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gleninjersey

I'VE OFFICIALLY BEGUN ROAD TO BEING A RELOADER!

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Went in to Garden State Armory in Warren to pick up some powder and primers in anticipation of ordering press online.  When I told them I was going to order online they said, "Let's see what we can do for you."  They made me a very reasonable offer and I ordered through them.  

 

They then proceeded to spend at least 30 minutes with me going through helping me pick out powder, primers, accessories, etc that I will be needing.  Very helpful, very knowledgeable group of guys.  I highly recommend them if your in the area.

 

The press is a Hornady Lock n' Load progressive press.  It should be here later next week.

 

Very much looking forward to learning to make my own ammo.  Not worrying about fluctuations in the market (as long as I have components on hand) and being able to "dial in" my ammo to how I shoot are the main reasons I want to reload (especially the first reason).

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Welcome to the "smart" side.  Customizing ammo to a sporting arm and shooter needs gives you so much advantage over factory ammo.  Start slow take you time and you'll do fine.  Not sure about something, STOP, ASK, Understand and Proceed.  There are no second chances so leave stupidity at the door.  I have a LNL and well as an old Pro-Jector, works great for me. CS at Hornady is top notch. Got questions, ask away.  Been loading on Hornady equipment since the 80s,

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Just an fyi. A lot of us uspsa dudes been using ibejiheads polymer coated bullet heads with great success. The owner, Alex, will usually deliver the heads in CJ and OB since he usually shoots the uspsa matches there. Www.ibejiheads.com if you want to give him a try. I personally have shot about 16K of it in my pistols and I thinks its awesome. Plus if he delivers, I believe he removes the shipping cost from the total. He can help with loads too.

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Woo nice.  Do you have all of the components?  What are you going to be loading?

Pretty much.  Don't have a tumbler yet and purchasing a used scale from a forum member.  Going to see if I can find a tumblr one on sale or see if someone is selling one used online.  Any recommendations?

 

I've wanted to reload for some time but the upfront costs were steep and family was always tight on cash.  We've finally gotten to a point where we can afford it.  Plus when I was ordering ammo it was almost always $200-$300 each time.  Do that even just 2-3 times a year and that's pretty much your upfront costs to load your own!  

 

I'm starting going to be starting out with 38 special to feed my GP100.

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Welcome to the "smart" side.  Customizing ammo to a sporting arm and shooter needs gives you so much advantage over factory ammo.  Start slow take you time and you'll do fine.  Not sure about something, STOP, ASK, Understand and Proceed.  There are no second chances so leave stupidity at the door.  I have a LNL and well as an old Pro-Jector, works great for me. CS at Hornady is top notch. Got questions, ask away.  Been loading on Hornady equipment since the 80s,

 

Thanks T Bill.  I'm sure I'll have questions.  I intend to start slow and be VERY careful.  I'll be reading the Hornady book and watching lots of "how to" videos.  Starting with 38 special to run through my GP100.  As I learn and become more comfortable I'll move on to semi-auto calibers eventually.  Once really comfortable will try 223/5.56.

 

Just an fyi. A lot of us uspsa dudes been using ibejiheads polymer coated bullet heads with great success. The owner, Alex, will usually deliver the heads in CJ and OB since he usually shoots the uspsa matches there. Www.ibejiheads.com if you want to give him a try. I personally have shot about 16K of it in my pistols and I thinks its awesome. Plus if he delivers, I believe he removes the shipping cost from the total. He can help with loads too.

 

Thanks, I"ll check them out.

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Going to see if I can find a tumblr one on sale or see if someone is selling one used online.  Any recommendations?

 

 

I just started reloading too - I'm doing 9mm and .40 S&W for now. I picked up a Frankford Arsenal Quick-n-EZ dry tumbler kit (dry media tumbler plus a sifter-n-bucket assembly) off Amazon for about $65 that I've used a few times now and I'm pretty happy with it FWIW.

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Pretty much.  Don't have a tumbler yet and purchasing a used scale from a forum member.  Going to see if I can find a tumblr one on sale or see if someone is selling one used online.  Any recommendations?

 

Cabelas has a kit that has all you need, including the media and case polish.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/shooting/reloading/case-cleaning%7C/pc/104792580/c/104761080/sc/104661180/cabela-s-model-400-vibratory-case-tumbler-kit/731769.uts

 

I also like using their media separator:

http://www.cabelas.com/product/shooting/reloading/case-cleaning%7C/pc/104792580/c/104761080/sc/104661180/cabela-s-rotary-brass-media-separator/2195139.uts

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Here's a wild idea.  After years of vibratory tumbling, I just moved to the "brite" side and made the move to wet tumbling.  Same amount of work or a little more, but the results are amazing.  I also got a used sonic cleaner that was being discarded from a shop that needed a bigger one.  Now, realizing your startup budget is tight and a Franklin Arsenal Wet Tumbler is north of a buck and a half, how about considering a Harbor Freight Sonic Tumbler 2.5 Litre one for like 60 bucks with one of their 20 off coupons.  YouTube for home solutions of brass cleaner, and another one for everything else.  That way you can use it to clean brass or change the solution to clean gun parts, dies. etc.  When time and cash allows move up to wet tumbling.  I know it would be a bunch of smaller batches for brass but you would benefit from sonic cleaning for other parts and brass would be much better than vibratory cleaning.  You just need to pick up a Lee decapping die for less than 15 bucks.

