RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme
Handloading Press and Dies
RCBS Shell Holders
The first thing that I started researching when I wanted to get into this hobby was a handloading press and dies. I realized there are many different types and brands. After a few hours of reading reviews I figured that a turret press would be the best option. But, being that one of my main reasons for reloading was accuracy, I quickly realized that a single-stage press was the best choice.
Once I settled on the type of handloading press I was going to use my next decision was what brand. I had a really hard time deciding. I figured that whomever’s press I chose I would end
RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme
up buying their dies as well. I live fairly close to a Bass Pro Shop and Cabela’s. They both have a good selection of RCBS and Hornady dies. RCBS’s primary business is selling reloading equipment, plus they’ve been around a bit longer than Hornady so I chose them.
From what I ready everyone makes a really good handloading press; Lee, Forester, Hornady, Redding, RCBS, etc. If you decide to pick a Lee press, Hornady dies that will work fine in the Less. Same goes with a Hornady press and RCBS dies. Everything is interchangeable. If money was no object I would have went with a Redding or Forester press just because I could say I had one. 🙂
I would also like to point out that the major players in this space sell their presses as kits. Before you purchase a kit, I would strongly suggest that you look at the rest of the content in this series. I found that I could buy most of what I would actually use in the kit individually for cheaper. Based on your reasons for reloading the kit may work for you; in my case it was a waste of money.
223/556 RCBS SB T/C Dies
If you’ve been following this whole series you would know that I started reloading 223/556 first. Now that I had the press I needed shell holders. These are simply what holds your brass to your press. Inexpensive and necessary; for 223/556 you will need RCBS #10’s. I ended up purchasing my first set of dies at this time too. I realized right of the bat that I had another decision; small base or full length dies. I picked the RCBS Small Base dies for 223. I went this route because it sizes the brass a bit more than the full length dies. Smaller chambers can potentially have issues with full length dies but from what I read its not common. There seems to be quite a bit of chatter in reloading forums about which is better. This is what worked for me.
RCBS Case Lube, Lube Pad, and Neck Brush
223/556 RCBS SB T/C Dies
Next up, case lube. Because of friction, you have to apply case lube
on your necked brass before resizing them. Omitting case lube will cause the brass to get stuck in your dies. Alternatively, if you are reloading straight walled brass (44 Mag, 45-70, etc.) you can skip this step because of the carbine they put in the dies.
I spent way too much time researching case lube methods. There is spray, wax, liquid, etc. It looked like a step that was tedious and would irritate me as time went on. I became frustrated trying to decide which one worked best but in the end I decided on
the liquid RCBS case lube kit. It comes with the lube, pad and brush. Everything you need to properly lube your brass. In reality, this is such a small step in the process it really didn’t matter. In the next section I’ll be discussing depriming and resizing your brass.
Equipment discussed in this section:
