Posted: 11/4/2007 5:29:09 PM EDT
| Aside from brass, bullets, primers, and powder. What do I have to absolutely have to reload .308 ammo? |
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The bare bones for equipment is the following: -A reloading press: single stage, progressive, turret. I have a Dillon progressive press for my 5.56 stuff but load all of my precision .308 on a single stage -Sizing die: Generally speaking a full length resizing die works quite well for most applications. As you progress you can look into neck sizing, etc-but you'll still need a full length die for the occasional bumping. If you want to get real high speed, there's bushing dies from companies like Redding that control your neck tension. -Seating die: There are a number of options out there. I like the micrometer seating dies for precision ammo as I use the Berger VLD bullets and seating depth is critical. -Shell holder: This is what holds the case on the press while you are working with it. -Scale: You can go from $15 Lee scales to $1000+ hi speed low drag stuff.. Most are generally the same with a few unique features here and there. -Dial Calipers: Dial or Digital work well with some companies being better than others. I've been using a set of Dillon dial calipers for the past 15yrs that have held up fine. -Reloading blocks: relatively cheap, they hold you brass in an upright position while your working with components. -Primer Seater: As little as $10 and the price goes up. Obviously this seats your primers. -Powder funnel: No explanation really needed here, I hope.... -Powder measure: As little as $20 for a Lee Perfect Powder Measure on up to a $1200 Promethius (sp?) Things that go a long way for precision reloading. -Powder Trickler: While you can get by with a tea spoon or your fingertips, this helps a lot when bringing your powder charge up to just the right level. -Bullet comparator: Checks bullet length by Ogive instead of overall length. Measuring by Ogive is a much better method for consistent seating depth measurements. -Reloading box: to store your reloaded ammo -Case mouth chamferer: Allows for seating a bullet without scraping. |
Ok, to be a little picky, IMHO neither of these things are required for a bare-bones setup. The blocks are only really needed if you want to work quickly, and charge a lot of brass with powder at once. If you're willing to charge one at a time and then seat the bullet, you can live without a block. For the primer seater, most single-stage presses allow you to do this on the press. Yes, I've got a tool and like it, but it's not required to reload. YMMV. |
True-but a reloading block can be bought for $5 or you can make your own if you desire. I find that it makes life a little easier for the little money spent to get one. For most people $5 isn't going to make or break them. As for the primer seater, I would say that while a lot of single stage presses will allow primer seating-most require extra parts to be bought to make use of the feature. So you can buy a primer seating tool, which I think you get a better feel for the primers with-or you can oftentimes buy extra parts to make use of the feature on the press-either way you're spending money. |
I don't want to get into a pissing match about this, I simply wanted to add my opinion. He asked for bare-bones, I pointed out that those items were not required. Yes, they're nice, but he was asking for bare bones, not a good setup. I guess the priming tool depends on what press he gets - if it has a priming ram, great, use that. If not, I think a priming tool would be good. BTW, 100% of the single-stage presses I've used (sample size of 2) have included the priming ram.... Here's another option: The Lee Classic Loader - no need for a press, dies, or other tools. Yes, it's a bit slow, but works. I used one to load a mess of 45-70 rounds years ago...... |