Bro2, I think the main pitfalls of going straight to a you beaut progressive press, is that it is so critical to get everything right with handloading.... and when one jumps in with both feet and buys the best, fastest press, without the experience gained from loading one by one (or in 100's like I do... I tumble all, then de prime and size all, then flare & charge all, then LOOK to see the charge is at the same(ish) level (no doubles or misses) then I place the projectiles on all, then seat & crimp all) Without this basic skill aquasition, it is easy to stuff up a whole run on a progressive (very quickly) Example, if the powder thrower blocks up, or doesnt dispense the right amount of powder, you never get to see before the projectile is on & you might not realise till the next one you check
Or the primers might stop or might not be seated properly, just for example, and you might not notice til there are 10 not right, then you have to 'back track' anyway.
My way is the slow way, but I only reload about 150 - 200 rounds a week (.44 mag) and will be 9x19 soon.... but I cant justify the $ to go progressive, and I do enjoy doing it as I am.
Seems to be, the people who have the MOST trouble with reloads, are the ones who use progressive presses for short runs. From my experience (friends with progressives) have had primer tubes blow up (rare) odd primers in backwards or not seated properly & irregular powder charges. Most of these guys only do short runs, occasionally (maybe load 300 a fortnight or so) Progressives, IMO are best if you are reloading by the 1000+. Progressives set up correctly and doing longer runs are great, but if you are only doing 200 for example, it seems like overkill to me. From watching friends do a couple of hundred progressively, seems to me, they are just getting into "the swing of things" and the run is over. Then they check all primers are in and weigh a fair few (especially the earlier of the run) to make sure none are too heavy (doubles) or to light (misses)
Mine take twice as long, but are always spot on. I also spread the work out, like when I get back from the range, I chuck the cases in the tumbler for about 6 hours (timer) Then I deprime/size... takes about 20 minutes for 200 or so. Then that evening, or another day, I hand prime inside while watching TV or cruising the net..... So I always have primed cases (in sealed plastic containers) on hand. The next day, I might flare and charge (I actually use a felt wad on top of the powder) and sit on the projectiles by hand (just to 'plug the hole')..... sometimes, these go back in the container till the next day. Next time I go in my bunker, I just seat and crimp, then inspect. So yes, slow, yes accurate, yes not as cool as pumping them out by the bucketload, but it is all I need and I just can't/dont want to justify spending $700 (here in Oz) to have a cool gadget to shorten (?) the time I enjoy reloading such a small amount of ammo.
I still say a 3 or 4 hole non indexing turret is the way to go... learn the processes & I bet you will be happy with this decision for ages... like the others said, even if you do go progressive later, you can always find a use for your basic press. I have accumulated 4 other single stage presses and use 2 of them constantly, to save interrupting my main one.
I am not putting poop on people who love their progressives... to each their own.... Just my humble opinion.... save some money by just going turret, then buy some more guns instead
