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Old July 21, 2010, 06:17 PM   #7
BigJimP
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 23, 2005
Posts: 13,195
read the sticky at the top like someone else said ...

In terms of equipment / most anything made in the last 30 yrs is decent equipment. At the same time / they're all a little different. Some are single stage / some are progressive. I lean more toward the "progressive" so you get a finished round off the press every time you pull the handle - so its a lot faster. Time is at a premium these days / and if it takes you an hour to load one box of 50 it can be discouraging for handgun ammo. But not everyone needs a press that will produce 20 boxes an hour either ...

Fast is not good by itself / you need safety foremost / and high quality. You can get both on a single stage or a progressive. A progressive in an of itself is not dangerous to a new loader - but you have to study / learn the process.

I think the Turret presses mentioned may be ok / and they're inexpensive. Dillon makes an entry level press for about $ 365 and it comes with dies. At the upper end of progressive loaders you'll find the Hornady LNL / or the Dillon 650. Dillon 650 for just the press is $ 545 and you need dies, etc to make it work ( so its really about $ 750 ).

There is lots of good used equip out there for sale / some of it is rode hard and put away wet ...some of it is good. You have to know what you're looking at to judge.

You'll need some startup stuff / case cleaner, scale, etc and probably a few hundred bucks in that stuff. Press $ 150 - $ 750 -- you pick one ... Components are different .... if you buy in smaller volume ( like powder in 1 lb cans vs 8 lb kegs / you should expect to pay more ) .... so just on 9mm, as an example, you might end up paying $ 0.07 a round for components to over $ 0.12 a round ...just depends ...

Try and find some guys at your local club / that will help educate you on equipment / maybe act as a mentor to you ...help you thru the learning curve a little. Give you some pros and cons on different equipment.
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