Smurff Reloading Gear

[asmurff]

Two Lee Pro 1000 progressive presses one set up for .45acp the other for .223. While they may have some limitations, I think they are great starter presses, I may upgrade at some later date. I have the dies and shell plates for 9mm and .380 also, with enough die plates to keep them set up for quick changes. Once you get the dies adjusted you can turn out ammo pretty fine. I don't use the bullet feed, never could get it to work properly.

Lee Breechlock Challenger, I bought it when I got my Remington 700 in .308. I also use it for  .223 also when I'm not going to reload a bunch of them.

Lee Perfect Powder Measure. Bit of a learning curve and you have to do math  :-[. You can dial in a very accurate powder measure with a little practice and it to throws consist charges.

Lee Ergo-Prime. The weakness to the Pro 1000s is the primer feed on them which causes most of the problems with them. I generally use this method instead, it may add an extra preparation step, but it saves a lot of frustration.

Lee Bench Plate. If you need to switch presses on your bench this is a great item. I can slide both Pro 1000s, the Breechlock Challenger, the Prefect powder Measure, and I made my own base plate to fit it for the MEC 600 Jr. and have drawn the template for on to uses with the RCBS Trim Pro. To change out the presses all I have to do is loosen and tighten 4 screws.

RCBS Trim Mate Case Prep Center, excellent piece of equipment for prepping cases does it all except trim. Combined with the RCBS Trim Pro, you have about all you need for case prep except for a brass cleaner. I have the following accessories on mine; inside chamfering tool, outside deburring tool, primer pocket brushes, case neck brushes, small military crimp remover. The whole thing certainly saves time and energy. The trim pro could be easier to adjust, but after it is set you just go to town. If you get the power drive adapter to fit your drill you can do your trimming very quickly.

I use a Franklin Arsenal vibrating cleaner which works well, best if you can leave it a different room from where you are as it is a bit loud. I keep mine in the garage, put the brass in and come back inside set a timer to go out empty it.

MEC 600 Jr Mark 5 for shotgun reloading. Fairly straight forward, easy to learn once you understand all the shotshell jargon. For case prep I have a Power Hull Skiver, which I put into the drill press and use with a hull vise. I have a roll crimp tool which I also put into the drill press for when I'm reloading slugs all of these came from Ballistic Product Inc. I also use a MEC shell stacker to speed up boxing the completed shells into 25 round cardboard boxes.

Misc Tools

Franklin Arsenal digital scale which works well without being complicated.

RCBS bullet puller

MEC powder funnel, which fits nicely over most 1# powder containers as well as the powder and shot container on the MEC shotshell reloader.

Various wrenches, allen wrenches, multi-tip screw driver, box cutter and safety glasses.

I think these are all pretty good picks for someone just starting out and on a budget.