Reloading input

Which is more practical?

  • Buy two presses, a single stage and a turret/progressive

    Votes: 46 76.7%
  • Buy one press, a turret/progressive for everything.

    Votes: 14 23.3%

  • Total voters
    60
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I find Lee presses good as single position presses. I do NOT recommend their powder measures. But they are convenient and handy for dealing with small batches of 'test' ammo or 'target ammo' for precision work..

I haven't researched into it but I have heard it stated that Dillon actually Pays Lee a Patent Royalty on their Powder Measure.
 
You're much better off getting a single, do-it-all press. The reason is that the presses themselves take so many accessories to get fully decked out and ready for your personal style of reloading. There's simply no reason to do that twice. And 2 presses takes... twice the bench space.

The final decision should be based upon your shooting volume. Like high-priced cars, high-end presses simply have more features that make the job go faster with fewer hiccups. You can always buy more press than you need, but if you buy less then you can be in trouble fast.

So will your reloading increase or decrease over the next 5-7 years ? Will it drop when the baby arrives ? Will it increase when you retire ? Will it increase when you join your pals at the Club for action pistol ? Will it drop when you enter the graduate degree program ?
 
I’m sorta amazed of the correlations being presented here on the style of press used to load “ accurate” ammunition and ammunition. A progressive won’t turn out “accurate” cartridges. ?? Anybody tell those hundreds of competitors in the competition world using these machines that. :(
I made no implications that a progressive can’t load quality ammunition. I don’t think anyone else did either. Unless you’re Jerry, you’re probably not going to send 9mm 1000 yards so there’s a bit more latitude in the progressives output. It’s still quality ammunition on par or better than factory.
 
A lot of good points brought up, thank you for that. One that did stick out was the point about load development and progressive presses. More info to consider and weigh.
 
I made no implications that a progressive can’t load quality ammunition. I don’t think anyone else did either. Unless you’re Jerry, you’re probably not going to send 9mm 1000 yards so there’s a bit more latitude in the progressives output. It’s still quality ammunition on par or better than factory.
Reading interpretation I suppose.
 
I have 2 single-stage presses, and a 5-station Hornady progressive. One single-stage is in the garage... that's where I do all my rifle resizing, it's a bigger (Rock Chucker) press for sizing the larger brass I have. The smaller single-stage (an RCBS RS3) is upstairs next to the Hornady. I use it to process my rifle brass other than sizing... flare necks, swage primer pockets, etc, and to assemble most of my rifle cartridges. I use the progressive for all of my handgun loading, and I've been known to assemble some rifle cartridges on it, too... like 5.56mm, 7.62mm, and even .30-06 (for the Garand.) It saves time otherwise.

I would not want to be locked into using a progressive for everything... that's just me, nor would I want to use only a single-stage press for everything, particularly large volumes of handgun ammos like .41 and .45ACP... although I've done it. Golden Rule: Use the Right Tool for the job...
 
RCBS Rockchucker and Dillon RL-550B for the last 30 years or so. Buy quality and cry once. I used to load 9mm. .38 spec., .357 Mag and .44 Mag on the Dillon. Now, just 9mmm and .357 Mag. Everything else gets the Rockchucker single stage, including .223 Rem. I tried it on the Dillon, but was never comfortable with it. I guess I hope for a higher level of precision since I load for a couple heavy barrel bolt guns in addition to several AR's that see action in the Varmint fields.
 
I have 2 single-stage presses, and a 5-station Hornady progressive. One single-stage is in the garage... that's where I do all my rifle resizing, it's a bigger (Rock Chucker) press for sizing the larger brass I have. The smaller single-stage (an RCBS RS3) is upstairs next to the Hornady. I use it to process my rifle brass other than sizing... flare necks, swage primer pockets, etc, and to assemble most of my rifle cartridges. I use the progressive for all of my handgun loading, and I've been known to assemble some rifle cartridges on it, too... like 5.56mm, 7.62mm, and even .30-06 (for the Garand.) It saves time otherwise.

I would not want to be locked into using a progressive for everything... that's just me, nor would I want to use only a single-stage press for everything, particularly large volumes of handgun ammos like .41 and .45ACP... although I've done it. Golden Rule: Use the Right Tool for the job...
You're a sensible guy, I can tell, but as time and innovation move on and improve, single stage presses like the Lee APP show that it is possible for a single stage press be a do it all press. I could probably resize and mouth flare 1000 cases in an hour with that press and that's near progressive territory.

I agree that a progressive as the one press for everything is a bad idea. IMO, a progressive is for something that you have a load you know performs well and you know you're going to shoot a lot of. For me, that would be some sort of 10mm or .45 Colt, for others it's a 9mm.

I see no reason not to have a cheap single stage (basically any Lee that's not the cast iron one), a high quality single stage (MEC Marksman or Forster), and a progressive.
 
I reloaded 30-06, .308, 6.5x55, 8x57, .223, 9mm, .45acp, 44 mag, 50ae, 380 and .30 carbine on my Dillon 650xl for 20 years before I ever owned a single stage. My .308 through my heavy barrel Rem 700 and .223 through my other Rem 700 heavy barrel target rifle has been more accurate than any expensive off the shelf match ammo I ever tried. Now that I have a single stage there are a couple operations that are more convient on the Rock chucker than the 650xl but really nothing I can't do on my 650.
 
