40 years experience here, rifle and both types of handgun.
1. I recommend the Redding Big Boss single stage press. I wore out my old RCBS Jr and got a Boss recently.
2. Dies by RCBS or Redding or Hornady are fine.
3. For both pistol and revolver, use a four die set. Buy an extra seat/crip die. Use die #3 for seating only, and die #4 for crimping.
4. Use the RCBS bench priming tool.
5. Get the little RCBS flip tray for primers.
6. WASH your brass before any processing.
7. I use a 40 year old beam balance scale. Works more reliably than some of these new-fangled digital things.
8. If you are reloading without using MTM loading blocks, you are an accident waiting to happen. Them and a flashlight prevent many a problem.
9. Use a powder trickler for working up loads, and a powder dumper once you get going.
10. I recommend standardizing on one bullet weight and type for each cartridge. I stick to the original weights, i.e. 158 grain in .38 and .357, 120 grain in .45 ACP, etc. Feel free to vary this if you need a specialized bullet for hunting, etc.
11. Ball powder measures easier than flake powder. Flake powder measures easier than stick powder.
My hierarchy of loading data:
1st. Powder manufacturer's recent data.
2nd. Bullet manufacturers' reloading manuals.
3rd. Third party manuals such as Lyman.
4th. Internet talk (use only with extreme caution and only if you already thoroughly know what you are doing and why).
Extrapolation: DON'T do it. I did recently when I wanted a mid range load in .44 magnum and nothing was published. I extrapolated from .45 Colt data. But I knew what I was doing and why, and I was far, far below any SAAMI maximum pressures. You are not at that level so do not be tempted.
Most importantly:
Buy SEVERAL legit reloading manuals. Study them. Memorize them. Don't just reload mechanically, understand the why of each step. If you don't understand something, stop right there and do not proceed until you do understand.
I agree with most of the above. But not this:
1st. Powder manufacturer's recent data.
2nd. Bullet manufacturers' reloading manuals.
3rd. Third party manuals such as Lyman.
4th. Internet talk (use only with extreme caution and only if you already thoroughly know what you are doing and why
Switch 1 &2. Powder manufacture data almost always bases their data on bullet weight, with no consideration beyond jacketed or cast construction. They *probably* give a little more consideration to lot to lot variation in the powder - but at wouldn't take that to the bank, as its also not the limiting factor once you ignore specific bullet differences.
Bullet "stickiness" in the bore is critical to peak pressure and it is affected by several factors including hardness of the lead alloy core, the specific metallurgy of the gilding metal jacket, and the bearing surface of the bullet.
In contrast, bullet manufacturer data is developed using specific bullets and consequently does take those "stickiness" factors into consideration. The downside of bullet manufacturer data is that it is developed with a single lot of powder and even with canister grade powders used in handloading you will still encounter differences in charge weights needed to get a maximum load from one lot of powder to another on the order of 3% to 5%.
That's why absolutely everyone with a lick of sense advises *never * starting closer than 10 percent to a maximum load. Even with a load I know extremely well, where I am just switching lots of powder and then loading to the same velocity, I back off 5% and use a ladder to work up to the target velocity.
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For my precision rifle loads, I buy powder in 8 pound kegs and get two of them of the same lot if possible. It saves the trouble of having to work up a load ladder with 10 rounds on each rung to determine the charge needed to get the desired velocity.
That also requires a chronograph, and a chronograph is the best investment you can make after a good scale to promote precision and safety in reloading. With a chronograph you can verify where the velocity in your rifle is at relative to the published load data, and determine how linear it is.
Be aware your rifle or handgun might not deliver the same velocity as what you see in the published data, even if the data was developed in the same make and model firearm you have. A tight chamber and bore made with an old reamer and worn tooling will give different results than a looser chamber and bore made with a new reamer and new tooling. Cylinder gaps in revolvers also make a big difference and it's not uncommon to see velocities differences of up to 150 fps in the same make, model and barrel length revolver, once all the chamber, throat, cylinder gap, forcing cone and bore variables are considered.
