Natchez has a rock chucker kit in stock. Add dies and your ready to go.

Several good points already made and your equipment will be easier to find right now as opposed to components (powder, bullets, primers).
Dillon Precision makes good quality equipment and they back most everything up with great warranties and customer service. Dillon is open for business now but operates on the same week +/- delay as most places.

I have ran a Dillon RL550 along with a RCBS Rockchucker hard for over 20 years without an issue. Most dies are decent, I think Redding’s are the best but I also use a lot of RCBS dies. Ditto on case lubing, especially with the RCBS dies - learning how to remove a stuck case will probably be part of your education at some point. Once you’re stocked up reloading is a good way to go.

Hey, I'm in better shape than I thought (not).




Starting digging through some of Dad's old residual loading stuff and among other things, found a perfectly good Lyman Reloading Manual, circa 1970. Also found the Texan powder scale, set of Lee powder measures, partial remains of a box of Hodgdon large rifle primers and some 50 year old IMR powder that I suspect ought to be burnt.

Also found the shot and powder charge bushings sheet for a Texan shot shell reloader. Ought to scan that and put it into the public domain. Those Texans would be useless without that and they just printed it out on a piece of copy paper.

A guy could probably sell laminated reprints of those on ebay.

Anything related to reloading right now. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Started out with a rcbs rock chukar kit, and added supplies from there. I’ve been messing with reloading for about 12 years, really enjoy it. Satisfying, and really tightens your groups. Saving money??...well , you’ll spend a bunch lol. A charge master is a good investment, I use one and every now and then check the loads on a beam. Good luck, plenty of info available. Just ask

John

depends upon how tight money is for you, and how much your time is worth. I stopped single station loading decades ago, but I only load 223 and 9mm. They want WAY too much money for single station stuff, 150 rds per hour is very slow production (to me). 400 rds per hour is about as slow as I'll accept. Look for a used press, ideally on craigslist, cause the shipping weight will kill you. Beware of that if you buy on Ebay or any gun forum. I have never had a problem with Lee Precsion dies, and they have some neat features, like a decapping pin with a collet, so that you dont break the pin when you encounter a Berdan-primed case.

Update:

Thanks to a little help from my friends, plus what I already had.........I have managed to accumulate just about everything I need for the short run, except a couple pounds of fresh powder and one caliber of a specific bullet I'm looking for. Long run, waiting for "normal" times when powder, primers and bullets are on the retail shelf and will then stock up for life. All of it below acquired at normal retail price or less.

The ensemble:

Lyman 50th Manual
Lee Challenger Press (good used)
3 Sets of full length Dies.....two new for normal retail prices, plus one used off ebay....was supposed to be RCBS, but turned out to be lightly used Bonanza in an RCBS box.
Texan Powder Scale
Lee Powder Measure (plus set of Lee Powder scoops)
Redding powder trickler
3 sets Lee Case length trimmers
Lee Hand Primer tool
Dry Tumbler (works great)
Case and neck lube.....with neck brushes (Dad's old Bonanza brush set now makes sense)
Loading blocks, boxes and labels
Hornady headspace gauge kit
Dial Calipers (to replace my old vernier calipers, which I can no longer read with current eyeballs)

Looks like bullets are starting to show up, same with powder and LR primers (both still 3X retail on GB).....but sagging lower. Hopefully, the dry creek bed of consumable components on retail shelves has started to see a trickle.....which hopefully will turn into a modest flow, followed by a flood. I'm within driving distance to both Graf locations, plus Midway for local pickup......so hope to avoid the excessive shipping costs.

On the press and dies, as to my original question as to what would be a flagship brand, another one not mentioned was Forster and their precursor Bonanza. Long term, if I get another press, will be looking for one of those. Just watched an old used Bonanza sell on ebay for around $275. Forsters are still out of sight, but I've got time on my side for one of those.

BTW.......400 rounds per hour? I've got a 6mm Rem that probably hasn't had that much through it in 40 years. So why reload? Factory ammo for that has all but dried up. But with dies and brass, that piece can now stay viable for the long haul. So in my mind, low volume is OK.....far better than no volume.

Update: First reloads for my dad's old 270. Groups like this shot at 100 yards would make some on here throw up, but I'm thinking a deer standing there would be in big trouble. Going forward, hope to improve accuracy to half that.....but for a start, not that bad.



Starting from nearly zip back in Feb, have now found enough powder, bullets and primers to keep 5 rifles shooting for years to come. To those contemplating reloading, it is doable as far as finding it all.....and like ammo, components are coming back in stock.

Didn't intend to start with mostly LEE equipment, but as time goes on, am finding it one of the best choices for an entry level guy wanting to load ammo that goes BANG. It works.....all of it, and works remarkably well.

Shoot a group with some factory ammo. If its significantly better work om your load. If it is not, and you have a wood stocked rifle you may have bedding problems. Accuglass from Brownells is good stuff.

