More tools and equipment

One cannot have too many tools. Right? That maybe is true but you have to start with the essentials. A book about handloading or a cd if you prefer that is a must. A reloading press, dies for your cartridge of choice with a shell holder, a podwer scale, a powder funnel, some lubricants and good callipers to measure your new cartridges.

That’s the "must have" things. More tools and equipment will help you and speed up your loading process but let’s get to them under way. Soon you have to trim your cases, they getting longer each time you use them, clean them too with handheld equipment or a vibrating/oscillating tool. A powder measure will also speed up your loading and is recommended to get one when you load more than 20 or 40 cartridges at a time. When you have one its hard to get back again :)

Cases, Primers, Powder and Bullets

It’s not good to buy a car and the tools to fix it f you not buy gasoline oil, filters, tires etc etc. That’s the same with reloading. You going to need cases to start with..

Cases can be bought as empty brand new ones or ready made factory cartridges. Shoot them once and you have the cases left to use again and again. What brand you need to get? If it’s an ordinary cartridge then you are going to have a lot of choices. If it is a rear cartridge then only a few. Wildcat cartridges? Then you need to reform your cases from the mother case that the cartridge is born from. Let’s discuss that later, a wildcat cartridge isn’t what a beginner starts the reloading career with. You can buy standard cases or Match cases, the later ones are hopefully more or less of the same weight and length. Match cases are going to cost you more, if not loading for target competition stay away at least for now.

Primers, Small pistol/revolver, small magnum pistol/revolver, small rifle, small magnum rifle etc etc. You get my point? Lots to choose from but not really. Yours loadtables tell you exactly what you need. Choose the brand and again stay away from the Match primers in the start of your reloading career, they cost more and you aren’t going to see any big difference in an ordinary gun and plinking. If your load table says Magnum use it, your cartridge needs a hotter than usual primer, if it says standard don’t change it to Magnum without lowering the powder charge. A magnum primer gets you higher pressure.

Down below you can see some of Federals primers for handloaders.

Powder can also be had from different makers and countries. Look at your loadtables, choose the recommended one. If you have several choose the one that’s more flexible aka can be used for more different bullets and loadings. Powder burning rate charts are good to look at and see in what range your powder is in but that’s all.

Bullets can be had in many different types. They are for hunting or competition, just plinking and have fun or self-defence. A hunting or self-defence bullet must withstand the impact on the chosen target and behave the way you want it too.. The plinking and fun bullets, well, let your wallet decide that. You can also get cast bullets, swaged ones or why not cast your own? A cast bullet can be a good choice if you accept the limitations and it’s a nice hobby to add on your reloading. We are going to discuss casting later on so come back here later for that.

Hunting bullets, are they going to be used in a low power cartridge for close range or you need to reach out far away with your brand new Magnum long barreled rifle? Read the recommendations from the bullet maker, talk to friends that has the know how and look after information on magazines, books, the net or everywhere knowledge can be had. Remember Knowledge is easy to carry put on load after load, one cannot have too much. Down below you see a few different bullets from the Speer bullet maker.