Hoping for advice on a press - Page 2

CrustyFN · December 28, 2012, 05:56 PM

I have been loading on a Lee classic turret for around 7 years. I have owned a Dillon 550 for a little over one year. They are both great presses. I still use the classic turret as much as the 550. If 175 to 200 rounds per hour will be fast enough for you then you can't go wrong with the classic turret. Check out the kit at www.kempfgunshop.com, they have the best deal on the kit in my opinion.

vito · December 28, 2012, 10:16 PM

CrustyFN: Thanks for the link to Kempf's. I plan to order the Lee set up very soon. I am really looking forward to reloading; I went to the range twice this week and ended up shooting about $150 worth of factory ammo. At that rate I will never be able to retire unless I learn to reload my own!

Misssissippi Dave · December 28, 2012, 10:45 PM

If memory serves me right, the following amounts of ammo can be produced and still keep an eye on things. Yes you could go faster than this in most cases but are you really able to keep an eye on things like primer feed, cases splitting and powder in every case? Yes, you can add a powder check die in many cases to watch the powder for you. I prefer to see it myself. I also prefer to seat bullets and crimp in separate steps.

Most single stage presses 40 to 50 round per hour
Lee Classic Turret 100 rounds per hour and about 200 max
Dillon RL550b 200 easy and rated for about 500 max
Dillon 650 300 easy and with case feeder about 800 max
Dillon 1050 about 1000 per hour
There isn't much difference between the speed of the 650 and 550 Dillons until you add the case feeder.

Load developement can be done on the Dillon 550b. It is just a little different compared to a single stage. The manual indexing is much easier to deal with compared to auto indexing when you try to do load devopement.

With speed comes additional mechanical complications. Someone with a progressive press needs to be mechanically inclinded to get them to work right and to keep them that way. You may notice there is always someone on the forums asking how to solve one problem or another with some kind of progressive press. There are far fewer questions being asked about how to do something with a single stage press. The turret press is a little more complicated than a single stage and most of this is due to the auto indexing. This should give you an idea about how much your mechanical skills need to be for these three different press types. I only mentioned brand names I more familiar with. The single stage I used years ago was an RCBS RockChucker. Great press by the way.

There are several good to great brands of presses available. All can produce good ammo when you do your part. Once you get the feel for a certain brand of equipment you then base your likes and dislikes compared to that brand. Some equipment have features you might not find on another. That is when people start checking if you can use this from company A on the press you have.

Someone starting with a single stage press for pistol ammo is probably the easiest way to learn. If you think you might want to load rifle now or later on don't get rid of the single stage press if and when you up grade to a faster machine. The single stage is still the best press for great rifle ammo.

December 28, 2012, 05:56 PM	#26
CrustyFN Senior Member Join Date: June 4, 2006 Location: West Virginia Posts: 2,258	I have been loading on a Lee classic turret for around 7 years. I have owned a Dillon 550 for a little over one year. They are both great presses. I still use the classic turret as much as the 550. If 175 to 200 rounds per hour will be fast enough for you then you can't go wrong with the classic turret. Check out the kit at www.kempfgunshop.com, they have the best deal on the kit in my opinion. __________________ I don't ever remember being absent minded.

December 28, 2012, 10:16 PM	#27
vito Senior Member Join Date: June 20, 2004 Location: IL Posts: 853	CrustyFN: Thanks for the link to Kempf's. I plan to order the Lee set up very soon. I am really looking forward to reloading; I went to the range twice this week and ended up shooting about $150 worth of factory ammo. At that rate I will never be able to retire unless I learn to reload my own!

December 28, 2012, 10:45 PM	#28
Misssissippi Dave Senior Member Join Date: December 5, 2009 Posts: 1,411	If memory serves me right, the following amounts of ammo can be produced and still keep an eye on things. Yes you could go faster than this in most cases but are you really able to keep an eye on things like primer feed, cases splitting and powder in every case? Yes, you can add a powder check die in many cases to watch the powder for you. I prefer to see it myself. I also prefer to seat bullets and crimp in separate steps. Most single stage presses 40 to 50 round per hour Lee Classic Turret 100 rounds per hour and about 200 max Dillon RL550b 200 easy and rated for about 500 max Dillon 650 300 easy and with case feeder about 800 max Dillon 1050 about 1000 per hour There isn't much difference between the speed of the 650 and 550 Dillons until you add the case feeder. Load developement can be done on the Dillon 550b. It is just a little different compared to a single stage. The manual indexing is much easier to deal with compared to auto indexing when you try to do load devopement. With speed comes additional mechanical complications. Someone with a progressive press needs to be mechanically inclinded to get them to work right and to keep them that way. You may notice there is always someone on the forums asking how to solve one problem or another with some kind of progressive press. There are far fewer questions being asked about how to do something with a single stage press. The turret press is a little more complicated than a single stage and most of this is due to the auto indexing. This should give you an idea about how much your mechanical skills need to be for these three different press types. I only mentioned brand names I more familiar with. The single stage I used years ago was an RCBS RockChucker. Great press by the way. There are several good to great brands of presses available. All can produce good ammo when you do your part. Once you get the feel for a certain brand of equipment you then base your likes and dislikes compared to that brand. Some equipment have features you might not find on another. That is when people start checking if you can use this from company A on the press you have. Someone starting with a single stage press for pistol ammo is probably the easiest way to learn. If you think you might want to load rifle now or later on don't get rid of the single stage press if and when you up grade to a faster machine. The single stage is still the best press for great rifle ammo.