 

Don't forget Hornady's free bullet offer, You get like 500 free heads for buying a press.

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Pretty much.  Don't have a tumbler yet and purchasing a used scale from a forum member.  Going to see if I can find a tumblr one on sale or see if someone is selling one used online.  Any recommendations?

Harbor Freight.   http://www.harborfreight.com/5-lb-metal-vibrator-tumbler-67617.html +20% off  Mine still running 7 years later.

Lizard Bedding:  Ground Walnut Shells   Any pet store.

Nu Finish:  Walmart.

 

Makes em clean and shiny.

 

Second Krdshrks recommendation on the Cabela's seperator.

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Glenn -- where are you? -- Garden state armory is minutes from my home --  Being a reloader for a few decades I've never bought from GSA -- maybe their prices have changed but they used to be on the very high side with components -- You'll find it will be cheaper to buy in bulk and order or get in on group buys and split shipping and hazmat with a couple of others -- happens here on the forum quite often

 

Ibeji Heads are the best -- I've tried a lot of bullets -- Alex makes some good stuff and his customer service is second to no one

 

I have a Hornady LNL also -- along side of that on my bench is a dillon 650 and a rock chucker -- I use the hornady the most -- it's a great press

 

If you are close, I have a spare lyman turbo tumbler -- I won't sell it but you are welcome to borrow it for awhile, get started and decide for yourself that wet tumbling is just better for everything -- I will also offer up a few wet cleanings if you like -- bring me your de-primed brass and I'll run it thru my wet tumbler -- I can handle up to 18 pounds of brass at a time

 

I'm in middlesex borough -- Just down the hill from GSA

 

I'm out of time for now but next we should talk about priming your brass and how your going to do it...

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Hey Glenn,

 

Good to see you're getting into reloading. I'm currently at tumbling with a harbor freight rock tumbler and stainless steel media. It's not that expensive and gives you clean and shiny media in a short amount of time. I go to GSA also they usually have prefer and primers for a fair price.

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reloading is the best way to go and is really fun developing your loads,  I started about 35 years ago when I was in the army.  loaded .38 special the old fashioned way with a old tong tool,  not sure what brand but it is nickel plated.   ammo worked but was not as good as I make them now.  still have my set of tong tools with all my old lyman dies that fit in them.     started to advance to some of them new fangled progressive models and have always gone back to my faithful O frame RCBS making one at a time,   seem to spend more time trying to set up a progressive and clearing jams than actually loading.

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Does GSA actually stock reloading powders? Primers?  

 

Their website doesn't show this.

 

They usually have that stuff in stock. but it's been a while since I been there. Your best bet is to call ahead, Nice group out there.

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This past Thursday I reloaded my first handfull of 38 special.

BIG thank you to my friend Golf battery for stopping buy a few weeks ago to first help me get the press set up and then stopping by again this Thursday to help tune it in and then watch over me as I loaded my first few reloads.

I know it's been a long time since I first purchased the press but it's up and running now.  

I've watched 76Highboy's "Hornady LNL AP Press Hints & Tricks" playlists and will be doing some of his recommendations.

Thank you again to Golf battery.

Below is the link to 76Highboy's reloading You Tube channel:

76Highboy Reloading

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:D:D:D No problem Glenn.  Just did an icore match today at lprgc.  Now you gotta join us.  Its a revolver only discipline shooting match.  If you need anymore help just ask.  Ill be back at tier one about a month from now.  Youre kinda right on the way.  

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20 minutes ago, gleninjersey said:

This past Thursday I reloaded my first handfull of 38 special.

BIG thank you to my friend Golf battery for stopping buy a few weeks ago to first help me get the press set up and then stopping by again this Thursday to help tune it in and then watch over me as I loaded my first few reloads.

I know it's been a long time since I first purchased the press but it's up and running now.  

I've watched 76Highboy's "Hornady LNL AP Press Hints & Tricks" playlists and will be doing some of his recommendations.

Thank you again to Golf battery.

Below is the link to 76Highboy's reloading You Tube channel:

76Highboy Reloading

Did you shoot your first handloads? It doesn't count till you nervously pull the trigger on your first handloads hoping you still have those hands afterward :D

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6 minutes ago, cabalrayz said:

Did you shoot your first handloads? It doesn't count till you nervously pull the trigger on your first handloads hoping you still have those hands afterward :D

LOL.  No, I'll be the one doing that. 

It's funny, because that's EXACTLY what I was worried about when I built my AR.  Used my left hand to fire it the first time "just in case".  That was hundreds and hundreds of rounds ago.  Still have all my fingers!  :)

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Congrats on getting started. I started reloading with 38 special too. It’s a nice round that you can make anything from powder puff loads to screaming +p with a nice selection of powders and bullets to choose from. I am strongly of the opinion that 38 special is one of the most versatile rounds out there. 

@Golf battery Where is lprgc? The ICORE web site doesn’t show any clubs in NJ... Might be cool to check out a match...

Thanks

-Jim

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Lower providence rifle and gun club.   Media pa?   Icore has been around for a while. Based out of ca.  Figures with their gun laws.  Lprgc just got affiliated with icore last fall.  Due to the sucky winter weekend weather this was the third icore match they held.  20 or so revolver enthusiast participants.  Great time.  Any questions about it let me know.  Or. Pizza bob.  Hes a lot more knowledgeable on revolvers than i am.  I like stock stuff.  My scores reflect it.  

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