myself.  In my early days I spent a ton of time just tinkering, and as long as you're not trying to alter the rules of internal ballistics, you'll probably be fine.