kit to start out

[Simon_S]

Would make no seen to get RCBS if your hunting mate will cost you about £350
just for the press, trust me it will not be worth it for just hunting with, may only shoot 100
rounds a year. I been using a Lee Turret press for 5 years now, loading 308win, 357mag and
45-70 on it and its spot on. never put foot wrong, I would say though that the lee scale is not very
good, bit slow to use. and I now people that been using Lee stuff for 30 years and there
ok with it.

Up to you

[angrybear]

I also have a Lee turret press, but use RCBS dies in it
All the press does is provide the "mechanical advantage" to the process

[Simon_S]

Got Lee dies in working ok, Will be looking at £100 just for the RCBS dies paid £35 for my 308win deluxe set

[GaleForceEight]

Got Lee dies in working ok, Will be looking at £100 just for the RCBS dies paid £35 for my 308win deluxe set

I got my RCBS die sets for about £42 each new from Johnson's Country Store in the US which included all shipping and customs charges - they have a fleabay shop - so they don't have to be £100 if you shop around.

[Simon_S]

Think there just the standard ones at £42. The cheap Lee dies are £18 RGB.
Its up to you at the end of the day. Just for hunting rounds you don't
have to go mad with it. I would just get the Lee set with the crimp with them
if your using them for hunting.

[pothunter]

It's up to the op what he buys.
Given the number of rounds a hill stalker/keeper will use in a year, a Lee set up will be more accurate and cheaper than standard factory with a bit of bullet/powder/length tweaking, but it takes time to build up an accurate load, and costs money for the consumables, so initial costs need to be offset.
X, Y, or Z dies and presses can produce more accurate rounds, you can play about with primer pocket uniforming, flash hole de-burring, neck sizing, annealing, etc, but shooting into a Minute of Fox, or Minute of Deer with the chamberings that he proposes, at the ranges he is likely to use them at, shouldn't need that degree of buggering about.

[GaleForceEight]

Think there just the standard ones at £42. The cheap Lee dies are £18 RGB.
Its up to you at the end of the day. Just for hunting rounds you don't
have to go mad with it. I would just get the Lee set with the crimp with them
if your using them for hunting.

You are right, of course. I needed the FL die rather than just a neck die as my brass has come from several rifles without segregation and therefore full length resizing initially allowed enough brass to be recovered to the point that the dies have more than paid their way after my first batch of cases! Also I find that I am being gifted once fired brass for 'recycling' from club members who do not themselves reload and would otherwise be ditching their empties in the brass bin which again helps offset the cost of the equipment but which again require the full resizing treatment.

I guess my primary motivation was one of wanting to get decent ammunition for my wife's Mauser and if I was doing that I might as well offset the cost a little by rolling my own .308 and .303 as well. In the light of limited ammunition usage and a tight budget rather than treating the reloading process as a secondary hobby, maybe Lee is the way to initially go for the OP.

[Pigeon sniper]

Cheers guys.
I think I'll buy the Lee kit and add better dies as I go along.
The £150 ish for the Lee kit doesnt really bother me.
It would be nice to ask for more bullets from the head keelr and he'd probably let me but I like to ping a fee rounds away at the target for practice and keep my eye in shooting rabbits and jackdaws which he isn't keen on using estate rounds for so I buy my own for that, that's Tue main reason as it means if I'm low or its a rainy day I can sit in the house and knock up 100 bullets.
Plus the extra accuracy comes in handy now and again when we have little competitions on the estate.
Cheers
Jamie