Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

I'm thinking of getting started re loading. Any good places to get kits? Looking for a RCBS kit preferably at a cheap price and hate to wait for it to come if I order it.

-1 for impatience while reloading...

That said I'd shop 'em online unless there was a local business I wanted to support.

Midway
Midsouth
Cabela's
Natchez
Graf's

Rick, we need a reloader guy smiley...

You can get a Lee loader kit at Midway USA or Cabelas for around $100 plus shipping. It has everything you need except dies. Those will run you around another $30 and I highly recommend you get carbide. Lots of reloaders here. Good luck...

It would help if we knew were in Virginia you were. There are areas that have better/worse access to local dealers that stock reloading supplies.

RCBS from Midway. It'll take a couple of days to get to you. In the meantime while your'e waiting, buy a good reloading manual and read it cover to cover a few times. That way you'll get a basic understanding of reloading and won't blow up a gun and or yourself. One thing to remember when reloading is in the manuals when they say Maximum they have a reason for it.

Doesn't the RCBS kit come with a Speer manual? Is there any reason to get another one? The reason I was kind of wanting it now was I have the next few days free so thought it would be a good time to read up on the manual.

If I remember correctly when I bought my RCBS kit back in the early '80's it did come with a Speer manual. Load data will vary from manual to manual,all of them will do the job but I kind'a like the Sierra manuals.

VAman wrote:Doesn't the RCBS kit come with a Speer manual? Is there any reason to get another one? The reason I was kind of wanting it now was I have the next few days free so thought it would be a good time to read up on the manual.

Howdy,

'tis a good idea to have several manuals. While you'll find some duplication of load data, esp. for popular loads, having multiple sources increases the chances that you will find a load that matches the combination of components that you have on hand (or can locate).

Regards,

George

Knowing where to get supplies right now is indeed a must. Primers are somewhat hard to find. Powder a little easier. Brass is easy to make...and bullets can get expensive. I'd start gathering primers now if you plan to do any serious reloading. Make sure you get the right ones for the caliber you're planning to reload...

If you're open to other options, you might look at the Lee's Classic Turret kit from Cabela. I got the kit for Xmas, for under $200 has practically everything you need to get started but the dies and the the components. So far, I've really enjoyed mine.

sure i can help out with that,
LEE has some really good stuff, i have the lee load master and it rocks!!!!! not only do i sell there stuff but i have been reloading with them for 6 years now and everytime i broke something they have sent me a new one rite when i told them on the phone, sent in broken parts and got sent new ones. Lee is like a ford and dillen is like an esclade. if they both get you from point a to b then who gives a rip!!!!! it does the job. why pay a crap load of cash for what? looks and fancy crap.......
i can pump out 1000 rds of hand gun in an HR with that load master. i am a dealer for them if you want anything or ADVICE on there stuff let me know. more than willing to help out.

and also,
We have an order about to be placed for import. We will be importing PRIMERS this time. If you so wish to get in on this pre order we will supply to you. Depending on what it is you would want as for primers we could sell up to 16 million a load. As for price, we can do this for you; small primers are $26.25 a 1000. If you place an order of 20K or more with our order, we will drop that price to $26.00 even. We can get you small hand gun, large hand gun, small hand gun Mag, large hand gun Mag, small rifle, large rifle, small rifle Mag, and large rifle Mag. If you would like them as well please ask for pricing if you are interested to buy in on an order, they are Russian primers. I hear they are better than Winchester. Our order is already accounted for so we will not be able to sell you any primers once our load arrives because they are already sold.

It will be around a 3 week lead time on shipping till it arrives in port Norfolk where we have our main warehouse. Once we submit our request to the factory we will know our fill time which is not very long at all. Then they will provide us our bill, payment will be sent and then move onto shipping.

Also, we can import ammo as well, if you are wanting ammo, we have 102,000,000 rounds available to import as of right now. If interested in that ask as well. 9mm steal case is selling for $14.74 box of 50 we also have available 223, 308, 7.62x39, 30-06

Regards,

John C. Davison
President
Guns@DavisonsDiscountFirearms.com
Davisons Discount Firearms Inc. & Imports
5714 Curlew Dr. Suite D
Norfolk, VA 23502
Phone: (585)-330-8466
Web: http://DavisonsDiscountFirearms.com

VAman wrote:I'm thinking of getting started re loading. Any good places to get kits? Looking for a RCBS kit preferably at a cheap price and hate to wait for it to come if I order it.

Not knowing your general location, this is a hard question to answer. If your in NOVA, check out Guns and Ammo Warehouse in Manassas (Rt28/234) and Dawson's Small Arms of the World in Woodbridge (Rt1). Lots of shops carry reloading components, but these two usually carry a little more equipment and kits than most.

Of course if your down by Richmond check out Greentop and the Gander Mountain there.

VAman wrote:Doesn't the RCBS kit come with a Speer manual? Is there any reason to get another one? The reason I was kind of wanting it now was I have the next few days free so thought it would be a good time to read up on the manual.

I believe it does, but get several manuals. I always recommend that you get a generic (like Lee's) and at least one from your powder and bullet manufacturer. Each company has different levels of acceptable risk and obviously tested different lots. At times you will see lots of overlap between the books, but that is fine. Pay attention to what brass their using; there are capacity differences, which changes the burn rate. Don't use old reloading manuals, even if the powder has the same name, burn rates have changed. If your loading for a semi-auto, make sure you get semi-auto safe load (Hornady's book is good for this, "service rifle").