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I agree that a progressive as the one press for everything is a bad idea.

Why is it a bad idea? The only reason I think this could be true is:

1. The up front cost of a progressive press is prohibitive and purchasing one now would create a financial crisis.
2. You want to spend more time reloading so you choose a slower process

Other than that, I’m scratching my head trying to come up with another reason
 
Why is it a bad idea? The only reason I think this could be true is:

I'm not familiar with other progressive presses... just my Hornady. Not only do I not want to invest in a bunch of weirdo shellplates, but setup time compared to just spinning a die into the RS3 and punching out 20 or 40 cases seems silly, and they don't make a .348WCF shellplate, anyway. I also don't think the precision is there, for me, anyway, for precision rifle reloads... my opinion. There may be other brands that lend themselves to single-stage operation more than my ProJector... and that's great.
 
I’d like to point out that a 550, while a progressive it isn’t an auto advance. As such it’s construction and such is every bit as useful as any single stage press.
Any case chore performed in a single stage can be performed on a progressive.
 
I used my 550 for everything for a long time. I added a RockChucker and liked it so well for smaller tasks that I quickly added a Mec Marksman. I have flexibility I didn't know I needed.
 
When I first restarted hand loading my press was a Lee Pro1000 and I still have it. Use it constantly and enjoy using it. Then as I progressed in the hobby and acquired more guns that I was loading for I bought a Turret press because it was becoming a pain in the butt to work up 10-20 loads while I was constantly making adjustments and taking the shells in and out of the press to check or measure..
 
I use a single stage for decapping, then either a 3 or 4 hole turret press to load, I think it is a lot easier just change turret heads than to change each die on a single stage, if I was shooting a lot of pistol or 223 I think a progressive would be a wise investment
 
Why is it a bad idea? The only reason I think this could be true is:

1. The up front cost of a progressive press is prohibitive and purchasing one now would create a financial crisis.
2. You want to spend more time reloading so you choose a slower process

Other than that, I’m scratching my head trying to come up with another reason
What @Charlie98 said sums it up. It's a more time consuming process to get dies set up to do a batch of 20 rounds for a test load in a progressive than a single stage or turret press and the shellplates if you do uncommon stuff.

I feel that having even a $40 Lee single stage is worth the price to just have on hand because in the reloading world, there will always come a time you need something you didn't think you did.

I say it's a bad idea because it's never something I would tell anyone to do, especially someone just looking to get into reloading.
 
Gee IDK, I have a single stage, Lee turret and a progressive and I use all three. I also use all three differently. If I had to go to just one then the one I'd keep would probably be the turret because of the versatility..
Pretty much my position as well. I use the Lee Classic Turret to decap all my brass. I also use it for all my revolver and most rifle rounds. All my semi-auto pistol is done on the Dillon 550, along with my 223 rounds. I have a cheap Lee C press that I primarily use for pulling bullets.

I only shoot a few hundred rounds a month, mixed calibers, so if I could only have one press, I would keep the LCT.
 
I say it's a bad idea because it's never something I would tell anyone to do, especially someone just looking to get into reloading.

My first and only press is a Dillion 650

Dedicated tool heads makes quick work of change overs

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I do a lot of precision rifle load development making small batches. If I felt a single stage would be easier, more flexible or quicker I would have already bought one.

OP, you have options that include starting out with a progressive press. There’s no bad choice here
 
I've started a few friends off with a Hornady LNL-AP. The reason is they were loading mainly handgun and just a few rifle. One of the nice things about the LNL-AP is that with their quick change bushing setup you can run 1 die or 5 at any one time, mix and match. Only takes a few seconds to change, settings are kept, so no adj necessary. So if your learning you only run 1 die at a time. Helps doing it this way when setting up the dies any way. The only run 1 pc of brass at a time. As you progress you can populate the the dies, and start running more than 1 pc of brass. For rifle you can run the press as a SS. For bulk practice/plinking run in nearly full AP depending on how accurate you want your powder charge.
 
I have a Dillon 650XL and an old three position C&H press. For handgun I only use the 650 for the complete process for everything but 44 Mag currently. Carbide dies and a little Turtle wax in the tumbler makes that an easy complete process. For rifle reloading, which I have only gotten back into here in the past three or four years (as a kid loaded on a RCBS single stage with dad) and I have found that I like doing all the case process before going to the progressive. I size, trim and deburr off press and then do the rest of the reloading on the 650.
 
1971 Lyman Spartan, 1989 Dillon SD for 357 and 2015 SDB for 45acp and now a 2018 Dillon 550 for I’m good to go!
A word of caution, the cost of loading everything on a progressive can get very expensive.
 
I actually had a Hornady LNL single-stage press for a while... not only did I not care for the quality of the press itself (terrible linkage and part finish...) but I really didn't like the LNL bushing system. Yes, it's fast and all that, but it added what I felt was an additional amount of 'intolerance'... or maybe less tolerance to some of the process. I replaced it with the Rock Chucker.

One other option... not really a compromise, just a different avenue... would be a manually indexed turret press.

I still, after all these years, don't believe a progressive press is the best choice for a beginning reloader... there is too much going on.
 
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