More importantly with a chronograph you can also see the standard deviation in velocity. That'll tell you a lot about what is going on with the load and your loading processes. At the edges of the envelope at max or, in particular, at minimum powder charges it can often reveal the onset of potential pressure spikes and the increasing potential for a catastrophic pressure event. It's more often an issue at low load densities in large capacity cases, but I've also encountered some lower end .22 Hornet loads where a small reduction in powder charge sent the SD from 5-10 fps to well over 80 fps due to some much higher than expected velocities that are signaling pressure spikes.
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One of the things I see on the internet, especially in military calibers are suggestions on how to replicate military cartridges. You see see someone quote a specific charge of say 48.9 grains of IMR 4895 for M72 Match ammo, and you might see someone else claim it's 50.0 grains based on what's printed in the US Army technical manual.
In fact, neither is correct. The first is just the charge in a particular lot of cartridges where 48.9 grains is what was needed to achieve the required 2640 fps, and 50 grains is just a nominal load in the TM, even though a charge that heavy was rarely required. On average M72 used about 48 grains of IMR 4895, but the specific charge was developed for each new lot of powder the manufacturer received. Those lots are normally 10,000 pound lots aan bulk powders used by manufacturers are not as close to a particular burn specification as the canister grade IMR-4895 we use. The manufacturer would develop a new charge weight for each lot of powder it received. They still do that.
Keep that in mind if you ever come across surplus powders like WC844 and WC846. You'll hear people claims they are the equivalent of H335 and BLC(2], but that's not entirely true given the much greater lot ot lot variation e surplus powders. In fact WC844 is just one end of the much broader WC846 specification and it was developed as a separate specification as it gave sufficient velocity at a low enough pressure in M193 ball ammo.
Put the mis use and misunderstanding of nominal charge weights together with bulk surplus powder and you're looking at a potential massive over pressure situation.
So stay away from internet recipes and stay away from surplus powders until you have a LOT of experience and fully understand what's required to work up a safe load.
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Buy current manuals when they come out, but also hold onto the old ones and be aware that things change over time.
1) Powder compositions change over time. The National Institute of Justice has funded and continues to fund research on powder composition that is then used for forensic analysis. The National Center for Forensic Science in turn maintains a data base you can query.
National Center for Forensic Science
Search your favorite powder and you will likely see 2, 3 or more chemical compositions for the same powder. Some of the changes reflect changes in manufacturing over time, the addition of a stabilizer, or things like adding a flash suppressant to a newer version.
2) pressure standard change over time. The old method of measuring pressure was with a copper slug in a hole in the side of the chamber that was crushed when the round was fired in the test chamber and was reported in CUP units. Modern pressure testing is done with piezo electric sensors and is measured and reported in PSI. CUP and PSI are not the same and there isn't even a linear relationship between them, so converting one to the other can only be done over very narrow ranges of pressure.
More importantly, the copper crush her method did a good job of measuring a maximum average pressure, but wasn't very good at measuring a short spike in peak pressure. Consequently, some older loading manuals have higher maximum charges for the same bullet and powder (even after correcting for lot to lot variation) as the new manuals reflect new pressure testing methods that detect excessive peak pressures that were missed in the copper crusher method.
So…take that old data with a health grain of salt. Unfortunately, new manuals tend to focus on newer powders that have been recently released or that have been popular in the last decade or so. That can make it hard to find load data for very flexible and long standing powders like Unique in cartridges like the .357 Magnum. Those faster powders produce a lot less recoil (on the order of 40% less) without much velocity loss in a short barrel (maybe 50 fps) and they greatly reduce forcing cone erosion compared to ball powders like Win 296. But you don't see that data in recent manuals.
So if you want to use those powders for specific purposes, you'll need to find previous editions of loading manuals - and then take care working up to a maximum load. For example with a 125 gr JHP I'll stop at somewhere between 8.5 and 9.0 grains and back up a grain prior to where the ejection starts getting sticky, even though there are published loads out there that are almost a full grain higher. *Always* use common sense and always be conservative.
