Reddit mentions of Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Hand Deprimer Tool for Standard Primer Removal for Reloading - 909283

TL;DR: There's a few pieces of equipment you'll need. Just click the links if you are interested. But seriously, you should read the whole piece.

How much time are you willing to spend on reloading? I am asking because there are two press options you will want to consider.

The first press type, which is the one that I use, is a single stage press. With a single stage press, you perform each individual action one at a time (sizing/decapping, priming, charging, bullet seating, and crimping). The downside to this is that it's slow - you'll need to do sizing for a batch of cases, remove the die, prime that batch, charge the batch, change dies, and seat the bullets. If you don't mind the extra work a single stage press can save you a lot of money. I find that it is excellent work for the winter months when I'm inside anyway. You'll also need to be sure you can keep track of all the operations. Missing a step, such as forgetting to add powder to a case, or worse, adding powder twice, can be a big deal. I personally use the Lee Breechlock Challenger, which I have had good luck with.

The other option is a progressive press, which automates a lot of the tedious work. Each pull of the handle performs one of the required operations, and the more expensive machines will even dispense the cases for you automatically. You can really crank out completed rounds fast with one of these machines. Downsides are that they can be finicky to set up and still require manual checks of step completion (though not as much once they are dialed in). They are also expensive. I have a buddy that uses a Lee Pro 1000 for his 9mm rounds, although in the progressive press space the Dillon line is considered the gold standard. The Dillon XL650 can do both rifle and pistol rounds.

You will need dies for each caliber you plan to reload. Carbide dies last longer, and may be nice if you plan to reload a lot or have a progressive press. I use Lee Pacesetter 3-Die Sets. If you are in to competition reloading you may want a neck sizing die instead of a full-length resizing die. This can help accuracy in bench-rest shooting since it will be matched closer to the chamber of the weapon, but doesn't really offer any benefit for general shooting purposes. Don't forget case lube for the resizing die, if you get a case stuck in the die you're going to have a bad time. I use Hornady One-Shot Spray Lube, that way you can just spray the cases when they are in a loading block and not have to rub the cases down with goop. RCBS makes a Case Lube Pad which is nice too since you can just roll the cases across it, but this won't work as nicely if you have a progressive press.

A powder scale is a very important piece of equipment. You will need it to weigh powder charges. A progressive press will dispense charges automatically but they still need to be spot-checked on a regular basis. Even single-stage presses should have their loads checked every now and then. I use the RCBS Rangemaster 2000 as a scale. I would recommend electronic scales. When I started I used a balance beam scale, but waiting for the beam to settle down takes forever and they are finicky to use in my opinion. Electronic is fast and easy. You can also use the scale to weigh your bullets if you are in to bench rest shooting. Consistent bullet weight in a given batch will help accuracy.

A single stage operator should use a powder dispenser - I use the Lee Perfect Powder Measure. This is much easier than weighing each charge by hand on your scale. Once you get the dispenser set you can quickly drop pretty close to the correct amount of powder on each handle pull. You may also want a powder trickler to finish off those last couple fractions of powder. I use the RCBS Powder Trickler 2 but not very often, usually only if I am loading .308 and am looking for some sort of special consistency for target shooting.

Then there are the miscellaneous items such as calipers, loading blocks, etc. The brand of these items doesn't matter too much. Just make sure the calipers are accurate - you'll need them to set your bullet seating die and make sure the OAL of the completed cartridge is correct.

Since you mentioned cheap brass, and /u/jynx18 suggested once-fired brass, I will add a couple pieces of gear that aren't completely necessary but will make working with used brass easier. The first is a dedicated decapping device. A hand decapper such as the one from Frankford Arsenal will make removing primers from used brass much easier than a universal decapping die, and will prevent you from breaking decapping pins in your regular dies. The other item is a case tumbler. I use the Lyman Turbo Pro 1200 which works well enough. This will clean up your used cases and prevent them from scratching up your dies or your weapon chamber.

I can't help you very much with casting bullets as I don't have any experience there. That being said, I have read that pure lead cast bullets for high-velocity rounds such as 5.56 are difficult to make due to the velocity vaporizing or otherwise damaging the bullet as it travels down the barrel. There are swaging presses you can buy, such as the Corbin RFJM-22 which will use empty .22 LR cases to form jackets for cast lead .224 bullets, which may help them to perform better. Take all this with a grain of salt though, like I said, I have no experience here.

Last but by no means least is good reloading information. A lot of this will come from a reloading book - I have Lee Modern Reloading Second Edition, but there's tons of options out there. Just make sure it comes from a reputable source. You don't want to take chances with this information, at least until you get some experience under your belt. The other source I use is the Reloader's Reference which is open-source reloading software. I don't have an issue with their data, although some think it is dangerous since it's not technically in a real book.

Good luck and let me know if there are questions.

My Lyman Universale Decapping Die has deprimed thousands of pieces over the years and has never given me any trouble. If it makes you feel better, you can buy a replacement stem for $4.

Recently, I've switched to depriming off press with the Frankford Arsenal tool because it helps everything run cleaner. This has also seen thousands of rounds (most military crimped) as well without a hiccup. I recently sanded down the pin on both tools to fit through small flash holes in Lapua brass. Now its TRULY universal!

What are you doing for hand depriming? One of these? https://www.amazon.com/Frankford-Arsenal-Platinum-Deprimer-Reloading/dp/B00RPABDZO



But to answer the question any single stage press will work Lee sells one for under $30. But you will need to buy shell plates for every caliber. (some interchange) Buy a lee universal decaping die and it will work for all calibers, you have to adjust it for that specific caliber, but its turning a screw basically. https://www.amazon.com/LEE-PRECISION-LP90292-Decapping-Die/dp/B002SF2ZXU

Camelcamelcamel.com link

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RPABDZO/

I have no experience with this or reloading in general, but I came across it and it is at an all-time low, at least for Amazon.

This is why I us the Frankford arsenal deprimer. Works for everything I process.

Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Hand Deprimer Tool for Standard Primer Removal for Reloading - 909283 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RPABDZO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_hD9gDbGEGKGSS