Advice on reloading press kit for beginner

[Lineman North Florida]

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

 

[jaydee325]

I worked at a local sporting goods shop when I was in high school back in the early '70s! The store sold Mec reloaders. I am curious why Mec has not been mentioned? Have they fallen out of favor?

 

[Bearsixty7]

I worked at a local sporting goods shop when I was in high school back in the early '70s! The store sold Mec reloaders. I am curious why Mec has not been mentioned? Have they fallen out of favor?

Many others that are better, Lee, Hornady, Dillon.

Mec was a budget oriented, starter press for shotgun reloading only decades ago.

 

[k0ua]

I worked at a local sporting goods shop when I was in high school back in the early '70s! The store sold Mec reloaders. I am curious why Mec has not been mentioned? Have they fallen out of favor?

MEC makes shotgun reloading presses. I have one. I never saw a metallic reloading press from them.

 

[Bearsixty7]

I致e owned a Dillon 550 for about 25 years. I don稚 think it痴 any harder to learn on a progressive than a single stage. It痴 doing the same thing, just all the steps at one pull of the handle.View attachment 678455

I fully agree! If you can change a tire and oil and filter on a vehicle, you can handle a progressive press. ( I do know a couple guys who can't do the mentioned tasks!).

I got in to Cowboy Action Shooting (CAS) years ago and would go through a lot of .38 special rounds for pistols and rifles so I did a lot of research and the Dillon 650 was the best choice for me. I haven't been active shooting the last few years (Son was in sports, I coached some) but It seemed like I could reload about 600-800 rounds an hour (Having primer tubes prefilled gets the higher number).
It wasn't hard to setup the press and dial everything in. I have probably reloaded 15-20k loads of .38 special.

I got a great deal then from Grafs & Sons The Reloading Authority - Graf & Sons.

As others have said, get a reloading book or two or three, plus look at all the ammo manufacturer websites, Winchester, Hodgon Hodgdon – The Brand That's True, Hornady, etc and they will have current loads for almost any load you want.

Many in CAS use powders that can be used in pistol/rifle and shotgun, Clays or Clay Dot is my main powder.

I also have an older Ponsness Warren 12ga progressive press I bought from a friend 3-4 years ago. Back in the 90's, A few of us that shot skeet league together chipped in and helped him pay for it so we could use it. We all moved to different states and I contacted him about getting a similar one and he just sold that one to me. Said he doesn't use it enough.

 

[dodge man]

I will share 2 of my reloading mistakes.

I’m using a Dillon 550 which is a progressive machine but you have to manually advance the shell plate each time. Once in a while I will have a problem with a primer going in upside down. I have figured out it is from not pulling the handle down smoothly and the primer flips over when jerking the handle. I’m pretty sure going back and forth with the shell plate I skipped powder in a 9mm case. I did this twice, several years apart. The primer will launch the bullet down the barrel a little ways. I caught the problem since the pistol jammed. The worse case is you fire another round with a bullet stuck in the barrel. I have since learned to check visually for a powder charge before seating a bullet.

The second one was using crap 223 brass. I had the neck break off and jamb the rifle. In this case it is not really a safety issue. I had several rounds that showed corroded cases that I had reloaded several years ago.

 

[Bearsixty7]

I will share 2 of my reloading mistakes.

I’m using a Dillon 550 which is a progressive machine but you have to manually advance the shell plate each time. Once in a while I will have a problem with a primer going in upside down. I have figured out it is from not pulling the handle down smoothly and the primer flips over when jerking the handle. I’m pretty sure going back and forth with the shell plate I skipped powder in a 9mm case. I did this twice, several years apart. The primer will launch the bullet down the barrel a little ways. I caught the problem since the pistol jammed. The worse case is you fire another round with a bullet stuck in the barrel. I have since learned to check visually for a powder charge before seating a bullet.

Another good reason to go with a Dillon 650 (now a 750) or similar, so you can run a powder check station in the extra hole. I have never had a .38 special squib round.
I also run 10 rounds minimum out of every 100 through a case checker to make sure they are good and won't have any feeding problems during competition.

 

[GaryM]

I'd like to suggest Inline fabrication for mounts and accessories. They make a mount with quick change top plates so it's easy to swap to a different press or other accessory such as a case trimmer or vice.

The Dillon strong mount is nice, but the interchangeable top plates are handy because you'll end up with more that one press. I have 4.

 

[3gunr]

I have 2 dillon 550s an mec and a lee turret press the lee would be a good starter press but i agree with others that the dillon is the way to go. I also shot cowboy action and currently shoot 3 gun .I have saved tons of money over the yrs reloading. My wife and son also shot and i would load 4 or 5 hundred rnds for a match and we werte shooting some 15 to 20 matches a yr. I sold lead bullets for a long time and still have a pile of them. Primers are the tough thing to get now. Just take it slow and watch some video on reloading. Graf and sons is down the road from me. they used to give classes on reloading but not sure now.

 

[GaryM]

I have 2 dillon 550s an mec and a lee turret press the lee would be a good starter press but i agree with others that the dillon is the way to go. I also shot cowboy action and currently shoot 3 gun .I have saved tons of money over the yrs reloading. My wife and son also shot and i would load 4 or 5 hundred rnds for a match and we werte shooting some 15 to 20 matches a yr. I sold lead bullets for a long time and still have a pile of them. Primers are the tough thing to get now. Just take it slow and watch some video on reloading. Graf and sons is down the road from me. they used to give classes on reloading but not sure now.

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.