Newbe question

[Bingo]

  I have my lee aniversery press set up and my brother was kind enough to get me started. Tonight I have been looking at dies and bullets. I will be reloading for the following deer rifles. 300 savage, 308 win., 260 rem., and .243 Win...
  I don't want to go broke doing this and I don't need bullet lots of 500 or more. I like light recoil rounds and my boy is 12 so it is important to him too. He will be shooting 200 yrds. or less while I may shoot as far as 3-4 hundred yrds.
   The Boy shoots .243 and 300 Savage. I shoot 308 and 260.

    Where do I get dies at a good price and what bullets would you use for white tail for these guns?

[iiranger]

This kind of question would be more correct in say "reloading" or "loading" columns... "handloading..." There are many such columns on the net and if you google or other search engine... lurk and learn...

I always recommend anyone start with 1/2 dozen or more used reloading manuals to "get a feel" for the process. It is not complicated but there are some parts where you can get hurt if you "screw up" so you want to know them and AVOID  the "hurt." "Wrong" powder for one.  One brand of manual will "read easier" for you and you buy a new one for most current data, bullets and powder, and primers and cases, etc. Used manuals are usually pretty cheap at gun shows.

The list of suppliers is about endless. Grafs.com. Midwayusa.com MidSouth Shooters Supply. Natchez. Wideners. If you shop the sales you can save a bit. Shotgun news shotgunnews.com or hard copy has more ads. Gun List is out there but I had decades with Shotgun news before it got started.

Basically you have to decide i). what you want & ii). what you can afford. Wilson, for one, has target quality products at fair but high prices and if you want to win matches it is a good investment. Otherwise, RCBS, Hornady, Redding, LEE, CH4d.com ... all make dies, any machinist can, and cost and quality are comparable. Ebay has deals. Old companys like Texan, Pacific, Baer, Lachmiller... cheaper. Hard to ruin a set of dies if cared for at all.

Bullets? Basically you ask the gun. What does your gun shoot well? In .24/6mm the 100 grain is pretty standard for game. 6.5mm 120 or 140 should be plenty. And the .30's, 150 grain is popular. Question is which does your gun like best? If you belong to a club you should be able to buy/trade/borrow 10 or 20 bullets of one brand to load and test... OR unless you plan to shoot the deer at 1,000 yards, you pull any load from a manual --middle pressures, NOT top-- and assemble in any case with any primer and any powder and if the gun is sighted in at all, you should be O.K. to maybe 100 yards...

Nice hobby but you have to manage it. Enjoy. Luck. Happy trails.