Advice on reloading press kit for beginner

[shooterdon]

First, check into the availability of primers and powder in your area. There are no primers in many places. What normally used to sell for $25-40 per thousand are currently at over $150/1000 on GunBroker. A press without components is a poor and expensive boat anchor. I expect components to be limited and/or costly for at least another six months.

I would suggest starting with a single stage press as you will always need/want one. I have owned about 10 progressive presses and still have my original SS press. It is a Co-Ax and I use it for rifle rounds as I do not shoot a lot of rifle but I am an **** accuracy nut. I also have a Rock Chucker and use it for heavy work like sizing brass from machine guns. It is set up only for sizing and depriming. It is a PITA to change out and reset dies on the RC. I like the Co-Ax as I can leave dies set up and slide them into place. I understand both Lee and Hornady have systems that use bushings to do the same thing.

If you do any amount of pistol shooting you will want a progressive or at the least a turret press.

Most of my shooting is with pistols and shotguns so they are loaded on progressives. In my opinion, the Dillon 550 is the best option for most users unless they shoot a lot. I have owned about 10 progressive machines and currently am down to three. A Dillon 550, Dillon 1050 and PW 800+ with AutoDrive for 12 ga.

The other progressive metallic reloaders have mixed reviews and those who love them the most have never used a Dillon. They will work but require more tinkering and tuning. Some, like the early Lee Pro1000's are just junk.

Like a tractor, whatever you buy will last a very long time. My Co-Ax is almost 50 years old and works like new. I have loaded about 150k rounds on the Dillon 1050 without a failure.

If I was starting out, this is what I would buy:
Lee Classic Cast Press

It is good machine with plenty of strength, and accepts the Lee Breech Lock quick change bushings.

 

[RobertN]

Joining conversation late...

Start with a couple good reloading books. Read thru the process. Speer, Lyman, Sierra are all good books.
When I learned that was all we had; the WWW and Youtube weren't a thing back then

I like my trusty Rock Chucker. Worked well for over 35 years. The only caveat is the old Rock Chuckers are known to spit primers here and there

A Dillon 550C is on my list. for volume cartridges, especially 45acp.

Besides 223, for rifle I prefer to stick with the single stage press.

 

[Rich B1]

Does anyone have a Lee turret style press or have any knowledge about them?

I have one. It has become my only hand gun press. You can set up spare turrets for multiple calibers which saves changing/setting up dies. If you are a bit OCD about each step like I am, you can do your checks easily throughout the process. And still crank out rounds faster than a single stage.

But I also have a single stage for low volume rifle, pocket staging, etc.

Lee makes a quick change bench mount for presses, I kind of borrowed their idea and made my own. I can swap presses in a few minutes.

 

[defranks]

I, too use a Lee turret press quite a bit. The only thing that I dislike about it is that the toothed nylon bushing fails frequently. They're cheap, though, and I keep several on-hand. All one need do is remove the rotating rod and the press can be used as a single-stage unit. I own and use a number of presses, including a progressive, but I spend most of my time on an ancient single-stage, open-front press that I bought used 45 years ago. I've found that there really isn't much difference between the least expensive "C" type presses and the big heavy presses unless one is loading big cases that require a lot of force to resize. And even then, case lube is more important that press design.
One thing that you don't have to buy, but that I find very valuable, is priming tool. You can load primers by hand one-at-a-time, but using a tool that doesn't require touching the primers is a good idea.
And let me parrot the comments on components. Now is NOT the time to buy primers; if you can find any at all the prices are insane. Powders, too, are getting harder to find, particular pistol powders.

 

[Rich B1]

Something I find that improves the life of the plastic ratchet mechanism on the Lee turret press is to use a spray on dry lubricant on the turret where it rides in the press. Also lube the detent ball. You can feel the difference in operation when cycling the handle.

The ratchet parts are cheap. So I also keep some spares handy.

My press came with the primer feed when I bought it. It actually works and I have not been using the RCBS hand priming tool for handgun rounds. But for loading rifle cartridges, I still use the hand primer. Slick tool!

 

[3gunr]

You know Grafs is now "Full Circle Reloading". A fellow from my club, Allen Bennett, bought it about 2 months ago. Still the same employees though.

Went in the other day and picked up some bullets and powder. No primers to be had.

 

[Bearsixty7]

Went in the other day and picked up some bullets and powder. No primers to be had.

They are all on GunBroker.com for 5-8x the normal price! Glad I have a decent stash from years ago to get me through the next couple years. Actually considered selling a case to pay for all of the ones I ever bought!

 

[arizona98tj]

I couldn't help but notice what appeared to be some comments about it being a PITA to set up and/or change dies on the single-stage press, such as the RCBS Rock Chucker. I'm not seeing why it is supposedly a pain. All of my dies have locking rings on them. You set the die up once and then lock the ring in place (typically with a supplied set screw). From that point on, just screw the die into the top of the press until hand tight and you are good to go. I have dies I use in my Rock Chucker that I've not adjusted since the 1970s. How is that a PITA?

I also run a Dillon 650 press. You have to set up those dies too.....once.....just like in a single stage press. And they all have locking rings too!

OK, I'm done with my reloading rant.

 

[3gunr]

They are all on GunBroker.com for 5-8x the normal price! Glad I have a decent stash from years ago to get me through the next couple years. Actually considered selling a case to pay for all of the ones I ever bought!

Yea i saw that also. I have a good supply of large pistol primers but not as many small ones which is mostly what i shoot now.

 

[RobertN]

Reminds me of some of the commercials on TV that make flipping an egg or a pancake look like torture unless you're using their super duper latest gen magic coated pan...

It's really not that hard to set and lock a set of dies.

I couldn't help but notice what appeared to be some comments about it being a PITA to set up and/or change dies on the single-stage press, such as the RCBS Rock Chucker. I'm not seeing why it is supposedly a pain. All of my dies have locking rings on them. You set the die up once and then lock the ring in place (typically with a supplied set screw). From that point on, just screw the die into the top of the press until hand tight and you are good to go. I have dies I use in my Rock Chucker that I've not adjusted since the 1970s. How is that a PITA?

I also run a Dillon 650 press. You have to set up those dies too.....once.....just like in a single stage press. And they all have locking rings too!

OK, I'm done with my reloading rant.