. There is a possibility that I may reload some .454 Casull and possibly. 41mag. I am most likely going to be going with a single stage press. I am open to all suggestions and recommendations.
A couple of recommendations.
First, find a locally taught NRA Metallic Cartridge Reloading course. When taught by an experienced reloading instructor, or team of reloading instructors the materials and background can be very helpful - and especially before you go out and buy equipment. It will save you more than the cost of the course, and help you become a much safer reloader.
Next, start with reloading some straight wall pistol cartridges first. Pick .45acp if you have this caliber pistol because they are lower pressure. Get down your process and learn your equipment on a caliber that you can become comfortable with first. Then add the more challenging rifle caliber cartridges and larger caliber revolver cartridges.
A single stage press is much better to start out on. You'll develop a reliable process, and spend less initially on the equipment.
As you study the course, you'll learn that the reloading manuals are NOT recipe books. They are documentation of measured experiments that the product manufactures perform under controlled conditions. That means that you don't vary from them unless you plan on performing your own experiments. If you do that, you should also have the proper measuring equipment - which is relatively expensive. Instrumented chambers and computer based pressure measuring and recording equipment. It's much easier to follow the manuals and stay safely within what they have already documented.
That is why there are multiple manuals. The manufacturers tend to only experiment with what they sell. Powder manufacturers publish manuals on their own powder using multiple manufacturer's bullets. Bullet manufacturers publish manuals using multiple powder manufacturer's powders, etc...
I personally prefer reloading equipment from Lyman and Hornady. RCBS is OK and I have some LEE.
You can also build some things for yourself...
Here's something I built for my progressive press to count completed cartridges:
And a LED light I added to illuminate the powder level in my progressive press:
First, find a locally taught NRA Metallic Cartridge Reloading course. When taught by an experienced reloading instructor, or team of reloading instructors the materials and background can be very helpful - and especially before you go out and buy equipment. It will save you more than the cost of the course, and help you become a much safer reloader.
Next, start with reloading some straight wall pistol cartridges first. Pick .45acp if you have this caliber pistol because they are lower pressure. Get down your process and learn your equipment on a caliber that you can become comfortable with first. Then add the more challenging rifle caliber cartridges and larger caliber revolver cartridges.
A single stage press is much better to start out on. You'll develop a reliable process, and spend less initially on the equipment.
As you study the course, you'll learn that the reloading manuals are NOT recipe books. They are documentation of measured experiments that the product manufactures perform under controlled conditions. That means that you don't vary from them unless you plan on performing your own experiments. If you do that, you should also have the proper measuring equipment - which is relatively expensive. Instrumented chambers and computer based pressure measuring and recording equipment. It's much easier to follow the manuals and stay safely within what they have already documented.
That is why there are multiple manuals. The manufacturers tend to only experiment with what they sell. Powder manufacturers publish manuals on their own powder using multiple manufacturer's bullets. Bullet manufacturers publish manuals using multiple powder manufacturer's powders, etc...
I personally prefer reloading equipment from Lyman and Hornady. RCBS is OK and I have some LEE.
You can also build some things for yourself...
Here's something I built for my progressive press to count completed cartridges:
And a LED light I added to illuminate the powder level in my progressive press:
