What press(es)?

[b4uqzme]

It's getting time to graduate to reloading. I've been webberbrowsing and find 2 schools of thought: 1) buy a great do-all press and save your money for the accessories to load various rounds. 2) buy 2 or more presses that excel in specialized applications.

Which do you recommend?

I'm considering ordering a Dillon Square Deal B in 40sw and just leaving it set that way. I can always buy conversions for other handgun calibers later but 40 is what I want right now.

If I do that I will also add a single stage press for rifle calibers.

It seems practical not having to break it down to set up different calibers (as often).

Or I could just get a Dillon 550B and load everything with the same press.

Any advice is welcome. What is your set up?

[Bawanna]

My thoughts were very much like yours. I loaded on a single stage for many many years. I finally a few years ago bought a Hornady LocNLoad. I pretty much leave it set up for 45.

I use the singles stage for everything else but planned to use it mostly for rifle which I don't need to load much for.

I have since bought other parts to load other calibers but generally the progressive is ready for 45 most any time.

I researched the Dillon and they are a good press and they have good customer service and a great little catalog from time to time. I liked some of the features of the Hornady better and they were on sale so I went that route.

It rotates half a position on each handle movement rather than a full which is kind of nice. Being able to remove a case at any station anytime is a real plus. I don't recall now if that's possible on the blues, but I suspect it is.

I think you'd be happy with either.

My single stage is an RCBS Rock Chucker, tough do anything press.

[ozkahr]

I just handloaded my first 110 rounds of 9mm FMJ. I bought a barely used (300 rounds) Forster Co-Ax b3. I'm liking it a lot.

I read many reloading forums and the general opinion was to start with a single stage. Too many chances to make a mistake with a progressive. Lots to watch all at once.

I'm quite happy with the single stage. You may be a better multitasker than I.

[garyb]

Both Dillon and Hornady LNL are good presses. My buddy swears by the Dillon, but I went with the Hornady LNL auto progressive. Like Bawanna, I reload one caliber now - 40S&W. However, I have full capability to quickly change over to another caliber without much nonsense. Hornady has the advantage of quick change over. It is a very reliable and versatile system. Research them both for yourself. You will be happy either way. You'll be especially happy that you made the decision to reload and develop your own loads you can be happy with. It will pay for itself. Great hobby. Just buy components as you can find them (primers, powder, bullets, brass, etc...) and you will no longer be shopping for ammo.

[Tilos]

There's lots of press info here for every color
http://ultimatereloader.com/

[AIRret]

We have a hornady ammo plant and we are very happy with it, but I can see a day if the right slightly used press comes along we might buy it so we can have one set to 45 and one to 9mm.
We haven't been loading all that long (so far 9mm (4,000 fired another 1,000 loaded) and two hundred 45) but we really love it and this forum has been tremendously helpful.
Early on Bawanna suggested that we buy a progressive press and just take one round at a time through all the stations until we were comfortable with all the operations. The idea was a sound one and allowed us to be safe while we were learning. Before long we were full speed ahead....which is still moderate, we load 100 rounds in about 50 min Which is fine, I'd rather be safe than fast!!

[b4uqzme]

Thanks for the input. All good advice. Now lets shift gears. Any equipment I should definitely avoid? Example: I haven't heard much good about Lee presses but are they good enough for a single stage press?

[Tilos]

if your looking for opinions, you'll find a lot more reloaders, using a large variety of equipment...even threads devoted to upgrades/fixes and modifications to loading equipment....here
http://www.thehighroad.org/forumdisplay.php?f=15&&

[TucsonMTB]

Thanks for the input. All good advice. Now lets shift gears. Any equipment I should definitely avoid? Example: I haven't heard much good about Lee presses but are they good enough for a single stage press?

Nothing wrong with Lee. I use one of their turret presses to load 30-06 for a Garand. My only regret is that I could not find one of their "Classic" turret presses when I bought my first press during "the craziness" last year. The Classic Turret Press (pictured above) has a hollow ram to which you attach a clear tube to collect spent primers when you remove them from spent cases during full length resizing. My "Precision" turret press (pictured below) was available and is still a few bucks cheaper but it lacks this one, convenient feature.

Lee must update their pictures on the same schedule that Kahr uses for their website. My press came with a different handle that has a foam padded grip, rather than the wooden ball.

As a ham fisted newbie I started out putting a lot of muscle into my work and cracked a piece in the linkage. Three days after I dropped Lee an email identifying the cracked part, a replacement part appeared in my mail box. The press never stopped working, but the crack worried me. I would rate customer service as excellent.

Lee dies are also excellent, in my opinion and the opinion of many of the guys on the reloading forums . . . especially considering their modest cost.

