OK here goes...I'm going to start reloading 10mm.  I have not reloaded before, but I saw it done at the NRA convention.

After reading zillions of posts and getting dizzy on all the data, I asked myself this:  Why do you really want to reload 10mm?
My most introspective answer is...I want to shoot my favorite Underwood ammo all day, but not pay (as much) for it.


So, as a Life Member, I went to the source...MidwayUSA.com and scrounged up a list of stuff to make my first 1000 rounds.
What I ask of you reading this is...please critique my choices!  I promise to read all of your posts and accept your advice even if I don't agree with it yet.

I don't want to be a reloading expert, I just want ammo that is safe, accurate, and affordable to practice with the same "full power" self defense loads I will carry.

Here's my list:

Hornady Handbook of Cartridge reloading, 9th edition

Forster co-ax single stage press

Lee deluxe carbide 4-die set 

Frankford Arsenal DS-750 Electronic powder scale

Lyman Case multi-prep tool

Lee perfect powder measure

1000 Starline Nickel plated brass

1000 CCI 300 primers

1000 Hornady XTP 180 grain bullets

2lbs Accurate #9 powder

I already have a few ammo cases.

Did I miss anything essential?  Of course I will start low and work my way up to 14.5 grains or whatever that cartridge requires.  I will go by the book, which I will read cover to cover.

By my guess, my first 1000 rounds will cost me $500 in materials, and $450 in tools.  $875 to buy from Underwood. 
My second 1000 will cost me $300 in materials, or $875 from Underwood.
My third reload will be another $300 in materials, or $875 new.

so...3000 rounds of proficiency training will be $1550 or $2625.

A $1100 difference.  I could buy a Witness Match and have money left over for a box of smokin' hot Underwood Extreme Defender ammo!

Disclosure: I am not affiliated with any of the companies or brands listed above, except as an avid fan and repeat customer.

Thank you in advance to all of you mentors out there who are passionate about the subject and devote your valuable time to share your knowledge and experiences with those of us climbing the ropes for the first time.

If your brass is new you can just prime it and go on to expanding the case mouth to just accept the base of the bullet inside.
Powder measure setup to throw fairly consistent charge weights at your desired charge weight..
Hornady 180XTP using Accurate Arms No.9 13.5 grains @ 1242 fps developing 34,100 PSI  Primer CCI 300
Any loads above this I have no pressure values to share...

However there is a load listed for the Speer 1890 showing Accurate Arms No.9 14.5 grains @ 1290 fps 32,600 PSI  Primer CCI 300, this is because the bearing surface is shorter of this bullet.

So if you load the 180 XTP at this level you are going to see slightly higher pressures.

Seating of these are at a Cartridge overall length of 1.2500"

In the Buffalo Bore pull-down we found the following;

Cartridge is from Ammo Manufacture: Buffalo Bore 180gr Hornady XTP
Ballistics Information: 10mm Auto
Muzzle Velocity: 1350 fps
Muzzle Energy: 728 ft. lbs
Brass Make/Headstamp: Jagemann JAG - Brass
Bullet Make/Weight/Construction/Info; Length 0.6200"/Dia. 0.4000": Hornady  180gr. XTP
Actual weigh 180.4 grains / Crimp Line Diameter 0.3985" 
HP Dia 0.1200" / HP Depth 0.2050" (tapered) / Mouth 0.2300"
C.O.A.L.: 1.2510"
Primer: Large Pistol Brass color
Case: Diameter 0.4215" Crimp Diameter 0.4215" Length 0.9880"
Powder Description/Positive ID/Type/Charge Weight: Accurate Arms #9 14.8 grains

So with good loading practices and attention to details and verifying the scaled charge weight of 14.5 should work well for you...

Good luck and be safe...If you have any questions stop and ask for answers!

For my money I would go this route:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/937051/rcbs-rock-chucker-supreme-master-single-stage-press-kit

This would replace everything on your list except components.  I don't doubt the Forester is a much nicer press, but it won't make pistol ammo that is appreciably better, and the hand prime system in the RCBS kit is very effective and fast.  And I have never ruined a case or primer with it. Except for my Dillon, I have yet to use an on-press priming system I liked.

