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Old March 28, 2010, 12:11 PM   #8
BigJakeJ1s
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 8, 2005
Location: Arlington TX
Posts: 663
I'm just looking at what you've told us, and you appear to shoot around a 100 rounds a week, or 400-500 rounds a month (total for two cartridges).

Depending on your time available for reloading, that kind of volume is on the lower end of where a progressive press is needed or wanted. You might want to think about starting your metallic reloading on a single stage press, which could easily support your volume needs, and let you learn the mistakes that everyone makes at an easier pace before you start cranking out mistakes at high volume on a progressive. The Lee Classic Cast single stage is an great press at an excellent price.

An often recommended half-step between single stage and progressive presses is the Lee Classic Turret press. Cabela's and Kempf both sell reloading kits built around this press that will get you started.

Lee progressive presses, on the other hand, do not have a good reputation for reliability and ease of use.

The LNL AP does have a reputation for quality and ease of use, as does Dillon. I have dealt with Hornady customer service for other products, and they have always been courteous, professional, and very helpful. I find that most companies (especially reloading equipment manufacturers) have good customer service when approached with a bit of humility and kindness from the customer. If you call them, ranting that their product is a total POS, you are much more likely to evoke a response you will not be happy with, whether it's RCBS, Dillon, or anyone else.

You also need to think about what kind of reloading you want to do. Are you likely to tinker with loads a lot, having different loads for plinking, accuracy, and power, with different bullets, powders, etc., or are you likely to find one load and crank it out in volume? You mentioned you may not get into rifle reloading, and most pistol reloaders find one load they like and use it all the time. Changing loads, let alone experimenting with different loads, is not a strength of progressive presses, but some are better than others at it. All are great at cranking out mind-numbing quantities of the same load over and over.

Andy
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