Oh, and you could probably manage pretty well just buying one of their remarkably inexpensive hand presses. I bought one to be able to set bullets in my air conditioned office rather than my steamy garage during our famously warm summers. It works well enough that investing another $30 in a second set of dies allows me to perform all reloading stages in air conditioned splendor. I like that.

I am still pleased to have the turret press, but a Lee hand press will "git her done" very nicely. I mention that as a possible low cost option that does not require a dedicated bench for mounting.

Best of luck with your entertaining new hobby!

[otium]

I started with a single stage RCBS rockchucker a long time ago and have loaded thousands and thousands of handgun and rifle rounds with it. I still have it and use it for more mundane duties like decapping fired brass prior to tumbling. I also use it for low volume medium bore rifle loading where I prefer to hand throw and trickle up to 70grs of powder for some of the loads. In that case 50 rounds would be about as large a run as I might do in an evening.

In the 90s I added the Dillon 550 and use it for handgun calibers. I utilize multiple tool heads to help keep the caliber switch adjustments to a minimum. I don't often switch the primer setup and leave the 550 set up for large primers since I generally load for the 45acp the most. I find switching primer sizes on the Dillon rather tedious, so I do the small primer loading back on the single stage.

As far as what to start with, I would lean towards starting out with a single stage press, especially if a person does not have a mentor available to help learn all the initial adjustments and how to do spot checks along the way that need to be made on the progressive.

Being me, I'd probably be a little more leery starting out reloading with the 40SW as a new reloading person on a progressive as there is much less margin as there is in say loading normal pressure 9mm or 45 where both have a +p spec for a little more leeway in allowable pressures.

While the single stage produces much less volume per hour, there are a lot of details a person needs to learn and a single stage gives you the opportunity to check your work more thoroughly at each stage. For example, you load all your brass with powder, and now you can do a visual check to see if any charges look to be dissimilar after they are all in the tray before you press the bullet on it. With a progressive press you only have a small window to check it after you throw the power charge and when you seat the bullet in the next station.

Once you feel comfortable with the single stage, then by all means go with a progressive so you can increase your volumes. IMO the single stage will remain useful for a reloader for a long time to come.

I find this to be a mostly fun hobby although these persistent component shortages do get frustrating especially when trying to start loading a 'new to me' caliber. Best of luck in whatever you decide to do.

[b4uqzme]

Thanks everyone, especially for the links and personal experience. I'm going to a gun show next weekend and want to be prepared in case I run across a good deal on some used equipment. A question for otium: would you recommend I start (and) learn loading rifle calibers on a single press first? I plan on getting both a single stage press for rifle calibers and a progressive for handguns. It doesn't matter which comes first.

Midway has the rockchucker kit, including a scale and a bunch of stuff I'll need anyways for 270 after rebate or a similar lee challenger kit for 120. Is the rockchucker that much better? I expect to use them in small batches.

[Ikeo74]

You have 2 choices, buy the rcbs kit for $270 and spend $270, or you can buy the Lee set for $120 and then later upgrade to the rcbs kit and spend $410. So the way I see it is to upgrade now and save the $120.

[Ikeo74]

I use the rcbs rockchucker and have for 30 years. It is a lifetime useable product with better quality and perfect for both pistol and rifle reloading. It will do everything that an adverage hunter sportsman will need. If you shoot competition you can get a progressive later and still use the rockchucker kit for all rifle loads.

Buy new because the price will be almost the same as you will have to pay for used equipment. Used equipment holds it's value so when you buy new, you can always sell it and get almost all your money back.

[otium]

For rifle I would go with a single stage. It can be done on a progressive, but it is not quite as convenient. It essentially makes you use the progressive kind of like a single stage any way.

I've not used any Lee press and have only used a few Lee pieces, so I can not give you any kind of a real world opinion on them. I can say the RCBS has been very good to me and it will likely outlast me even with over 30 years on the clock with it already.

In addition to looking at gun shows, I would also take a look at the used market such as arms list and other online avenues (or perhaps if you belong to a shooting club/range) to see if you can find any deals from folks who are either getting out of shooting/reloading or perhaps made available through an estate sale.

[garyb]

I started out on a Hornady progressive loading 40's. Got some very helpful advice from Hornady on what to put where on the stages. However, the manuals were very self explanatory and I had NO problems out of the newbee gate. I took my time. I recommend a good scale and calipers. I don't see where you need to start reloading handgun ammo on a single stage press, but I don't see where you can't do so either. The AP presses are not all that complicated if you think through each stage and check your powder charges often from the start. I also recommend to start with light loads for target. Get a couple of reloading manuals to reference and you will be fine. The details are all in the manuals and operating instructions. Not all that complicated. If you get in a bind or don't understand something....ASK. The press reloading manufacturer is helpful...at least Hornady is. I am confident the same applies to Dillon too. Good luck with your entry to reloading. Take it slow and cautious and you will be fine. I was.