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Old April 6, 2007, 12:04 PM   #26
BigJimP
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I'll play nice - and won't pick on the red or green guys - but the Dillon XL 650 with the electric case feeder and the powder check die is a lot of machine for the money. But if a person wants to go cheaper or more portable - I'll stand behind my comments on the Square Deal B. ( I've had RCBS products - and tested "the red one" too - and the customer service at Dillon puts their equipment over the top of most, in my opinion ) but it is not cheap.
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Old April 6, 2007, 03:50 PM   #27
CrustyFN
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Quote:
I do so love to see these red vs blue vs green vs whatever fights.
Oh there isn't a fight here, just a good debate. I respect BigJim's opinion on the SDB I just don't agree as he doesn't agree with me. Now if you want a good red vs blue war go to Glock Talk. Even the hard core blue will recomend the Lee Classic Turret over other turrets and cheaper Dillons to somebody on a budget or not needing more than the production of a turret. Personally I don't think there are very many bad presses on the market and I think they all make good ammo. I own a Classic Turret so I know what an awesome press it is. I also know that dillon makes an awesome press and when I upgrade to a progressive there is a very good chance it will be Dillon. But for somebody on a budget the Classic Turret can't be beat IMO.
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Old April 6, 2007, 11:06 PM   #28
Dondor
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I started with the Lee Anniv. about $90 or so total from my local Sportsman Warehouse. $30 or so for RCBS carbide .44 dies. Assorted costs for brass, powder, etc.

Have loaded close to 2000 so far on it and still love it. One thing I think I would enjoy more is a ram that "feels" a bit more meaty. The Lee works, but just throwing the RCBS ones make my day.

If you can afford it, go with the RCBS starting kit ~$270 or so for equipment that will most likely outlive you.

Turret presses are another good thing as well.
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Old April 8, 2007, 11:15 AM   #29
Tanzer
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Progressive

New to reloading or not, I'd make sure the investment could handle increasded volume later. First, IMOHO, if you find a 4 stage progressive to be too complicated, no offense, but you should consider whether you should be reloading in the first place. If you can handle all the factors involved in safely reloading (OAL, charge grains, crimp, etc.) then you can handle the progressive. As with any reloading situation, you need to concentrate on the task at hand - no distractions. If you can light a gas furnace/water heater without calling the gas company, or change a ceiling fan W/O an electrician, you probably have the state of mind to handle a progressive (no gadgets like case feeders though). If not, stay safer an buy factory loads.
Just my 2 cents.
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Old April 8, 2007, 01:42 PM   #30
rfdillon
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The first thing to do when considering the reloading hobby, is to read, read, read all that you can, from various loading manuals, the ABCs of reloading, etc. I recommend the Speer, Lee, and Sierra reloading manuals.
I suggest a Lee Classic Cast press. I have loaded < 15000 rounds with Lee presses, and this is the best press for the money bar none. When considering load speed, you have to recognize that you don't have to do all of the loading sequence standing in front of your press. Here is my loading sequence:
After shooting at the range, I tumble my brass in corn cob.
I then deprime my brass using the Classic cast press.
The cases then go into my walnut tumbler, where I tumble the brass again, to remove any case lube (from rifle cases) and to clean the primer pocket.
Now, that I have clean brass, I can do a lot of the brass preparation in the house (my press and powder drop are located at my work bench in the garage)
Inside the house, while watching TV or taking it easy, I perform the following steps:
I use the Lee trimmer system to trim all of my boxer primed brass. Very inexpensive, and consistent. I also chamfer inside and outside of the mouth.
Prior to priming, I will use a primer pocket uniformer to clean out any primer residue and ensure that the primer pockets are uniform.
I then prime my cases, using the Lee Autoprime priming tool.
At this point, my brass is ready for filling and bullet seating.
This is done in the garage at my work bench. Using an Ohaus 10/10 scale, I make my powder drop match the precise weight that I wish to load for my pistol cartridges. I fill 50 cases at a time, then look into the mouth of each case, looking down the row of cases. for any inconsistency in height of powder. If any case appears a little too low or too high, I pull them out and weigh them while I am seating the bullets in the rest of the cases. I arbitrarily weigh at least 10 cases out of the 50, to ensure that the powder drop is dropping consistently. The only powder that I have had an issue with in dropping uniformly has been Unique. This is a great powder, but I have seen more inconsistency from powder dropping with this powder than from any other. Once the cases have been filled with powder, then I begin seating the bullets. For .38 special and .357 cases, I use a roll crimp with the seating die. For .40 S&W, .32ACP, and .380 ACP, I use a Lee Factory crimp die to place a nice taper crimp as a final step.
So you see a lot of cartridge preparation can be done away from the press, so that once the brass has been thoroughly prepared, I have loaded up to 300 cases per hour when really cranking them out, on that single stage press.
The lee hand press can be very handy for a number of tasks, and is very inexpensive. Please don't skimp on a scale - I recommend the Ohaus/RCBS 10/10 beam scale, and don't forget to purchase a set of check weights with which to calibrate the scale.
Hope this helps!
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Old April 8, 2007, 04:09 PM   #31
TEDDY
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presses

If I was just starting I believe I would buy the Lee classic turret Lee dies and powder measure.Yes the other presses are good presses too.If you deside not to go on you can get your money back in a sale.but also the Lee turret is simple and will get you going I have several,also have Bonansa/rcbs/lyman.
midsouthshooters.com
ask for their cat.
graf.com
natchez.com
get lyman/rcbs/dillon/redding cat.good reading
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