My reloading setup.

[Spamity Calamity]

Another member of this forum has asked me to send him pics of my reloading setup since we both are trying to get started reloading. So I thought I would make a thread about it. Its the Lee four hole turret press. It came in a handy dandy kit and Ive added a few things as well like calipers, a bullet puller, RCBS check weights, .223 reloading dies, and some components. I also built the bench for it myself out of spare wood. Which I think is also pretty handy dandy of myself . Also I HIGHLY recommend getting "The ABC's of Reloading" and reading it as it really helped out getting the process straight in my head (Thanks to zombieapocalypsegame for that one.) Right now Im setup for reloading .223 but I want to expand to .45 ACP next.

[jrswanson1]

Do you have a part number for that die that the powder measure goes into for .223? I don't have this problem with Lee's pistol dies, but I got nothing with the .223 dies. Thanks.

Jim

[Spamity Calamity]

Do you have a part number for that die that the powder measure goes into for .223? I don't have this problem with Lee's pistol dies, but I got nothing with the .223 dies. Thanks.

Jim

I can look on the documentation and see if it's in there. Are you talking about the part that the powder measure screws into on top of the press or the little yellow powder dipper in the reloading die box?

[jrswanson1]

Do you have a part number for that die that the powder measure goes into for .223? I don't have this problem with Lee's pistol dies, but I got nothing with the .223 dies. Thanks.

Jim

I can look on the documentation and see if it's in there. Are you talking about the part that the powder measure screws into on top of the press or the little yellow powder dipper in the reloading die box?

The part that the powder measure screws into. I have the whole set of dippers already. Thanks.

Jim

[Spamity Calamity]

Do you have a part number for that die that the powder measure goes into for .223? I don't have this problem with Lee's pistol dies, but I got nothing with the .223 dies. Thanks.

Jim

I can look on the documentation and see if it's in there. Are you talking about the part that the powder measure screws into on top of the press or the little yellow powder dipper in the reloading die box?

The part that the powder measure screws into. I have the whole set of dippers already. Thanks.

Jim

Oh okay well Ive got the Rifle Charging Die #90194
http://leeprecision.com/xcart/Rifle-Charging-Die.html

And screwed on top of that is an Auto Disk Riser #90041
http://leeprecision.com/xcart/AUTO-DISK-RISER.html
It raises the powder measure up higher so you can use the Lee Safety Prime. (Which I still have yet to buy.)

Also it looks like I am going to have to buy more stuff before I can reload for .223. For IMR 3031 powder I need 23.1 grains to start. But the auto disks cannot do that capacity. So I either have to

A: Buy the auto disk double kit http://www.midwayusa.com/product/870920 ... e-disk-kit

or

B: Buy the upgrade kit and use the adjustable charge bar. http://www.midwayusa.com/product/155227 ... update-kit

Either way I was hoping to knock out a few rounds before I left town for the holidays but it doesnt look to be the case. Oh well no biggee. Ive drug my feet this long getting into reloading a few more weeks isnt going to change anything.

[zombieapocalypsegame]

Very cool, Spamity. Definitely let me know what you decide on the .223 and .45 as you go along. I'm trying to find a house to rent at the moment, and once that's done, I'll be ready to dive into reloading.

[BigRix]

You can also double stroke the charging die. It works if you don't drop the handle far enough to move the tool head to the next station. I would definitely weigh those charges to double check but it should get you loading until you get the double disk kit.

Just don't let the guys call you "Two Pump Chump"

[cssims]

Timely thread. I just bought the Lee Classic Turret press as a kit from Cabelas. I bought a 9mm die set and received 3 others as a Christmas gift. (308, 30-30, & .223.) I'm waiting on the kit to come in as it was back ordered until 12/25/11. The only other thing I'm waiting on are 3 4 hole turrets and 3 rifle powder dies for the above. (Also Christmas gifts. They were ordered from Midway as the 4 hole turret is around 8.99 each.)

I went to the local Bass Pro Shop and loaded up on powder, primers, bullets, & rifle brass, plus the Lymans 49th edition handbook. (Had already bought the 8th ed. Hornady and the Lee book comes with the press kit. Bought the ABC's of Reloading first.)

My main reason for getting into this is eventually I'm getting a .30 cal can and a Ruger Gunsite Scout rifle. I'm going to be loading .308 subsonics, but why not do the rest if I can save some dough too.

[jrswanson1]

Oh okay well Ive got the Rifle Charging Die #90194
http://leeprecision.com/xcart/Rifle-Charging-Die.html

And screwed on top of that is an Auto Disk Riser #90041
http://leeprecision.com/xcart/AUTO-DISK-RISER.html
It raises the powder measure up higher so you can use the Lee Safety Prime. (Which I still have yet to buy.)

