Ready for an upgrade...

[Ashbane]

For a few months now I've been reloading 45acp and soon 40 sw on my single stage lock n load classic. Refund is coming and I'm ready to upgrade.

I just load for plinking and fun. Maybe someday I'll get into some minor league shooting.

I always assumed I'd be getting a progressive next but I'm wondering if a turret would be more appropriate. I've also been eyeballing the Hornady electric auto measure for hard to meter powders but I don't think it prudent to get that with a progressive press.

Opinions?

[BigJimP]

2 presses I'd suggest you look at .....Hornaday LNL or Dillon 650 ....both have capacity for a "powder check die"...and both are very good presses easily turning out at least 800 rds an hour.

You can add a case feeder to both / which I like ...

Personally, I favor the Dillon 650 / I've had one for several years - and for what its worth - I'd buy it again. A slight edge goes to Dillon support service - for knowledge, info on setup, etc....the Hornaday is a little less expensive / but I think the Dillon 650 is a little stronger press.....but its a very close comparison.

I'm not a big fan of the turret presses vs the full blown progressive, auto indexing presses....I like reloading / but I like it more when I can get 15 or 20 boxes of handgun ammo an hour off the press / with great accuracy and consistency. Speed isn't the issue / but most of us would rather be shooting than reloading.../ I shoot a lot of handgun calibers --- and 10 - 15 boxes a week as a hobby / and for all my calibers combined, I spend less than an hour a week, on average, at the press in my shop.

I may load for a few hours on a rainy day ....but I box the rounds up and store them in inventory to be used as needed. I tend to load one caliber - in case lots based on bullets ( so 2,000 rds in a case of .45 acp 230 gr / or 4,000 rds in a case of 115gr 9mm bullets )...at least for Montana Gold FMJ bullets....

and remember, no matter what you choose, have fun with this press evaluation process !!

[Nick_C_S]

Ultimately, only you can answer, of course.

I've been loading on a (RCBS) single stage for 30 years now. I've been wondering myself if it's time to upgrade

I'll keep my advice quick: If you go turret or progressive, spend the extra dollars to get a good unit. I've been reading these TFL forums for some time. And although it's anecdotal, I suppose, the common thread (no pun) I see is that people who have Dillon, Redding, and RCBS presses have the fewest problems. I see lots of posts of people having problems with the presses of the brands I did not mention. I would never consider those brands.

Since I have been extremely satisfied with my RCBS press; if I go progressive, I will get an RCBS Pro 2000. But Dillon and Redding presses are clearly first rate too.

[nemesiss45]

Its all about how much you want to load.... id love a progressive press, but I load 50 round batches and usually no more than 1-2 a week, so its had for me to justify the cost. I have a lyman turret, and it is great for low volume multiple caliber. I can keep 2-3 die sets in place at a time which saves me setup time, but the cost of the press is not much more than a single stage.

[Oldgoat03]

Ash

Like you I began loading on a single stage press. The ss really enablled me to learn the process and I enjoyed it very much.

After about a year I wanted a little more speed and after a lot of reseach decided to get the Lee Classice 4 hole turret (LCT) with the Pro Disc powder measure. The LCT is a fantastic piece of equipment and a great value. I prime on the press with their safety prime system which is very simple and never had a problem.

Ultimately to keep up with my family's pistol shooting habit I bought a Dillon SDB which is a 4 station progressive press. The SDB too has been a fantastic choice for me. If you load only pistol you can't beat the bang for the buck of the SDB. I have dies and toolheads for .380. 38/357, 9mm, 40/10, .45ACP & 44. I also invested in a complete 2nd primer assy (apprx $60) and can switch calibers and primer sizes in minutes. Some say that the SDB has too little room for big hands but I manage just fine. The SDB only has 4 stations so you must visually check each charge for safety (no room for a powder cop). The SDB is a true progressive and will crank out a lot of fine ammo for you once you get to know it.

I wouldn't change a thing in terms of the presses I bought. I still use the single stage for rifle load work ups and still use the turret for production rifle cart runs.

If I get into high volume rifle shooting (223 etc) I'd seriously consider a Dillon 550 or 650.

Well there are many good choices out there so thought I'd share my experience with you.

Good luck with your decision and hope this helps.

OG03

[GWS]

I'm of the opinion that you buy ahead of need......and you buy as good as you can afford...the press that best fits your style and needs, and future needs! For my needs that was a Rockchucker 42 years ago, and a Pro 2000 5 years ago.(both will continue to get used until I die)

Since you only load .45 and some .40 may be on the horizon soon, you could speed things up a little with a turret........a little. The one thing a turret does is help you to pre-setup and be ready for more die operations.....but, and it's a big but for me....you are still limited to one operation per stroke of the press handle. That means (best case scenario) stroke one to size/deprime, two to expand (and charge if you have a powder-thru expander die), stroke three to seat/crimp.....and out comes one finished pistol round. Add a stroke four for the separate crimping die experienced reloaders recommend.

A progressive allows you to crank the same number of times initially as you fill all the stations, then each additional crank spits out a finished round. You do the math....not only on speed, but wear and tear on the reloader. I'm 64 years old now. I bought my RCBS Pro 2000 5 years ago. I've probably loaded more the last five years than the previous 15 years on my Rock Chucker....funner and easier on me.

