When you say ” i just slid over to the dark side of shooting “, I interpret your remark to mean Black Powder as opposed to White/Nitro powder (AKA Smokeless) & lead plain based bullets as opposed to full metal patched (AKA jacketed )?
If so, you need to log onto the below link for an on-line BPCR reloading primer:
http://www.ssbpcrc.co.uk/Resources/Intr ... oading.pdf
This summer there was a poster named James M who was asking similar neophyte questions. I would advise you to do a search for his posts & read the responses.
I once had 2 Lee hand presses that I utilized while shooting & reloading one case @ the range. I mounted them side-by-side on a board. One press compressed the wad & powder charge & the other seated the bullet. When seating the bullet, I turned the case approximately three times & ea. time I partially seated the bullet because there was some run out & looseness in the ram. This was about 10-12 years ago, & maybe Lee has improved this press.
(My shooting kit also included a turned steel dowel w/ a decapping pin, a hand-held wire brush to remove the fouling, & hand-held priming unit to seat the primer. Small individual prescription bottles held pre-measured powder charges. I had a bench mounted drop tube. ‘Sorta’ fun, but very time consuming. I learned a healthy dose of respect for the Schuetzen Shooters of Yore who shot a 100 rd matches off-hand in this manner.)
I digress long enough. Having said that I will say that for BPCR, a quality press is important to perform certain tasks such as bullet sizing/lubing, case mouth belling, powder compress, bullet seating etc. Bullet seating is esp. important as if the bullet is offset in the case, you very well may experience problems chambering a round or having it shoot accurately.
I have never utilized a Lyman 310 tool. I know of shooters who do, but only for recapping.
I would also strongly advise you to go thru the three main primary fora on this site --”Shooter to Shooter“, “Support“ & “Black Powder Shooting”-- & read the previous posts. There is a great deal of information on this site, but you may have to do some reading to find it. You very well may be able to answer your own questions or find that the question(s) has already been discussed. No sense in re-inventing the wheel.
As for your .45-2.1“ (AKA .45-70), can you provide some specifics on it? This will help us in answering any future that you may have. As for the .45 Colt, are you shooting a rifle or a pistol?
It may also be more convenient to buy ‘store bought’ bullets as opposed to casting your own. There have some recent threads ‘bout this & pros & cons of ‘store bought’ vs. ’roll your won.’
In answer to your question, the full-length sizing has a stem that will decap the spent primer & if you full length size the case, you’ll need to apply some type of case lubricant for the .45-2.1” . Most pistol calibers, such as the .45 Colt , now have a carbide insert die that doesn’t require case lube for re-sizing, unless you have a set of the old steel dies w/o the carbide insert.
However, before you reload a BP cartridge, you must remove the spent primer, then wash the BP residue out of the case. You can do this by a brush & warm soapy water or using ceramic media in a case tumbler. If you don’t was out the BP fouling, it will eat away the case & eventually weaken it so it will separate upon firing & you will not be bale to fill the case w/ the same am‘t. of BP ea. Time you reload. On whim I once measured how much BP I could pour into one of my unwashed .45-2.4“ (AKA .45-90) cases. I poured ‘bout 5 grns less into the dirty case.
At $18.00 a pop they won't break the bank! I also like loading by hand the way the old-timers did as well as being able to load at the range if I want to do some load development on the spot. Give one a try. If you don't like it you can get a bench mount and use the hand press as a portable or dedicate it to say flaring or crimping. The 310 is cool and very traditional but as you know the non-standard dies are problematic. Have fun and welcome!