Greeting From Toronto

[Rubicon37s]

Hi All,

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the shooting sports!

We just purchased the Dillon RL550B
9mm Luger Caliber Conversion
9mm Luger Dillon Die Set
Strong Mount
Lyman Book, ABC's of Reloading
Digital Caliper
38/357 Dillon Die Set
38/357 Caliber Conversion
CV-750 Tumbler
Hornady Scale

We have a couple of shotguns, a old 22, and SR-22
but mostly here to help when I can and learn a little about reloads for our handguns:
CZ SP-01 Shadow, Taurus 9mm, S&W 686 and the S&W PPC molle 10 K frame...we also have a Browning URX for plinking

In any case I'll have a few question on loads and data soon for reloading the 9mm and 38 Special however I'll waie till I buy the bulletts

To start we purchased the federial primers and some 231 powder.

Take Care

Brian

[versifier]

Welcome to The Guide, Brian.
I'm going to start off by telling you something I suspect you will not want to hear.

I suggest you leave your Dillon in the box for the first few months and get a decent single stage press on which to master the basics. Believe it or not, you will learn what you need to know faster and much more thoroughly if you do.

I have taught a fair number of folks the basics of reloading over the years, but I am fundamentally opposed to teaching anyone to reload on a progressive machine, for a number of good safety related reasons. I have nothing at all against progressive presses (and Dillon makes the best ones on the market today), but they are designed to be used by experienced loaders with many, many loaded rounds and a thorough understanding of each process as well as the knowledge and perception to be able to understand everything that is going on simultaneously.

You only get ONE big mistake.

While there is nothing really difficult about the loading process, there is an awful lot of information to process and learn thoroughly. At each step in the process, there are important things to pay attention to and come to understand how they affect the finished product. It takes time and practice to learn each step, and the best way I have found to achieve that is by starting out each prospective student on a simple single stage press. It takes several thousand rounds to get comfortable with everything that happens. After mastering each step, and deciding how much ammo you are actually going to need, then you can move up with confidence to a more complicated machine that you know will meet your needs.

You seem like an intelligent, methodical, and detail oriented person, in short just the kind who will will, with some experience, make a safe and competent loader. I am sure the PR departments of every company that makes progressive machines would like us all to believe than anyone can sit down and start cranking out ammmo just like that, but nothing in life is ever that simple. It is not the difficulty of the material to be learned (anyone who can fart and whistle in the same key can learn to stuff shells), it is the sheer volume of pertinent data that starting out on a progressive forces you to learn, not in easy stages one at a time, but all at once in one big gulp.

But even if you ignore that advice, you definitely should also pick up copies of two or more current loading manuals in addition to your Lyman. One manual is not enough to evaluate any potential new load, most especially when the cartridge and components are not familiar to you. Mistakes are made in the transcription of data, and there are errors (mostly minor ones) in every manual. When you look up data and decide on a load, you need more than one source to double check it. What happens if the load you choose in your one manual is a typo? Maybe missing a crucial decimal point where a charge of powder that should have read 2.5 grains is printed as 25 grains? Other manuals will instantly show it to you before bad things happen. Think of a few current manuals as the best deal on life insurance around. All data are generated with different firearms and different lots of individual components. Even in the best case where you have tried to duplicate every component used by your source, what is printed is only an estimate of what will happen with your components in your guns.

In any event, all the folks here will be happy to answer any and all questions and offer advice and opinions of the relative merits of different tools and components. The cumulative experience of our members (many centuries) is a great resource. You're going to have a lot of questions as you gain experience, and that's why we're here.

[kodiak1]

Hey there fellow Canuck.
Welcome from Western Canada

Ken.

[Rubicon37s]

Thanks versifier for the advice and kind words, and I hear what you are saying and although I can’t disagree with what you are saying at all I will have to move forward SLOWLY with the equipment I have for a number of reasons, I hope you can understand.
I have been using it stage by stage for some time now going through the motions, I do have a couple more books on order and some very experienced members at the club will be over showing me the ropes...including the safety officer. Another reason I am here it to double check my loads and learn.

Thank you for the time you took to reply, it is much appreciated, and look forward to being a member of the site

Nice to see another Canuck here Ken.


Cheers
Brian

[303tom]

Welcome Aboard, from a Missouri River Rat !!!!!!!

[fryboy]

hi brian !
sounds like you should have a great start !! but it leaves me with a question ... you kept saying "we" ( we have , we just ) leaves me wondering if you have a accomplice in this undertaking ? lolz all that aside i would suggest starting with the 38/357 ( it's a bit more forgiving and easier to learn on IMHO ) erm and lots of reading !

[Rubicon37s]

Yeppers My wife shoots as well, she loves her Bling Taurus 9mm ...she has that nickle plated pearl handle with the gold accents

hi brian !
sounds like you should have a great start !! but it leaves me with a question ... you kept saying "we" ( we have , we just ) leaves me wondering if you have a accomplice in this undertaking ? lolz all that aside i would suggest starting with the 38/357 ( it's a bit more forgiving and easier to learn on IMHO ) erm and lots of reading !