Wardor

If price isn't the main factor, I'd go Redding for single stage or turret and build your own kit. If accuracy is the main reason, get a trickler and not an on press volumetric measure. Buy good dies for rifle, at least seating.

Hazmat costs 28.50/box, then you have shipping

How many are you buying?  If you are buying at least 5k, it's probably cheaper to order online.  I always buy from Powder Valley.  They always send me things quickly and the price is fair (although I try to buy at least 10k to split up that hazmat fee more).   When you factor in saving tax (if you are that kind of person for online purchases).  If you buy 10k primers with shipping it comes out to right around $31/1k (I would recommend adding in powder or whatever you need too).  You might find them for $27-30 in store, but add in gas and tax, and you're at best going to break even.  However, support your local gun shop if it is well priced(some places want $35/1k and that's just too much).

  Dully noted.   I like how they invented a process that molds polymer 100% precise every time  :rolleyes: , now maybe all that imported junk we buy out of plastic polymer will always be 100% precise in the future too.  

Supply and demand will play a role; however, people have become accustom to paying more for 22lr (and there are a lot of new buyers that really don't have the historical perspective).  I imagine CCI Mini Mags will forever cost 7-8c+ (not that you can even find it for that now).

I like how they invented a process that molds polymer 100% precise every time :rolleyes: , now maybe all that imported junk we buy out of plastic will always be 100% precise in the future too.  

For the exterior of the gun, 0000 steel wool soaked with CLP will clean it up.  The inside is much harder to tell what is going on, but as others suggested, I'd get a good solvent or J-B bore cleaning compound (which I like) and as large of a patch as you can get through the bore and see what comes of it.  I don't think the rain did whatever is inside of the bore.

I think in the 10s of thousands of pieces of 9, 40 and 45 brass that I've reloaded, I've not had any that failed to chamber unless they cracked (after being resized in a Dillon resizer - always used Dillon pistol dies).     If you think about it: the die is much harder than the brass; the inside diameter of the die is fixed at whatever tolerances it was manufactured to; and, if the brass goes all the way to the base, it will be resized to fit - if it is so badly bulged, it may crack.    Most of the issues I've seen when helping folks with issues with 'glock'd brass' is due to: bad tolerances; extremely wornout dies (talking old steel dies); or, the die not being properly set for all straight wall cases: raise the shellholder as high as it will go, screw in the die until it touches firmly lower the shellholder and tighten another 1/8-1/16 of a turn and tighten

Personally, I think it depends on your reloading and shooting styles.  I used to have a bunch of different calibers, but that become a lot of work and really I didn't get that much more joy out of certain calibers than the other.  Also, I tend to do almost all of my loading my progressive, so unless I shoot enough for it to ever pay for itself, then I don't reload for it (except for a few hunting rounds, which I do very small batches on a single stage).  I have downsized my progressive reloading to 9, 40, 45, 223 and 308.  I am setup on my single stage to do 45/70, 458 socom, 270 Winchester.  I am considering getting out of the 45 reloading business as I just do not shoot enough of it to really want to reload it anymore (just costs more to make a 0.05 bigger hole in paper for me and I don't reload my defense rounds).  I like my 1911s and I have quite a bit of plinking ammo stored up and as little as I shoot it, I don't really need to reload anymore.

Hey all,   I've actually been a member here for awhile and just lurking around.  I moved to Knoxville, TN back in July from NC (and previous to NC, PA, WI, IA and IL).  We hope to be in TN for awhile, but who knows what will happen.  I am an avid reloader (Dillon XL650, but previously LNL AP and single stage presses).  I have a bit of a Sig fetish and have owned probably 30 Sig pistols (currently sitting around 12) over the last 5 years, and have taken the Sig Armorer's course.  I also appreciate other guns, and most all German guns have a special place in my heart.  I have recently completed my gun trust and am working on getting a couple of SBRs put together (300 BO and 458 Socom) and a couple of silencers.     I hope to learn some from folks and contribute a little of what I've learned (mostly the hard way) to others.   -Wardor

With a price range of $600 for 2-3 calibers, you are going to have a hard time going blue, but I highly recommend buying the XL650 in 1 caliber and saving for each additional caliber.  I have had LNL AP and the 650, friends with the 550, Rock Chucker and Lees.  The 650 just works, it's more complicated than it seems like it needs to be, but it works every day and every time.  Also, if you ever get out of reloading or want to upgrade/downgrade, it is the only machine that you'll get 85-95% of your money back out of (in my experience).  

I took the typical route into wet tumbling (Thumler's Model B kit). It was great, but it did not do volume and it was way overpriced. I ended up buying the MJR tumbler (the one the folks at STM tell you doesn't work) - it works perfectly. I can run 6 quarts of brass (which is a lot, especially for 9mm) in each batch. I believe I paid $250ish for the tumbler and another $100ish for all the stainless media (20#). It's a big investment, but it does a great job and I do not deprime prior to cleaning, except for my match grade stuff. Also, I stopped with the LSD (lemishine, dawn) solution and started using just 2 caps of the Hornady Ultrasonic Brass solution with water. It works great for large batches, where the LSD was hard to fine tune for increased brass and decreased water (I got a lot of spots and clean but dull brass). Below is some once fired, military auction brass I bought this last weekend. Here is one of the two bins prior to any cleaning. Pretty standard dirty range brass. (click images to enlarge) Just another picture of the brass. Half done (45 minutes of cleaning time, one load cycle per 6 quart tub) Closer picture of the brass All done (90 minutes of total cleaning time)

It takes shooting a lot of rounds of ammo to pay for itself, and if you start the habit of shooting a lot more ammo, it never will save you money.   For 9mm, my cost using JHP (bought in bulk) is 16.5c a round.  That is cheaper than most bargain, bulk ammo and way cheaper than any sort of mainstream ammo.  Also, it takes me about 90 minutes to load up 1000 rounds, but the costs to get started on a machine that can produce ammo at that rate is fairly high (just go blue, it's worth it).  If you are going to be loading on a single stage press, it's going to take you an hour per 75-100 for quite awhile and maybe you can work up to 150-200/hr (which would be smoking fast).  It comes down to how much are you willing to invest?  How much will you shoot?  Are you going to shoot more?  Can you afford to buy in bulk (I buy powder 20-40# at a time, 15-20k primers and 3-8k projectiles at a time)?

I am new to TN and stopped by this weekend just to check it out.  It is a nice little shop and Phil seems like a genuinely nice guy and a competent shooter.  I think he has earned my business for transfers and for the 'oops I ran out of X' while reloading.

Yeah, it's probably slightly cheaper than buying it from Powder Valley (where it is drop shipped from).   10k CCI primers there cost $265, hazmat and shipping probably put it around $305-310 every day of the week.