I started with a lee anniversary kit from bass pro that cost $79 at the time . I loaded thousand of rounds on it for years before the linkage broke. Dies, primers,brass, bullets and I was off. My first loads were soft point 130gr Speer, 4831, and cci br2. Probably rem brass. My first loaded were also for 270 and after 4 out if 5 of that first group was in3/8" I was hooked. To bad the rest of my groups that day were bigger but still better than the factory rem I had been buying.

4831 is great powder for 270 if you can find it. And Lee equipment works great. I loaded very accurate ammo on it

As for little things ,if you wanna make really good ammo get a comparator set. One for measuring the bullet ogive and the other for measuring your shoulder bump


Had made my reloading so much easier

Good advice from Wolfie. Those Hornady tools (or their equivalent) are essential for maximizing the potential of your ammo.

I like Hornady dies best for quality and cost. Nothing wrong with RCBS or Redding either. Most of my dies are RCBS but what I have bought in the last few years has been Hornady when available. RCBS dies are the same now as 30 years ago. Hornady has made improvements. Having a micrometer adjust on your seating die is a nice feature but is expensive to buy for each caliber if you own several (or many), and that is your only choice with all the die mfgs except Hornady. With Hornady you can buy a single micrometer adjust that works with every Hornday seating die.

After a few years of reloading on a single stage press I wanted a way to streamline the process. I didn't want the complications of set up. With progressive presses changing calibers means going through a huge set up to get running. I opted for a turret press. Its single stage but my RCBS turret press allows me to keep everything set up, change out the turret and shell holder and I'm sizing brass. I still have my old single stage set up but I use it for bullet pulling. The turret holds six dies. If you have two die sets thats six calibers per turret.

Have recently come to realize there is a difference between "reloading" and "hand loading". I"d be a reloader. I got back into it after a nearly 40 year break to assure a never ending supply of ammo. Or at least the ability to run out my clock, and have done that. We were down to about 5 rounds total for that gun, and haven't seen any factory for it in well over a year. It will show up eventually, but for me, writing was on the wall. Guns are not going away, but if you don't have ammo for them, they are just expensive clubs to wave around. BTW, talked to a gun shop the other day and they said they have customers who may end up skipping deer season this year for lack of ammo. They don't have it and can't get it. That can turn into permanent some day and when it does, it will be too late to do anything about it. The ability to reload solves that.

But as for reloading, I"m a low volume guy, wanting to produce at least factory grade or better. But this is mostly for hunting, so not going to be chasing my tail to get it down to one hole groups. Gun what printed that target has shot a lot of deer and coyotes over past 50 years, and doubt any of the deer have been over 150 yards. Most under 100. I once shot a goose flying with it.

Having said that about need for accuracy, I'm finding this to be a fun little hobby, and one of my goals is to get all these guns down to 1 MOA or less. And believe all are capable of it if the shooter is.

As for these loads, this was my first attempt at loading for the 270. Those were shot with 55 grains of H4831 under 130 gr Hornady Interlocks. That was middle of the road load in Lyman, but later found to be below(?) starting load in Hodgdon and Lee load data. Velocity was running around 2,775 fps.

With powder in short supply, I was buying what I could get and one of those was an obscure IMR 4955. For that one, I tried loading some 10 shot test ladders, increasing in 0.2 grain increments. Got a good group from all 10 of those.....8 of 10 inside an inch, picked a load, loaded 5 more just like and and proceeded to shoot a 4 inch group that looked like a 410 buckshot load. (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman)??? Both frustrating and fun.

Started out with a mix of RCBS, Hornady and LEE dies, but my preference is running to the LEE dies. Once set, with the breech lock system, changing dies out is pretty easy. For my use, a single stage press is not an issue or a problem.

BTW, that guns is a 50 year old Remington with wood stock. So it may well benefit from some tweaks. But like many, it gets pulled out, a couple shots fired to check scope, couple more at deer, then gets cleaned and put away for another year. Once factory ammo comes back, will certainly run a side by side test with it. Did that with another gun in the group and found out all kinds of fun stuff. One box of Federal match ammo shot under an inch. A box of Federal hunting ammo with Sierra Game Kings shot 3 inch groups, same gun, same day, same shooter. Lot of moving parts to account for.

For the casual handloader/reloader I’m still recommending an ribs turret press. Holds six dies and one nut changes the turret. Easy and saves time. Get consistent results with minimal setup time.

I like RCBS hardware and dies, and I like Redding dies. There are two Lee products I use. I like their hand primer seating tool and I like their white past case lube.

A press for case preparation and another case for bullet seating are convenient.

Better?

55.0 gr IMR 4350 under 130 gr Hornady Interlock.

And yes, that is at 100 yards.

that should kill deer

good enough to put food on the table