Generally, a few books will do fine as long as you aren't pushing the limits. Most of the "max" loads aren't really max according to SAAMI pressure limits. That being said, don't exceed them unless you really know what you are doing! Most max loads in the books are safe to shoot anywhere and under any (reasonable) conditions. If you are pushing the limits that may no longer be true. Get QuickLoad if you are going beyond the books.

I have also been slowly starting to get in to this world of reloading. I bought a Lee kit from Canbelas around X-mas last year. I started reloading some .25 caliber auto bullets first, and lets just say my next purchase was a bullet puller for all my mistakes! LOL... I have recently bought .38 Special bullets and brass. I need primers, The manual says small pistol primers, but the .25 cal were small pistol primers and they look smaller than the spent primers in the .38 cases, so I am confused! LOL Are there different size small pistol primers?

9MMDerringer wrote:I have also been slowly starting to get in to this world of reloading. I bought a Lee kit from Canbelas around X-mas last year. I started reloading some .25 caliber auto bullets first, and lets just say my next purchase was a bullet puller for all my mistakes! LOL... I have recently bought .38 Special bullets and brass. I need primers, The manual says small pistol primers, but the .25 cal were small pistol primers and they look smaller than the spent primers in the .38 cases, so I am confused! LOL Are there different size small pistol primers?

A bullet puller is a must.

Pics? I just checked Hornady's book and 38 Special uses small pistol primers (when reloading always double check everything no matter how well you think you know the info). I have no experience with 25auto, but it is suppose to us small pistol too.

lordsnavy wrote:sure i can help out with that,
LEE has some really good stuff, i have the lee load master and it rocks!!!!! not only do i sell there stuff but i have been reloading with them for 6 years now and everytime i broke something they have sent me a new one rite when i told them on the phone, sent in broken parts and got sent new ones. Lee is like a ford and dillen is like an esclade. if they both get you from point a to b then who gives a rip!!!!! it does the job. why pay a crap load of cash for what? looks and fancy crap.......
i can pump out 1000 rds of hand gun in an HR with that load master. i am a dealer for them if you want anything or ADVICE on there stuff let me know. more than willing to help out.

and also,
We have an order about to be placed for import. We will be importing PRIMERS this time. If you so wish to get in on this pre order we will supply to you. Depending on what it is you would want as for primers we could sell up to 16 million a load. As for price, we can do this for you; small primers are $26.25 a 1000. If you place an order of 20K or more with our order, we will drop that price to $26.00 even. We can get you small hand gun, large hand gun, small hand gun Mag, large hand gun Mag, small rifle, large rifle, small rifle Mag, and large rifle Mag. If you would like them as well please ask for pricing if you are interested to buy in on an order, they are Russian primers. I hear they are better than Winchester. Our order is already accounted for so we will not be able to sell you any primers once our load arrives because they are already sold.

It will be around a 3 week lead time on shipping till it arrives in port Norfolk where we have our main warehouse. Once we submit our request to the factory we will know our fill time which is not very long at all. Then they will provide us our bill, payment will be sent and then move onto shipping.

Also, we can import ammo as well, if you are wanting ammo, we have 102,000,000 rounds available to import as of right now. If interested in that ask as well. 9mm steal case is selling for $14.74 box of 50 we also have available 223, 308, 7.62x39, 30-06

Regards,

John C. Davison
President
Guns@DavisonsDiscountFirearms.com
Davisons Discount Firearms Inc. & Imports
5714 Curlew Dr. Suite D
Norfolk, VA 23502
Phone: (585)-330-8466
Web: http://DavisonsDiscountFirearms.com

I've heard good things about the Russian primers. Aren't the benchrest guys using them whenever possible?

If it hasn't already been mentioned....I heard that Greentop carries RCBS reloading stuff and has a decent supply.

VAman wrote:I'm thinking of getting started re loading. Any good places to get kits? Looking for a RCBS kit preferably at a cheap price and hate to wait for it to come if I order it.

I got my Rockchucker from Cabelas for XMas since I knew what model I wanted to start (actually start again) reloading. Since then I've been stocking up on components from the gunshows and other stores as I get the funds or find sales. For powder and primers I pool my money with a buddy and place orders from places like PowderValley, Grafs, Cabelas or such to offset the hazmat fees. Just got a MEC 600jr for 20g shotshells again and have found decent prices on some components.

For brass/hulls I tend to scavage what I can from the range

For cast bullets check out MissouriBullet http://www.missouribullet.com/ (they have a coupon over on TheHighRoad) and I can say they are a good company with a modestly priced product with outstanding customer service and fast shipping! There are other good companies out there (and a few not so good ones) so read up on the reloading forums.

YES, the russian primers are very good, from what i have been told form the older guys is that they like them better than winchester, and that has all i have ever been getting was winchester, i might switch my self. i will run a load of 1000 and see for my self on my own stuff.
let me know if you guys want any, i plan to place my order here by the end of the week.
once i get my container of primers all 8,000,000 will be sold in a few days. so if anyone wants to buy some i will tack it onto my order.