And, truth be told, this kit is just as serviceable:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/121744/lee-challenger-breech-lock-single-stage-press-kit

The Lee stuff is cheaper and won't take abuse like the RCBS.  But you do have to abuse the Lee stuff to break it.

The list you have is just fine.  And if that is your preference, get you some.  I would just spend my money differently.

Additionally, for a similar $450, give or take, you can get a Hornady Lock-n-Load AP, along with a rebate for 500 bullets.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/679228/hornady-lock-n-load-ap-progressive-press

This is the press (or a dillon 650) that you will ultimately want.  I think single stage presses are very useful to have around, and I couldn't live without mine, but I do lots of "tinkering" stuff.  If reloading is not an end, but a means, which I think it may be to you, then single stage will get old very fast.

Frankford Arsenal DS-750 Electronic powder scale

I haven't yet found a electronic scale under $200 I would trust... I think you would be better off with a quality balance scale and then the above for quick weight checks.
( esp if running in the upper ranges of loads ) (

And of course beg, borrow, buy a set of check weights to make sure the new scales are accurate.

Your tools are what will be doing the work for you, and the money spent on good tools goes a long way for future.  Some companies offer a lifetime no BS warranty...
I usually always recommend the RCBS Rock Chucker Kit as mentioned in sqlbullet post.  Also RCBS has a $75 Rebate when you spend $300.

Another thing I like about RCBS dies, is their expander plugs have a longer section below the tapered expander, this reaches deeper inside the casings to straighten out any dings and provides a more uniformed bullet tension.  This is in contrast to some with very short plugs, being used as powder through funnels and expanders.

Scales are at the very heart of the process of quality control for powder measure.  Digitals can have quirks and one of them is drift and need rezeroing and some have other things like even numbered only 1/10 of a grain readings.
You need a scale that is reliable, repeatable and trustworthy!  While I have both Balance beam and a cheap FA digital, I have trusted my RCBS 5-10 balance beam since 1978 and still do today.  The digital is great for finding unknown weights faster.

You will not like the Lee Perfect Powder Measure with AA#9.  #9 is so fine that it will leak out of the powder measure.  I had that issue with mine, as do many others.  The problem was solved by getting an RCBS powder measure.  I use a Lee single stage press and dies and they are rock solid.  Maybe not as nice as RCBS or others, but as was mentioned, you would have to abuse the press and dies to break them.  I also agree with the comment about the electronic scale.  Either spend the money on a high end scale or stick to a good balance scale like the RCBS 5-0-5 (small for pistol loading).  I am sure your single stage press of choice will have a means to prime the new cases, but I prefer to use a hand primer tool.  Didn't take me long to skip that step on my Lee press and buy hand priming tool.

You don't need one to get started, but if you plan to reload those 1000 Starline cases (skip the nickel), you will need a means to clean the brass.  A tumbler, media and some concoction of polish will do the trick.

Thanks for the awesome responses.

I was leaning toward a single stage loader because of the majority of the advice I have read here said to start with that and go slow. Seems like good advice. The option would be to use a progressive one round at a time till I get comfortable that the process is correct.

After watching YouTube videos of the models suggested, I think I will definately go with a progressive.  I can't spend an hour cleaning prepping and loading 20 rounds one stage at a time.  Maybe when I'm retired.

I failed to mention that I have a digital caliper.

I will need to add a brass tumbler. Good point.

The brass vs plated brass is a good point. I hope to get at least three reloads before I start to lose confidence in the cases, but I will inspect and measure stretch before reloading.  Plain brass is cheaper too.

You changed my mind on the scale issue.  I will go for a balance beam.
If I go with a Hornady lock and load, should I still use Lee dies or stay within the brand? 

Thank you all, I know this subject has come up before, but I couldn't find it all in one thread.