Thanks! I couldn't figure out the name to look it up.

Also it looks like I am going to have to buy more stuff before I can reload for .223. For IMR 3031 powder I need 23.1 grains to start. But the auto disks cannot do that capacity. So I either have to

A: Buy the auto disk double kit http://www.midwayusa.com/product/870920 ... e-disk-kit

or

B: Buy the upgrade kit and use the adjustable charge bar. http://www.midwayusa.com/product/155227 ... update-kit

Either way I was hoping to knock out a few rounds before I left town for the holidays but it doesnt look to be the case. Oh well no biggee. Ive drug my feet this long getting into reloading a few more weeks isnt going to change anything.

That's one of the problems with their Autodisk. It's great for bulk reloading, but to get exactly the right charge, you need a different powder thrower. Does the Autodisk have anything in the middle, ie less than max but more than minimum?

Jim

[Spamity Calamity]

Very cool, Spamity. Definitely let me know what you decide on the .223 and .45 as you go along. I'm trying to find a house to rent at the moment, and once that's done, I'll be ready to dive into reloading.

Theres a buuuunch of houses for rent in our neighborhood. I dont know what the prices are. Just sayin .

You can also double stroke the charging die. It works if you don't drop the handle far enough to move the tool head to the next station. I would definitely weigh those charges to double check but it should get you loading until you get the double disk kit.

Just don't let the guys call you "Two Pump Chump"

Man I didnt even think about that! The auto disk formula chart calls for two .88 disks so you I could just double stroke it. Brilliant!

Timely thread. I just bought the Lee Classic Turret press as a kit from Cabelas. I bought a 9mm die set and received 3 others as a Christmas gift. (308, 30-30, & .223.) I'm waiting on the kit to come in as it was back ordered until 12/25/11. The only other thing I'm waiting on are 3 4 hole turrets and 3 rifle powder dies for the above. (Also Christmas gifts. They were ordered from Midway as the 4 hole turret is around 8.99 each.)

An excellent idea. I was looking at that turret and wondering if you could just get another and leave the dies set up in it for that caliber. Also Brilliant!

That's one of the problems with their Autodisk. It's great for bulk reloading, but to get exactly the right charge, you need a different powder thrower. Does the Autodisk have anything in the middle, ie less than max but more than minimum?

Jim

Yeah Im interested in bulk reloading right now. Just for making some economical ammunition that I can go plinking with at the range. The largest diameter hole the auto disk comes up to is 1.56 if I remember and I need 1.76 to get 23 grains of IMR 3031 which is the minimum load for a 55 gr fmjbt.

[zombieapocalypsegame]

So are we going to see a photo of your reloader setup in action? I see you have it posed nicely for the camera beauty shot, but that's gotta be a pain to work like that.

ZAG

[cssims]

Spamity have you done any reloading yet?

So far I've only loaded and run about 40'ish rounds of 9MM. They all went bang, in a good way.

One thing you are going to find, if you haven't yet, is that the Lee powder disk measurements are off.

For me specifically I'm using Bullseye and the load data I've come across in different places are all different of course. For instance, for 115grn, Hornady recommends a starting load of 3.9 grns. Well, according to Lee, you should be using 4.1 grns and the .43 setting on the disk. Well, .43 gets me 3.8 grns and .46 gives me 4.1. Reloading is easy, but somewhat of a mystery you have to unravel.

I bought a Lyman 1200 tumbler a short time ago. Finally broke it out and ran about 150 9mm cases and 50+ .223 cases in it.

Another thing I've come to learn is that Sellier & Bellot depriming sucks & PMC .223 brass is so easy to deprime. Next up loading up some .223 from new Winchester brass and a few of the PMC .223 once fired brass out of my rifle.

[Shot Placement]

My $0.02.

First thing you will need to do is put another piece of plywood on top of that particle board. The particle wont hold up to the stresses of loading, and the oil needed to lube the press as it does run down over time. Drops build up to messes if you load enough. I have a home made 2x4 bench and the press is bolted to a 1/4 slab of metal drilled and taped, then bolted to the bench. You want as little flexing as poss.

If you are loading 223, I would recommend H335 for a powder. It meters like a dream and is very clean burning even on very low charges. Yes, S&B brass is not worth the time. At least for me and I just toss them in the brass recycle bucket when sorting. The win brass, ahh so so. hornady brass is excellent.

Be patient when working a load up. It sux when you have 100 rounds of a load that doesnt shoot well in your firearm, but you got to excited to not load one day/night. Work up 10 shots of each load, go to the range and find the one that works best. Trust me, it will save you time in the long run.