RCBS reloader - any good?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I'm a complete noob to reloading and looking to get a decent, reasonably priced introductory reloading setup, mostly for pistol calibers (to start anyway). I found this one for under $300. Any of you more experienced reloading guys know if this is any good? What should I be looking for if not?

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=506874

Thanks in advance.

[on2wheels52]

That kit has the 'Special' press, it doesn't have the compound leverage that the Rockchucker press has. Would be ok for handgun cases. I'd recommend a different kit.
Jim

[charleskieffner]

rcbs makes great dies and equipment for the run of the mill type of reloader. if you find you like reloading sooner or later you will want to upgrade to a dillon to make more per hour. but for just an afternoons worth of work you can crank out quite a few with a rcbs.

all depends on how much you shoot. myself im being a cheap ass and just hording ammo and when i get the itch we will blast .22's for practice or take out a gun for testing that i have recently worked on. shooting is like riding a bike, once ya learn the gun and its ballistics and tape them to stock, it becomes childs play when you do come back to it later on.

right now im playing with (3) .380's (yep bought another hk4) and waiting on parts to arrive. pretty much a no brainer. shoot 3 flavors see what groups best and feeds best and then stockpile whatever ammo it enjoys and never change.

reloading can be anal as it comes when it comes to groups. depends on what yer trying to do. hell loading wadcutters is cheap as it gets. loading zoomy zoom zoom barnes "x" or some other high buck hunting bullet with the super secret stealth recipe can become obseesive in nature searching for the combo that takes "x" out all day long.

what we have found with .308's is to mimic what federal match BTHP rounds are made of and geez louise ya cant go wrong there. imr powder seems to be the best we have played with so far. i like lake city brass myself.

its a great way to spend an afternoon.

[emcon5]

Originally Posted by on2wheels52

That kit has the 'Special' press, it doesn't have the compound leverage that the Rockchucker press has. Would be ok for handgun cases.
Jim

It is true that it doesn't have the same compound leverage as a Rockchucker, but it does have compound leverage.

With that kit, all you would need is powder measure and maybe a good hand priming tool. The press has a priming tool, but I personally don't like handling primers. With the hand tool, you dump them in the pan, and prime them all. You also get a better feel for how well the primer is going in to the case, because you don't have the compound leverage.

It looks like Cabellas has a better kit, for $10 more.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0018937214924a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntt=rcbs+press&Ntk=Products&sort=all&Go.y=0&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&_D%3Asort=+&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form1&Go.x=0&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1

The Cabellas kit has the better RC Supreme Press, plus it comes with the Uniflow powder measure, and the hand priming tool. Those 2 items alone are worth about $120. You will need some sort of powder measure for the other kit anyway.

Looks like a no brainer, for $10 more.

Tom

[legion]

I prefer Lee myself.

I've never had a problem caused by a Lee press--now that's not to say I haven't had any problems...

Right now, I currently have four Lee presses: a Loadmaster (their top-of-the line progressive press) setup for .223, a Pro 1000 that will be set up for 9mm, a single-stage Lee Breech lock that I can use for anything, and another single-stage that can be used for .50 BMG (if I ever get such a rifle).

The thing I like about Lee is that for the price of one Dillon press, I have four presses, two of which are progressive and set up for specific calibers.

Some people swear by RCBS, some by Dillon, etc.. My take on it is to get a decent O-style single stage press and start from there. It will give you an appreciation for what to look for when reloading and how to fix your mistakes (which is not always possible).

Makes sure to get yourself a scale and a caliper--I prefer digital for both.

[charleskieffner]

be sure to get in habit of ONLY RELOADING ONE FLAVOR AT A TIME!

wayyyyyy too ooooo confusing having rifle primers/pistol primers/rifle powder/pistol powder/various shells spread all over hell.

always always always be in a concious state when powdering cases. ie. nobody around talking yer ear off/no phones/no kids/no wifey/no nothing to distract you.

doubling up a powder charge may be THE LAST THING YOU EVER DO ON THIS PLANET with 2 hands/two eyes/and a pretty face!

i have seen .44 mags in smith and ruger, that idiots double powdered by accident and IT AINT PRETTY!

FUGLY would be a better description.

and NEVER EVER USE WD-40 around reloading equip and shells and primers. that crap will mitigate everywhere and deactivate yer primers. and then gun goes "CLICK" instead of "BANG"!

[tabs]

The RCBS Rock Chucker has been the standard for decades...
If you want to load pistol rounds a Progressive Press might be in order. As you can really crank them out.

What does RCBS call their Big Boy Press that will do large caliber rifle rounds?

RCBS has been known for making quality components for reloading. They are located in Chico, CA.

[Rick Lee]

Jeff, I had that kit and just sold the press before I moved to AZ. It's fine for a starter kit, but you'd want to move to a multi-stage press pretty soon. If you only had, say, two or three calibers to do, that RCBS might be ok. But I assume you will want to set up a mini-assembly line eventually and you should buy bigger than you think you'll need. Come visit Phoenix and I'll take you to the Lee store. It's a toy store in there. And we have gun stores that specialize in class III stuff too. When you get into that, high-volume reloading becomes a must.

[legion]

[emcon5]

My personal opinion, Lee is the Harbor Freight of reloading tools. I have a single stage Lee press, and it is pretty flimsy, and used to have a Lee scale, it can be best described as "crap". I also had one of their Auto-Primes, and it broke 3 times before I got tired of calling Lee for parts and junked it.

That being said, I have heard the power measure works well, and I do use and like their Collet dies for rifles, and their "Speed Die" set for straight wall pistol calibers which are discontinued, unfortunately.

Seriously though, take a hard look at the Cabellas link I posted. Here it is again: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0018937214924a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntt=rcbs+press&Ntk=Products&sort=all&Go.y=0&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&_D%3Asort=+&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form1&Go.x=0&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1

[legion]

Lee does make some crap. I avoid their bottom-tier equipment like the plague. But their top-tier stuff is often less expensive and better quality than the bottom-tier stuff from other manufacturers.

[vash]

i have a crap Lee press. absolute crap. i topped it with all RCBS dies. i can build some beauty ammo from the set up.

the RCBS press is superior, but in my opinion the quality of ammo comes from the die sets.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

I'm a complete noob to reloading and looking to get a decent, reasonably priced introductory reloading setup, mostly for pistol calibers (to start anyway). I found this one for under $300. Any of you more experienced reloading guys know if this is any good? What should I be looking for if not?

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=506874

Thanks in advance.

I bought that exact same "starter" kit some 30 years ago. The press and scale are, to this day, the only ones I own. I still use the loading block and funnel as well, although I do have other examples of those. I have, by actual count, loaded well over 100,000 rounds of ammunition with this equipment. I currently load 15 different rifle and pistol calibers, from .38 Special to .458 Winchester Magnum. I have never felt the need for another press or another scale.

My dies are a mix of mainly RCBS, with some Lee, some Forester, and some Lyman thrown in for good measure. I use a couple of Lyman #55 powder measures, one with a plastic hopper for smokeless and the other with an aluminum hopper for black powder. My bullet molds are a mix of RCBS, Lyman, Saeco, LBT, Hoch, Paul Jones, and Leeth.

Every head of big game I have killed in the last 30 years has fallen to ammo loaded on this equipment. Every rifle match I entered in the last 30 years has been with ammo loaded on this equipment, and I've won some big ones. The ammo in the guns that I would stake my life on - my self defense guns, has all been loaded on this equipment.

Yes, there are progressive presses that will load ammo faster. They are very popular, and for good reason. I have just never felt the need. Most of my handguns - yes, even my daily carry guns - are single action revolvers. Most of my rifles are single shots or lever actions. I don't have any real need to produce a lot of ammo quickly. When I need a lot of ammo, typically for a black powder cartridge rifle match, it has to be good. The only way to produce match quality ammo in that game is with a single stage press.

Anyway, that is my endorsement for this equipment. You can buy faster, but you cannot buy better. I would start with this, even if you see yourself going to a progressive of some kind some day. Learn the ropes with this stuff, then move on if you care to do so.

[on2wheels52]

Hard to find fault in what Jeff said, you have to start somewhere and RCBS makes good stuff. I expect you'll be adding more equipment than comes in the kit but even if you don't you can produce some quality ammunition. Remember that the brass case is the most expensive part of the round, and that is what most folks throw away. Some of the tightest groups I've seen were loaded (at the range) with the (used to be $10, don't know if they still sell them) Lee die sets with the little powder dippers. All you needed was a hammer/mallett.
Jim

[emcon5]

Originally Posted by on2wheels52

I expect you'll be adding more equipment than comes in the kit

Not if he buys the Rock Chucker kit on Cabellas I linked. If he gets the Challenger kit he posted, yes, he will probably end up buying at the very least, a powder measure, and of course dies. Loading pistol ammo, he will probably end up with a priming tool as well, as doing any quantity with the press is a PITA and slow. Both of those come with the Rock Chucker kit.

The Challenger kit he linked, he gets all this for $279.97:


The Rock Chucker kit I linked, he get all this for $289.99

Some of the tightest groups I've seen were loaded (at the range) with the (used to be $10, don't know if they still sell them) Lee die sets with the little powder dippers. All you needed was a hammer/mallett.
Jim

They still make them, the "Lee Loader"
http://www.cabelas.com/prod-1/0003091210526a.shtml

Video of it in use:



I guess if you got lucky, and your rifle liked the charge of whatever fit in that scoop, it could be OK. It is only a neck size, so you could only load for bolt action rifles. You can't tune the charge, you can't tune the seating depth. If they are more accurate than factory ammo, you are lucky. If your only requirement is that the rifle goes "bang" they would work adequately.

RE: Dillon Progressive presses, They are very nice, but honestly they are not much faster than a single stage, when you factor in setup time, primarily the time it takes to fill the primer tubes. I load .45 on my Dillon, but still load 9mm on my single stage press, just because taking the time to convert calibers, and load all the primer tubes would take as much time as just loading on the single stage.

Tom

[azasadny]

I love the RCBS hand primer! I use several Lyman Spar-T turret presses and they are nice because I can put 6 dies in each and then just rotate the turret to move to the next step in the reloading process. I have a Lyman Turbo 2200 tumbler that rocks and I have Lee Precision, RCBS and Lyman dies. I bought a Universal metal workbench at Lowe's for $65 and it's the perfect height to sit and run the press. I have a Lyman T55 and Hollywood Micro powder loader and Lyman 1500 electronic powder scale and it all works very well!