Lee dies will work fine.  I do like RCBS dies personally though.  Never tried any Hornady or Dillon dies.

If you work it you can load about 200 and hour on a single stage.  Do each step as a batch of 1000 and in 5 hours you will have it all done.

I load 10mm brass til I lose it, or smile it.  My experience is that straight wall cases shrink a bit, not grow like bottle neck cases will.  I have some cases that are easily in double digits.  Max loads get virgin or only once fired brass though.  But I load a bunch of "practice" ammo for working the basics.  10mm is all I own in a handgun, and I see no reason to burn full power rounds when I am working on transitions, or other basics.

I would skip the nickel cases and get brass. Order them straight from Starline on their web site. Cheaper and includes shipping. Currently $162 per 1K.

Quote from: Bohica on August 02 2016 12:09:12 PM MDT

I was leaning toward a single stage loader because of the majority of the advice I have read here said to start with that and go slow. Seems like good advice. The option would be to use a progressive one round at a time till I get comfortable that the process is correct.

And to throw one more in the bunch...have you thought of the in - between like a LEE Classic Turret.

It can work like a single stage by pulling the turn rod ( about 10 seconds ) or work as the turret allowing you to turn out excess of 150 round per hr. It really does slow it down a bit over a full progressive which gives a starting person more control.
Also it still runs the 4 die set, so crimping is a separate step from bullet seating ( more quality control here )

Dies, if more than one set, swap out in a min by lifting the entire disc ( that contains dies/power hopper ) and replacing with the next set.

I like Hornady dies as they have a collar that slips down on the seating die that seems to get bullet/case alignment going easier.  I only use it minus crimp to seat the bullet using the Lee FCD .44mag w/10mm guts to do the final crimp.  You can use the Lee 10mm FCD to bulge bust brass as well. 

If you watch your local Craigslist/Armslist posts you can find some fantastic deals especially on single stage loaders.  I recently scored the large Lyman turret kit ($500+) with 4 sets of dies like new for only $250 for a friend off Craigslist.

Hornady's customer service is top notch in case you ever mess up and bend/break something.

As posted above you need a good dial caliper. I like plain brass cases vs nickel, they last longer.

I am still learning about 10mm and trying to figure out good reloads with quite limited reload information available and essentially no local knowledge. 10mm is amazingly accurate and hugely powerful, so I love it. But you really have to dig deep to get good info compared to 9mm, etc

My experience with my 10mm pistols is, to no surprise, that 10mm can be an amazingly powerful round that a semi-auto can have trouble handling. With 180gr Hornady HAP/XTP bullets I have found that once I hit 1300fps or 700ft-lbs of energy feed problems and harsh recoil crop up. That is based on 2 full steel pistols and a polymer frame. Heavier recoil springs can help but you may start to beat up the gun in both directions, so my gunsmith tells me.

Hornady lists 14.9 grains of Accurate #9 for max load. That is one hot load and I have not been successful getting 100% feed reliability from the pistols and it creates very harsh vibration. Almost intolerable on a polymer frame. Predictive data from QuickLOAD suggest excessively high chamber pressure which could explain the harsh vibrations felt.

I have backed off to 12.5 grains Accurate #9 and everything cycles smoothly with great accuracy. Same for Longshot at 9.5gr and Power Pistol at 9.2 grains, all with the 180gr Hornady HAP bullets. These all yield 650-700 ft-lbs of energy and shoot extremely well. I wish I knew this when I was starting out.

Peter10mm, Welcome to the forum!
Yes 10mm at its full potential is a handful!  You can always back off for better manageability, it is what makes the 10mm what it is from mild to wild.  Handloading brings out the very best for your needs.

I don't suggest that a new reloader start with 10mm. Start with .38 Special. It's forgiving and cheaper and more importantly it will get you to pay attention to those long cases so that when you switch to 10 mm you won't crush as many. I seem to lose some when I come off of 9mm to 10mm as the rhythm is slightly different.
Digital scales are stupid. Balance beam scales are the smart play. This from a recent convert to balance beam scales.