If you are only ever going to load a couple of pistol calibers I'd recommend the Dillon SDB. The cheapest best, but only for pistol.

If you are going to turn into a IPSC or IDPS fanatic, then I'd recommend the Dillon 5-station 650. 550 second and cheaper choice, but manual advance and only 4 stations. (Hard to add things like powder cops and bullet feeders).

If you aren't really planning to compete seriously (with the need to produce huge amounts of the same caliber pistol weekly), or are nervous about primer tube detonations and would prefer a safer primer system (and faster), or you want to be able to load 2 or 3 calibers (pistol and/or rifle) per night, would like the simplest machine with fewest moving parts (least able for something to go wrong or go out of sync), then the 5-station RCBS Pro 2000 is really hard to beat. (comes in manual or auto-advance) Manual-advance owners can shell out another $100 to upgrade to auto-advance whenever if they desire.

If the last paragraph actually does fits you pretty well, but you prefer keeping dies separate (not populated on a die plate), and aren't concerned about a tube primer system that needs tweaked and watched, ditto for the expensive case feeder option, and you don't mind a some extra effort keeping operations synced, then the Hornady AP is also a great press.

[Sevens]

I probably didn't "invent" it, but I have spoken before about a hybrid system that I use and I'm all but certain that there are very few folks doing it the way that I do it. I came up with the idea all on my own, I didn't know if it would work, but I constantly feel like a genius because of just how well it's worked.

I have been making 15 to 20,000 loaded rounds annually with my system. I'm currently at 3,900 thus far in 2014.

What I needed was a method to prep my brass that would speed things up, BUT:

• I will only accept a method that allows me to handle my powder in a single stage fashion, where I pinch each charge off from my Lyman 55 and have a full tray of 50 to observe with my own eyes, all next to each other, to ensure a similar level of powder in all 50 cases
• I will only accept a method that allows me to "feel" the seating of the bullet of each and every loaded round, so I can get the tactile feedback I demand to ensure I've got case mouth tension in all of my semi-auto pistol rounds
• To make things even more dicey, I actually, actively reload more than a dozen DIFFERENT handgun calibers. Some I don't do a lot of, some I do mountains of, but the bottom line is that I was going to need options for "caliber changes" and I'm a working man, I have a budget. If you have ever priced out a Dillon setup for multiple calibers, you need a calculator with a large display and some heart medicine handy.

So what I was looking for was a way to take some of the monotonous work away, allowing me to focus on the parts that mattered the most, while still allowing me a decent level of production and output, without wearing myself out.

My hybrid system is to use a Lee Pro-1000 as a machine to prep my brass.
I drop cases in one by one and the Pro-1000 sizes them, punches out the old primer, primes each piece, flares each case mouth, and ejects them in to a pile.

One thing overlooked sometimes is how much less I have to handle the brass with small finger work. That's tedious. With the Pro-1000, I simply grab a handful and drop each in at a very nice pace. Including re-filling the primer tray, I can probably do 500 pieces an hour. Typically, I do a stretch of 200 or 300 and then sit down and argue guns in a forum. then I go back and crank out more.

This means that when I need or want ammo, I simply go to the container on the shelf that has sized, primed, flared brass in it, and I grab it and drop powder in them and then seat bullets. I can make loaded ammo quickly in this manner.

My rate of production is far higher than many. I'm sure some competition shooters are making as much/more ammo than I do, but I can't imagine many folks are making 15-20k annually... all the while metering out powder on a case by case basis, and seating slugs with a single stage.

I am set up to do that for .327 Federal, .380 Auto, .38 Super, .38 Special, .357 Mag, 9mm, .40cal, 10mm, .41 Mag, .44 Mag, .45 Auto, .45 Colt and .460 Rowland. And I have a couple hundred (at most) in to the Pro-1000 and the extra shell plates and extra turrets to have the capability to do those calibers. (I don't count the cost of the dies... that I already had before I went to my hybrid system)

I am not saying that a successful high volume loader MUST meter out his own powder or seat his bullets single stage to have high quality ammo. But I am saying that it is exactly what I wanted to do, and handling my powder and bullet seating in that manner gives me extreme confidence in the quality of my loads.

[Ashbane]

How is the Dillon powder dispensor with light flake powders like 700x?

[DavidAGO]

I may be regressing; I have been loading on an ancient RockChucker for a few years now. I would do things by batches, size a few hundred, later flare a few hundred, then later set up 50 to 100 in blocks for powder and then seating and crimping. it was working well for me, but I decided to get a Lee classic Turret. I love the press, but now I am having to redo my system, batch processing is less efficient with the turret, and I find I do not save any time on die setup because I reload several different calibers and several different bullets within a caliber. I am probably going to go back to the RockChucker for pistol and hunting rifle loads.

I blame it on casting. I find a bullet I like and try it. I find a different powder and think I want to try it. then I have to work up a good load for that bullet, etc. I am thinking about going back to batch processing for most of the calibers and set up the turret for .223. For me, the reloading is not just a means to shoot more, it is a hobby in and of itself, as is the bullet casting.

David

[WESHOOT2]

How is the Dillon powder dispensor with light flake powders like 700x?

I still have nine measures, but none hold 700X (or 800X, or Unique, or Nitro 100, or other flakey metering disasters).


I note 700X's accuracy can handle a few tenth's charge weight swing, though.