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Originally Posted by Sphawley
I've been reloading my own shot gun shells for a couple months now and I feel very comfortable with the process and would like to move into rifles now.
I would be starting with .308 and moving through different rifle calibers as needed. Eventually dabbling in pistol reloading...
So my question is what are the presses that do both rifle and pistol? How do you figure out which ones do both?
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They all do both, with these caveats.
All presses suitable for metallic cartridges (as opposed to shotshell) can do both handgun and rifle. The dies almost all use the same threads and the presses operate in the same manner, though the steps for bottlenecked cartridges are different from straight-walled cases.
The two differences you MUST take into account are that you must choose a press with (1) a large enough opening and long enough travel of the ram to accommodate the longest cartridge you will be loading (including the space to place the bullet on the case mouth and still have room for your fingers or bullet feeder if you use one.) and (2) enough leverage to work the cartridges you will be loading. A 458 Win Mag takes a lot more force than a 223 Remington or even a 454 Casull.
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Originally Posted by Sphawley
Second once you figure out how much you want to spend
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How much you got?
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Originally Posted by Sphawley
and if you want a progressive, etc...How do you finally narrow it down to which one to actually buy?
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If you want to change calibers a lot and load in small lots, a progressive may be too much trouble. If you want to load 1,000 rounds at a sitting, a progressive is probably the preferred way to go (once you have the process completely understood and mastered).
A progressive can load 200 to 2,000 rounds per hour, depending on brand and model, but may take 5 to 30 minutes to change calibers. Cost for the press and dies alone, $200 to $1,000 (Lee Pro-1000 to Dillon 1050) and you may (no, you WILL) want to add accessories to make things more efficient or reliable.
A Lee Classic Turret can load 100 to 200 rounds per hour and can swap calibers in less than 30 seconds. Cost for press and dies alone, $120 plus another $100 or so for accessories. Other Turret presses are a bit higher and some people believe them to be more robust or better quality.
I won't argue with those opinions, but hold my own opinion, that the Lee Classic Turret is the best auto-indexing turret in the world. Of course it helps that there are only two auto-indexing turrets in the world and the other one is the somewhat inferior Lee Deluxe Turret.
A single stage press tops out at 50 to 75 rounds per hour. The time to swap calibers is irrelevant as you are loading in batches and swapping dies anyway.
$60 to $150 for the press and dies plus another $100 or so for accessories.
So, in general:
Progressive for 500 or more rounds at a time if you want to spend $500 or more.
Turret if you want to load a few hundred rounds up to 1,000 in an afternoon and want to spend about $200-$500
Single Stage if you want to load dozens or a couple hundred rounds in an afternoon and want to spend $125 to $300.
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Originally Posted by Sphawley
Thanks for your patience, still learning all the aspects.
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You are most welcome. Thanks for asking our advice.
We could target our advice better is you shared some information about yourself:
What calibers will you be reloading?
What quantities will you be reloading for those calibers?
How much time will you be willing to devote to those quantities
What is your budget?
Will you be putting your gear away after each session or leave it set up permanently?
Do you want it to be portable?
What are your shooting goals? Cheap ammo? Ultimate long-range accuracy? Casual pllinking, Serious competition - what kind? Cowboy Action Shooting? Strictly hunting?
Lost Sheep