Reloading ammo

[Wa11banger]

I recently upgraded from my single stage CH press to one of the new Lee progressives. I reload 9mm, 40S&W, 45, and 223 on it. Setup was a bear and almost drove me back to my single stage but I stuck with it over the course of 3 days and got all the bugs worked out.. Thanks youtube!!! I bought all the bells and whistles and am now pretty much full auto (Bullet feed, case feed, primer feed fix) and for way less than most presses cost. I also bought all the extra turrets and locking rings for my dies so to change out calibers is a 3-5 min ordeal and back in business I am. The only real frustrating part was the powder dump.. I did everything imaginable to get it to dump accurately every time and now many of thousands of rounds later I think it was just time. I think it "broke in" and it now dumps very accurately and super consistent. I weigh the first twenty and then one in 20 after.. If it continues to do well I weight one in 50 after that. So far all has gone well. Still have the old single stage around for my larger caliber hunting rounds but I am liking this Lee.. It just takes time and a little patience to get it setup right.. I think I pulled 150 test bullets getting all the calibers set up lol. At least half of those were finally attributed to me being a dummy and overthinking it.

 

[nybirdman]

I would stay with the single stage,it's only time.With two guys working you can do up a lot of rounds in a hurry.

 

[hutchman]

I started out with the RCBS Rock Chucker single stage to learn on. My rate was like 50 cart's an hour ... maybe that's because I was too OCD.

I then upgraded to a Hornady LNL progressive that I slowly added things to over the years ... it now has the case & bullet feeder. Our gun club holds a bunch of NRA Action pistol matches and most guys have the Dillon 650 or the 1050 (handy if you shoot military brass as it has a built in primer pocket swager). One friend has the 650 with the Mr. Bullet bullet feeder and it is a very nice setup.

Since I'm into hunting and reload for a lot of rifles too, I did the math of tool head changes on the 650 and for me the Hornady LNL setup was cheaper. If you are only going to do a few calibers, a 650 with toolheads setup for each caliber and a case feeder (which I think comes standard with the 650) would be a good setup.

I use the RCBS lockout die on the progressive to keep out of trouble with squib's, over/under charging etc. If something is wrong, it will lock the handle of the press and get your attention quick. Very handy when you are reloading 9mm but a .380 case got in there without you knowing it!

Be safe!

 

[hutchman]

... I know how you guys like pics so here she is:



... my reloading bench is pretty messy and needs cleaned up.

 

[Soundguy]

unless you are making ammo to sell ( quantity+++ / license ) or are shooting 8 hours a day, having a high volume progressive press may just be un needed expense.

keep in mind a 25$ lee starter single stage will make handgun ammo just like a 200$ rock chucker. the rock chucker will last longer and have more mechanical advantage for larger cases, forming, and sizing stuff like large bottleneck rifle ammo.

I would avoid lee progressive presses. and if going lee turret, go with a 4 hole, and remove the index drive gear and rod... the gear is plastic and strips and you index it manually anyway.

you can get an rcbs partner press kit for about 200$ and a rock chucker supreme kit for about 300$

i tend to like rcbs beam scales way more than lee beam scales.

digital scales are fine.... but always nice to have a beam backup. more expensive digital scales , like the ones on auto powder measures are usually fine if you follow common scale rules. like no ac blowing on unit. run off power not batteries, allow to warm up and even up in temp before use. always zero and test now and then.

i would not use a lee powder thrower as the rotating measure chamber is not metal like rcbs or others.

lee dies re the cheapest, and for general use, should be fine. I use lee, rcbs, hornady C&H and other dies. the dies i don't mind a compromise on. if a 28$ die set wears out in 10 years. i can go buy another.

hornady makes fine press equipment, i just don't find it any better than rcbs and hornady can sometimes cost more.

a good cartridge gauge and set of digital calipers capable of .001 reading would be good to have.

MOST pistol dies, at least straight wall are ok to use without lube as they have carbide or TiN sizer rings. on rare occasion you will need lube with a pistol die. cheap lube pad or spray lube is fine.

case trimmers usually not needed for straight wall pisol ammo.

case prep tools like primer pocket cleaners and such can be bought as hand tools or an automated station. for straight wall pistol, hand tools usually fine unless you process alot of milsurp spent brass that has staked or crimped primers.

Do get as many relaod manuals as you can. at a minimum, get the lyman 49th, and then a manual for each projectile manufacture.. ie.. if using hornady or speer projectiles.. get hornady and speer manulas ( hornady 7-8-9 are good ). i also have speer, and sierra, plus the lee book. Lee book is fine.. but don't use it as your only manual, IMHO. Some powder makers also put out magazines or powder manuals for load data.. and mags like 'hand loader' are nice.

 

[k0ua]

There are lots of good presses out there, and I have owned some. I have a Dillon RL550 B, and can recommend it. I also had a Square Deal and while it was a good press, it is pistol rounds only. I wanted the RL550b so that I could also load rifle rounds. It is really a workhorse of a press. While the RL650 does have automatic indexing, and take the standard Dillon case feeder etc, and I have used them plenty at a friends house, I don't find it is all that much faster or convenient than my RL550 with manual indexing and manual case setting.

I have also used the "big boy" the RL1050, but it is much harder to change calibers, way more expensive, etc. I don't think the RL550B is all that expensive for what you get, and the ease of changing calibers. It is extremely fast to change calibers if they use the same size of primers, (often less than a minute) but you can add 5 minutes to that if you need to change primer sizes (small or large). I am not saying anything bad about the newer progressive presses out there from Hornady or RCBS, but these were not options when I got into progressive reloading. I still like the manual indexing because I believe it gives you more control if something "wads up", is easier to recover from, and when done correctly I don't feel it slows you down much.

I started a tutorial thread with photo's on reloading with the RL550B if you want to check it out.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/296858-lets-reload-some-ammo.html?highlight=ammo

Gary what ever you get, you will have a good time reloading ammo. It is sort of relaxing, and while you must keep a vigilant head on your shoulders, it does give you a feeling of accomplishment when you are done. Kind of like moving a few tons of material with your tractor!

 

[nybirdman]

What I did to speed up my reloading was to purchase a Auto powder measure,not cheap but if you want to speed up a single stage this is the way to do it.It will discharge/weigh a powder charge while you are seating the bullet.Mine is a RCBS unit and is very accurate.

 

[BethelHntr]

If you're looking for a progressive check out Lee, It's inexpensive and the rounds go boom the same as if they were built on a thousand dollar press.

 

[jeff9366]

I have never had cramps using the Lee tool. It takes very little pressure to seat primers. The Lee has good leverage and good 'feel'.

 

[Beltzington]

I am looking for some real experiences from owners of reloading equipment as to what we really might need. I don expect us to be shooting more than 200 total rounds per week max . We are looking to be reloading mostly 45 Long Colt cowboy loads.

I have a LEE Classic Turret I like allot, so far I have only reloaded handgun ammo but it will also load large caliber rifle as well. Research will show you LEE makes quality equipment sold at fair prices. Another neat about this loader is all the dies are attached to a "clip" which you can easily remove to change between calibers without having to readjust setup. Not sure why so many folks are down on turrets, for the most part you can treat them as a single stage if that is your pleasure.

Decide why you want to reload, not really any savings unless you are loading big bore cartridges. It will take you tens of thousands of pistol round to recoup $1500 spent on Dillon equipment. My recommendation, buy a LEE, see if you like reloading and you can sell it for about what you paid for it and upgrade to the Rolex if you want. Best Regards.