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RCBS Rock Chucker Master Reloading Kit?

E.WilliamsE.Williams Member Posts: 1,101 ✭✭✭✭
edited August 2002 in General Discussion
I have gotten enough in my notebook to start my reloading adventure.I am looking through various books and mags at equipment and see this RCBS kit for $229.95 from Natchez Shooters Supply.Is this a good price and kit?What is some other equipment you can suggest?Remember I am a first timer.Thanks.

Eric S. Williams
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Comments

  • E.WilliamsE.Williams Member Posts: 1,101 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Anther question I have is should I buy unprimed brass or brass with the primer already in it?

    Eric S. Williams
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  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Eric, the price is MSRP. Buy from the source closest to you to minimize shipping cost & if you shop around you may find a slightly better deal on the price. You cannot go wrong w/ RCBS gear. JMO, but don't feel a case trimmer is all that essential in the beginning, but it's cheaper to buy it as part of the kit than separately at a later date. Personally, I would add two items: (a) a good quality caliper & (b) a Lyman reloading manual. The caliper is IMO essential. You will be measuring OAL especially. It is useful in identifying various components / ammo. I personally find the Lyman manuals the most useful. They are not limited to a particular brand of bullet or powder and so will cover a broader range of loads & calibers. Wider, but more shallow. I have manuals from various manufacturers (Speer, Sierra, Hornady & some others) but the Lyman is always the first one I consult. Just my personal preference. You will need to buy dies; none are included in the kit. Brass - if you are going to buy virgin brass, personally I'd go w/ the unprimed; it's less expensive and as a matter of preference I always size new brass because I've found some which was "not really ready for prime time." Give some serious thought to, & watch for, good buys in once-fired ("1xF") brass. Typically, this will be less than half the price of virgin brass (sometimes less than 10% the cost), you will be running both types through the sizer die anyway and unless you are going to load real hot loads (not a good idea when starting!!), by the time the brass is worn out, you will not care that you had one less load. At some point down the road, you will desire / need some means of cleaning brass. If you do not have one, do try to locate an experienced reloader locally so you can pick his/her brains as you have need. Lots of very astute people on these forums, but being able to look & touch is 20x better than a verbal description, usually.

    Have fun!
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  • E.WilliamsE.Williams Member Posts: 1,101 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Iconoclst thank you.That is one of the best explanations of a response for suggestions I have gotten so far since I have been coming to this forum.I will try to find a Lyman manual locally and will make the rounds today I have to pick up some 7.62x39 for testing my SKS anyway.Im going to search for one of the kits.A Speer re-loading manual is included but I will still find a Lyman.I am going to have to re-prime some Brass anyway because I literally have thousands of spent casings.I was thinking maybe the primed brass might be a little more reliable.Thanks again for the direction given.


    Eric S. Williams

    Edited by - E.Williams on 08/25/2002 08:05:40
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  • lokdok1lokdok1 Member Posts: 383 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Iconoclast, My thanks to you as well for the info, I'm following right behind Eric in his endeavor to reload.
    Bart
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  • will270winwill270win Member Posts: 4,845
    edited November -1
    Cabela's has a deluxe kit that comes with electronic scale and powder trickler. I forget the cost but it was a deal when I bought it for everything you get.


    ~Secret Select Society Of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets~
    Will270win@nraonline.com
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  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Eric & Bart - if you can find the kit w/ the electronic scale & trickler for a reasonable premium, I would certainly advocate the upgrade. You will find this enormously helpful & faster when you are working on rifle loads. I have some top of the line pre-electronic measuring gear; if it should ever go south on me, I will replace it with the RCBS electronics in a heartbeat. I would anyway, but I'm just a cheap Scot Yankee .

    Eric, you will be putting in plenty of new primers as time goes by. It is not any big deal. As I said, my preference is to size new brass anyway. To do that with pre-primed cases means taking the decap pin out of the sizing die. I've never compared prices, but I would suspect that new brass plus bulk primers cost less than new primed empties. In all honesty, the only new brass I've purchased in at least 20 years have been cases to form obsolete calibers and .44 Mag (because I simply couldn't find any fired brass for a reasonable price).

    Now, 7.62x39 is somewhat hard to find for a decent price in 1xF. And frankly, for the cost of the Wolf stuff, it's hardly worth the effort to load that caliber IMO. MOST IMPORTANTLY, however, there have been many instances of slam fires with commercial primers in surplus military weapons! Many of these due to improper care &/or half-tailed kitchen table gunsmithing, but some simply because the original firearm / ammo combo used primer cups of less sensitivity than our standard commercial primers. If you are going to load for an SKS, save the effort & go w/ the Wolf stuff. I very rarely advocate buying ammo over rolling your own, but this is the major exception to that rule.
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  • poshposh Member Posts: 360 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Widener's (1 800 615 3006) has the Rockchucker Master Kit on a "super clearance" for $205.00 including freight. That's the lowest price I've seen and got mine last week. Regards posh
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  • The firearms consultantThe firearms consultant Member Posts: 716 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    E.W.
    Buy many reloading books. Read them cover to cover. I use a LEE AUTO PRIME. Its pretty cheap. I have two on my bench. One for large and one for small primers. Prime your own brass. You will now where it came from. The RCBS with the Rock Chucker can't be beat for a starter.
    You are going to eventually want a progressive press, I can promise you that. When you reload and have any doubts about a particular round, get rid of it or take it apart and start over. I've seen some nice guns turned into junk because of careless reloads.
    You won't save money but you will have so much ammo to shoot, you will want to shoot all the time.
    GREAT!
    John

    I might not always tell you the truth, but I will never lie to you!
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  • VarmintmistVarmintmist Member Posts: 1,074 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Dont discount the RS-5

    http://www.rcbs.com/equipment.html

    Its not as massive as the Rockchucker, but it will do everything you need at a few bucks less. Mines at least 20 years old still going strong.

    My personal preferance is the Hornady manuel. As for dies, I have a mixture. Lee are the cheapest and will serve you well, get a set. If you are varmiting you might want to go with a higher end set of dies. Though the Lee collet die seems like a great setup for neck sizing.

    LEE AUTO PRIME, buy it at the same time you get the reloading kit. RCBS makes one also and you can use regular shellholders with it, but the Lee is cheaper and does the job.

    I like Hornady One Shot spray lube. Use the kit lube pad, when you run out of lube, get the One Shot, you will appriciate it more. Tip for the spray USE ENOUGH.

    Save the empty brass you have, that will get you started.

    Get good calipers, rcbs and others make a nice plastic sets if cash is tight, they work fine

    later...

    Buy the absoultely cheapest vibratory tumbler you can find. These things aint that technical, they shake, period. Think the name on mine is Vibrashine.

    Dont toss $ at the funky plastic reloading boxs, get a couple then save plastic peanut butter jars for the emptys and in work brass.

    just me....

    I mostly load in lots of 40 (rifle) so I load them, toss them in a PB jar, go to the range, shoot them, toss them back in jar, there are 40 sitting in the tumbler or 40 clean in a PBJ, 40 sized and primed in a PBJ, at any given time, I work about 120-160 in a cycle. Pistol I run in lots of 200. 200 45acp 200grFP lead fit nicely in a Jiff PBJ. Masking tape to mark the lids.

    Those people who see nothing but grey areas, no black and white, are lost in the fog.
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