CAUTION!! You can get seriously injured while doing any of this if you're not careful! ALWAYS practice safe handling of all reloading components due to their toxic, flammable, and/or explosive nature! ALWAYS wash thoroughly after handling lead or ammunition! If you harm yourself in any way by using any of the information contained here, it's on you, not me.
Here is my own shopping list for a good basic setup. This is how I got started, and you would do well to consider it, too. In the below video series, this is what the former "Miss B.H.C." (now "Mrs. B.H.C") is using--this exact setup.
Introduction to Reloading, Inexpensively, with "Miss (now Mrs.) B.H.C."This four-part series of videos shows you how to actually make your own ammunition ("ammo") on a single-stage Lee Reloader Press, without spending a fortune. NOTE: at the time these videos were made, my cameralady was indeed, "Miss B.H.C." As of May 2019, that has changed; she is now "Mrs. B.H.C.", as she and I got married.
This video series stars my wonderful cameralady, and now as of 2019, my wife " The example ammunition here is .38 Special. These same procedures apply to virtually all other straight-walled handgun cartridges. Direct Download Link - Part 1 (118 MB)Direct Download Link - Part 2 (95 MB) Direct Download Link - Part 3 (152 MB) Direct Download Link - Part 4 (87 MB) Here we see all the steps put together in one video. Mrs. BHC here is making a box of 50 rounds. We catch her at various points during each phase of reloading. Again, the example ammunition is .38 Special. Direct Download Link (104MB) |
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To watch the videos, just click on them. To download them for later viewing, just right-click on the video you want to download and choose "Save Link As" to save it to your hard disk.
Now, to play these videos, you've got a couple of choices here:
Reloading, also known as "handloading", of ammunition, is a very old practice. At times, it is even necessary. Ammunition shortages have happened before, and they will undoubtedly happen again. Reloading our own thus takes on an especial importance, if we want to be able to practice and actually get/remain proficient at marksmanship. So why do so many shooters not choose to learn reloading?
Let's face it, folks. There are some psychological barriers for some people to getting into reloading their own ammunition. One of them is how much it can cost. We're here to show you it doesn't need to cost four figures. Not even close.
Another one, it turns out, is sex-specific. Plenty of men reload today, and they'd love to get their wives/girlfriends into it as well. Problem: from what I've heard, many of these women are a bit intimidated by the prospect of reloading. This, obviously, is not optimal. Like most things, reloading is perfectly safe if you follow certain basic rules of safety.
This video series attempts to deal with both of those issues, especially the second.
My cameralady, "Miss Mrs. Bleeding Heart Conservative", or "Miss
Mrs. BHC", does all of the reloading
in this series. She will show you that it is in fact easy to make a box of 50 rounds
of your very own ammunition. WHO says ladies can't learn to reload??
The press used here is the single-stage "Lee Reloader Press" from Lee Precision, Inc. The slightly improved, breech-lock version of this press, as of the year 2022, sells for a street price of about $50. The set of dies used is about $45, a good scale can be had for about $100, and other than standard protective eye gear, that's really all you need to get started. All total, you can get entirely set up to make your own ammunition for under $350.
You will see that not everything goes perfectly here. This is as it is in life, right? Remember that you're seeing a real-life reloading session, and this is good. You need to see some examples of what to do when things don't go exactly perfectly. The important thing to remember, when things don't go exactly right, is, STOP, CHECK, DOUBLE-CHECK, FIX, and only then, RESUME IF SAFE TO DO SO.
As Mrs. BHC says, "hey, it's like needlepoint; you can do this."
NOTICE: We are not affiliated in any way with Lee Precision, Inc. We just happen to like some of their gear. Any product questions should be referred to Lee Precision, Inc. All relevant trademarks are reserved by their respective companies.