2 man setup question

[verti89]

My dad and I have decided to take up reloading, our minds were madeup when we were unable to find a single box of .45 or .40 ammo, anyways the store had one Lee Challenger Breechlock Kit in stock so we went ahead and bought it. Our thought is to buy to identical presses so we can work on reloading together. Keep in mind we are total noobs and not sure if this will work very well but the idea is have the process split in half and we each do half the process on our own presses. I have a manual but haven;t really read through it yet but I want to buy the equipment when and where I can. SO if we want to both be able to work on the same caliber at a time is this possible with a single set of dies? Also with this in mind do I need to buy the full kit again or just a press? (the press alone is much easier to find) The other option is to run one caliber on each machine. Do I have to use lee dies on a lee press, or are the brands relatively interchangible? Anyhow I am just looking for suggestions and the necessecities to run two presses at the same time. We aren't looking at putting out more than a couple hundred rounds per sitting. What do you guys suggest?? Also we are set on the lee classic single stage so don't bother suggesting turret or progressive, thanks.

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

I would get 2 or 3 manuals first. Read them before you reload a single round. As far as running 2 presses, you can do it with a single set of dies. Take pistol reloading....you typically have 3 dies.....sizer, expander/charging, and bullet seater/crimper. You could size them and your dad could be expanding the mouth and charging...and then when you are done sizing, you could seat the bullets and crimp while your dad finishes up expanding and charging the cases. I would not suggest this though because "too many cooks can spoil the broth." Reloading is best done by yourself with no distraction. But, If you are extremely careful, it could be pulled off. Use loading blocks and be VERY organized. If you go this route, I would not buy another kit, I'd just get another press. By reading a couple reloading manuals, the reloading process will become very clear and you can make the decsision for yourself. Good luck! BTW, you don't have to use lee dies on lee presses...but I use all lee dies and they can't be beat for the money! TRUST ME!

[Unclenick]

Agree with the above. Get a second press alone, but not the same press. Instead, get the Lee Hand Tool. Set the fixed press up at one of your shops to do sizing and priming. Charge the cases in a loading tray (which you will need to buy) and seat and crimp using the Hand Tool.

The reason I recommend this arrangement is you can carry the hand tool over to dad's and the two of you can work together on the loads. Two sets of eyes are better than one when it comes to watching for errors. The dies will interchange. Later, if you get into more expensive gear (progressive presses and whatnot) you will find the Hand Tool is still useful because it is easy to carry to the range for portable on-site load development. The Challenger will still be useful to. You'll likely do odd jobs with it, like bullet sizing, pre-cleaning decapping, lead hardness testing, etcetera. That's how it has worked out with my gear.

[verti89]

K thanks for the help and yes we will definitely both be reading a lot of material before trying anything but I want to go ahead and start getting the stuff ordered because so much of it is backordered. Also to clarify there will only be 1 'shop' and it will be at my dads. He lives on some acreage and that's also where we do our shooting so the portability isn't really a factor.

I will probably go ahead and get the full press like the second poster suggested so that we have more flexibility if we do want to load multiple calibers at once instead of trying to keep track of who is doing what.

We still have to build our work bench and get all of the materials in so it will be awhile but I will try to post pics and updates. Thanks.

[jdscholer]

I think the idea of two identical presses is a good one. That way your dies will be adjusted to work in either press. Different presses - not necessarily so.

There are plenty of tasks to go around for two or even three guys when it comes to loading a bunch of shells. -- cleaning brass, primer pockets, trimming, chamfering, priming, charging, capping, etc.. Main thing is that YOU ALL do every step to the satisfaction of the group. No exceptions. Nobody should be shy, and no one should have their feelings hurt. This is fun, but serious. jd

[45Marlin carbine]

I have my bench set up with 2 presses in tandem. when loading pistol rounds I set the seating/crimp die up for a buddy to use after I use the powder-thru-expander die to charge.

[Dingoboyx]

I have extra turrets already set up for .44 rem mag, .44-40, 9mm (luger=Glock fodder) and .32 S&W. If you and your dad had removeable turret presses, you can swap around the turrets at will. But if you both want to work on 1 caliber at the same time, you would need a turret each set up for that caliber.

The only problem I have encountered is that some of the turrets are looser (up & down) so to make it more accurate, I have a disassembled set of feeler/thickness gauges i use as shims and slip 3 of these appropriate thickness shims under the removeable turret to ensure it is at the uppermost level when in the press.

I like the removeable turret idea coz I leave them all set up and only sometimes have to make minor adjustments

Muzza

[HiBC]

Tag team loading is great,so long as you can maintain focus

As has been mentioned,station one (handgun) can be size,tossed in a tray.
Station two can be decap,bell,and,if the press has a good prime system to incorporate,priming can take place here.

If not,A break from the press is good,and a hand prime tool can be used.

The other partner can set up the powder measure,seater,etc while cases are being primed (50 ahead will feed the next operation)

I am getting to the most important safety part.Charging.Get a few of the loading blocks that hold 50 rds.

As you pick up primed brass,charge it with powder,and set it in the block.It is a good idea to weigh a charge every "x" number of rounds.


When the block is full of charged cases,Take the block under very good light and visually check to make sure all charges look the same.any charge that even might look suspiciously + or - should be weighed,along with the charge on each side of it.(A short charge,such as a powder bridge in the measure,may dump heavy on the next charge.).

Any process you may come up with that bypasses this visual check can get you in trouble.Passing them 1 at a time is not good.


It sometimes works well to then "cork" all the charged and checked brass with a bullet,just starting it into the bell.

The whole block is then passed to go the seater station.

[Russ5924]

I would hold off on the reloading right now. If you think finding factory ammo was hard try finding reloading component's. Am sure things will get better sooner or later. But right now times are tough

[verti89]

thanks for all of the advice guys I will try to post an update when we get our setup going. and we would be doing the reloading route regardless of the scarcity issues that was just a little nudge to get us going.