Many shooters will advise that hand loading their own ammunition is the secret to success with any firearm. To the beginner, however, the process can look daunting because there are so many types of equipment to choose from.

The Hornady Lock-N-Load Classic kit is an ideal way to start a process that can develop into a hobby of its own: creating accurate ammunition at a lower cost, and allowing any sportsman to become more deeply involved in the all-round shooting process.

Apart from specific reloading dies for your chosen caliber, any of which are compatible with this set-up, the Lock-N-load Classic kit contains everything you will need to begin making your own ammunition, when combined with your chosen reloading components and powder. The first stage is inspection of fired cases, which entails checking for dents, cracks or other damage in used brass. You may choose to go with new brass straight off the shelf, but any burrs on the case mouth, internally or externally, can be removed with a few twists of the chamfering tool, which will also come in useful at a later date if fired and resized cases need trimming to length. One Shot Case Lube sprayed onto the brass cases will allow them to be resized with ease in the sturdy single stage press that cams “over center”. This enables the toggled lever mechanism to exert maximum force on each case whilst still being easy to use for operators of any age or stature. This single up and down stroke of the press ram is where the greatest amount of force is required, so you need a solid anchoring point whilst the case shoulders are bumped back into position, the case neck squeezed tighter and the body of the case is returned to factory dimensions.